'James Bond' star Judi Dench hints Idris Elba 'might' become the next Bond: 'I knew he was up for it'
As Daniel Craig readies to exit the James Bond franchise following 'No Time To Die', Dame Judi Dench has dropped a hint that Idris Elba could be the next 007 actor. The 'Luther' star has been a hot favorite candidate for years now and it looks like the former Bond star is also on board, backing him as the new James Bond. She dropped a big hint on tonight's 'The Graham Norton Show'.
Dench revealed that she joked about Elba getting the role when they were filming 'Cats' together, she revealed on the episode, which was recorded last night. "I knew he was up for it," she said. "In 'Cats', I had the line to him, "You'll never get to Heaviside Layer." But during rehearsals, I said, "You'll never get to MI6", she quipped. "But, I think he might."
The actor has discussed the possibility of playing Bond would put him in a "difficult position".
"Of course, if someone said to me, "Do you want to play James Bond?', I'd be like 'Yeah!'" he had told the Vanity Fair Magazine. That's fascinating to me. But it's not something I've expressed, like, 'Yeah, I wanna be the black James Bond'. Then, if I get it and it didn’t work, or it did work, would it be because of the color of my skin? That’s a difficult position to put myself into when I don’t need to."
She also mentioned her on-screen character in 'Cats' - Old Deuteronomy, who is traditionally a wise, elderly male cat. "It came as a surprise, but it's still a clapped-out cat." She also spoke about how she resembled a cat she once owned - a "huge orange bruiser" called Carpet. "I thought I knew the kind of cat I was, but when I saw the film, I realized I had turned into Carpet, a cat I once had that was a huge orange bruiser," she recalled.
Nearly 40 years ago, Judi was cast as Grizabella the Glamour Cat on stage, but an unfortunate injury involving her Achilles' tendon meant she never could get to actually play the role. "It was coming up to the first night and I was rehearsing with Wayne Sleep and some cockroaches and I snapped my Achilles' tendon. They said it didn't matter that my character was hobbling around, but then we moved to the New London Theatre and I fell off the stage. I got up, got a taxi and went home."
'No Time To Die', due out next year on April 8, 2020, and will serve as Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007.