It is well known that aside from eventual winner Daniel Craig, one of the finalists for the role of James Bond in 2006’s “Casino Royale” was a young Henry Cavill.
Aged just twenty-two at the time of casting, Cavill had few credits to his name, with only small roles in “The Count of Monte Cristo” and “I Capture the Castle”.
It wouldn’t be until a few years later when he broke out with Showtime’s “The Tudors” before going on to become a household name as Superman.
Unfortunately his youth worked against him in this instance as Bond has always been a character cast with someone well into their thirties, like in the books, in order to portray someone with a believable past history as a Royal Naval Reserve Commander before they became an elite MI6 agent.
This week, ‘Royale director Martin Campbell spoke with Express UK about Cavill’s audition for the part:
“He looked great in the audition. His acting was tremendous. And look, if Daniel didn’t exist, Henry would have made an excellent Bond. He looked terrific. He was in great physical shape…. very handsome, very chiselled. He just looked a little young at that time back then.”
Campbell also explained how the audition process is handled, with the final decision proving to be more by committee than you might expect:
“The way they work with Bond, and it’s pretty terrific, is when they decide on the actor and you audition – in our case, it was eight people – it’s very democratic. You sit around a table, eight or nine of you. It was myself and the producers, the casting director, etc. And you go through the eight people, and you put your hand up as you talk through each person. Ultimately, everybody has to be unanimous in their decision, if you see what I mean.”
With Craig’s tenure as Bond running long, unfortunately Cavill appears to have aged out of the role. Campbell says:
“By the time Daniel got to [‘No Time To Die’] really, he was at an age where one more would have been too old for him. I know with Pierce he had to sign on to three when we did him… Henry’s 40, so by the time he’s done the third one he’s going to be 50 and anything beyond that’s two, three years per Bond. He’s in good shape, Henry, he’s a good guy. He did very well in the audition, but ironically he was too young.”
There’s currently no timeline in place for when the next James Bond actor will be cast or announced beyond the producers indicating they’re looking at actors in their early 30s this time around.
