For many fans, Sean Connery is the ultimate Bond. Combining physical toughness with a magnetic personality and just the right amount of vicious humor, later Bonds have always (and will always) be compared to the Scotsman who played the character first.
Sir Roger Moore was a good Bond but relied too much on comedy. Timothy Dalton played the character with too little humor and not much in the cool department.
It is perhaps only Sean Connery and Daniel Craig that Ian Fleming (author of the Bond novels) would recognize as the character he created way back in 1953.
In the books, Bond is very tough (much tougher than any of the films have dared to portray him), with a cold killer instinct that some modern audiences would find disturbing. He is unerringly brutal – a realistic spy who kills for Queen and country. A figure inspired by some of the very dangerous people Fleming met during his wartime experiences. Bond, like his creator, also has a relationship with drugs and alcohol that verges on addiction.
If the next film decides to portray Bond warts and all, there can be few actors alive today who could rival Tom Hardy for the role.
Bond casting director Debbie McWilliams explained why the role should go to an older actor: “We did look at a lot of younger actors, 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.”
In the books, Bond is in his early forties. He is a man who has served with distinction in World War II and now works for the British Secret Service. Still immensely fit, he possesses experience – something that younger agents lack.
Hardy fits the bill. Born in 1977, he is in his forties but is still a very physical actor. Having also been a writer and producer, Hardy is intelligent. Another mark in his favor is that he’s British, and while an American actor has played Bond before (George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), having a British actor seems more authentic.
Secret agent man?
Hardy has already played a Bond-like secret agent (albeit a 19th Century one) in the brilliant TV series Taboo. He took on the role of troubled James Keziah Delaney – a man who returns to London to wreak havoc on his former employers. Hardy brought the character to life and gave an almost hypnotic performance as the ex-slave trader determined to bring down the company that sent him to Africa.
It is clear that Hardy takes his roles very seriously, and he would certainly bring to 007 the same deep thought he brought to Delaney. Much like Bond, Delaney has a strong physical presence, almost animal-like senses, loads of charisma, and a very dark sense of humor. Taboo also proved Hardy can throw a good punch – an essential ingredient for any Bond.
Beyond Taboo, Hardy has done great work across multiple films. In Legend, he played both Ronnie and Reggie Kray, two of London’s most vicious 1950s gangsters. In an earlier role, he played Charlie Bronson (England’s most violent prisoner) in the 2008 biopic. Hardy has the knack of really becoming the character he is playing, giving thought-provoking performances every time he’s on screen.
Hardy’s Bond would likely be tougher than anything we have seen before, yet with that English public schoolboy arrogant streak that was such a large part of the original Fleming novels. He can bring just the right level of roughness that would make him a more than worthy successor to Craig.
Bond producers would be mad to turn down such an intelligent and accomplished actor for the role.
He certainly gets my vote.