Debbie McWilliams, the casting director who has worked on James Bond films since 1981, recently shared what she looks for in choosing the perfect 007.
In an interview with Radio Times, McWilliams first made it clear there is “no set process” and “there isn’t an absolute ideal mould. There never would be and never should be, because otherwise, it just becomes boring."
However, she shared that there is “lots to be taken into consideration” with the main point being the individual must be a “brilliant actor.”
She elaborated, “It’s the best person for the job and one year it might be one person, one year somebody else – you can’t really predict. There isn’t an algebraic thing where we say, ‘Right, we have this and we have that, and it equals that’. It just doesn’t work like that.”
As an example, she noted that when they were casting Casino Royale there was a desire from producers to have an actor who was more menacing, which led to Craig’s casting, “You know, let’s face it, as good as Pierce was, he’s not a menace, whereas Daniel is – you feel a very strong presence in the room with him, and I think that that is incredibly important.”
Nevertheless, she also shared that James Bond “has to look like a regular guy – you can’t be Dwayne Johnson. He has to have a great physique – it demands a high level of fitness – but he shouldn’t stand out in any situation.”
Additionally, younger actors are pretty much eliminated. Bond needs to be “a thirty-something.” She explained why, “We did look at a lot of younger actors [for Casino Royale] and I just don’t think they had the gravitas, 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.”
And while a “brilliant actor” is at the top of the requirements that does not mean he has to be famous, “The gift of casting a James Bond film … is you don’t need to cast a well-known name.”
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Bond has to be:
1) Normal looking in size,. He can be slightly taller than average but he can't be a body builder or even a gymnast but more lie a Wolverine type who is a brawler that can tale a hit and keep coming
2) mid 30 to early 40's. To young and they lack the gravitas. too old and t becomes to far fetched to suspend disbelief. The actor can be older or younger as long as they can look like mid 30's to early 40's with mid 30's being ideal.
3) Eye candy. Bond must be sexy and to women he's not spoken to but just ben seen by. He doesn't need to be the most handsome man in the room but he does need to be what women would rate as a 8/9.
4) Presence. He must command presence so when he enters the rom, people notice him. This may sound counter intuitive since you want an anger to blend in but this is Bond fiction so you want anormal looking handsome man but also one who commands attention if he chooses to.
5)White British male. Bond must be a white British male with allowances for Scottish and similar alternatives. He must be someone who would pass for what you would expect form the UK before it was invaded by the Muslim hoard. Some will find this offensive asking why can't Bond be black. I say he can't for the same reason I would never want Blank Panther or Shaft both famous black characters, to be played by a white actor. Its not discrimination against an ethnicity but preference that character remain true to who they were originally designed to be.
It shouldn't be necessary to say a Bond must be a heterosexual male but with the way it is today you do. If not kept in check, someone in Hollywood is going to try and make a female James Bond and I don't mean a female version of a British spy like Bond but where James Bond is now Jane Bond and she can toss around men 2x her size with ease. They will do this b/c they are ideologues determined to prove women can do anything men can when the ONLY place this is true is within fiction.
Craig was a good Bond.