Not every James Bond candidate is quite the same it seems.
A new report at Puck News has gone into the contract terms of the ‘test deals’ that the various candidates sign up for ahead of their screen tests.
According to them, Robert Pattinson’s deal was decidedly more favourable – one with only a three-picture commitment and a much larger (but unspecified) fee.
In comparison, other mentioned candidates like Jack Lowden and Josh O’Connor’s deals are for a four-picture commitment.
Writer Matt Belloni says “it suggests the studio is willing or even eager to sacrifice a bit to get a ‘name’ star to front its most important franchise.”
There’s also the implication that Amazon isn’t entirely happy with the original trio of candidates (Lowden, O’Connor and Callum Turner) and thus allowing more established names to join the process.
Whereas Bond helped turn an actor into a star in the past, Belloni suggests that’s not so true these days: “No franchise is bulletproof any more – everything is vulnerable and most can be helped by a value-add element, like an established star.”
There’s one complication with Pattinson – namely Batman. Pattinson’s future in the role is unclear after “The Batman: Part II” as it’s not clear yet if either Matt Reeves or Skydance wants to do more beyond this one.
As The Insneider pointed out, former Bond series producer Barbara Broccoli reportedly liked Pattinson for Bond a few years ago but once he was cast as Batman she lost that interest.
One person who may already be out of the running is O’Connor with The Daily Mail reporting that according to a source “Josh has turned down the Bond role” while the actor recently said he’s “taking some time out” next year after a small job in January.
