George Clooney has thrown his support behind Idris Elba for the role of James Bond, as he claimed the character should be played by a British person.
The actor, 59, spoke on Mark Wright’s Heart Evening Show on Monday about the iconic character’s future, and ruled himself out of playing the suave spy as he felt it was ‘a little late’ for that.
No Time To Die marks Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007, and George quipped ‘go hire someone else!’ when asked what he would say to an offer of Bond.
‘I think he’d do a great job’: George Clooney threw his support behind Idris Elba becoming the next James Bond as he claimed it’s ‘a little late’ to take the part himself on Monday
Of his reasoning, he added: ‘First of all because, I’ll be 60 this year so it’s a little late for the Bond thing. Second of all, Bond should be a Brit don’t you think? I mean properly. It just feels wrong’.
Several big names have been tipped for the role since the announcement that Craig will be stepping, as stars including Elba, Outlander’s Sam Heughan, James Norton and Tom Hardy have all been suggested as contenders for the part.
The Midnight Sky star said Idris ‘should be Bond’ as he felt he is ‘elegant’ and added, ‘I think he’d do a great job of it’.
Seal of approval: The actor said Idris ‘should be Bond’ as he felt he is ‘elegant’ and added, ‘I think he’d do a great job of it. That’s who I would’ve cast’
Not me: No Time To Die marks Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007, and George quipped ‘go hire someone else!’ when asked what he would say to an offer of Bond
He went on: ‘That’s who I would’ve cast, sure, absolutely but in general, no I don’t think I should be.
‘The closest thing I’ve ever done to any kind of hero like that was Batman and we saw how that turned out’.
Clooney played the Caped Crusader in 1997’s Batman & Robin, which was panned by critics and has regularly been cited as one of the worst superhero films ever.
Batman & Robin was directed by Joel Schumacher and also starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as the villain Mr Freeze.
Not suitable: Of his reasoning, he added: ‘First of all because, I’ll be 60 this year so it’s a little late for the Bond thing. Second of all, Bond should be a Brit don’t you think?’
Honest: George joked he couldn’t play Bond as he said: ‘The closest thing I’ve ever done to any kind of hero like that was Batman and we saw how that turned out’
No Time To Die is the 25th film in the franchise, and finds Bond after he has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica when his old friend Felix Leiter, played by Jeffrey Wright, from the CIA turns up asking for help.
Leaving his seemingly happy life with Madeleine, played by actress Lea Seydoux, Bond returns to the field to face Safin who is armed with a new dangerous technology that could impact the world.
The film, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, was originally scheduled for release in April 2020, but was pushed back to November before the release was changed once again to April 2021 in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
After pushing the film’s release back again, MGM quashed rumours in October about whether it was thinking of offering the film to streaming services for a $600 million one-year licensing deal.
Holding out: The film was originally scheduled for release in April 2020, but was pushed back to November before the release was changed to April 2021 due to the COVID-19 crisis
‘We do not comment on rumors. The film is not for sale. The film’s release has been postponed until April 2021 in order to preserve the theatrical experience for moviegoers,’ an MGM spokesperson told Variety.
Bloomberg had reported that Netflix, Amazon and Apple had all been approached about the possibility of the movie being offered up for Premium VOD.
However, according to Deadline.com, none of the streaming services were willing to put up more than half the amount the studio was seeking.
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Not coming soon: MGM quashed rumours in October about whether it was thinking of offering the film to streaming services for a $600 million one-year licensing deal