Aussie actor Sam Worthington has gone and done my favourite thing: admitted he lost a major starring role and explained the reasons why he cooked it. Sam, thank you for this Christmas gift.
Good old Sam went on the record to recall a huge L from his acting career — missing out on the iconic role of James Bond after making it to the final stages.
In an interview with Variety, Sam admitted that he completely cooked the Casino Royale audition process after being flown to London to read for legendary James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli.
“I had no idea what I was doing,” Sam said of the experience.
At the time, Broccoli and her co-producer Michael G. Wilson were apparently looking for a younger star to take over James Bond from Pierce Brosnan.
On the shortlist with Sam Worthington were Henry Cavill (no stranger to losing big-ass film roles) and former ER star Goran Visnjic, along with Daniel Craig.
Sam told Variety Barbara Broccoli even went to his hotel room to personally cut his hair, in order to match her vision of the character. Honestly, with that attention to detail, this woman must be a Virgo.
But when he suited up to read a scene from Sean Connery‘s James Bond film From Russia With Love the actor, who grew up in Perth, was just not the James Bond vibe at all.
“I could play Bond as a killer, but I couldn’t get the debonair down for the life of me,” Sam recalled. “The suit did not fit.”
The role ultimately went to Daniel Craig but Sam Worthington holds no bitterness. He told Variety he learned a lot from his encounter with the James Bond producers. “They are protective and passionate about this series. And what I learned is that you listen to these people.
“It’s the same thing with [Avatar director] James Cameron. He’s done all the research and there’s nothing you can’t ask him that he doesn’t have an answer for.”
Sam Worthington went on to star in Avatar and the recently released sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, while Daniel Craig has since hung up the fancy James Bond tuxedo.
Rumours were swirling earlier this month that Barbara Broccoli had selected Aaron Taylor-Johnson to play the iconic spy. Watch this space for confirmation.
