Saoirse Ronan has addressed the ongoing speculation that her husband Jack Lowden has been cast as the next James Bond, revealing that the subject rarely comes up at home.
The Scottish actor has long been tipped to take over the 007 role following Daniel Craig's exit, with his Slow Horses co-star Gary Oldman even claiming he is a frontrunner. Lowden has remained tight-lipped about the chatter, while bookies continue to place him as a leading contender alongside Callum Turner, Paul Mescal and Jacob Elordi.
Ronan on the rumours
In an interview with the Associated Press, Ronan - who welcomed a child with Lowden last year - addressed the gossip about Ian Fleming's iconic MI5 agent.
“Well, Gary Oldman thinks he’s James Bond,” the Lady Bird actor said. “[That’s] its own thing. We’re kind of getting on with our life, to be honest. We have plenty of other things to be dealing with. So, yeah, it’s not really a subject that’s coming up in our house, to be honest.”
Ronan added: “The dog needs to be walked, the dinner needs be made - we’re most focused on that.”
Oldman's backing
Last month, Oldman said his co-star is tipped to be taking on the field agent role. “It’s been rumoured that he’s on the shortlist,” Oldman told Global News. “We’re going to find out pretty soon, aren’t we? Because they have picked him. They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet. So my fingers are crossed for Jack.”
Ronan herself recently pitched herself to play a villain in the Bond world. “I want to go dark. I said that I wanted to be a Bond villain and I’m dead serious,” she told Empire. “I think it would be really interesting, having a young female villain. Especially for girls and women, to see someone who can just take all that pent-up anger and direct it somewhere, there’s something interesting in that dramatically. So I would love to do more of that.”
Casting underway
Casting for the next James Bond film, which is the first to be made under Amazon MGM Studios, finally got underway in May. Casting director Nina Gold teased that the team were looking for an actor who “oozes sex appeal”. Producer Amy Pascal recently said the new Bond actor might be revealed by the “end of the year”.
“I mean, Daniel Craig is a hard act to follow. And it’s got to be something really different that is stirring and exciting and different,” she added. Turner, Elordi, Damson Idris, Harris Dickinson, Tom Holland and Louis Partridge have all been named as bookies’ favourites to take on the character.
