Hulk star Eric Bana explains why he wouldn’t want to play James Bond. Bana once starred alongside Daniel Craig in Steven Spielberg’s political thriller Munich. Just a few years later, Craig would score one of the plum roles in all of movies, taking on the mantle of James Bond in the smash hit Casino Royale.
Craig of course would thrive in the role of Bond, going on to play the fictional secret agent four more times. But Craig’s time as Bond came to an end in 2021 as he went out with a literal bang in the long-awaited No Time to Die. Now the search is on for the next Bond, and speculation is naturally running rampant over which actor will take on the challenge of reviving the character for the next chapter of the 007 film series.
One person who apparently will not be entering their name in the Bond sweepstakes is Craig’s old Munich co-star Bana. The Australian actor known for playing a pre-MCU Bruce Banner in 2003’s Hulk told the Independent that there’s just too much baggage that comes with playing 007. He said:
“I wouldn’t have wanted to be James Bond. It would have been too much fame for my head. ... I’m largely able to do whatever the hell I want, whenever I want. It would have been a great loss.”
It’s not known of course whether Bana was actually in the running to play Bond when the role last came open. But he was obviously a well-known actor at the time, having already starred in Black Hawk Down, Hulk, Munich and Troy, so it's not out of the question that he may have been considered. And indeed Bana’s name has come up again in recent speculation about who will next be chosen to play James Bond on the big screen. Bana is far from the front-runner however, as names like Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, Rege-Jean Page, Henry Cavill, Richard Madden, Tom Hopper and James Norton dominate lists of potential Craig successors.
Then of course there’s the notion of a woman actually stepping in and becoming the next 007. Indeed this did happen, briefly, in No Time to Die when Lashana Lynch’s Nomi took over the 007 designation following Bond’s retirement (only for her to surrender it back to him later in the film). But the idea of a full-on James Bond gender-swap seems like a very long shot indeed, as producer Barbara Broccoli has previously stated that Bond will never be a woman.
The X-factor in all this Bond discussion of course is the fact that 007 is now partially owned by Amazon after their acquisition of MGM and its catalog. Indeed Amazon is already moving to capitalize on the Bond IP, announcing the development of a Bond-themed reality competition show. It remains to be seen what future plans Amazon has for Bond, and how they might alter the way the character has traditionally been presented. But if Amazon’s Bond plans involve calling Bana and offering him the role, it seems they might as well not waste their time, as he’s already made up his mind that he doesn’t want to deal with the fame headache that comes with becoming moviedom’s most fabled secret agent.
Source: The Independent