Speculation about a role as culturally loaded as this one tends to outrun the facts, and any comment from a leading candidate is treated as confirmation by people who have already decided what they want to hear. The reality is more ordinary. Screen tests are held, contracts are negotiated, and the people being tested are usually instructed to say very little. A careful answer that neither confirms nor denies is therefore the most professional response available, and it should be read as exactly that rather than as a hint. The interesting part is the pressure. An actor considered for the part inherits years of public expectation before a single scene has been shot, and the questions follow them into every unrelated interview. Whoever eventually takes the role will have to manage that attention as carefully as the performance itself. Until an official announcement appears, the sensible assumption is that nothing has been decided, however many anonymous sources suggest otherwise. Actors in this position are usually advised to say nothing at all, which makes a measured answer more revealing than silence would be.
Jack Lowden, one of the actors who has been linked heavily with the role of the next Bond — indeed, reported to have been screen testing for the role by the trades — has spoken publicly about it for the first time, and it was quite a funny retort. Speaking withBritish GQ, the Scottish actor offered a rather exhausted "Oh, Christ" when asked about comments made by hisSlow Horsesco-starGary Oldman, who made it clear he was hoping Lowden would get the job. Lowden was clearly touched by the support, even if he wasn't about to start discussing his chances of becoming 007.
On this, it's all very flattering. It's nice to be mentioned – for any role – and I'm just not really going to add to the noise. It's very nice, and Gary's a sweetheart – it's particularly lovely, coming from someone like him. But I don't really listen to it.
Lowden also noted that, if you're a British actor of a certain age, speculation about becoming the new Bond is practically unavoidable. "As a young male actor, generally, the minute you're not playing a zany artist type, the minute you're in a suit, people fling it at you."
Six actors. One role. Your answers point to the Bond who shares your presence, your method, and your particular way of carrying the weight of being the most dangerous person in the room.
You are the original — and you carry that fact without needing to announce it. There is an authority in the way you occupy a room that others spend careers trying to replicate.
You understand something that more serious people miss: that wit is its own form of intelligence, and that making people laugh is not a retreat from danger but a way of mastering it.
You took the role seriously when everyone wanted you to coast — and that refusal to take the easy version of anything is the most defining thing about you.
You are the complete package — and you know it, which is part of what makes you so effective and occasionally so infuriating to the people around you.
You stepped into something enormous with less preparation than anyone around you thought was sufficient — and you delivered something genuine anyway, which is the more impressive achievement.
You stripped everything back and found what was underneath — and what was underneath was harder, more honest, and more human than anyone expected.
Gary Oldman Thinks Jack Lowden Should Be the Next James Bond
Oldman, who stars alongside Lowden in Apple's acclaimed espionage thrillerSlow Horses, previously appeared to suggest that a decision had already been made, although he stopped short of revealing whether he actually knew the identity of the next Bond.
It's been rumoured that he's on the shortlist. We're going to find out pretty soon, aren't we? Because they have picked him. They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet. So my fingers are crossed for Jack.
Amazon MGM Studios has not announced the next James Bond actor or a release date forDenis Villeneuve's upcoming reboot.
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