Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Culture

For Your Eyes Only: A casting memo for Jewish James Bonds

Relax on the speculation, everyone. Even you, The Onion.

Bond producer Barbara Broccoli announced that she is allowing Daniel Craig a one-year valedictory period before the search commences for a new 007 in 2022. Fittingly, that means the casting department at MGM needs to wait till the end of shmita to replace the legendary spy, long rumored to be inspired by a Russian-Jewish MI6 agent.

Could the role go to a Jew? (And I don’t mean in the manner it kinda-sorta went to Woody Allen and Peter Sellers.)

Many are now rallying for a woman Bond or a person of color. We needn’t choose between the two.

Zoe Kravitz could fill the silhouette quite capably, as could Jurnee Smollett. Or, even better, if we want a Brit, Sophie Okenedo, now gearing up for the TV adaptation of “The Wheel of Time” could pick up where Craig left off as a mature Bond.

Sophie Okenedo

Okenedo wears the hell out of a suit. Photo by Getty/Dave M. Benett/Contributor

Let’s say, we follow Craig’s line that there shouldn’t be a woman Bond (which, sadly, hangs his wife Rachel Weisz out to dry), but rather a new character with the same cachet. We could easily cast some dudes.

For a while Armie Hammer seemed obvious. Now… less so. But what’s stopping Oliver Jackson-Cohen from drinking vespers and driving Astin Martins?

Oliver Jackson-Cohen

At 6’3, OJC would be the tallest Bond. Photo by Getty/Matt Winkelmeyer/Staff

Could Sacha Baron Cohen, hot off his run in “The Spy,” occupy that tailored suit? Or should we leave it to a fresher face like Daveed Diggs. (Hey, he could kinda do a French accent — why not give him a shot at a screen test to flex a British one?)

Would the retired Daniel Day-Lewis, if offered the part, never say never again? Or perhaps Brett Goldstein — computer-generated or no — is equal to the task of espionage.

Craig’s vacancy also seems like a plum opportunity actor Jason Isaacs to finally proving he’s so much more than Lucius Malfoy. Provided he’s not up against his old costar Daniel Radcliffe.

Jason Isaacs

Isaacs would bring a certain je ne sais quoi to the role. Photo by Getty/David M. Benett/Contributor

There’s a common theme to this list already, and it’s one that we should address head-on. The simple truth is that these actors are all quite attractive. No one has yet cracked the ceiling of conventional good looks in Bond-dom.

For this reason, The Onion jibed that Wallace Shawn was on the shortlist to lead the next round of films.

I have a better idea. My candidate is a proven master of disguise. He is a Brit. He may be a tad obscure, but would also be the first openly gay actor to lead the franchise. He can even sing if we decide to add that bit of pizzazz to the character who, let’s face it, is a bit too stoic.

The new James Bond must be Matt Lucas from “Little Britain.”

Matt Lucas

The world is not (ready) enough. Photo by Getty/Stuart C. Wilson/Stringer

Accept no alternatives.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.