As the tension draws out longer and longer on who will be announced as the new James Bond, one of the names that has been thrown around with the other contenders is Euphoria‘s breakout star Jacob Elordi. However, when it was reported nearly a month ago that the final screen tests were underway at Amazon MGM for a last round of hopefuls, Elordi was not said to be included amongst the others. Could he be committed to another project that will take him out of the running for the role?
According to Deadline, Elordi has now been tapped to star in a big-screen adaptation of the Norman Mailer book The Executioner’s Song. Ironically enough, this project’s home is at United Artists, which is a studio that works under Amazon MGM Studios, who is making the new Bond reboot.
Based on the 1979 Pulitzer-winning true-life novel, Elordi is reportedly playing convicted murderer Gary Gilmore and is also set to serve as a producer on the project. Per Deadline, “Mailer’s masterpiece chronicles the true story of Gilmore, a cold-blooded murderer who, after being tried and convicted for killing two men in Utah, insisted on being executed for his crimes. Fighting attorneys for a legal system intent on keeping him alive long after it sentenced him to death, Gilmore became a national media sensation and the first person executed in the United States following a four-year de facto moratorium on capital punishment. Told with impressive authority and compassion, The Executioner’s Song journeys deep into the heart of American violence, media frenzy and loneliness.”
Another project that is on deck for Elordi includes a mystery film from Ari Aster, titled Scapegoat. Elordi is set to star along Scarlett Johansson (The Exorcist: Martyrs), Ella Purnell (Fallout), Caleb Landry Jones (Dracula), Samba Schutte (Pluribus) and Jude Law (The Wizard of the Kremlin). There’s been plenty of speculation about Scapegoat, ranging from it being a sci-fi romance to a doctor who operates on a famous influencer or simply a traditional drama. Aster is directing from a script he wrote.