Aaron Taylor-Johnson will make a perfect Bond – , an avatar of British suaveness and burly machismo

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You’d be forgiven for taking these newest James Bond rumours with a fistful of salt. Aaron Taylor-Johnson has emerged as frontrunner within the limitless rolodex of names (Idris Elba, James Norton, Henry Cavill, Jodie Comer et al) rumoured to be entering into the particular agent’s Oxfords.

This hearsay, although, appears to carry extra water than the remainder. For one factor, it’s the primary time an actor has, albeit reportedly, been provided the p­artwork of 007 versus merely “circling” it. The 33-yr-previous’s casting wouldn’t solely corroborate claims from Bond co-producer Michael G Wilson that the group was on the lookout for a thirtysomething, but additionally studies that Taylor-Johnson floored Barbara Broccoli with an unimaginable display screen take a look at in Slough two years in the past. Even Taylor-Johnson himself, who has been sporting a suspicious quantity of Omega watches recently (Bond’s timepiece of selection), didn’t deny it.

Me? I’m vehemently hoping the rumours are true this time round, not solely as a result of it could imply an finish to the interminable parade of actors in-and-out of the Bond turnstile – however as a result of Taylor-Johnson, an avatar of burly machismo and suave Britishness, would make an glorious 007.

Yes, he’s youthful than your common suited-and-booted spook – which, wanting on-line, tends to be the main gripe from naysayers (that and his hair; extra on that later). But at 33, Taylor-Johnson is considerably older than 29-yr-previous George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – and he’s nonetheless acquired two years on Sean Connery who was a sprightly 31 when Dr No started filming. Not to say that by the point they begin taking pictures the brand new Bond movie (inevitable delays however), Johnson will be a very respectable 34 or 35.

Taylor-Johnson is, in actual fact, just about the perfect age in response to Ian Fleming who locations his beloved creation in his mid-to-late thirties. Even Idris Elba, the Bond favorite for a very long time, dominated himself out at in 2016 as a result of he thought himself too previous at 43. (Last yr, Elba additionally stated he by no means would’ve accepted the half because it “became about race”.)

A youthful Bond (even marginally so) would serve the franchise effectively. Craig did the entire embittered, older man factor – and he did it effectively, however do we actually need extra of the identical? A greener 007, a little damp behind the ears, would afford writers some new floor to cowl. Take Matt Reeves’ The Batman: it was endearing to see Robert Pattinson’s superhero simply two years into his vigilante profession, nonetheless cool and brutal as ever however figuring out a couple of kinks alongside the way in which. A brand new Bond comes round hardly ever, so why not use it as an alternative to shake (not stir) issues up?

The concentrate on Taylor-Johnson’s youth is probably going much less to do with the years he’s clocked than his background. He rose to fame enjoying gentle-spoken, shaggy-haired boys in teen fare like Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. Even within the extremely-violent comedian e-book film Kick-Ass, his wannabe superhero is the image of boyish goofiness, all blushing cheeks and averted gazes. Butter wouldn’t soften. I admit it’s exhausting to think about the Taylor-Johnson of yesteryear sipping a dry martini with out spitting it up and ordering a Jägerbomb as an alternative. But folks change; they develop up. Johnson actually did.

Across more and more critical turns in movies like Nowhere Boy, wherein he performed a younger John Lennon, Nocturnal Animals, a psychotic thug terrorising a household, and Anna Karenina, Taylor-Johnson has banked up goodwill and legit cred within the trade. Despite being a bonafide A-lister, although, he retains an air of thriller and cool distance about him – two elements essential for any Bond value his Aston Martin.

Because, effectively, I don’t a lot care to know whether or not my Bond as soon as had a tepid affair with a manufacturing assistant, and I detest to recall if he ever spun the wheel on This Morning with Phil and Holly. As a lot as Bond ought to be unattainable, he must also in the end be unknowable such that the fantasy lives on. Wasn’t that the kiss of dying for former frontrunner Tom Hiddleston? Following his flip as a debonair spy in The Night Manager, the Englishman, then 35, was wanting like a shoo-in. His Jonathan Pine was lovely, repressed, and fast with a gun. It’s all sounding very acquainted.

