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

In 2005 news broke of an apparent rift between the Broccoli family and their studio backers SONY. What actor takes on the role, so said these reports, could well depend on who emerges victorious in the power struggle behind the scenes. If the Broccoli family won audiences could well see an unknown actor, while if the money men had their way it would be a top star in the role.

Suddenly William Hill stopped taking bets on the next James Bond, following a succession of large wagers on actor Dougray Scott, the fridge salesman’s son from Glenrothes, who had long been considered a fair bet for the 007 role. Money was also being put on Dominic West. While not a household name in Britain, West had an impressive acting CV in America. He’d played Renée Zellweger’s ill-fated lover in the Oscar-winning musical Chicago and co-starred with Julia Roberts in the chick-flick drama Mona Lisa Smile but it was his lead role as an American homicide detective in the HBO series The Wire that was responsible for his high profile. Much later West confirmed that he did attend an audition. “Apparently all of the other candidates were turning up in a tux – dressed in full-on James Bond garb. So I went to my audition in an old pair of jeans and a tatty T-shirt. I thought I’d try to be different and go for the nonchalant look.”

Julian McMahon, the Australian-born star of television hit medical drama Nip/Tuck, had also held talks with the Bond producers, revealing that he was on a shortlist of two to appear in Casino Royale. “I met the producers for a final audition. They told me to expect a decision in a couple of months and they said it was between me and one other person. It’s going to be a very nervous wait.” The other person on the list was thought to be Clive Owen.

It was now that Daniel Craig was linked with Bond in the press for the very first time, his candidacy taking most people by surprise. Not unnaturally EON refused to comment on the reports. Craig’s representatives were also keeping shtum, refusing to comment on reports that it was now a straight fight between their client and Owen, a fight that Craig was now favourite to win, as the feeling was that Owen had decided the role would limit his acting career. “Everybody who works at EON has been told Daniel is the new 007,” said an insider.

When word filtered back to Craig that he was under heavy consideration it gave him pause. Bond was no ordinary film role, he was an icon and how do you play an icon. “You’d be foolish if something came along like that not to consider it,” he said. “But my gut feeling about it is that it is something I’d have no comprehension of because I’m an actor, and that role is about being more than an actor.” Yet he was fully aware that to dismiss Bond, “could be a decision that haunts you for the rest of your life.”

With the start date for BOND 21 looming EON really turned up the heat in their search, and some fresh names entered the frame including Goran Visnjic, then in the hit medical drama ER and young British actor Henry Cavill. “All are among the most impressive would-be Bonds we’ve ever encountered,” an EON insider claimed. There was also Australian Alex O’Loughlin who confirmed to the Daily Telegraph that he tested for Bond in full wardrobe. Born in Sydney in 1975, O’Loughlin was certainly one of the youngest candidates, having only started his career in 2004 when he landed his first lead role in the film drama Oyster Farmer. “I’m spinning out of my brain about it,” the actor told the newspaper. “I flew to London, stayed on Piccadilly and was looked after beautifully. I was fitted out at Hugo Boss for a tuxedo, had my hair cut and filmed two scenes. The reality is I may not get the role, which is the conundrum for all actors, but at the end of the day I’m incredibly grateful just to be considered. It’s James Bond, need I say any more?”

At the same time Rikki Lee Travolta, a member of the famous Travolta clan, John being his half-nephew, was ushered from the Chicago set of a television series and flown to London for a closed door screen test for what was only being described as ‘a franchise action role.’ To this day Rikki Lee still doesn’t know whether that test was for Bond or not. “It was not, to my belief, for James Bond,” he says. “Unless the producers were doing their tests with a fake name for the project. Since that is not unheard of, of course, there is always that chance. But I was told it was a different role entirely. The dialogue was very close to a traditional James Bond scene. To my understanding the footage was close enough to a James Bond scene that bootlegs have been passed off as a James Bond screen test.”

Born in 1975, Rikki Lee Travolta was a child star touring in theatrical productions before becoming a successful recording artist. Capitalising on his pop fame, Travolta returned to the stage in the 1990s headlining tours of Broadway classics like Joseph And His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Guys and Dolls and West Side Story.

As a follow up to Travolta’s screen test story his publicist announced that there had been a massive groundswell of grassroots support for their client becoming Bond as evidenced by the fact that his fans had sent him over 135,000 copies of the CASINO ROYALE novel. When a few sceptical journalists asked for proof, Travolta’s PR people announced that all of these books had already been generously donated to worthy causes!

The truth of the matter, as always, was very different. “The grassroots campaign of sending copies of CASINO ROYALE to me is a bizarre mix of fact and fiction,” says Travolta. “The original report was completely fiction. I wasn’t even represented by the agency that was reported to have received all those books when the rumour started. However, after the report hit the newswires it seemed to inspire a whole legion of fans to action. As a bizarre twist - after that rumour was first reported we did, in fact, start receiving a few thousand Xerox copies of the cover of CASINO ROYALE with letters urging me to play James Bond. If only all those thousands of fans had sent their pleas to the producers and not to us, who knows?”

Who knows indeed and Travolta admits that, not unnaturally with all those rumours flying around, it did cross his mind at one point what he would do if he ever were entrusted with carrying on the James Bond legacy? “I think to do the role justice you have to really go back to the original novels and bring the characteristics in the books into the character. The scripts as they are today, to stay viable and create a profitable picture, have to ignore certain aspects of the legacy of the origins of Bond and concentrate on what the modern audience wants. The job of the actor, then, is to create the story and character beyond the script. That’s where Shakespearean study can be so amazingly advantageous. In Shakespeare you have to make the audience understand the meaning of what you are saying even if they don’t understand the words. The same is true with playing a classic character under the restraints of a modern script – as an actor you have to convincingly convey what isn’t in the script. Who is this man? Why is he like this? What does it feel like to kill a man and then go about business like nothing has happened? How does this man’s past sins prevent him from obtaining true romantic intimacy with a woman beyond the physical? Does he hide the portions of him that are damaged or does he wear them with a badge of honour?”

CONTINUED