Henry Cavill’s long-rumoured James Bond audition has finally surfaced, showing what could have been if Daniel Craig hadn’t landed the role.
The audition that has been talked about in passing for years, the Henry Cavill audition for James Bond, has finally resurfaced on the internet. The seven-minute-long audition tape shows how Cavill would have portrayed the character as he channels Pierce Brosnan from the 1995 film Goldeneye. The entire audition from 2005 (before Daniel Craig played Bond in Casino Royale) can be seen below (courtesy of the YouTube channel Ron South).
The 007 audition includes some of the slapstick one-liners inspired by the Ian Fleming novel series starring the MI6 Agent, starting with Casino Royale in 1953. Cavill can be seen introducing himself by the last name first in iconic Fleming fashion with “Bond. James Bond” and ordering his classic shaken, not stirred vodka martini. The audition continued for seven minutes, and previously, this very audition was conducted very well by Casino Royale Director Martin Campbell.
In an interview with Express.co.uk in 2023, Campbell declared the audition as “tremendous.” Campbell also went as far as to say, “If Daniel [Craig] didn’t exist, Henry would have made an excellent Bond.” While Capbell did say at the time Cavill’s audition was great, he still clarified his stance on the film, saying “I wasn’t favouring Henry. The way they work with Bond and it’s pretty terrific is when they decide on the actor and you audition – in our case, it was eight people – it’s very democratic” on how Daniel Craig was cast for the role.
Campbell’s admission that there were eight actors auditioned for James Bond correlates with the Ron South YouTube channel that published the Cavill audition. The YouTube channel has also posted screen tests for The Boys‘ actor Antony Starr, Sam Worthington (Avatar), and Rupert Friend (Homeland) auditioning for Bond, which leaves three actors who were in the running unnamed (and screen tests unpublished).
After nearly 20 years, Cavill’s James Bond can finally be seen from the audition tape. Henry Cavill recently starred in a cameo as the “Cavill-rine” in Deadpool & Wolverine, showing fans what it would look like if he donned the adamantium claws of Weapon X. As audition tapes from 2005’s Casino Royale continue to release, fans are still left in the dark on who the new James Bond will be, and rumours continue to swirl regarding the future of 007.
