Rumours are swirling that Amazon MGM Studios has offered Jacob Elordi the licence to kill.
According to gossip site DeuxMoi, the Australian actor could be the man stepping into the tuxedo for Bond 26, directed by Denis Villeneuve and scripted by Steven Knight.
It’s an exciting prospect. Elordi is 28, globally famous, and coming off a remarkable run: Euphoria, Saltburn, Priscilla, and now a box-office-topping Wuthering Heights.
He’s also Oscar-nominated for his role in Frankenstein — and could even win. In any other franchise, that would make him a shoo-in, but for Bond, it may do the opposite.
Historically, 007 has never been played by Oscar winners or even nominees at the time of casting.
The Bond role has traditionally gone to actors on the brink of superstardom, not those already anointed by the Academy and public opinion.
Sean Connery was relatively unknown when he was cast in 1962. Roger Moore was best known for television. Timothy Dalton was respected but hardly an awards darling.
Pierce Brosnan had Remington Steele, but wasn’t Elordi famous, and Daniel Craig had prestige credits but nothing close to an Oscar nomination.
The closest the franchise has come to gold-statue prestige is Connery winning Best Supporting Actor for The Untouchables, but that was decades after his debut as Bond.
Bond has traditionally been a star-maker, not a role taken on by actors already consecrated by Hollywood’s highest honour.
And there’s a reason for that. Bond isn’t just a character but an entire corporate ecosystem, and playing him risks never being able to escape him. Once you’re James Bond, you’ll always be James Bond.
The actor who plays the super spy must commit to multiple films over a decade or more, and an Oscar-winning or even Oscar-nominated performer, especially one as in-demand as Elordi, suddenly has a different career trajectory.
With Amazon MGM Studios now steering the franchise after Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson stepped back, there may be appetite for reinvention, but Bond has always required a certain malleability – someone talented, charismatic, but not so decorated that they overshadow the brand itself.
Then there’s the practical matter: Elordi is 6ft 5in. Bond, in Ian Fleming’s novels, is 6ft. On screen, the character has generally hovered around that mark.
Sure, that isn’t a dealbreaker, and a towering 007 might sound imposing, but it presents logistical headaches, posing difficulties with everything from co-stars to stunt choreography to the simple fact that Bond is meant to move like a panther, not loom like a basketball forward.
Elordi undoubtedly has screen presence, but his sheer size risks turning Bond into something far too conspicuous for a secret agent.
Even more crucial, though, is tone. Elordi has built a compelling career playing volatile men like Nate in Euphoria or Felix in Saltburn – even his romantic roles have an undercurrent of danger. He excels at portraying youth curdling into something more menacing.
Of course, Craig’s era proved that Bond can be gritty, but he must remain someone the audience roots for. Elordi might not quite have that golden boy shine, more adept at playing dark, sensual antiheroes.
Bookmakers aren’t convinced Elordi is our Bond, either. Paddy Power currently places Callum Turner as the favourite, ahead of names like Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Harris Dickinson. Elordi sits further back in the odds.
Ironically, the very things that make Elordi an exciting prospect may disqualify him. He is too acclaimed, too in demand,and just too singular at this stage.
The fact of the matter is, Bond demands surrender to the machine, and it requires an actor willing to be subsumed into an icon.
Elordi is in the midst of becoming something else: a serious actor with awards momentum and auteur collaborations.
If he does win an Oscar, the calculus shifts even further, and makes playing Bond look less like a crowning opportunity and more like a career limitation for a star at the height of his ascension.
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