Move Over, Daniel Craig — Tom Hardy Is Ready To Snatch Up Coveted James Bond Role
First it was Damien Lewis. Then it was Idris Elba. Now, the James Bond baton has been passed to Tom Hardy, the next favorite to step into 007’s shoes (which Daniel Craig is still wearing, by the way).
What is clear is that if Hardy was asked to portray the superspy in the next film, he would probably say yes, according to an interview with Sky News.
“I think anybody would consider doing Bond, wouldn’t they?”
Anyone would, but not everyone could play James Bond. And Tom would be a great fit, having cut his action teeth in The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, and Mad Max. And the odds are in his favor.
Betting on which actor will portray James Bond next has become a bit of a pastime in the UK, and BoyleSports has its money on Tom Hardy right now, giving him odds of 2 to 1. Elba is behind him at 3 to 1, with Lewis suffering worse odds at 7 to 2; Henry Cavill’s name has even been tossed around, United Press International added.
Orlando Bloom, Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, and David Beckham — for some reason — have also been named, Entertainment Weekly noted.
So far, Idris hasn’t shown as much enthusiasm for the potential role as Tom. However, he may still be feeling the sting from 007 author Anthony Horowitz’ recent comments that the star is “too street” for the role. This wasn’t a dig at Elba’s race, rather his lack of a suave demeanor, apparently.
Horowitz apologized, and Elba responded to his criticism with, “Always Keep Smiling!! It takes no energy and never hurts! Learned that from the Street!!”
Despite Tom’s apparent willingness to play James Bond, Craig still has at least one more movie in him, but he has hinted that it will be his last. Spectre opens Nov. 6.
And Hardy has plenty of projects going on at the moment to think about besides Bond. He’s currently promoting Legend with Emily Browning, and he has a film with Leonardo DiCaprio coming up called The Revenant.
Hardy is clearly an excellent actor, and he may have the correct dosage of “suave” to be James Bond. Although Tom Hardy is also a bonafide action star, there are still those unseemly MySpace photos to consider. Would 007 ever be seen in his “tighty-whitey budgie smugglers?”
Likely not. But that doesn’t mean the world hasn’t enjoyed the eight-year-old photos, and Tom isn’t ashamed of them (though the old profile has been deleted), he told SkyNews Monday.
“I’ve got no shame about my MySpace photos, especially the one of me in my underpants which is a glorious photo of a man in his natural habitat. In America, they say ‘you should be ashamed of this,’ but I’m actually not remotely ashamed—that is me in my natural habitat, thank you. I might not be an Adonis, but I like to think of myself as an Adonis in that photo.”
[Photo Courtesy John Phillips/Getty Images]
