Unknown Scot the next Bond?
2001-04-24 11:56
Edinburgh - Little-known Scottish actor Gerard Butler is being wooed to play the next James Bond when Pierce Brosnan gives up the role, the Daily Record newspaper said on Monday.
The tabloid said series producer Barbara Broccoli was determined to have another Scottish Bond - following in the footsteps of screen legend Sean Connery.
It said she had fixed up a summer meeting with 32-year-old
Butler to discuss the role.
"Gerard is one of the two people Barbara has appointments
with," a source told the paper. "They are meeting to discuss
replacing Pierce after his final movie."
Irish-born Brosnan's contract expires after his fourth Bond movie, which goes into production in January, the Scottish paper
said.
It added that Broccoli was also meeting Colin Wells, who had served as a stand-in Bond for Brosnan during screen tests for
other actors.
Butler only took up acting after a law degree from Glasgow
University, but at six feet two inches, the dark-haired actor has
the looks to slip into the 007 role.
He is due to make his big screen debut in a leading role in June, playing Dracula in Wes Craven's Dracula 2000, the paper
said.
Connery, a fiercely proud Scot who carries a 'Scotland forever' tattoo on his shoulder, last played Bond in the 1983 hit Never Say Never Again.
The 007 role has been played by two other British actors, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton, as well as George Lazenby of Australia.