Entertainment

Tom Hiddleston Denies That James Bond Role AGAIN

by S. Atkinson

Back in May, there was growing excitement on the part of the sane, Hiddleston-adoring public, who believed there was a mass of evidence proving the Tom Hiddleston would be the next James Bond. Honestly? The evidence wasn't exactly scientific. It was more or less grounded on one scene in The Night Manager where Hiddleston's character orders James Bond's favorite drink, a vodka martini, and another scene where Hiddleston's character goes to a casino. However, in the same month, the actor went on The Graham Norton Show to just go break everyone's hearts, saying, "The thing is the position isn't vacant as far as I am aware. No one has talked to me about it." Now professional James Bond denier Hiddleston has been forced to square up to those zombie undead rumors one more time with feeling at Wizard Con in Philadelphia.

Hiddleston broached the Tom Hiddleston James Bond suspicions when he stated “I’m sorry to disappoint you, everybody. I don’t think that announcement is coming. I am very gratified to hear the enthusiasm. There’s not much I can say that I haven’t already said — your guess is as good as mine, to be honest.” He continued: “No one’s talked to me at all. I think it’s come about because in The Night Manager I play a spy, and we all know that in the iconography of British culture there is a spy that we all know, and his name is James Bond. So people have made the link.”

Sure, you'd like that, wouldn't you Hiddleston? If we all settled down and forgot about this? But something seems fishy. Is it just me, or doth the Hiddleston protest too much?

In the actor's Sunday Times interview in March he certainly sounded enthusiastic about the role. He came out as a "huge fan" of the franchise and said "I simply love the theme tune, the tropes, and the mythology. If it ever came knocking, it would be an extraordinary opportunity...I would not take it lightly." So. Fact number one: Hiddleston is seriously thirsty to play Bond.

Then, there was the article in Birth Death Movies at the end of May, which told us that an unnamed source close to Hiddleston was in advanced talks to play Bond:

"...our source confirms that while talks have indeed taken place, and that Hiddleston very much wants the job (a fact of which he’s made no secret), no official offer has been made - yet."

The article also made a big deal of how much this wasn't just idle gossip:

"...we don’t run tabloid rumors or speculation without clearly identifying them as such... we’re always very careful to separate gossip from actual information."

As such, I'm taking this article seriously. So, (theoretical) fact number two: Hiddleston is still in talks to play Bond. To me, his spiel at Wizard Con is all part of the game. He can't make an official announcement, because there's none to make since he's only being considered. Besides which, if he was to offer up this information, presumably the casting directors at James Bond would assume he was unreliable in terms of keeping confidential information to himself, which would make him a poor choice for a franchise role where he'll be fielding hundreds of press questions a year trying to weasel spoilers out of him.

Neilson Barnard/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

As the same article from Birth Death Movies also mentioned, if Hiddleston won the role, he'd be the first ever James Bond to share the same educational background of both the character and his author, Ian Fleming — all three went to Eton. So there you have it folks. He looks great in a suit. He's played a spy before. He's gone to Eton. He's British. Can you really believe Hiddleston's not being considered for the role? As such – Mr Hiddleston, please stop issuing these denials. We get you're in a tricky situation. But channel James Bond under torture and just stay mum.