{"id":487886,"date":"2026-05-16T15:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T15:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/487886\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T15:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T15:27:14","slug":"the-new-james-bond-must-ooze-sex-appeal-per-007-films-casting-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/487886\/","title":{"rendered":"The New James Bond Must \u201cOoze Sex Appeal,\u201d Per 007 Film’s Casting Director"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE<\/strong>: The actor chosen to play the next\u00a0James Bond<\/a>\u00a0has got \u201cto ooze sex appeal,\u201d as well as the obvious stuff, like well, actually being able to act, says 007<\/a> casting director Nina Gold.<\/p>\n

\n\tPlus, as this column noted way back, the successful applicant picked to take on Ian Fleming\u2019s Commander Bond should be young enough to play him in three or four, or more pictures.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough Gold\u2019s deal with Amazon MGM has just been officially signed<\/a>, she\u2019s been keeping an eye out for potential heirs to Daniel Craig\u00a0for quite a while.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCraig, by the way, shot\u00a0five pictures for Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson at Eon Productions:\u00a0Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre\u00a0and\u00a0No Time to Die.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tLast month I saw Gold <\/strong>at a bunch of first night\u2019s in London\u2019s West End; one week we happened to be at three productions on consecutive nights. It\u2019s no secret that casting directors all over check out creatures of the stage. That\u2019s how the former Bond execs found Craig. For Broccoli, it was the combination of Craig\u2019s work in Matthew Vaughn\u2019s 2004 film\u00a0Layer Cake\u00a0(which also featured Ben Whishaw, the future \u201cQ\u201d), what she\u2019d seen of him on stage in David Rabe\u2019s\u00a0Hurlyburly\u00a0at the Old Vic and his performance opposite Michael Gambon in Caryl Churchill\u2019s\u00a0A Number\u00a0at the Royal Court Theatre.<\/p>\n

\n\tGold politely nodded as I recited my stats at Charles Finch<\/a>\u2019s A Rabbit\u2019s Foot Annual Filmmakers dinner, sponsored by Montblanc, at Fred L\u2019Ecailler\u2019s seafood establishment.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe kept on nodding when I mentioned David Shields who was so good in James Graham\u2019s award winning play Punch which ran int the Nottingham Playhouse, the Young Vic and on Shaftesbury Avenue at the Apollo. And for good measure I threw in\u00a0Bridgerton\u2019s\u00a0Luke Thompson who\u2019s very much a theater animal having acquitted himself well opposite James Norton and Omari Douglas in Ivo van Hove\u2019s production of\u00a0A Little Life. Gold can check him out when he appears with Keira Knightley and Stephen Dillane in the stage adaptation of\u00a0The Lives of Others\u00a0in the fall. That\u2019s about the time when Bond director Denis Villeneuve will evaluate Gold\u2019s suggestions.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ira<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tIra Sachs, Barnaby Thompson and Nina Gold (Baz Bamigboye\/Deadline)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBaz Bamigboye\/Deadline<\/p>\n

\n\tShe joked that if I\u2019ve cast Commander Bond by then, I should let her know!<\/p>\n

\n\tFilmmaker Ira Sachs, in town for the the premiere of his competition film\u00a0The Man I Love, joined in the conversation. However, his primary aim was to have his photograph taken with Gold because \u201cshe gave Ben Whishaw a big movie\u201d break\u00a0\u00a0in Jane Campion\u2019s Bright Star. \u201cBen wants a photo of us,\u201d Sachs explained.<\/p>\n

\n\tSachs directed Whishaw in last year\u2019s\u00a0Peter Hujar\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tToheeb Jimoh and Wawa (Baz Bamigboye\/Deadline)<\/p>\n

\n\tOthers at the cocktails and seated dinner included Toheeb Jimoh (Ted Lasso) and partner Wawa, an advocate for environmental justice. Jimoh also appears with Sophie Okonedo<\/a> in Clarissa (also cast by Gold). Adapted from Virginia Woolf\u2019s\u00a0Mrs.Dallaway\u00a0by brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri,cthe film plays Directors\u2019 Fortnight today. <\/p>\n

\n\tSony Pictures Classics co-presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard were hob-nobbing with film festival chieftains Julie Huntsinger (Telluride), Daniel Battsek (New York), Alberto Barbera (Venice), Melita Toscan du Plantier (Marrakesh, and a Rabbit\u2019s Foot honoree along with filmmaker Nadine Labaki). Director James Gray snuck in late, but then he is busy preparing for tonight launch\u2019s of his latest picture, Paper Tiger,\u00a0which is playing in competition.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCharlotte Cardin (Baz Bamigboye\/Deadline)<\/p>\n

