After seeing Skyfall this week, Roger Moore described Daniel Craig and Sam Mendes' new James Bond film as "without a doubt... the best Bond there's ever been." The film's crew is seemingly made up entirely of Oscar winners and critical reaction has suggested that Skyfall could be the first 007 movie to win big at the Academy Awards.
Though there were murmurings of discontent when British star Daniel Craig replaced Pierce Brosnan in the secret agent franchise, he's since become a revelation, with many considering him to be the finest Bond yet. His turn in Casino Royale had far more depth than anything Brosnan (or Dalton for that matter) had delivered, leaving Bond geeks squabbling between just three actors as to who was the best Bond ever: Moore, Connery or Craig? Though Quantum of Solace failed to reach the heady critical heights of its predecessor, early reaction suggests Skyfall betters Casino Royale and possibly anything before it. But it all could have been very different, couldn't it? Cast your mind back to 2005, when the protracted process of choosing the new James Bond was reaching its final stages. With Ralph Fiennes unable to commit to the filming schedule of Casino Royale, and Jude Law, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana and Heath Ledger discounted, producers chose to go ahead and run screen tests on the four 'finalists'. (They had lost the chance of landing Clive Owen after refusing to include gross profit points in his contract) The contenders were Layer Cake star Daniel Craig, ER actor Goran Visnjic, Australian actor Sam Worthington and 22-year-old Henry Cavill, reported Variety. All were relatively inexperienced, though producers were keen for someone considerably younger than the 52-year-old Pierce Brosnan. In fact, writer Paul Haggis told the Hollywood Reporter at the time, "We're trying to reinvent Bond. He's 28 - no Q, no gadgets."
Continue reading: Imagining James Bond Without Daniel Craig: Who Were The Other 007 Contenders?
