Has Tom Hiddleston Really Met James Bond Film Bosses?

It's always about this time after a James Bond release when the question of the next film comes up. More often than not the lead star is already engaged and it's a matter of picking a director, finding a story to adapt and starting to stock-pile nostalgic reference points for the final film.

This time, it's a little different. After reinvigorating the series, Daniel Craig categorically made it impossible for himself to come back by suggesting he'd rather commit bloody suicide than make another Bond film, and we're once again looking for a new Bond.

Idris Elba had been heavily linked with the role, but now Tom Hiddleston is emerging as a front-runner thanks to a rumour spread largely by the Mirror and the Daily Mail. The latter yesterday suggested their source had put Hiddleston - who just wowed in spy thriller The Night Manager - with Sam Mendes in a clandestine lunch meeting.

Then the former paper went one step further, saying that Barbara Broccoli was also present at the Soho House members' club meeting. One of the actor's spokesmen denied it, of course saying he was there with a "non-industry friend", but who's going to stop the tabloids tabloiding?

Sam Mendes isn't yet officially untied from the film, despite very publicly saying he felt a finality and sense of completion after Spectre, so maybe that's why he was there. Or maybe it was just Mendes and Hiddleston having lunch, an over-zealous rumour-monger adding in a Broccoli and conclusions being leapt to?

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