Bond, Casting Bond

They’ve started casting the new James Bond.

Amazon MGM hired Nina Gold to find him. She cast Game of Thrones, The Crown, the new Star Wars films, Conclave, and Hamnet. The first-ever Academy Award nomination for casting went to her this year. Denis Villeneuve is directing.

So they’re not playing around.

The screen test tradition is what gets me. Daniel Craig did one. Even the guys who don’t get the part live on forever in the footage. I kind of like Sam Neil’s screentest. Henry Cavill’s Bond audition is on YouTube right now. You can watch a future Superman read for a different franchise and almost see the path he didn’t take.

That’s the part of casting that always stops me. The careers that almost happened. Guys sitting in hotel rooms with sides from Casino Royale, knowing only one of them gets a life-changing yes.

I have no idea who I want it to be. That’s part of the fun, too.