Jacob Elordi, Callum Turner and Harris Dickinson

Amazon MGM Studios is attempting to take James Bond critically. Final 12 months, Jeff Bezos reportedly paid $1 billion to safe IP 007 with no strings hooked up. Since then, the Amazon workforce has been slowly attempting to place collectively the primary post-Broccoli James Bond movie. They’ve a director hooked up (Denis Villeneuve), however to my data they do not have a script or a brand new James Bond. Properly, Deadline has a giant replace on how the casting state of affairs is creating. August might be a giant month the place they may refine a shortlist of 007. As of now, the shortlist already consists of Jacob Elordi and Callum Turner, who we already knew about. However that is the primary time I’ve heard of Harris Dickinson being critically concerned within the combine?

Followers of the James Bond franchise are about to search out out who will play the following iconic spy within the upcoming installments. Sources inform Deadline that producers and director Denis Villeneuve have begun notifying expertise who can have participated within the subsequent spherical of auditions, which can happen later this summer time. Villeneuve has been calling expertise straight and whereas Deadline has not been capable of affirm any names right now, sources say auditions are anticipated to happen in August. Amazon MGM Studios, which is distributing and producing the image, had no remark.

As for the variety of actors who will take the exams in August, though one supply says they count on producers to solid a large internet, the precise variety of actors is unknown, with some sources saying between 5 and seven whereas others say youngsters.

The overall conferences have been going effectively since Amy Pascal and David Heyman had been named producers within the spring of 2025. Nina Gold, who struck a deal in April to turn into the movie’s casting director, has been assembly with actors in latest weeks, however sources say these conferences had been reserved for lesser-known names to see if anybody ought to be added to the record of distinguished actors anticipated to be referred to as in for the following spherical.

With these auditions full, insiders say Villeneuve and producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman started reaching out to actors over the previous week to tell them of the August auditions. Actors like Harris Dickinson, Callum Turner and Jacob Elordi match the prototype of who the producers are contemplating for this subsequent stage of auditions, however once more, no names have been confirmed right now.

Though it looks like we’re nonetheless a great distance from realizing who will play 007, the timing suits with the studio having its actor by the top of the 12 months in order that manufacturing can start in 2027.

Since gaining full artistic management of the franchise this 12 months, Amazon MGM has been painstakingly trying to find the behind-the-scenes expertise who will oversee the event of this subsequent image within the sequence. Pascal and Heyman had been the primary to be recruited, and after assembly with numerous administrators, the studio tapped Villeneuve to direct. The identical steps had been additionally taken earlier than bringing in Steven Knight final summer time to jot down the script, and since then the main focus has been on getting the story in the suitable place earlier than auditioning the actors to play the position.

[From Deadline]

Whereas I’ve little religion on this given Amazon’s involvement, I give them credit score for actually taking their time, creating the storyline, hiring competent and educated folks, and refusing to hurry. It appears some folks realized what NOT to do by watching Disney screw up the post-George Lucas Star Wars movies. We’ll see. As for the Bond casting calls…are they holding anybody again from the earlier movies? Ralph Fiennes would nonetheless be welcome as M, and I liked Ben Whishaw as Q. Are they changed too? Hmm. I additionally discover the inclusion of Harris Dickinson fascinating. I am a giant fan and I believe he is an underrated actor. Perhaps he is too practical as a spy? I am fairly certain he most likely appears like what an actual discipline agent would appear to be – a little bit shady/enticing, capable of mix in, with a pretty-ugly high quality. All of that is to say that he could be such an attention-grabbing selection, however I doubt he might be chosen.

Photographs courtesy of Avalon Crimson, Backgrid.