10 actors who would make great James Bond villains
Whenever a James Bond actor finishes his tenure, there’s always immediate media attention as to who will replace the previous actor as the leading man in the series. With Daniel Craig recently departing, news outlets have already rumoured that the likes of Tom Hardy, Idris Elba and Paapa Essiedu will be vying for the role, but what about the character’s iconic and infamous adversaries? Where is the love for the maniacal Bond villain?
Indeed, just as the character’s flashy Aston Martin and shaken martinis have become iconic in the action movie franchise, so has the role of his nemesis, with some celebrated names of cinema coming up against the hero in the past. From mighty greats of the screen like Christopher Lee and Christopher Walken to female stars like Grace Jones and Rosamund Pike, taking on the reins of a James Bond villain is no easy task.
In contemporary cinema, Bond has come up against some of the greatest actors of the modern industry, including Mads Mikkelsen in Casino Royale, Javier Bardem in Skyfall, Christoph Waltz in Spectre and, most recently, Rami Malek in No Time to Die.
So, of the many icons in current filmmaking, let’s look at ten actors who could make perfect Bond villains.
10 actors who would make great James Bond villains:
Jodie Comer
Recognised as one of the finest actors of the modern stage and screen, Jodie Comer saw critical acclaim when she starred as the villain of the Phoebe Waller-Bridge series Killing Eve. A truly versatile actor, Comer would be capable of playing multiple types of Bond villains, from an evil young megalomaniac to a physical assassin who would match the hero in physical capabilities.
Now we know that the next Bond actor is unlikely to be a woman, casting a rising female star as the villain could be a great move, particularly when it’s someone as ferociously talented as Jodie Comer.
Lena Headey
Speaking of female villains, the British actor Lena Headey has already demonstrated that she’s capable of being an evil overlord on screen, dominating the HBO fantasy show Game of Thrones and the celebrated comic-book movie Dredd. If you’ve seen either of these releases, you’ll know just how great Heady could be as a Bond villain, being a truly evil character actor capable of exceptional dramatic performances.
We envisage her as the head of an evil corporation that is intent on bringing the financial world to its knees or something like that. Either way, Headey makes for a convincing villain, no matter the circumstances.
Ben Kingsley
Words are barely necessary when explaining why the iconic British star Ben Kingsley would be great as a James Bond villain, with the actor producing some of the best antagonists in cinema history. Whilst he’s appeared as Fagin in Oliver Twist and the Mandarin in Marvel’s Iron Man 3, Kinsley’s finest villainous moment came in Jonathan Glazer’s iconic 2000 movie Sexy Beast.
Kinsley makes an even better choice because he even told UK’s Capital FM back in 2004: “I would like to make it known, on this program, loud and clear, that I would absolutely embrace with all five of my arms being a Bond villain”.
Ben Mendelsohn
The Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn has already established himself as one of the best villain actors of modern cinema. He would make a fine casting choice for the franchise’s future, with a healthy fanbase established online and worldwide. Playing the antagonist in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, 2018s Robin Hood, Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One and, most notably, David Michôd’s Animal Kingdom, Mendelsohn would be an inspired choice.
With all the tools already at hand to take on the role of a cut-and-paste Bond villain, we see the casting of Ben Mendelsohn as a no-brainer.
Cillian Murphy
Whilst many argue that Murphy would make a great James Bond, we would assert that his skills are better suited to being a villain. Having only played a handful of villains, appearing in Wes Craven’s Red Eye with Rachel McAdams and Christopher Nolan’s celebrated Batman Begins as Scarecrow, Murphy has proved time and again that he is built to be a menacing on-screen presence capable of some truly menacing performances.
We would love something similar to his performance in the first of Nolan’s Batman movies, where he plays a despicable and evil villain who inflicts psychological fear onto his victims.
Gary Oldman
Just like Ben Kingsley, Gary Oldman has a long cinematic history of playing the villain, creating movie magic with his performances in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, True Romance, Léon: The Professional and many more. For a movie franchise which is more of a British establishment at this point, enlisting the help of one of the country’s greatest character actors to play the Bond villain seems like an obvious choice.
By the way, we would not be against Kingsley and Oldman being an unbeatable duo of villains in the same film, playing two malevolent tw*ts much like Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd from Diamonds are Forever.
Evan Peters
The recent release of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story on Netflix has proved, once again, that Evan Peters is one of the best and most underrated actors of the modern industry, with his depiction of the serial killer being just one of many recent villain performances. Also appearing as several villains throughout the celebrated series American Horror Story, Peters has demonstrated his versatility time and time again, so why not give him a shot as a Bond villain?
We’re considering putting him in our hypothetical Bond film like Jesse Eisenberg should have been deployed in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, like a petulant young businessman who thinks he’s the smartest arse in the room.
Antony Starr
If there was ever a more obvious actor to play a villain in an upcoming action blockbuster, it’s Antony Starr, the oddly loveable antagonist of Amazon’s The Boys. Despite being totally evil, there’s a magnetising personality to the way in which he enacts his dark deeds. It’s a bit hammy and melodramatic, but we think Starr would slip right in for a movie series that thrives on cliche and bombastic action.
Starr is destined for greatness as a character actor for truly nasty roles; let’s just hope that the James Bond producers can get to him early.
Imelda Staunton
As we’ve previously discussed, the James Bond series is one steeped in history and British tradition, with countless national stars of stage and screen having been given a part in the franchise. With this considered, we would love to see a slightly older Bond villain in a future instalment, the kind of character who barks orders from a shadowy boardroom and hates to get their hands dirty.
The iconic British actor Imelda Staunton played this part to some extent as Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a twisted and disturbed individual who injected some genuine menace into the family film.
Tilda Swinton
Similarly to Staunton, we’d love to see Tilda Swinton take up the reins of a horrid and manipulative Bond villain. Whilst she is used to working in the realm of arthouse cinema, Swinton also loves a mainstream release, playing the villain in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Bong Joon-ho’s modern movies Snowpiercer and Okja, where she embraces theatricality.
With each of these roles considered, however, no performance ticks our Bond box better than the greedy and corrupt Karen Crowder of Tony Gilroy’s Michael Clayton. It has 007 DNA all over it.
