With Daniel Craig possibly looking to turn in his license to kill as 007 in the near future, many names have been bandied about as replacements. Yet there's one name that's found its way into the conversation again, after all of these years: McGregor, Ewan McGregor.
The Scottish actor was interviewed at the Los Cabos Film Festival, their main concern was the recent movement on Danny Boyle's sequel to Trainspotting. As McGregor's name has been a recurring choice the role of the world's greatest super-spy, even after he'd previously turned down the offer, the actor took the mention in stride with the following remarks to The Hollywood Reporter:
I think it would be quite cool to play James Bond. At this stage in my career (being typecast) is not really an issue anymore. Early on, when you start off you don't want your horizons to be narrow, but I think people know I have some kind of width in my work, so I'm really not worried about that anymore.
This isn't the first time that McGregor's name has been considered for the role, as he was previously offered the role earlier in the franchise's history. Presumably, the actor turned down the role of Bond when the producers were casting for the 2006 reboot that started with Casino Royale, as he didn't want to be type-casted in the role. The funny thing is, the Bond franchise has been built on actors being passed over or unable to take the role, only to later get another turn at bat. Just ask Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, who were both unable to step into the life of England's top assassin due to youth and contractual obligations, respectively.
For McGregor to openly approve of the rumors that he'd possibly replace Daniel Craig after his time is up not only honors his maturity as an actor, it's also extremely confident. Quite frankly, the sort of thing we love to hear out of actors who've made a name for themselves with blockbuster flicks. This goes double for anyone who can make it through the perils and pitfalls of a major fixture of the business, and still come out of the other end wanting to step into the well worn role of an iconic character. Surely his time as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels had to have left him with some unfortunate stories of how those films were received less than ideally, and the less said about Jack The Giant Slayer, the better.
So while Ewan McGregor is up for taking on the likes of the SPECTRE organization, would he be a good fit for the role? We all know that he has the charm and wit to spare, so that's not in question. Rather, the fact that he doesn't have a lot of action experience is what gives us pause. Yet even that doesn't completely disqualify him, as his work in Steven Soderbergh's Haywire would more than qualify him to be given the chance to train to become a kick assed fighter. It takes a mighty good actor to look like they're even putting up a sizable fight with Gina Carano, so that basically has us cautiously optimistic of his chances at being a good 007.
For now, we're still hoping that Daniel Craig will throw down for at least one last ride as James Bond, but if he leaves and the hunt is on, we'll be keeping our eyes on what Ewan McGregor does to beef up his resume in his favor. In the meantime, you can see Craig continue his current reign of badass action in Spectre, which is now playing.
