British star Madden plays 007 peekaboo
Game of Thrones heartthrob Richard Madden tried to bat off mounting speculation yesterday that he will be the next James Bond as Daniel Craig bows out after eight years as 007.
The British actor turned heads on the Cannes film festival red carpet on Thursday in a Bond-style white tuxedo, with rumours further fuelled by a
string of Instagram poses in exotic settings typical of the British spy.
But the Scottish actor – whose accent resembles that of the original 007, Sean Connery – coyly brushed off the rumours when he appeared at a news conference yesterday for the Elton John biopic Rocketman.
However, neither did Madden rule it out in a retort likely to further fuel speculation.
“It’s very flattering to be involved in that conversation at all, but it’s all just talk and next week I’m sure it will be someone different,” he said as co-star star Taron Egerton, who played Elton John, began humming the Bond music.
The white tuxedo was immortalised by Connery who wore it at the start of Goldfinger (1964) with the style becoming one of the spy’s most famous looks.
In the critically-acclaimed Rocketman, Madden plays Elton John’s controversial lover and manager John Reid.
Madden starred in Game of Thrones as the ill-fated King Robb Stark, and last year led the cast of hit BBC drama The Bodyguard, a taut political thriller which broke download records in Britain.
Madden is currently the UK bookmakers’ favourite to play Bond with odds of 3/1 from William Hill, Betfair and Paddy Power, according to the Oddschecker website.
He is closely followed by Tom Hiddleston who starred in The Night Manager, while Idris Elba, James Norton and Cillian Murphy fall further behind.