‘Bond 25’ has some casting updates, as it gets closer to its planned shoot start. Two actors in particular are top priority: Billy Magnussen and Rami Malek.
Billy Magnussen is the top choice to play the CIA operative that crosses paths with Bond. Whether or not an actual offer is on the table is unknown. Magnussen was recently in a bunch of projects, and will only be in more. To name a few, he was in ‘Game Night,’ ‘Tell Me a Story,’ and ‘Velvet Buzzsaw.’
Not only that, he was in Netflix’s miniseries ‘Maniac,’ directed entirely by Cary Joji Fukunaga. Next up is the ‘Aladdin’ remake, and ‘The Many Saints of Newark.’
Rami Malek just won an Academy Award for his performance as Freddie Mercury in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ The studio has been courting him to play the villain in ‘Bond 25.’ Although, it wasn’t looking likely due to the filming of the fourth and final season of ‘Mr. Robot.’
But, it seems that the studio has been working hard to accommodate both projects, to get Malek onboard ‘Bond 25’ without having to worry about ‘Mr. Robot.’ Malek will appear in the upcoming ‘The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle,’ releasing January 17, 2020.
The aforementioned Fukunaga (‘True Detective,’ ‘Maniac’) will be helming Daniel Craig’s last outing as the titular character. Danny Boyle was originally going to direct the film, but creative differences drove him away from the project. Thus, Neal Purvis & Robert Wade are back to finish what they started all the way back in ‘Casino Royale.’ Along with that film, they did all of Craig’s other ‘Bond’ movies: ‘Quantum of Solace,’ ‘Skyfall,’ and ‘Spectre.’ However, Scott Z. Burns (‘The Bourne Ultimatum,’ ‘Contagion’) came in for rewrites.
Variety gave an update on the script:
“Fukunaga turned in his recent draft at the beginning of the year, and while reports surfaced that major rewrite work was done to the script [by Burns], sources say no significant changes were made, and the producers and Craig were excited with what Fukunaga had delivered.”
Returning cast members include Ralph Fiennes, Lea Seydoux, Naomie Harris, and Ben Whishaw.
Further, with new a April 8, 2020 release, ‘Bond 25’ has the Easter weekend all to itself now, as opposed to the previous Valentine’s Day weekend it had. However, who knows what will happen next, as it currently needs to meet its April deadline to begin filming.
Source: Variety