Daniel Craig Helped Ruin Mark Strong’s Bond Audition With Alcohol

Daniel Craig is our current James Bond, but things could’ve gone differently if he hadn’t gone out drinking with Mark Strong. In a new interview, Strong recounts a story about how he was set to audition for the role of the new 007, and how that audition went horribly wrong because he spent the night before getting wasted with none other than Daniel Craig. Coincidence, or Craig’s ingenious plan to make sure he himself got the part? You decide!

I like Mark Strong, but I don’t know if I can picture him as James Bond. And I’ll probably never have to, because according to Strong, he already bombed his Bond audition. When it was time to find a new Bond a few years ago, several actors were in consideration, including Strong. While appearing on the Sky series There’s Something About Movies, Strong recounted his disastrous audition – and included an amusing twist.

According to Strong, the night before his audition, he “learned the lines,” and then “to celebrate,” he “went out for a drink” and “got pissed.”

“I overdid it and the next day I was severely hungover,” he continued. “I started [the audition] and then I just forgot my lines. I couldn’t remember what they were and they all just kind of fell apart. I was sweating, it was a terrible experience — but I really learned from it.”

And here’s where that twist comes in. “The irony was that the guy I was out the night before getting pissed with was Daniel Craig,” Strong said. “So, yeah, I blame him.” Strong told this story in jest, and there’s obviously no bad blood between Strong and Craig – Craig is even a godfather to one of Strong’s children. But still, it’s incredibly funny to think that Craig deliberately got Strong drunk so he would bomb the audition, setting Craig up to win the role.

This was probably the best outcome – Craig made for a great Bond, and Strong seems better suited to play a Bond villain. In any case, maybe there’s still hope for Strong. The delayed but upcoming No Time to Die is Craig’s last outing as 007, at which point it’ll be time to cast a new Bond. And while the producers will probably look for a younger actor to step into James Bond’s tux, Strong could always give it a go again. But if a younger actor from the U.K. invites him out for drinks the night before that audition, he should probably say no.

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