So many names have circled the chance to take over the role of James Bond that it’s a little hard to keep track: maybe it will be Aaron Taylor-Johnson, maybe it won’t. But we do know one thing: Matthew Goode is officially out. Actually, he never even stood a chance once he met with famed producer Barbara Broccoli.
Matthew Goode had a keen interest in taking over 007 once Daniel Craig found time to die, even going so far as to having a sitdown with Broccoli, who at that time was partly in charge of the James Bond franchise before a much-publicized sale to Amazon MGM Studios. But once he got in the room and shared his vision for where the future of Bond should go, he knew it was over. “She was like, ‘So what’s your idea for Bond?’ And I was like, ‘My idea for Bond was that 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.’ Like, really like that…By the end of the interview, she was like, ‘Mhm. Next!’” Goode also joked that he should have tagged his vision of Bond by saying that he would still remain “incredibly charming.”
The James Bond franchise has definitely gone dark before, with Daniel Craig’s movies doing their part and perhaps License to Kill being the darkest of all. So it will be interesting to see where Amazon MGM Studios will go with it all, especially now that Dune director Denis Villeneuve has signed on as director, having supposedly beat out a short list that included All Quiet on the Western Front’s Edward Berger, Last Night in Soho’s Edgar Wright and Jonathan Nolan, brother and partner of Christopher.
Still, we have no idea who will be taking over for Daniel Craig when it comes to the future of James Bond. There are a lot of good options out there, but it’s a specific role for a specific man – and many would agree that Matthew Goode didn’t quite have the look down anyway, even if his perspective on the series is admirable.
Do you agree with Matthew Goode that the James Bond franchise needs to go back to its roots?
