He’s a brilliant actor with a penchant for balancing franchise commitments (Harry Potter to Twilight to The Batman to Dune: Part Three) with big, bonkers swings (Primetime, The Drama, Mickey 17, The Lighthouse). An A-lister who doesn’t take himself—or his press tours—all that seriously. A Brit who has been a global movie star almost since childhood, but still, somehow, feels far from mainstream. Someone who’s dashing and suave, athletic and steely, and entirely of the moment. For all these reasons, and many, many more, I firmly believe that Robert Pattinson should be the next James Bond.
Consider the other four actors he (apparently) competed against recently in the final round of screen tests: Callum Turner, Jack Lowden, Josh O’Connor, and Nicholas Hoult—all handsome, clean-cut, and very solid, credible choices. Among them, Pattinson, in some ways, feels like the outlier—with his weirder, wackier filmography, he seems more suited, perhaps, to the role of a Bond villain. But, I’d argue, that is exactly the reason to give him the top job.
Ever since Daniel Craig hung up his tux in 2021, there’s been much soul-searching about the continuation of the Bond franchise. Isn’t it a misogynistic relic of a bygone era? Is it even worth updating? The answer, I think, is complicated. No, we don’t need Bond—but I believe there’s a way for this cinematic universe to survive, thrive even; stunts, gunfights, femme fatales, martinis, and all. That relies on it being fully and properly reborn.
Turn back the clock to the early 2000s, as Pierce Brosnan’s tenure as 007 ended, and you may remember that some of the same conversations were being had then. How do you revitalize such a long-standing and unquestionably formulaic film series? The answer was Craig—at that time, a less than obvious choice for the part. There was controversy at the fact that he was blonde. At under six feet, he was deemed too short. Tabloids labeled him as bland. He wasn’t particularly well-known by the film-going public. A petition calling for his removal received hundreds of thousands of signatures. But, thankfully, the franchise’s producers dug in their heels. Casino Royale—in the eyes of many, the best Bond movie ever made—followed a year later. Craig’s critics were silenced. All of which is to say, sometimes the most unlikely choice is the best one.
