While the traditional veil of secrecy hangs over just about everything to do with the 23rd James Bond flick, Deadline has learned that Javier Bardem has been offered a starring role in the flick. Although there are absolutely no details, as the big roles that aren’t 007 himself in the films are usually the villain, that’s presumably who they want him to play.
An official offer went out to Bardem last week, which was around the same time he started mulling over an offer to star in The Dark Tower for Ron Howard. Whether he’d have time to do both isn’t known, as while Bond 23 should shoot this year for a November 9th, 2012 release, no production timeline for The Dark Tower has been released. Indeed, with a brand new baby who’s only a few weeks old, it’s uncertain whether Javier would want to take any roles that could potentially take him away from his family for months.
The Deadline story alo includes some interesting info on how MGM is trying to pull itself out of financial ruin. While it’s been speculated for months that the studio would want a partner not just to distribute the next Bond flick but also to help finance it, MGM is apparently try to use the 007 franchise to try and leverage studios into a bigger deal that would seem them partner with MGM on a range of movies, thereby providing some immediate and much needed cashflow. As yet no deal has been announced, but with studios already vying to distribute Bond, expect to hear more soon.