James Bond Could-Have-Been's

I did a recent Random Movie Trivia post about Batman Begins and in that post, I gave you a rundown on all of the different actors who were considered to play the role of the Caped Crusader.  Those actors included Keanu Reeves and Ashton Kutcher which would have taken the franchise in a totally different direction had they been chosen.  Well, that got me to thinking, what other iconic roles would have been radically changed had they gone with a different actor then the one who ultimately won the role?  For this post and that role, I picked James Bond.  Over the course of 23 movies, five different actors have played the suave British spy, but that character could have gone to a multitude of different actors.  Let's take a look:

• Richard Burton - I know two things about him, he is British and he was married to Elizabeth Taylor a couple of times (and sadly, I only know that b/c of the recent Lindsay Lohan movie).
• Cary Grant - if you were to ask me to name the Top 10 actors before 1950, I would only be able to come up with this guy, so he probably would have been a pretty good pick for Bond.
• Adam West - yup, Batman was up for the part of James Bond and one of two Americans on this list.
• James Brolin - the other American on the list and the only thing I know about him is he is the father of Josh Brolin, the actor who played young Agent K in the newest Men in Black movie.
• Sam Neill - this Irish actor from the Jurassic Park flicks probably would have done a good job as Jimmy Bond.
• Mel Gibson - I was just as shocked as you when I saw he was considered for the role and I still can't convince myself that whoever thought of him for the role wasn't drunk at the time.
• Liam Neeson - love this guy, but there is no way you could hide that Irish accent of his.
• Hugh Grant - what the casting department was thinking on this one, I will never know.
• Lambert Wilson - the only Frenchmen up for the role and you know him best as The Merovingian from The Matrix movies.
• Hugh Jackman - Wolverine might have been a pretty good choice, but after playing Wolverine, there is no way I could take it seriously.
• Idris Elba - mostly recently seen in Prometheus and Thor, he is the only black guy who was considered and this Brit would have been great if not for the whole being black thing (no racist).
• Julian McMahon - known for the role of Dr. Christian Troy on Nip/Tuck, this Aussie actor probably would have done a great job as James Bond.
• Dominic West - this British actor who played McNulty on The Wire might have worked but was a little too unknown to get the part.
• Gerard Butler - like Sean Connery, he had the Scottish accent that might have worked for the part but after his dip into romantic comedies, I wouldn't take him seriously as Bond.
• Sam Worthington - this Brit would have been a good choice but he was still three years away from his star role in Avatar and no one knew who he was yet when Casino Royale came out.
• Alex O'Loughlin - he is the guy that is not Tweeter on the new Hawaii Five-O.  Enough said.
• Henry Cavill - the current Superman might have been a little too young when he auditioned, but I guess it worked out b/c he has gone on to play one of the greatest superheros of all-time.
• Jude Law - while I actually like this British actor, he just doesn't seem "tough" enough to play James Bond.
• Eric Bana - remember when this Aussie had a career?  Me neither.

Out of all of those guys, I would say the best alternate choice would have been Liam Neeson and I bet he would have won the part if his accent wasn't so thick.  And out of all of those guys, I would say that Hugh Grant would have been the strangest pick only because Hugh Grant is the complete opposite of James Bond.  While he might be "charming", he would have failed at playing a convincing spy.  In the end, I think that the actors that did up winning the part worked out (even George Lazenby), so I can't say that I have any complaints about who didn't end up playing James Bond.  Good job for once, Hollywood.

"The name is Man, Bat Man......I mean Bond, James Bond."