EXCLUSIVE: The process to find out the next James Bond has been long and thorough, but all signs are pointing to the search hitting the homestretch as Amazon MGM Studios is setting its final auditions over the next week.
Sources tell Deadline that screen tests for the Bond role could begin as early as Friday and go through the next week for its final group. At least four test offers have been given out, and while unconfirmed, insiders tell Deadline that three of the four expected to test are Jack Lowden, Callum Turner and Josh O’Connor.
Amazon MGM Studios could not be reached for comment.
Tests were originally planned for earlier in the month, but due to schedule conflicts with the finalists were pushed to the end of the month so they could happen around the same time. Even with the tests wrapping next week, there is no timeline for when a final decision will be made, though most believe it will come by end of the year.
The process to find the next 007 goes back to the spring, when the studio announced casting director Nina Gold was joining the project and that the search was underway. Following two months of meetings, Deadline reported the first round of auditions would take place in August; since then, the studio, producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman and director Denis Villeneuve cut the list to its final group and worked out test offers in September.
Since landing full creative control of the franchise this year, Amazon MGM has been thorough in its search for the behind-the-scenes talent that will be overseeing the development of this next pic in the series. Pascal and Heyman were the first to be brought on, and after meeting with a number of directors the studio tapped Villeneuve to direct. The same steps were also taken before tapping Steven Knight last summer to pen the script, and, since then, the focus has been on getting the story in the right place before auditioning actors to play the role.
We will let you know more as this process continues to unfold.