James Bond candidate Harris Dickinson addresses speculation he could be next 007
Harris Dickinson – currently the bookies third favourite to play James Bond – has surprisingly endorsed Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey as the next 007.
The Babygirl actor, 28, was asked at a BFI event in Cannes on Thursday who he thought would be the best Bond with the questioner saying that he was their 'second choice' for the role.
'Jonathan Bailey is your first choice, so lets go with that,' said Harris. 'That sounds like a good idea.'
Since Amazon MGM Studios bought the rights to the spy in March, speculation has been rampant over who might replace Daniel Craig, who died in the 2021 movie.
The company is said to be fast-tracking a film, after spending a reported $1 billion to regain control from Barbara Broccoli.
Producers David Heyman and Amy Pascal have been hired and they are understood to be close to a deal with director Alfonso Cuaron. Then they will go about casting the next Bond.
As I reported earlier this year the plan is for a 'straight up' reboot, with no explanation of how Bond is still alive, no multiverse of Bonds and no attempt to go back to the Sixties to do a vintage Bond.
The bookies favourite now is still Aaron Taylor Johnson, however he was seen by Barbara Broccoli as her next potential James Bond - and it would be a surprise if Heyman, Pascal and Cuaron didn't pick their own man.
Masters of Air actor Calllum Turner is the second favourite. Others in contention, according to the bookies, include Slow Horses Jack Lowden and The Crown's Josh O'Connor.
Harris is in Cannes because his directorial debut, Urchin, about a homeless man, will be showing in the Un Certain Regard sidebar of the competition tomorrow (SAT).
It stars Harry Potter's Frank Dillane as a homeless man and Harris said that Dillane, Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, had spent two weeks sleeping rough as part of his preparation for the role.
Harris said: 'He came on early, even before we had full financing he committed, knowing it might not get made.
He threw himself into preparations. We spent a lot of time workshopping the script together. We also set him up with a lot of the advisers (on homelessness) and with the charity Under One Sky.
The next film is set to be a 'straight up' reboot, with no explanation of how Bond is still alive, no multiverse of Bonds and no attempt to go back to the Sixties to do a vintage Bond
'It's up to him to say really if he slept rough. There was stuff he didn't tell us that he did. He said: 'you won't hear from me for a bit – it was two weeks. We didn't make him do that.'
Harris, the star of the Nicole Kidman film Babygirl and the previous Palme D'Or winner Triangle of Sadness, is currently getting underway on the filming of Sam Mendes Beatles quadrilogy. He plays John Lennon.
He said that he had always wanted to make films and had been volunteering at a homelessness and addiction charity weekly for a decade.
He said of the film: 'I became really interested in the idea of someone who was ultimately struggling against themselves. I have had people close to me deal with addiction and cyclical behaviour it became an issue that I wanted to tap into.'
Asked if he will carry on acting, or focus on directing in the future he said: 'I think it's probably healthy that I can't do something right away. It gives me a chance of pause and reflection on what I want to do next. If people will let me make another film then we will do it. I loved it with my whole heart.'
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