While I won’t deny Cumberbatch his dreams, I hope he isn’t campaigning for it because publicly campaigning for roles grosses me out. Just be good at your job (which he is), and the rest will sort itself out. I certainly think he could do it, but I don’t think Bond is his big announcement. I think he’s joining Marvel (hopefully NOT as Ant Man), and that will be his big to-do.

I will get to those Sherlock articles eventually. They’ve required some re-watching and got derailed by some real-world work stuff but I hope to get them out in the next few weeks. I appreciate the three of you still hanging in there for those.

This may be more appropriate for your movie / industry tracking articles on laineygossip, but I wasn’t sure how to reach you there.

Would you please comment on whether you think Benedict has any chance of being the next Bond after Daniel Craig?

(Hereby follows a long-ish post, which I promise does tie back in to Sherlock, but please move / remove as desired. Thanks in advance).

So, Daniel Craig is in Skyfall (Bond 23) and will be in the next one (Bond 24), released 2014. Supposedly, now that the studio finances are sorted out, Bond movies are aiming for a every-2-year new movie release schedule.

Most James Bond incarnations stay on for about 7 years or so, and they are cast when they are in the latter part of their 30s or early 40s. (Granted, on that note, Daniel Craig will only be 46 by the time Bond 24 is released, and will have a few years left for more Bonds if he wants it …)

There is a recent interview (June 1 2012) with Paul McGuigan in the Scotsman (http://preview.tinyurl.com/bpoku3t) where it was mentioned that “So, too, he aims one day to stamp his mark on the James Bond franchise, having come close to directing Daniel Craig in his debut as 007. “I was down to the last two for Casino Royale,” he says. “Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson [the producers] had asked if I would be interested, and I’ve always been a major fan of Bond. But I think because they were bringing in a new Bond, they didn’t want another unknown factor in me. I still haven’t given up on that dream. I’ve given up on the dream of scoring the winning goal for Celtic in the European Cup final, but Bond is one thing I want to try and achieve.””

Which is interesting, since watching Scandal in Belgravia, a wishful fangirl can imagaine that the episode is an audition “short” for a James Bond movie.

I also submit a small snippet from May issue of Jaguar magazine (http://preview.tinyurl.com/74ghbl2) – Benedict has been doing voiceovers for Jaguar ads, so I suppose that’s why they interveiwed him : “[Benedict] – “I’ve got something else coming up which could be really big that I can’t even talk about yet.”

Yes, I know that is the vaguest of vague. But keep reading (if I haven’t lost you already).

I really think that Benedict is campaigning to be the next Bond.

This is Ian Fleming’s impression of James Bond. Commissioned by Fleming as an example for the Daily Express comic strip.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/3zwtcj2

This is Benedict at Baftas 2012:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/7ymtuwl

Now there was also those (rather uncharacteristic to be published / caught by a paparazzi – newspaper?) shots of him going about in swim shorts:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/85hr2k7

… which makes more sense to my brain if he were doing some sort of Bond campaigning.

See Daniel Craig: http://preview.tinyurl.com/6uc7a94

So, what do you think? Does Benedict Cumberbatch and Paul McGuigan have a shot at the Bond franchise (film 25+)? With Sherlock, they seem to have a pretty good profile / track record to make a compelling business case for it.

Thanks for reading, and I would love to hear from you! (And yes, I would also love to see your article on the John/Sherlock being bros-for-life.)

Of course he won’t. But if am right, it will be fun watching some of the fans rapidly backtracking “oh, I knew it all along.” Yeah sure you did.

Also, I think it’s worth reiterating that the solution is probably really simple and we’re all just over-thinking it. Because we have nearly two years to dwell.

DWELL.

This is so true. But I feel like the writers won’t be able to outguess Sherlock either. My one complaint about this show is that the build-up is so great that the pay-off just comes up short sometimes. I’m especially thinking about the blind banker episode.