Jessica Chastain and 3 Other Stars Who Want to Be Bond Villains
Jessica Chastain at the European premiere of ‘The Martian’ on September 24 (Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)
He’s about to take on the sinister organization SPECTRE — but could James Bond handle a foe as formidable as Jessica Chastain? In a new interview, the two-time Oscar nominee revealed that she dreams of playing a nefarious Bond villain.
“One of my goals is to play a villain in a Bond film,” Chastain told W magazine. “People ask me if I want to be a Bond girl, and I say, ‘No, I want to be the villain.’ I’m waiting for that call!”
Somebody get Barbara Broccoli on the line! Of course, Chastain has some competition to play 007’s next nemesis. Here are three other celebrities who have recently thrown their hat in the ring, Oddjob-style, for the dream job of Bond villain.
Helen Mirren
During a 2013 fan campaign to cast Mirren as the first female Doctor Who, Dame Helen announced that she wasn’t interested — but she would be interested in fighting James Bond. “I’d like to be a Bond villain,” she told Digital Spy. “That’s something I would really love to do, and I’d also like to play Catherine the Great of Russia.” We’re now envisioning a very interesting remake of From Russia With Love.
Samuel L. Jackson
Jackson has said that his desire to play a Bond villain led him to the role of evil internet billionaire Richmond Valentine in Kingsman: The Secret Service. “I don’t think I’ll ever get to be in a Bond film, so I felt like this was an opportunity to play a really great Bond villain,” he told The Guardian in January. As for whether he’d do an actual Bond movie, Jackson said he’d consider it — as long as it didn’t involve action scenes. “I’m sort of backing away from doing supremely physical movies that I used to do — you know, where I have to run, jump, dive on people, go hand-to-hand with people. I’m into more cerebral things now,” Jackson told Today.
Related: Read our complete ‘SPECTRE’ coverage
Stephen Hawking
Unlike Jackson, the legendary physicist is very confident that he could take down James Bond using brains, not brawn. “My ideal role would be a baddie in James Bond,” Hawking told The Hollywood Reporter last year. “I think the wheelchair and the computer voice would fit the part.” Indeed, concocting dastardly schemes from a big chair is a time-honored Bond tradition.
And also this guy…
English comedian and radio personality Miles Jupp is on the same wavelength as Jessica Chastain, having just told The Guardian that a Bond villain is his “secret dream role.” Though Jupp has a solid career in British television, his Hollywood roles have mostly been minor — think “waiter” in Sherlock Holmes and “TV weatherman” in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. But hey, Chastain’s smooth baddie could probably use a bumbling sidekick, right?
