Though the upheaval surrounding Bond 25 has been well-publicized, we’re still not entirely sure why director Danny Boyle walked away from the project due to “creative differences” with producer Barbara Broccoli and star Daniel Craig. Previous reports said that he wanted to cast little-known Polish actor Tomasz Kot as the main antagonist, something that Craig didn’t agree with, but that hasn’t been confirmed.
Now, a different star has come forward to complicate the story. Wonder Woman‘s Said Taghmaoui broke the bombshell to The National that he was actually cast by Boyle as the chief villain of the next James Bond film. With the director bowing out of the project, though, the actor’s not sure if he’ll still be involved.
“I’m supposed to do the next James Bond, playing the lead bad guy. I was cast by Danny Boyle, and just now he left the project, so of course there’s some uncertainty.”
According to Taghmaoui, with Boyle gone, producers aren’t sure whether to go with a Russian villain or a Middle-Eastern one. The French-American actor from a Moroccan family has it on good authority that if the latter option is chosen though, he’ll have the job. So, it sounds like he’s just waiting for the call to find out what his future holds.
“We don’t know who the director will be, and the producers don’t know if they’re going to go Russian or Middle East with the baddie right now. I literally just received a message saying: ‘If they go Middle East, it’s you. If they go Russian, it’s someone else.’ It’s the story of my life. Always on that line between something that could change my life and something that disappears.”
If things don’t go his way, this wouldn’t be the first time Taghmaoui’s missed out on a major villain role. He was initially cast as the Shadow King in FX’s Marvel show Legion but was ultimately replaced by Navid Negahban. However, if he does get the Bond job, this will be his next big blockbuster role after playing Sameer in Wonder Woman.
Like Taghmaoui, Bond fans will be eagerly awaiting more news on which direction the producers decide to take the next installment in the franchise in. Word has it that filmmakers as diverse as Star Trek 4‘s S.J. Clarkson and Baby Driver‘s Edgar Wright are in contention to helm Bond 25, but we’ll let you know once any concrete developments arise.
