Sam Mendes is ramping up the casting process on his still untitled James Bond movie and he's sure attracting some huge names. Early in the week we heard that
Javier Bardem was waiting on the screenplay of Bond 23 before deciding if he wanted to play a villain in a franchise he's loved since childhood and now comes word from Baz Bamigboye at
The Daily Mail that the usually sinister
Ralph Fiennes is 'in discussions' for another role in the film. His role is cited by a close L.A. film exec source as being 'darkly complex... one of extreme complexity and only an actor of great ability and dexterity can take it on and that Bond 23 is... "the first of a new generation of Bond films, and the ideas Mendes has push the film into darker territory where the characters are modern, mature and challenging,. Fiennes is said to have called the new Bond 'revolutionary', which jibes with the kind of words Bardem was using earlier in the week. Wow! Brit actor Fiennes has predominately spent his career as a Hollywood villain, no more high profile than his distinctly evil Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter series. I'm sure many of you instantly thought like me that he would seem to be a worthy figure for a Blofeld character in the wider spectrum of the Bond universe (the new head of Quantum maybe?) but we are all guessing so far.
Also in The Daily Mail article, it's said that Mendes is on the hunt for A-listers for his new Bond and at one point had even talked to Kevin Spacey, but he's too busy with his Richard III play at the Old Vic in June, which incidentally Mendes is also directing. Any thoughts on Fiennes' potential casting and just what could be so 'revolutionary' and 'complex' about his new take on 007?