Nobody does Bond better than Craig, says bookies’ choice Norton
HE may be favourite to succeed Daniel Craig as 007, but James Norton says he would be just as happy being a Bond villain. The 32-year-old War & Peace star is the bookies’ favourite to land the role, and has described the speculation as “very flattering”.
He told Gentleman’s Journal: “I would love to play a Bond villain. I love Daniel Craig and I’d love him to do more films. He’s brought a whole other angle to the character — and long may that continue. But people love to speculate. Bond’s such an icon and means so much to so many, so there’s an inevitable amount of speculation. But that’s as much as it is — speculation. Very flattering, very humbling speculation.”
Norton says he used to amuse himself when growing up by making his friends watch him perform plays he had written.
He added: “I often think what that seven-year-old boy in Yorkshire would think of the speculation. Being mentioned alongside the likes of Tom Hardy. It’s nuts. Nonsense. Lovely, lovely nonsense. But say you want to be Bond just once and that becomes a headline. I don’t even know if I’d want to do it.”
Norton says he is not drawn by the money or fame: “Would I strive for the lifestyle side of it? Not really. I don’t want to sound overly worthy — everybody loves the glamour, and I’m not one of those actors who says, ‘I’m not going to the party or wear the beautiful clothes because I’m an actor.’ Where’s the fun in being so principled that you can’t enjoy it? Acting comes first because first and foremost I do this job to expand my horizons.”