James Bond Casting Update Says Big Names Rumors are 'Bullsh*t'

Is Jacob Elordi playing James Bond? What about Callum Turner? Has director Denis Villeneuve already picked his ideal 007? While the biggest movie casting question of the decade has yet to be answered, some film industry insiders are saying that anything we're hearing about the various men rumored to be the new Bond are all false.

On February 25, as reported by The Wrap, an unnamed insider described as "top talent agent" was quoted as saying: "Anything you hear on the Bond casting front is bull**t until the script is delivered and the screen tests can happen. There is absolutely no one who is getting this role without testing for it."

While the various rumors are tantalizing, the notion that nobody has actually been chosen yet may fall in line with tradition. For decades, the majority of the new James Bond actors were auditioned through a very specific process. Though Sean Connery, and later, Roger Moore, didn't have traditional audition processes, nearly all the other Bonds did, at least at one point or another. Famously, many post-Connery Bond-hopefuls auditioned by performing a scene taken out of From Russian with Love, in which Bond comes into his hotel room to find a beautiful spy waiting for him in his bed. And, in the pre-Casino Royale audition process, actors like Henry Cavill read sides from 1995's GoldenEye.

The larger point is, even though the Bond franchise is now being steered by Amazon MGM, and producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman, it does feel very unlikely that a director like Denis Villeneuve would be comfortable just handing the role to an actor without seeing that person audition.

So, if the Steven Knight Bond 26 script isn't done, and auditions haven't happened, the notion that a new James Bond hasn't been cast at all, feels true. Then again, in the world of this secret agent, who knows what deals have been made behind closed doors.