Posted on 12/02/2004 6:32:50 PM PST by aculeus
A leading black actor, 6ft 4in Colin Salmon, emerged last night as a front-runner to replace Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in the next 007 adventure.
Noted for a deep, commanding voice, the 41-year-old actor already has a recurring role in the Bond series as Charles Robinson, M's suave chief-of-staff.
The chance to promote him, while startling, would not be unexpected. The Broccoli family, who are casting the film, the 21st in the series, are said to fear that the films have become anachronistic.
They told Brosnan they wanted to "go in a new direction".
Initially, this was taken to mean that they were turning away from the special effects and high-tech gadgetry to update Casino Royale, Ian Fleming's first Bond book.
The feeling is that despite the vast profits from the last movie, Barbara Broccoli, whose father Cubby made the early Bonds, and Michael Wilson, her step-brother and partner at Eon Productions, are anxious to make a more hard-boiled thriller.
Speculation about Salmon, who was born in Luton, stems from a sudden rush of unusually large bets on him. Warren Lush, a spokesman for Ladbrokes, said yesterday: "They have come out of nowhere, with sums like £500 apiece. These are huge bets for what is really a novelty wager.
"The suspicion is they may be being placed by people, or spies out there, in the know. So we have temporarily closed the book on the next Bond, as we don't want to get out fingers burned."
Until now, the favourite was Dougray Scott, whose play, Becket, closes in London's West End in a fortnight. Ewan McGregor was also a runner until he accepted his latest stage role.
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright
"Who's my shakedown target today?"
Hey! Don't laugh.
Eminem is just the wigger to play Whitey Shaft!
I've heard Cris Rock do a pretty good english accent. Why not Cris Bond?
BOND........SAVINGS BOND
You forgot Mike Myers......Canadian..........YEah Baby Yeah!!!!!!!!!
Hahahah, awesome!
Ah! Praise from Caesar.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.