The actor who was thrilled to fail their James Bond audition: “I don’t want to be the new fucking George Lazenby”
With Daniel Craig having bowed out in a literal blaze of glory at the end of No Time to Die, one of the industry’s most coveted casting races is wide open again, with plenty of pretenders to the throne ready, willing, and able to throw their hat into the ring in the hopes of becoming the next James Bond.
For the most part, it hasn’t been a poisoned chalice, although there’s always one exception to the rule. For 007, that exception is George Lazenby, who dropped the ball so badly during his one-and-done stint under the tux that no less of an authority than Sean Connery branded him a “prize shit” for failing to make the most of a career-defining opportunity.
Timothy Dalton may have had his tenure cut short after just two films, but he was a victim of circumstance. The actor was the right Bond for the wrong time, with his brief shot at playing the iconic secret agent, unfortunately, coinciding with not only a drop in box office takings and audience interest but a behind-the-scenes rights battle that would subsequently put Bond on ice for six years.
Before Craig emerged victorious in the Casino Royale casting call, countless other known and unknown names were under consideration. Hugh Jackman was the most established, but he turned it down because he didn’t see the long-term benefits of being Bond and Wolverine at the same time.
Henry Cavill was the runner-up, Matthew Rhys told an ill-timed joke that scuppered his chances, while other figures in the mix included Rupert Friend, Clive Owen, Julian McMahon, and Dominic West. Sam Worthington was another untested commodity who jumped through the hoops placed in front of him by Eon Productions, although the benefit of hindsight left him thrilled that he bombed his audition.
At the time, Worthington’s only experience with American cinema came when he played a minor supporting character in the Bruce Willis war drama Hart’s War, which tanked at the box office. He was several years removed from his 2009 breakthrough in Terminator Salvation and Avatar, which made him even happier that he didn’t get the nod.
“I wasn’t gutted at the time, man,” he explained to Shortlist. “It didn’t bother me in the slightest because you can learn from it and go, ‘Do you know what? I wouldn’t want to see a James Bond movie with me in it anyway’. The last time there was an Australian as James Bond, it was George Lazenby, and he fucked it up. I don’t want to be the new fucking George Lazenby.”
Obviously, that begs the question of why Worthington even bothered auditioning when it sounds like he would have been annoyed had he been anointed as the next Bond. Based on how his post-Avatar career has been going after he initially burst onto the scene, maybe he regrets missing out just a little bit.
