How Dwayne Johnson cost an actor their shot at James Bond: “I couldn’t do the final test”
From playing Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy in JJ Abrams’ rebooted Star Trek movies, appearing in The Lord of the Rings, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to even turning in a brief cameo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Karl Urban has been in some of the biggest movie franchises of all time. However, one that’s eluded him is James Bond, even though he’d had his hat firmly in the ring.
After Pierce Brosnan stepped away from the superspy role following Die Another Day, the hunt was on to find a new 007, with a number of famous faces in the running. Long-time contender Henry Cavill came close but ultimately lost the part because the producers thought he was out of shape, and future Avatar star Sam Worthington was considered as well, while Christian Bale was actually offered the part, but he turned it down.
If you haven’t already figured it out, Urban was one of the names on the shortlist who got pretty far in the process, possibly because Casino Royale director Martin Campbell is also from New Zealand, but, as he explained to Nine, there was one obstacle he couldn’t overcome.
“There was a period when they were casting it the last time around where I’d met with Barbara Broccoli and various other producers,” he revealed, “Unfortunately, I was shooting another movie, and I couldn’t do the final test.” If you’re wondering what cinematic masterpiece cost Urban his shot at the plumpest gig in show business, then get those expectations way down for it was Doom.
Released in 2005, Andrzej Bartkowiak’s movie is an adaptation of the revolutionary first-person shooter video game in which Urban plays John ‘Reaper’ Grimm, a ridiculous name given to the protagonist better known as ‘Doomguy’.
As was the case with all video game movies before 2020, Doom stank, and with the exception of the innovative ‘first-person’ climax sequence, it’s nothing more than a dull, badly-written action romp that fails to live up to the bloody mayhem of its source material.
The primary character was initially offered to Dwayne Johnson, the former wrestler, who was still in the infancy of his acting career, but still had enough power to input his ideas, so he turned down Grimm in favour of playing Sarge, the leader of Grimm’s team of soldiers.
If Johnson hadn’t taken this role, then maybe Urban would have been given a lighter schedule or skipped on Doom entirely, which would have freed him up to attend the final screen test for Bond and changed the course of movie history.
As we all know, the part of Bond in Casino Royale went to Daniel Craig, who went on to play the superspy in a total of five films spread out over 15 years, leaving a huge mark on the character, something Urban cannot deny. “I’m actually pretty grateful I didn’t because I think Daniel Craig did such an extraordinary job,” he confessed, “I couldn’t have imagined a better Bond”.
