The Hollywood star who recommended Daniel Craig for the role of Bond has shared who he thinks his successor should be.
Michael Fassbender auditioned to play 007 when producers were looking for a new star after the departure of Pierce Brosnan from the long-running spy franchise.
The actor’s audition ultimately didn’t go well – according to Fassbender, he was never truly considered for the role – but this didn’t stop him from alerting producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson to whom he thought would make a great incarnation.
“I met with Barbara Broccoli just, you know, through passing and I actually went into an audition phase before Daniel [Craig] was cast, but I don’t think I was ever in the mix,” Fassbender told Happy Sad Confused podcast.
“But I remember going into that room and meeting with her and Wilson and I think I was like, ‘Daniel Craig is…’ I don’t know why I was promoting him. I should have been promoting myself.”
Now Broccoli and Wilson have handed all creative control of Bond over to Amazon, in an acquisition that has proved controversial among the fandom, the hunt is on for Craig’s replacement – and Fassbender is backing Bridgerton breakout Regé-Jean Page.
Speaking about his co-star in new Steven Soderbergh film Black Bag, Fassbender told Us Weekly: “He could be a frontrunner after this, to be honest. I think he’s fantastic. He’s got all the attributes. So let’s wait and see.”
It’s unknown whether Broccoli and Wilson already had their eye on Craig – but Inglourious Basterds actor Fassbender’s tip off certainly didn’t hurt the actor’s chances.
At that time, he was considered a leftfield choice for the role of a suave action hero despite a performance in gangster film Layer Cake. His previous roles included TV series Our Friends in the North, Road to Perdition – directed by his future Bond collaborator Sam Mendes –and the Ian McEwan adaptation Enduring Love.
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“Obviously, Daniel did a fantastic job and went on to be, I think, the most successful Bond in history,” Fassbender added.
However, for his own part, “there was never a conversation after” his audition, with Fassbender admitting he isn’t very good at them.
In the same podcast interview, he admitted he failed “terribly” in an audition for Tom Hardy’s role in the Oscar-winning thriller Mad Max: Fury Road.
Black Bag is in cinemas now.
