Matthew Rhys has revealed that while he was once in the running to play James Bond, his attempts at humour may well have cost him the role of 007.
The Perry Mason star told The Times that he was invited to a “terrifying” meeting at James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli’s office in the space between Pierce Brosnan stepping down as the iconic MI5 agent and Daniel Craig being cast.
“[It was] very intimidating,” he recalled. “We were just told to wear a dark suit and read Casino Royale.”
During the meeting, Matthew said he was asked what he’d do differently were he to be cast as James Bond, which he admitted he was “so not anticipating”.
“And then I was like, is it a trick question? Are they waiting for people to go, ‘I wouldn’t do anything. He’s perfect’?” he recalled.
Instead, Matthew tried out a joke, telling the team he’d give 007 “a limp” and then “an eye patch”.
Their response? “Nothing”, apparently.
Daniel Craig went on to play James Bond in five films, the most recent of which, No Time To Die, was finally released in 2021.
Since then, there’s been plenty of speculation as to which actor will take over from Daniel, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Henry Cavill, Rege-Jean Page, Lucien Laviscount and Tom Hardy among the names reported to be in the frame.
Idris Elba has also long been rumoured to play the iconic character, but admitted recently that he didn’t think it was ever going to happen for him.