An award-winning English actor has said he wants to play a Bond villain after admitting playing 007 himself was not his dream job.
George MacKay, who already has a BAFTA Scotland win and several award nominations to his name, has made a name for himself in period dramas such as war drama 1917 and LGBTQIA rights story Pride. He will also appear in the upcoming adaptation of Sense and Sensibility as Edward Ferrars, opposite Normal People star Daisy Edgar-Jones’ Elinor Dashwood.
He has often been pegged as a favourite to play the next James Bond, but has now said that he’d rather take on the villain role, following in the footsteps of Javier Bardem, Christoph Waltz and Mads Mikkelsen.
5View 5 ImagesGeorge MacKay at the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards in 2017(Image: PA)
5View 5 ImagesMacKay has spoken about his Bond dreams(Image: PA)
MacKay told Variety: “I quite like the idea of a villain — maybe a one and done, chew the scenery a bit, come be part of it, get the best scenes and then get killed!”
The next Bond film is set to be produced by Amazon MGM Studios, with Denis Villeneuve, known the Dune films, as the director and Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight as the writer. The story will reportedly focus on the threat AI poses to security.
A new lead has yet to be announced, but Amazon confirmed that auditions for the role had begun. They said in a statement: “The search for the next James Bond is underway.
View 5 ImagesMacKay in the film 1917(Image: Publicity Picture)
“While we don’t plan to comment on specific details during the casting process, we’re excited to share more news with 007 fans as soon as the time is right.”
Favourites for the role currently include Callum Turner, fresh off his wedding to Dua Lipa, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Jacob Elordi. The last person to play Bond was Daniel Craig, who started the role in 2006 with Casino Royale, but quite after the 2021 release of No Time To Die.
Tom Holland is also a favourite to be the next Bond. In a recent interview with Esquire, Holland was asked about whether he would do the role, to which he responded: “I think if you were lucky enough to get that job, like, who am I to turn my nose up at the most iconic British character in modern cinema?”
View 5 ImagesDaniel Craig as James Bond(Image: PA)
The actor, who recently married his Spiderman co-star Zendaya, also said that he had “grown up” with Bond films and had always been “a huge fan of espionage movies” but wasn’t actively campaigning for the role for a unique reason.
The producer of the untitled upcoming Bond film is Amy Pascal, who Holland worked with on the Spiderman films. He said that while she was his “absolute ride or die”, he was trying to be “respectful” of their relationship and “professional”. He added that he did not want to “overstep” but was still thinking about the role.
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