Robert Pattinson Already Nailed His James Bond Audition In A Near-Perfect Spy Movie 6 Years Ago
It’s felt like we’re just days away from the next James Bond actor being confirmed for some time now, and the shortlist is getting more interesting with every update. It seemed like the final 007 contenders would be Jack Lowden, Josh O’Connor, and Callum Turner, suggesting Amazon Studios is looking for a younger, fresher take on the character, but suddenly, that has all changed.
When the casting process for James Bond first started to pick up speed, it was widely suggested that the new executives in charge of the franchise were looking for somebody new and somebody slightly less well-renowned than an A-lister. The late additions of Robert Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult as genuine contenders rather flip those expectations on their head. And it might be a little cruel to the other contenders, but it’s hard not to get very excited by the Pattinson links in particular.
He’s obviously a huge talent, with franchise experience behind him and the kind of profile that would make his casting a real statement, but crucially, he’s already proven in a spy thriller released just as the end of Daniel Craig’s tenure as 007 was coming to an end. And if there’s one thing we should all take from Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, it’s how much it now looks like a great James Bond audition for Pattinson.
Robert Pattinson Basically Did James Bond In Tenet
If you put aside the exhausting discourse about whether it was easy to understand or not,Tenet was as close as we’ve so far gotten to his take on a James Bond movie. Some might actually say that the way he made his epic twisty spy movie suggests that a James Bond movie might well be too conventional for him to take on. But in Tenet, he made something bold and creative and used his obvious affection for James Bond movies to create something both very subversive and very entertaining.
John David Washington is obviously the star, but alongside him, Pattinson plays his handler, Neil – a fellow Tenet agent who helps guide him through the strange world that’s opened up to him – with subtle style. The character drew immediate comparisons to a 007-type figure: he’s immaculately dressed, well-spoken and clearly very well educated, as well as having the British secret service background to allow him to get involved in action sequences. On a spiritual level at least, it’s always felt like Christopher Nolan has chased James Bond for a lot of his career, and Neil is his own nod to that. Perhaps killing him off was even cathartic?
Crucially, he also proved that a so-called “boyish” spy – which seems to be what the shortlist for Bond 26 is targeting – could work. James Bond doesn’t need to be a muscular, hulking actor, and it’s far more logical that the British Secret Service would hire somebody who blends in. Someone who is charming, capable, and unremarkable to outsiders. Pattinson’s Neil is basically that idea brought to screen.
If Pattinson Is In The Running, He Beats Every Other 007 Contender
No disrespect to the other names, and particularly Nicholas Hoult, who is probably the closest to Robert Patterson’s profile of the pack, at the moment, but if you put Patterson side-by-side with the others, there’s just no competition. Jack Lowden, Callum Turner, and Josh O’Connor would each make interesting Bonds and would each probably offer quite different takes on the character. They would also be major deviations from the way Daniel Craig played the character, but they are all probably still best considered as rising stars rather than established talents on the level of Pattinson.
One of the biggest testaments to how interesting Robert Pattinson is as a James Bond contender is how easily you could imagine him playing either James Bond himself or a villain in the next Bond movie. His range is incredible, he disappears into roles, and he already has a track record playing a Bond-like character. Next to him, everybody else feels like a gamble; their pedigree is good, but it’s surely over.
Robert Pattinson’s Casting Makes Sense For 007’s Reboot
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There was obviously a lot of excitement about the idea of a fresh new Bond and perhaps a younger take on the character after Daniel Craig’s tenure as 007. But given the money invested in the Bond franchise and the need to start strongly, giving Denis Villeneuve a legitimate A-list talent to lead his new era makes more sense than gambling on a less established talent. He might be a bit of a chameleon and might defy expectations in some of the roles that he takes on, but Pattinson is legitimately a big star and a drawing power on his own. He is, after all, literally playing Batman at the moment.
You only need to look at the early reactions to the suggestion that Pattinson might be in line to play James Bond to see how much of a good idea it would be. He’s coming off the back of two great performances this year in The Odyssey and Primetime, and he is one of the most interesting actors working today and one of Britain’s best. Just as Villeneuve was one of the smartest business decisions Amazon Studios could have made, Robert Pattinson is exactly the kind of talent that they should be looking to push the boat out for.
The real question is actually why Pattinson would want to play James Bond at this point in his career. It’s a bit of a head-scratcher, given he started his career in a major franchise and has largely moved away from that type of film-making, other than for Batman. Whisper it, but it does rather raise some questions about his future as Batman as well, given that it will mean that he will be involved in two of the biggest franchises in Hollywood at the same time. That’s close to unprecedented. Sir Ian McKellen did it with X-Men and Lord of the Rings, but does Robert Pattinson want to have so much of his time taken up by just two characters? Clearly he must, but it doesn’t really fit with his profile.
Perhaps we should take comfort from the fact that both Batman and Bond tend to have long gaps between sequels at the moment?
No, Robert Pattinson Isn’t Too Old For The New James Bond
Naturally, there has already been a response to the idea of Pattinson playing James Bond. One line of criticism has taken issue with the fact that Henry Cavill was apparently ruled out of the running for being too old. Cavill is only 43 years old, and Pattinson, despite positioning himself as the ultimate Generation Z actor, is just three years younger at age 40.
If he were successful, he would become the fourth-youngest James Bond actor after George Lazenby, who was 30 when he starred in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Sean Connery, who was 32 in Dr No., and Daniel Craig, who was 38 in Casino Royale. That puts him right in the middle of the running, as Timothy Dalton was 41, Pierce Brosnan 42, and Roger Moore 45 when they started out.
The crucial thing is that James Bond was made 007 at the age of 36, at least in the Daniel Craig version of the universe, and was the youngest in MI6 to manage it. Pattinson can quite easily play somebody within that age bracket, but even more crucially, Cavill was never too old to play James Bond in the first place. There was no official edict saying he was too old to play James Bond beyond social media noise.
It’s also important to note that Ian Fleming was never particularly specific about the age of James Bond when he became 007. He’s widely accepted to have been in his mid- to late-30s, but there’s nothing concrete in the texts. When you look at the real-life people who Fleming based James Bond on, that late-30s age bracket feels correct, particularly with someone like Conrad O’Brien-ffrench, the skiing spy, in mind. He was widely recognized as one of the main inspirations and was met by Fleming in the 1930s when he was in his late 30s or early 40s. The very idea that Robert Pattinson couldn’t play somebody a couple of years younger than his real age is ridiculous.
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