Q: Any truth to the rumor that you’re in talks to play James Bond?
Jackman: I think I started that rumor! Seriously.
Beckinsale: I’ve been carrying it on!
Jackman: I facetiously sort of mentioned it and then all of a sudden it’s gospel.
Q: So there’s no truth to it whatsoever, or would you like it to come true?
Jackman: Well, there’s always that fantasy in every boy. I’m sure there isn’t a man here who wouldn’t like to play Bond one day. But there’s nothing official to talk about. There’s been no offer.
That was from my interview with Hugh Jackman way back in May of 2004 (read the whole thing here). Apparently the offer did come, though. And if reports are to be believed, the answer was no, but the reasons behind the turn down are being argued.
Some say that Jackman is just plain old too busy. He’s in London right now working with Woody Allen on his next film, and then he’ll have to fly his ass over to Vancouver to get working on X-men 3 and then he’ll have to return to his community service of cleaning latrines to make up for Van Helsing.
The other explanation is that Jackman simply didn’t want to be typecast as Bond, and that the role is really better suited for an up and comer and not an established personality. Actually, I find that I agree whole heartedly with both those rationales. At this point in the series Bond should be bigger than the actor playing him.
Anyway, how many franchises can one man be involved in? Between the X-films and the sure to come last two films in the Swordfish trilogy, the guy’s got enough going on.