The Search For Bond The final part of an exclusive 3-part article

In the end around ten actors were tested but Dalton’s replacement was always a foregone conclusion. “To be honest there was never anybody else in the frame,” said director Martin Campbell, the man chosen to launch the Brosnan era. “Who else in the world could do it? I saw some people just in case, but I think Pierce is actually much better now than he would have been then. I saw the 1986 screen tests and he looked unbelievably young.” Brosnan agreed; he was now far more mature as a performer. “Finally, there’s a bit of weathering, a bit of age.” Most importantly this time Brosnan was free to accept the role. Accept it - he seized it. “When something happens for the second time in your life it carries a certain significance. I couldn’t have said no to this role. It was unfinished business.”

When GoldenEye opened at the end of 1995 it was a smash hit, selling 24 million tickets in America, almost three times that of Licence To Kill. Globally too it performed stunningly. For the remainder of the 90s Brosnan's reign as Bond steamrollered the world's box offices. But by the time of Die Another Day in 2002 press speculation was rife that Brosnan was going to bow out. To add to the mystery nothing was heard from Brosnan or EON until early 2004 when words such as “opaque” were being bandied around by the actor regarding his status coming back for a fifth time. At the Oscars, Brosnan told the press that it was up in the air regarding his return and that creative paralysis had set in at EON. He claimed that the producers did not know in which direction to go with the new Bond film.

Things changed dramatically in 2005 when the highly successful back to basics Batman Begins altered the thinking of EON executives. Did Bond himself now require a re-boot. But replacing Brosnan was going to be an almighty task. Even though his movies never reached the artistic plateau of Connery’s Goldfinger or Moore’s The Spy Who Loved Me, or even Dalton’s The Living Daylights, Brosnan himself was always worth watching and his movies had made money – serious money.

The trick in finding a new Bond was casting an actor who would appeal to women’s taste while at the same time be respected by the men. This is where Brosnan, like Connery before him, scored so highly. Any new actor also had to have real screen presence and charisma. Star quality didn’t necessarily mean being a huge star; let’s face it, James Bond is far bigger a character than anyone who has ever played him, but obviously the winning candidate needed some kind of track record as a performer. He also needed to be British and in his mid to late 30s, someone who could take on the role for 15 years and really make it his own. It was a balancing act, not least in finding an actor at the right moment in his career to take on Bond. Connery was essentially a ‘B-Movie’ actor when he was cast, Moore a TV star, and Brosnan a supporting player at best in movies. That ruled out already major players like Jude Law, Ewan McGregor and Hugh Grant, who’d been linked to the role of Bond for years.

What about Hugh Jackman? Former stunt man Vic Armstrong, who in his capacity as second unit director worked on the Brosnan Bond films, had also worked with Jackman on a little movie called Kate and Leopold (2001). “This was before the X-Men films, before anybody really knew who he was. I’d certainly never heard of him. But after returning home I went straight up to Pinewood and saw Barbara Broccoli. ‘Look,’ I said. ‘I know Pierce has got one or two more Bonds in him but I’ve seen the next James Bond, Hugh Jackman, he’s fantastic. He’s got all the right characteristics, he’s Australian, so he qualifies, and Australian’s have a great dry sense of humour that’s very British. Plus he’s a good looking guy, great character and great fun to work with. I think he’s just magnificent.’ But by the time his name was mentioned his career had advanced too much. He’d done X-Men and had proved himself to be a bigger star than somebody that needed to do Bond. It wouldn’t have been a good career move, but back in those days he would’ve made a terrific Bond.”

According to Parade Magazine, when they asked their readers in June 2004 to vote for who should be the next James Bond the overwhelming winner was - Adrian Paul, the British born star of the American TV series Highlander. It was a name not previously mentioned before, although it wasn’t the first time Paul had been connected with the Bond job. “I did an interview with the producers years ago,” he says. “The first time Pierce Brosnan was selected for the role and couldn’t play it due to his commitments on Remington Steele, but I was too young then. So, it has always been something I thought it would be fun to play.”

A Bond fan since he was a kid watching Sean Connery, Paul was both delighted and taken aback when after the Parade Magazine survey his fans began an internet petition to have him installed as the new James Bond. “But this time around I wasn’t interviewed or even contacted by the producers,” says Paul. “Most of the buzz came from the general public. I think I have been put in an odd position. Most people think I am American or something in-between because most of the roles I have played over the years have been geared toward the American audience, so maybe that had something to do with it or maybe they were going after bigger names for the role.”

Adrian Paul moved to America in the mid-80s; born in London in 1959 he had first become a model, then a dancer and choreographer in Europe. Shortly after his arrival in America he won his first TV role as a Russian ballet dancer on the mega soap The Colbys. More guest appearances on television followed and also film roles before he was cast in 1992 in the role that would bring him international fame, that of Duncan MacLeod in Highlander. The fantasy TV series brought Paul huge cult celebrity status, but if the 007 role had been his, how would the actor have approached and played it. “I always believed that Bond had qualities that set him apart from other legendary figures; a tongue in cheek humour, style, danger, panache and daring. There have been many Bonds with some of these qualities but not all of them. I think I would have looked into incorporating all of them. Every actor who has played Bond has chosen a different aspect of him and today Daniel Craig’s take on Bond is really good, he’s given the character a new twist.”

Naturally the bookmakers were only too happy to perpetuate the search for Bond media circus, and William Hill announced that Scotsmen Ewan McGregor and Dougray Scott were leading the race, followed by Clive Owen, Colin Farrell, Hugh Jackman and Ioan Gruffudd. Tory MP Boris Johnson was a not unreasonable 500/1.

With such high profile contenders filling column inches, enter a complete unknown - Roger Barton Smith, who decided one day, despite no previous acting experience, to become James Bond and ended up spending £200,000 in pursuit of that seemingly impossible goal. It’s an extraordinary chapter in the search for Bond and a testament to one man’s hopes and dreams.

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