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So particular had been followers and bookies that Hiddleston had secured the half that, at one level, betting was suspended. It all went up in flames across the identical time he began his excessive-profile, tabloid-fodder relationship with Taylor Swift. Suddenly, Hiddleston was all over the place. And poof! The Bond rumours dissipated as shortly as that they had erupted – not even the sequence’ fastidiously positioned seashore scene (glistening naked chest; hand by way of the hair à la Craig in Casino Royale) may save him. We knew an excessive amount of.

Admittedly, Johnson has weathered his personal media storm. In 2009, his relationship along with his now spouse, the director Sam Taylor-Johnson (he was 18; she was 41), prompted a kerfuffle, however he took it in stride and his calm indifference has saved the trolls at bay. Taylor-Johnson is, then, somebody who has largely operated on the peripheries of magazines, but additionally the margins of movie, too. Often, he’s a welcome addition to a movie’s solid slightly than the primary attraction.

Ask anybody their favorite Aaron Taylor Johnson movie and relying on their age and proclivity for superhero flicks (he’s a Marvel star, too), they’ll have totally different solutions. The level is, there isn’t any singular defining Johnson efficiency – his oeuvre continues to be malleable sufficient to slide into the contours of 007’s expertly tailor-made go well with with out protest from too many individuals.

And if toughness is the benchmark of a nice Bond, effectively, Johnson may take that bench and fling it into the ocean with out breaking a sweat. Not since Alexander Skarsgård thumped his chest as Tarzan has a physique seemed so formidable (which is saying one thing given Taylor-Johnson stands at a modest 5ft 10in in comparison with the Swede’s 6ft 4in). The actor is a brickhouse of a man: quads the scale of my waist, biceps larger than basketballs.

Most not too long ago, Johnson tough-housed his method by way of carriage after carriage as a effectively-dressed contract killer in Brad Pitt’s Bullet Train. With his pinstripe go well with and slicked-again coif, Taylor-Johnson additionally embodied one other essential element of Bond-ness: self-importance. And effectively, there’s no beating across the bush: Taylor-Johnson is extremely sizzling – which, as historical past has confirmed, is one different prerequisite for the Bond title.

For additional credentials of macho-ness, see Marvel’s Kraven the Hunter – or not less than, its three-minute trailer wherein Johnson kicks, punches, and shoots his method down a bucket record of enemies with an animalistic, unbridled rage. Suffice to say, his tackle Bond would probably skew extra Connery brawler than Roger Moore dandy – and whereas chances are high Bond would by no means chunk the flesh off a man’s face in a battle, as Taylor-Johnson does in Kraven, it’s good to know he may all the identical.

But the actual fact is, Johnson doesn’t must dial the aggression as much as 11 to be efficient. During a temporary however memorable look in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, he’s quietly however successfully imposing barking orders in a army vest and gruff voice.

Just as crucial to Bond as his military precision with a revolver or the horsepower of his convertible is his capacity for emotion. You want someone who can juggle punching, punchlines, and pathos. Craig’s iteration sorely lacked the latter. Often merely a blunt instrument of ache for his enemies, Craig’s Bond was succesful of little else. Consider how devastating the denouement of No Time to Die would possibly’ve been had Craig been in a position to actually promote his grief – an insurmountable hurdle for him additionally in Casino Royale when Vesper (Eva Green) died. You don’t want a lot, thoughts you, Bond is the robust and silent sort in any case, however a little is critical.

There’s a glimmer of it in Pierce Brosnan when Teri Hatcher’s Paris is killed in Tomorrow Never Dies; likewise in Roger Moore when Cassandra Harris’s Countess Lisl von Schlaf meets her finish in For Your Eyes Only. Credit to Lazenby, who was a awful Bond by all accounts, however who dropped at life maybe probably the most shifting second in franchise historical past when mourning his lifeless spouse, performed by Diana Riggs. It’s straightforward to think about Johnson hitting these uncommon, however pivotal, emotional notes.

Which brings us to Taylor-Johnson’s hair – of each the top and facial variety. People hate the hair; they detest the hair. “Not with that beard,” wrote one particular person in response to the studies. “Well, the long hair will have to go,” snarked one other. But if the largest drawback you have got with Taylor-Johnson enjoying arguably probably the most coveted function in all of cinema is his scruff, issues are wanting fairly good. Fetch the clippers!