\n\tI sat near Paris-based Canadian singer Charlotte Cardin who was telling me how she performed for Jane Fonda at soiree hosted by L\u2019Oreal. Her latest album is out in October. <\/p>\n

\n\tBarnaby Thompson, a fellow Brit, was at the very noisy table next to ours. I\u2019m a huge fan of his documentary\u00a0Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean\u00a0which is playing in Cannes<\/a> Classics. Diego Luna, here for special Cannes screenings of his\u00a0Ashes\u00a0movie, scooted across the restaurant to embrace Thompson. They worked together 20 years ago\u00a0\u00a0on Oliver Parker\u2019s\u00a0Fade to Black.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThompson, well aware that Luna and I know each other, asks whether I knew that the actor-director was British? \u201cHalf a Brit,\u201d Luna corrects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBarnaby Thompson and Diego Luna (Baz Bamigboye\/Deadline)<\/p>\n

\n\tHis mother was a British costume designer who died when Luna was a toddler. The boy was raised by his dad in Mexico. \u201cBut I can be very British when I want to,\u201d he says putting on a Cockney accent.\u00a0In any case, he supports Arsenal, which is fine by me!<\/p>\n

\t\tPartying With The Club Kids\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe dinner was lively and fun but the decibel levels were mere whispers compared to the music DJ Bobby Beethoven was blasting out at the after party for Jordan Firstman<\/a>\u2019s feature sensation\u00a0Club Kid<\/a>. The bash at Lucia Beach was packed from dance floor to the sea.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBobby Beethoven at the \u2018Kid Club\u2019 party (Baz Bamigboye\/Deadlinez)<\/p>\n

\n\tLoved seeing\u00a0Matty Matheson who plays Neil on The Bear. He tells me he\u2019s in Cannes for the market where he\u2019s been having meetings for the movie\u00a0Grind\u00a0which he executive produced.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMatty Matheson (Baz Bamigboye\/Deadline)<\/p>\n

\n\tI do a little cha-cha dance step to DJ Carly\u2019s\u00a0Gimme Strength, appropriate because it\u2019s now 2 o\u2019clock in the morning and strength is one thing I ain\u2019t got. Then Marina Sena & Psirico\u2019s\u00a0Carnival\u00a0plays and it gives me a shot in the arm. Bar staff are dancing atop a column attempting to pour champagne down a woman\u2019s throat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDalton Gomez and Maika Monroe (Baz Bamigboye\/Deadline)<\/p>\n

\n\tOdessa A\u2019zion does the sweetest thing and hands Firstman a posy of flowers. Takes him a millisecond to fathom who it is behind glasses and hair bunched up. Horror star Maika Monroe is with her beau Dalton Gomez. British producer and distributor\u00a0Zygi Kamasa is involved with Monroe\u2019s\u00a0Cannes movie\u00a0Victorian Psycho\u00a0via his True Brit Entertainment.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere are a lot of Brit producers in town including Dominic Tighe, who\u2019s trying to set up deals for his Giant Productions. Did a double-take when I saw Tighe because I used to cover him and his wife, the actress Katherine Kingsley when they used to grace the musical theater stage, but as we know, there\u2019s always been a lot of cross-over between stage and screen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tThe BFI Is M.I.A.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tSuddenly realized that I haven\u2019t heard a word from the usually nice folk at the British Film Institute who notably did not invite me to their luncheon reception yesterday. Perhaps, it\u2019s to do with the fact that they have no produced titles at Cannes this year although they did co-finance Clio Barnard\u2019s\u00a0I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning,\u00a0which I happen to think is a bloody great film. The BFI and BBC Film should be shouting from the rooftops about this picture but not a word has been heard from either. Then again, I do hear from many in the international film community about how stand-offish the BFI and BBC Film can be. And Jeezus, don\u2019t I know it.<\/p>\n

\n\tSomeone hands me an invitation to another party for later Saturday night that\u2019s billed to go on until 5am. No way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: The actor chosen to play the next\u00a0James Bond\u00a0has got \u201cto ooze sex appeal,\u201d as well as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[11663,34619,10404,190863,11519,107915,212346,18,117,19,17,7391,212347,327],"class_list":{"0":"post-487886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-11663","9":"tag-breaking-baz","10":"tag-cannes","11":"tag-cannes-2026","12":"tag-cannes-film-festival","13":"tag-charles-finch","14":"tag-club-kid","15":"tag-eire","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-ie","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-james-bond","20":"tag-jordan-firstman","21":"tag-movies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116584962523493802","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}