Matthew Goode nearly had a shot at becoming James Bond, but his brutally bleak take on the character may have been a little too real for the franchise’s producers.
In a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Emmy-nominated actor opened up about a meeting he had with longtime Bond producer Barbara Broccoli back in the early 2000s, right before the franchise’s gritty reboot with Casino Royale.
“I didn’t audition. I went in and met Barbara. I didn’t get to the audition, but it was quite a funny one because — and she’s gorgeous and just a lovely, lovely person.”
But the meeting took a turn when Broccoli asked Goode what his vision of Bond looked like and that’s where he lost her:
“She was like, ‘So what’s your idea for Bond?’ And I was like, ‘My idea for Bond, we’ve gotta take it back to the books, you know? Really, we absolutely have to make this guy an alcoholic, a drug addict. He hates himself. He hates women. He hates a lot of people. He’s in deep pain. He’s brilliant at killing people.’”
Goode laughed while recounting her silent reaction:
“I think by the end of the interview, she was like, ‘Mhmm. Next.’ Because I wanted to make it really dark… but what I should have said was, ‘But also incredibly charming.’”
Needless to say, Goode didn’t move on to the audition phase. Instead, the role famously went to Daniel Craig, who brought a colder, more emotionally complex version of Bond to the screen starting with Casino Royale , and continued through No Time To Die.
Now, with Craig’s era behind us, the franchise is again preparing for reinvention. It was recently confirmed that Dune and Sicario director Denis Villeneuve will helm the next installment for Amazon MGM Studios, working alongside producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. Amy Pascal and David Heyman are also joining as producers, with Tanya Lapointe executive producing.
Amazon MGM’s Courtenay Valenti and Sue Kroll added during CinemaCon: “We are committed to honoring the legacy of this iconic character, while bringing a fresh, exhilarating new chapter to audiences around the world alongside Amy and David.”
It’s still unclear who will wear the tux next, but if Matthew Goode’s version had gone through, we might’ve ended up with the darkest Bond yet.
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