In hindsight it feels like Daniel Craig was born to play James Bond, but picking who to play the world’s most iconic spy is is big decision with lots of risks. Many other actors tried out for the role in 2006's Casino Royale and their screen tests were recently uploaded to a small YouTube account for the whole world to gawk at. It’s a fascinating inside look at what might have been, and at just how awkward tryouts can be.
Antony Starr, who currently plays the sociopathic Nazi superhero Homelander on The Boys, was one of those candidates tapped to do a screen test for the role of MI6's 007. In it, he recites a scene from the GoldenEye screenplay in which Bond is at a Blackjack table flirting with femme fatale assassin Xenia Onatopp. Except instead of being in a fancy hotel, he’s acting from a bed in a random hotel room.
Starr punctuates a lot of the tit-for-tat dialogue with raised eyebrows and cocking his head to the side. There’s a ton of lip-smacking at the start of every line. It’s not great! But it’s one of the better “what if” Bond screen tests the mysterious Ron South YouTube account has uploaded so far:
Starr had appeared a bunch in the New Zealand show Mercy Peak at the time but was still basically unknown until he broke out years later with the crime drama Banshee. He’s of course best known now for his unhinged role in The Boys, spawning numerous notorious GIFs and memes in the process. So as Gamesradar notes, existing fans have had a field day going back and imaging his James Bond performance through the lens of Homelander. “Breast milk, squeezed not pumped,” joked one user on Reddit. “Lander, Homelander,” wrote another (if you’re not familiar with The Boys then, uh, how do I explain...)
But screen tests are all relative. Moviemakers are looking for something they can work with, cultivate, and shape into what might be best in the final movie once everything is rehearsed, shot, edited, and brought to life with music, sets, costumes, and props. As twitchy and off as Starr’s test looks, Henry Cavill’s was arguably even rougher.
From the long black hair and facial stubble to the Jonathan Turner biker jacket, it’s all very not Bond. And then Cavill opens his mouth, almost speaking through gritted teeth, appearing almost ponderous at times. It reads like a young boy trying on daddy’s clothes in the mirror. Maybe a good place to explore for a Bond origin movie, but clearly not what the studio was looking for with Casino Royale (Cavill’s full-blown himbo hunk debut didn’t come until 2011's Immortals).
Of course, the movie’s producers maintain they always wanted Daniel Craig from the start. You can watch his much more polished screen test and see that they maybe had a point, and Starr, Cavill, and others may have just been backups in case the brooding Layer Cake star never said yes. Sean Connery apparently didn’t make a great first impression either when he was scouted for the role all those years ago. Bond author Ian Flemming reportedly hated him for the part. It wasn’t until he walked out of the 1962 premiere of Dr. No that he became a believer.
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