Leo Woodall has thrown his hat into the ring to play James Bond, saying he’d “love” to take on the iconic role.
The 28-year-old London-born actor is currently starring in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy as the title character’s younger love interest.
In an interview with Variety, Woodall was asked about his interest in taking on the celebrated role of 007.
“Every British actor’s getting that!” he responded with a laugh.
“That call hasn’t come yet,” he added. “Yeah, I’d do Bond. I’d love to do something like that.
“It doesn’t need to be saving the world, but I want to beat up some bad guys, you know?”
The identity of the next James Bond actor has been the subject of much speculation since Daniel Craig retired from the role after No Time To Die in 2021.
The 56-year-old had the longest continuous reign as the lead in the movie franchise based on the novels first published by Ian Fleming in 1953.
Craig starred in five films, starting with Casino Royale in 2006, which he followed up with 2008’s Quantum of Solace, which he recently said “didn’t quite work”, Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015) and finally No Time To Die.
The Fall Guy actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson was first rumoured for the role in January 2023 after it was reported that producer Barbara Broccoli had been left impressed by a screen test with the actor, whose credits include Kick-Ass, Bullet Train and Nowhere Boy.
Former Bond stars including Pierce Brosnan and George Lazenby have all offered their support for the Nowhere Boy actor, saying they believe he could be the right candidate.
Meanwhile, other rumoured names include Idris Elba, Regé-Jean Page, Cillian Murphy, James Norton, Henry Cavill and Tom Hardy.
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Woodall had a starring role in the second season of The White Lotus in 2021, and has since appeared as the romantic lead in Netflix’s One Day.
He has received plaudits for his appearance in the recent Bridget Jones film, which The Independent critic Clarisse Loughrey called “the best sequel yet” in a four-star review.
The film’s director, Michael Morris, recently responded to the debate surrounding the movie’s age-gap relationship.
“What we’re seeing is an erosion of an invisible wall that has meant that, for some reason in culture, we have traditionally been less interested in women over a certain age interacting with men [of a certain age],” he told The Independent.
“That should be nonsense, I think we can all agree, that should be absolutely nonsense. There should be no invisible wall stopping anything.”
