RUMOR: Aaron Taylor-Johnson Being Offered James Bond?

Movies

Put some extra salt in your vodka martini because it’s James Bond rumor time! The latest is from the British tabloid The Sun, which claims that the part of the world’s greatest spy (once upon a time, anyway) has been offered to Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Bond production company EON is waiting to hear back from him. Taylor-Johnson has long been suggested as the top candidate, with Bond producer/ungrateful inheritor Barbara Broccoli liking him very much (while her step-brother and co-producer, Michael G. Wilson, nods along, makes his cameos, and collects his checks). Aaron Taylor-Johnson is probably best known for his superhero roles; he played Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Kick-Ass in Kick-Ass and its sequel. He’s also been in things like Bullet Train (which I loved), The King’s Man (which I liked a lot), and Tenet (which I liked more than pretty much everyone). According to that Sun article, an “insider” told them Taylor-Johnson will be accepting the job soon and that the film is “on-course” to begin shooting this year, with the script currently being written.

This is spreading like wildfire, but keep in mind that the British tabloids lie about James Bond movies more than the Royal Family, so I don’t believe anything until EON officially announces it. I mean, this piece also says that Henry Cavill was a finalist for the role, and I don’t believe that for a second. If it is true, I’m not too fussed one way or the other. Aaron Taylor-Johnson wouldn’t be my pick for Bond (even though he wore a suit and beat people up in Bullet Train, which seems to be the only criteria some people look for in a 007 résumé), but I assumed they’d go with RuPaul or something, so it could be much worse. And even if he’s great, Barbara Broccoli has made it clear that she’s going to continue woke-ifying Bond and making sure the movies are joyless bores that further deconstruct a character who effectively created the archetype he’s now being used to subvert. And Michael G. Wilson doesn’t even know what branch of the military Bond served in. (“He’s probably been in the SAS or something.” I hate you.) So, it’s probably going to be a bunch of fan-fiction nonsense that misunderstands the character, the lore, and the franchise, but that Film Twitter will eat up.