James Bond casting director explains why a young actor can’t play the character
The casting director for James Bond, Debbie McWilliams, has revealed that she believes young actors lack the “mental capacity” and “gravitas” to play the iconic cinematic spy.
Being the casting director for the franchise since 1981, McWilliams has plenty of experience picking the new 007 actors, and took the time to speak about her process in a brand new interview with Radio Times. “When we started, it was a slightly different feel,” McWilliams began, “We did look at a lot of younger actors, and I just don’t think they had the gravitas”.
Continuing, she added: “They didn’t have the experience, they didn’t have the mental capacity to take it on, because it’s not just the part they’re taking on, it’s a massive responsibility…So we kind of scrubbed that idea and went back to the drawing board and started again”.
As well as going for a slightly older actor, McWilliams also revealed that past experience means little when it comes to casting Bond: “Timothy Dalton was known, but he was known as a Shakespearean actor, really. Pierce [Brosnan] was known, but that was basically from television. Roger Moore was known from television. Sean Connery wasn’t [known] – nobody had heard of him”.
As for the most recent Bond, Daniel Craig, she explains: “A certain audience had heard of Daniel Craig, but much more the kind of independent cinema audience. He hadn’t done any huge commercial film at all, really – [2004 film] Layer Cake I suppose was the most popular, should we say, of the things he had done prior to Bond, but he wasn’t a hugely well known actor”.
Take a look at the trailer for the most recent Bond movie, No Time to Die, below.
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