James Bond, the Amazon Era

[StevenBills]

My money is on Aaron Taylor-Johnson. He was recently made an Omega brand ambassador:

Aaron Taylor-Johnson joins OMEGA as a Brand Ambassador

SB

 

[Lightning]

I was surprised not to see him on the short list as well. Where did that list come from anyway?

 

[Wakeem]

That's what I suspect. The studio must have disagreed with Nolan on some ground-up issue. Either that or it's money, which I think may be a big factor. Nolan pocketed something like $100m from 'Oppenheimer' between his salary and profit points. Every dollar he gets is one that the studio gave up.

Nolan might also have refused to sign up for multiple sequels. He did 3 movies for Batman, but that trilogy started 20 years ago when he had a fraction of the clout he has now. Amazon might be thinking "If we can't get Nolan for several movies then we might as well go with somebody else from the start."


This stuff is similar to the issues with 007 actors. Henry Cavill is probably not in the running to be the new 007. He would be great in the role today, but he's not the best choice to build a future around. He's already famous for other roles. He gets pretty big paychecks. He would age out of 007 too soon.

Rule of thumb for choosing 007 actors: "If the public is saying a certain actor would be great in the role, then he's probably to old & established for it already."

I think this was the most recent or detailed interview Nolan gave about his creative requirements in making a Bond film and films in general.

If Nolan directed multiple Bond movies, I would bet that they would be incredibly profitable. Amazon supposedly paid something like 1 billion for the previous two producers to give up control. Which even though is a lot isn't much when you see that Skyfall, my least favorite Bond movie (I still haven't watched No Time to Die yet), made 1 billion + at the box office.

I read an article somewhere that actors or their agents will put stories in the news to get reactions. I think Henry Cavill was one that was mentioned when he supposedly was still in the running to continue playing Superman.

I would be surprised if the actors that are mentioned in the Variety article get the Bond role. Although I remember watching some of the Euphoria TV show and the actor that's mentioned has a scene where he's waiting alone in a dark room for some guy to come back and beats him up.

I'm not an expert on it but casting for Bond doesn't seem to be an exact science. I've read about it in some books and many times they were just considering the current popular actors. I believe it was Layer Cake that really got Daniel Craig the role. The actor who plays Q in the recent Bond movies was also in Layer Cake.

I know I thought Tom Hiddleston was going to play Bond after the Night Manager TV show.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson continues to be mentioned. I haven't seen that Brad Pitt Bullet Train movie yet but Aaron Taylor-Johnson is supposed to play a spy type character in that one. I don't know if Omega still has a contract for the next Bond film with the new producers. But I do remember watching a video with one of the top Omega people and he mentioned something about the timeline of a new watch with the next Bond movie around the time of No Time to Die. It was a sit down talk with the new watch, not a review and I can't seem to find it on youtube right now.

But my guess is that Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a Omega Ambassador is just another type of marketing / popularity thing to get the actors name out there. Although Nolan seems to think he would be a good choice.

Personally, I would never buy a watch because an actor / actress in an ambassador. If they want to play that game, perhaps since Charlize Theron is some kind of ambassador for Breitling. Then she can play a modern day Pussy Galore type pilot.

However, I would bet most would consider her too old since she's almost 50. I'm not one of them though.

 

[Wakeem]

For some reason, I got a double post. Anyway, the Omega No Time to Die watch video that I mentioned above. The Omega guy thought the new Bond movie would be out in 2024. I guess the change in producers upset that schedule. We'll see if they stick with Omega or try Rolex again for the new movies.