To talk, or not to talk: that is the question every potential actor who wants to play James Bond has to answer in their own fashion. Naturally, you’d be expected to talk if you were someone like Outlander’s Sam Heughan. As a perennial odds-on favorite, Heughan’s name has been whispered in the same circles as Tom Hardy and James Norton when it comes to replacing Daniel Craig as the new 007. Which leaves the Scottish actor in a position of addressing these rumors.
Talk he did, as Sam Heughan was on hand with Esquire UK to discuss his latest film, SAS: Red Notice. While not exactly the James Bond type, his character of Tom Buckingham does have some serious spy skills under his belt. So when playing a role such as this, people are once again going to talk about how Heughan would look in a tuxedo drinking martinis. So the actor kind of cut everyone off at the pass, and breached the subject himself, as follows:
I think any actor would never say they're not interested. Of course, you'd be interested. I mean, it is all rumours, and sometimes you think, should I, should we even talk about it? Because you don't want to jinx it.
It’s insane to not want to say that you want to play James Bond, especially when you’re someone like Sam Heughan. The popularity of Outlander put the man on the map when it came to being a dramatic lead of gravitas and insanely handsome features. But then, slowly but surely, his career trajectory put him in the orbit of Ian Fleming’s super spy; a role that was originated on screen by fellow Scot Sean Connery.
But much like fellow James Bond contender Tom Hardy, Heughan feels like there’s a sort of unlucky nature in talking about wanting to play the role. Not to mention, he doesn’t want to wear his name out when it comes to a 007 posting, as the impending release of No Time To Die has plenty of actors looking to put their names out there. Though if there’s any sort of consolation to Sam Heughan’s fans, it should be in the fact that he’s still very much in staying in the action business, thanks to his continued remarks:
I'm sure the people, whoever runs [Bond] – you know, Barbara Broccoli and EON and all that – they must be sick of it; people sort of throwing their hat into the ring. But yeah, he's a great character, and would be certainly be a fascinating character study and place to kick off. But I think in [SAS: Red Notice]we have our own authentic note based on real life scenarios, we have our authentic character, so I'd love to explore this one more.
Even if Sam Heughan doesn’t land the role of James Bond, the actor will be plenty busy between Outlander potentially continuing into a seventh season and beyond, as well as through hypothetical future installments of Andy McNab’s SAS series. You’ll be able to meet Tom Buckingham in SAS: Red Notice, as the film will premiere on Sky Cinema in the UK on March 12th. US audiences will have to wait a little longer, as March 16th marks the film’s domestic release, both theatrically and on VOD.
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