It’s been 20 years since the last round of James Bond auditions saw Daniel Craig beat Henry Cavill to be cast in Casino Royale.
Since then, one of the bookies’ favourites for years has been Black Bag star Michael Fassbender, who is currently at 20-1 to be cast as the new 007.
And it turns out the 47-year-old was in consideration the last time around when he was in his late 20s.
Speaking with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the German-Irish Oscar nominee said: “I met with Barbara Broccoli just, you know, through passing, and I actually went into an audition phase before Daniel [Craig] was cast, but I don’t think I was ever in the mix. But I remember going into that room and meeting with her and [Michael G] Wilson.”
Fassbender continued: “And I think I was like, ‘Daniel Craig is…’ I don’t know why I was promoting him. I should have been promoting myself… I was terrible at auditions. Obviously Daniel did a fantastic job and went on to be, I think, the most successful Bond in history. But that was it really, there was never a conversation after that.”
Black Bag is out now in cinemas.