Avatar’s Sam Worthington just wasn’t quite right for the role of James Bond, as the actor recently recalled.
While things worked out well enough when they were cast to star in avatarlife could have turned out very differently Sam Worthington if he had been given the part of instead James Bond. Today, Worthington can be seen back on the big screen in the sequel Avatar: the way of the water. Like the original film, the film is a huge success at the box office and is already ranked high in the top ten highest-grossing films of all time.
But in 2005, Worthington was ready to play Bond after the departure of Pierce Brosnan. Before Daniel Craig was officially cast Casino royale, among those who auditioned for director Martin Campbell was Worthington. As the actor recalls in a new interview on the Sydney radio show Fitzy and Wippa (per ComicBook. com), he even went so far as to do a screen test for the role, wearing a tuxedo and reenacting a scene from the 1963 film From Russia with love. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite capture the “charm” needed to work for Bond.
“I went for Bond. I auditioned for Martin Campbell, who ended up directing Casino royale… You walk in, there is the girl in bed, you charm her. I could catch Bond’s killer. I just couldn’t understand the charm. I couldn’t charm her. The suit didn’t fit, man.”
Worthington went on to explain how the process works, noting that any young actor of the time, going back to the likes of Sam Neill and Mel Gibson in their younger days, would be considered for the role before the list is shortened. In turn, Worthington also notes that, in addition to his lack of charm, he further ruined the audition with a “terrible” British accent, and the creative ideas he had in mind for the character didn’t seem to help his chances either. .
“I was trying to do a British accent. I told them I wanted to wear the white tuxedo like Roger Moore. I wanted to bring back kung fu chops, and they looked at me like I was crazy… I said, ‘If I an Australian do [accent]”I’m going to be the next George Lazenby.” He only did one [movie, 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service], and I didn’t want to be like that. So I tried British…. It was terrible. I sounded like Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins. I remember Martin saying, ‘Just do your normal voice, it’s all cool, man.'”
Rumors of James Bond casting are on the rise
With Daniel Craig done as James Bond, the search for the next 007 has begun. Tons of names have come up in the rumor mill since Craig was winding down his final days as a character. Today, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the most recent name to emerge, with new reports suggesting he’s among the top picks for the role. But nothing is set in stone at this point, and chances are there are other hopefuls that Bond producers are paying close attention to given the pressure to get the casting right.
Meanwhile, you can see Worthington’s return as Jake Sully by watching Avatar: the way of the water in cinemas.