SHAKEN...

New Bond Director Rules Out Stars and Americans for Role

Sorry Timothée and Edris, it won’t be you.

The new director of James Bond is on a mission to disappoint the famous: The next 007 will be an “unknown,” sources say. Denis Villeneuve, the Oscar-nominated director of the latest Dune movies, has been handed the longest-running cinematic franchise by Amazon MGM Studios. “It’s a new Bond, a new start, a fresh everything,” a key source told Deadline‘s gossip columnist, the veteran British journalist Baz Bamigboye. Villeneuve is looking for a British “fresh face” in his 20s and 30s, a series of criteria which end speculation that it could be American Timothée Chalamet, Glen Powell and Austin Butler. Also out of the running would be Idris Elba, who is 53. Other names who have been mooted include Jacob Elordi, a 28-year-old Australian, and apparently aged out-Brits Tom Hardy, 47, and Henry Cavill, 42. Daniel Craig, now 57, quit as Bond after 2021’s No Time to Die. He was already a well known Britishactor when he was cast as Bond aged 38 in Casino Royale. The original Bond, Sean Connery, had a Hollywood career when he was cast, having starred in 1959’s Darby O’Gill and the Little People. The 26th Bond, which has not been named, is not due to be released until at least 2028, Deadline reported.