Since Daniel Craig’s tenure as 007 came to its overtly definitive end in No Time To Die, the rumour mill has been spinning out of control as to who will play the next James Bond. Given the end of that film, it’d be fair to say that anything goes for the next iteration, which is mimicked by the producers, who say that they’re reinventing who he is, which will, naturally, put the final casting and subsequent filming quite far down the line.
So, while fans debate if Aaron Taylor-Johnson offers enough of a veteran presence to be Bond, if Henry Cavill would risk being burned in another adaptation, or if Dev Patel successfully tested for the role with Monkey Man, we’re looking to other key elements that will underpin the next film. The series is a famed globetrotter, so the setting will be key, but more importantly, you can’t have a good hero without a great villain.
Actors primed for Bond villainy
The next Bond needs to immediately be matched with a villain who works as his ante and truly challenges the secret agent. The villains don’t have to have designs of ending the world or even causing national turmoil: they just need to pose a real moral threat to Bond. To help sell the threat and the character as worthy of taking on for 007, a great actor will do the film wonders.
A prime example of an actor elevating a Bond movie well beyond its worth is in The Man with the Golden Gun. The premise of two older gents on opposite sides of the law, one being an assassin and the other working for Her Majesty’s Secret Service, going head-to-head is grand, but the story itself falls flat early and often, with the exception of Christopher Lee’s Francisco Scaramanga.
From having his golden bullet filter through to him via a game of Sic Bo in Macao to the final standoff with Roger Moore, Lee’s sharpshooter dominated every scene and made the film very memorable. With what’s dominating TV talk right now, many would turn an eye to Matt Smith. He’s been a compelling villain in other productions, but as the renegade Daemon Targaryen in House of the Dragon, he’s truly hit a new tier that’d perfectly translate to a Bond flick.
Modern Far East Asia looks made for Bond
Source: Unsplash
Bond has been deployed to the Far East often. He spent most of You Only Live Twice in Japan, he was “killed” in Hong Kong, crossed the Korean Demilitarized Zone, drove through Vietnam, has been to Thailand, and frequents China. For moviemakers and, perhaps, as a little call-back to a film mentioned above, Macao looks to be an ideal setting for the next Bond film.
The iconic location on the South China Sea is teeming with bright lights, busy streets, and casinos – and we all know how much Bond likes a casino. Of all of the gambling dice games, Bond has previously sided with craps, but in a modern Macao, he might just find games like Live Super Sic Bo. The online game is themed on the classic Chinese table game. In the film, it’d offer a nice parallel to how it appeared in 1974 compared to now.
On top of this frequently visited side to Bond, Hollywood productions have begun setting up in Macao. The movie Ballad of a Small Player, starring Tilda Swinton, Colin Farrell, and Fala Chen is filming there this summer. Macao’s designation as a special administrative region could easily play into an espionage plot, and in the same region, spy chiefs have reportedly met in secret for discussions organised by the Singaporean government.
As much as the next lead actor will need to carry the series for at least a few films, the success of their first outing will lean heavily on the villain and will need to visit incredible places in the world, like Macao and Singapore.