Speculating who will be the next James Bond is one of the gossip world’s favorite pastimes. The current faves seem to be Idris Elba, Henry Cavill and Oya’s boo, Regé-Jean Page (at least per Variety). But hear me out: what about Tom Holland? And not just any James Bond – JB: the Origin Story. According to Tom, he pitched this very idea to Sony after Spider-Man: Far From Home with himself playing James. Sony took the meeting, but it didn’t go much further than that. Mainly because the Bond Estate wasn’t into it.
The search for the next James Bond following Daniel Craig’s exit after “No Time to Die” will begin later this year, but it turns out “Spider-Man” actor Tom Holland already tried to pitch where 007 should go next. Speaking to Total Film magazine ahead of the release of Sony’s video game adaptation “Uncharted,” Holland revealed he pitched the studio on a James Bond origin story movie in which the world’s most famous spy would be a young man just starting out in the world of high-stakes espionage.
“I had a meeting, after or during ‘Spider-Man 2’ [‘Spider Man: Far From Home’], with Sony to pitch this idea of a young Bond film that I’d come up with,” Holland said. “It was the origin story of James Bond. It didn’t really make sense. It didn’t work. It was the dream of a young kid, and I don’t think the Bond estate [was] particularly interested.”
Holland’s failed James Bond pitch did not entirely bomb. According to the actor, his interest in doing an origin story for a popular franchise character is part of what nudged Sony in the direction of adapting the blockbuster video game series “Uncharted.”
As Holland explained, “The idea of a young Bond film sparked this idea, in turn, that you could do a Nathan Drake story as an origin story, rather than as an addition to the games. And that opened a conversation.
That’s weird, it didn’t make sense or work and the studio passed on it? Huh. I love Tom for this. I love that he admitted he pitched this and that not only was he ill-prepared, that he was completely shot down. I also love it because I think he understands that very few people, myself included, see him for Bond. Like, the only way Tom would ever get 007 status is if he wrote, produced and distributed his own movie. And I still doubt he’d get the Bond Estate to sign off on it. Plus, if the film he pitched was Bond’s start in espionage, it’s still too close to Daniel Craig’s Casino Royale. Maybe Tom should make a true origin story, back to Bond’s childhood. Something like Jimmy was a real bird lover until one day, the Blofelds’ jerky son shot Jimmy’s favorite Boreal Chickadee with a bb gun, which made the Galores’ infant daughter cry. Jimmy vowed from that day forward he would comfort young women and rid this planet of mean boys. OMG – call me Tom, I can totally write this with you.
I don’t think Tom will be in the Bond discussion for some time, if ever. I do think he could play a Bond villain and it would be amazing for him to play against type. However, I doubt Sony or Marvel is interested in their Spider-Man playing a high-profile villain until his contract is truly up. But he could play a charming businessman made of pure evil, like Toby Stephens’ Gustav Graves character (without the complicated DNA swapping backstory).
And now I have planted in your minds the image of Regé-Jean’s Bond swapping eloquent barbs with a dashing Tom on the Champs-Elysée before something blows up. You’re welcome.
Photo credit: Avalon Red
I think this is a great idea, just not with Tom Holland in the lead role.
Me, too. I’d like to see how they recruit and train him. What they’re looking for, etc.
They already did that to an extent in Skyfall.
Spiderman actors seem to not have much of a career after their turn is over. Tobey virtually disappeared,Andrew seems to be slowly coming back. Its like the Bond girl curse ,i hope he can still do lots of other genres.
Andrew worked with Martin Scorsese and got an Oscar nomination in 2017 3 years after his last stint as spiderman and won the Tony award in 2018. Outside of Spider-Man his career is the best, most awarded and most varied. His stage work is something to behold.
The feeling that Bond isn’t a real person—just a two-dimensional license to kill with cool gadgets, lightning reflexes, solid intuition, and insatiable lust—is central to his appeal. An origin story would damage his appeal. Sorry, Tom, I can’t agree…. Hecate’s idea to make Tom a villain and play against type is so much better!
Agree. Making a move of Bond’s backstory would kill the mystery of the character.
So yeah, this is a terrible idea, though I admire that Tom swung for the fences.
Omg hecate, i totally agree with yoy 😍😍
While I admire his ambition, I’m kinda rolling my eyes at him after his Scorcese comments where it came off as him trying to school an icon on filmmaking. I hope he’s not getting too far ahead of himself and he misspoke.
There is a YA series of novels about a young James Bond written first by Charlie Higson and then Stephen Cole. I could see them adapting them into a TV series, as they did with Pennyworth, but not a movie. The first book is when Bond is at Eton, so Holland could conceivably play the role if they didn’t cast a younger actor.
Cool!
Cute story! And I’d totally watch a Bond origin story, if only to learn how spies actually enter the profession.
Also, after years of reading this site, and always wondering why sometimes the stories are such fun and other times so bitter, I realized there are different writers! Duh. Pay and Hecate are such joys to read! Keep up the great work!
*Oya
As a nineties kid, I remember watching on Saturdays this animated tv show called “James Bond jr.” it was about a college student who was the nephew of bond and he’d take smaller spy cases. It was a fun watch, I remember and I can totally see Tom pulling that off.
There’s a really fun spy origin story based on a series of YA novels called Alex Rider which just premiered its second season on Amazon a few weeks ago. That feels like a young, modern James Bond origin story to me, and I could totally see Tom in something like that.