Heughan revealed it all in his new autobiography, Waypoints: My Scottish Journey, which hit store shelves earlier this week.
In an excerpt released in Entertainment Weekly, Heughan explained that audition 007 in 2005 came at a point “in my life I may not have been ready for it, but I wonder what would have happened if I had.”
Before Craig was confirmed to play Bond in Bond’s 2006 reboot, Casino Royale, competition was fierce. Not only did the British actor stand up to Heogan, but he also faced off against Superman star Henry Cavill before coming out victorious.
But in the end, Heughan revealed that he missed James Bond because he didn’t have a definite personality trait.
Heugan was 25, and he was part of a group of optimists in their twenties including Henry Cavill, when he took the audition. He said, “I think they were looking for a younger James Bond, which I guess is going to happen next. It was a weird experience, but I enjoyed it. I went in with a script and they were like, ‘They make you read something from that scene,’ but they don’t tell you where it came from.”
He added, “Then, I was taken upstairs and met Barbara Broccoli and Martin Campbell, the director at the time. There was a golden gun on the table—I think The Man With The Golden Gun?—and we sat here at a very large wooden table and talked a little about Bond.” It was weird, because they didn’t want to talk about Bond, but they did talk about Bond. It’s a very secret service.”
Heugan revealed in his memoir: “I knew there was going to be stiff competition, of course, and eventually Daniel Craig made Bond his own. When I learned the role had moved elsewhere, however, the comments I got boiled down to the fact that I wasn’t motivated by what Enough by nature.”
At the time, Heogan was a relatively unknown Scottish actor who had starred in a few film and television credits under his belt. Since then, he has of course become the main star of Outlander, the wild and seductive Jimmy Fraser.
Despite this unexpected response from James Bond bosses, Heughan admitted that he was not hurt by the exchange.
He admitted “after this experience”. “I learned to appear naturally at that level when needed. Although I was basically acting outside of the actual audition, it just became another thing I was willing to do in order to get a part. I found it challenging in some ways; it was a performance that I can pretend it is really that I can turn it on and off at will. It wasn’t about becoming a bad boy.”
READ MORE: Next Bond: Dwayne Johnson Supports DC Superstar But He’s Not Henry Cavill
Just last week, Ladbrokes gave front-runner Regé-Jean Page an astonishing 3/1 rating as the next 007.
He was joined by the likes of Henry Cavill, 7/2, and Tom Hardy, 8/1.
Heogan wasn’t on the top nine list of candidates for the role – does that mean his chances of becoming a secret agent have completely diminished?
The James Bond series is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
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