Former James Bond star George Lazenby has shared his stamp of approval for Aaron Taylor-Johnson to be the next actor to take on the mantle of Agent 007.
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Lazenby, who played Bond in the 1969 film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, shared his thoughts on Taylor-Johnson’s rumoured posting as the beloved spy to TMZ, saying the young actor will seemingly be able to “handle the stunts and all the ladies who love a man in a tux.”
While Taylor-Johnson’s landing of the role was first rumoured last week, the casting has yet to be confirmed – which Lazenby also suspects to be the case. According to Lazenby, he doesn’t think the role’s necessarily Taylor-Johnson’s yet, relating it to his own experience in getting cast for the role in the 1960s.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson in 2019. Credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage.
Lazenby told TMZ that “when he auditioned for the part back in the 1960s, he went through a bunch of different tests and auditions before he won the role.” The former Bond star also said that he supports Taylor-Johnson as 007 “as long as they do the character justice,” and advised the actor “to be true to himself and reinvent the role to fit him.”
Last week, Taylor-Johnson discussed the rumours in a new interview with Rolling Stone. The Kick-Ass star said: “I can only really talk about the things I’m going to show and tell. So, The Fall Guy, Nosferatu, Kraven The Hunter,” reportedly delivering the answer with a “wry” stare.
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He continued: “I don’t feel like I need to have a future drawn out for me. I feel like, whatever’s drawn out for me, I can fucking do better.”
Taylor-Johnson is best-known for his roles in action movies, including Bullet Train and Avengers: Age Of Ultron. However, he rose to prominence when he starred as the love interest in 2008’s Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. He also portrayed a young John Lennon in Nowhere Boy, a biopic directed by his now wife, Sam Taylor-Johnson.
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