Scots star Sam Heughan has admitted that he would love to step into Daniel Craig’s now vacant shoes as James Bond.
No Time To Die is Craig’s fifth and final outing as 007, meaning that a new Bond is needed to drive the legendary Aston Martin DB5, drink vodka Martinis, as well as saving the world.
Earlier this year, the Outlander star spoke to Scottish Field’s Rosie Morton about having to stick to rigorous training schedule to get in shape for the movie SAS: Red Notice, which was released in March this year.
Sam, who plays Jamie Fraser in Outlander, trained with South African Special Forces in Krav Maga to make his appearance as a psychopathic SAS operative as authentic as possible.
Based on the book by Andy MacNab, an SAS veteran himself, Sam spent a great deal of time with this self-confessed ‘good psychopath’, leading to obvious comparisons with James Bond.
Sam said of McNab: ‘He was undercover in Northern Ireland, he worked in Belize, and overseas on quite nefarious missions. At first I questioned, “How do you play a character that doesn’t have emotions?”.
‘But then meeting him I realised he’s the most charming, engaging man I’ve ever met. And funny. I realised that it’s all learned behaviour. So, then I realised the character could be as charming as I wanted him to be.’
All of which ties in with James Bond – and with Sam’s performance having been lauded, its begs the question: could this charismatic Scot with a knack for combat fighting fill the shoes of Daniel Craig, and become the second Scotsman to play 007, after Sean Connery?
- READ SCOTTISH FIELD’S ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO JAMES BOND’S SCOTS CONNECTIONS HERE
Comparing with SAS: Red Notice, Sam said: ‘I think it’s a great comparison – they’re in the same world.
‘It’s a funny one, people always ask, and rightly so as they are similar projects. I’m sure they’re sick of it, of being ask to look at this guy, but of course I would jump at the chance to play a character like that. But I feel SAS has its own franchise and its own story. I’d love to do another one of them.’
When asked about his favourite 007, Sam opted for a less obvious choice, shying away from the likes of Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.
He admitted: ‘This is quite controversial. Sean Connery was, of course, iconic. I’ve worked with Roger Moore and loved his take on it. He was a total gentleman. But I actually liked Timothy Dalton. In The Living Daylights, I thought he was kind of dark, and I enjoyed that.’
However, Sam added: ‘I think SAS is way more authentic – it’s based on reality. It’s a piece of fiction but we’ve tried really hard to make this as accurate as possible. This is how the military operates, this is how the government operates and it’s kind of scary to see that.
‘I think Bond is a different animal. It’s a lot more heightened. But the characters are quite similar. I would even guess Bond could be slightly psychopathic.’
You can hear Sam talk about Bond in his own words HERE on the Scottish Field podcast.
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