That's a good shout. Definitely the right age. The only reservation is would he be a big enough draw having not done any films of note.
It's hard to steer Bond away from white male. His character has the air of one that comes from privileged "old money" upper class upbringing. Also the womanizing and "boys club" attitudes point to a white male. Changing gender would definitely change the nature of the films. I agree, can probably get away with changing ethnicity, although you'd have to be careful with casting if you do. Maybe someone of biracial descent would be less distracting in regards to Bond's roots. (Not a lot of non-white old-money, and that could distract some people from the plot, biracial might feel more authentic) There are lots of Bond-like clones out there and the danger in changing Bond too much is that you change Bond from being Bond to being a "clone of itself". Some roles are easier to switch genders or ethnicities than others and still feel authentic. I think it would be easier to have a new spin-off spy film made with the same big budget featuring a female character than it would be to change Bond. Right writing team could probably make it work and still feel "Bond" though, Judy Dench as M was a masterpiece.... It requires good writing and good acting to change a character and still make it feel right.
That's the point really. You don't want a big star but someone who's done some big films. Daniel Craig had done Layer Cake, Road to Perdition, The Ice House and Sylvia before taking on Bond. All great roles that put him in the public consciousness and perfectly placed to take on an iconic role.
books are rarely transitioned to film without a few changes. The book Bond and the Film Bond are definitely not the same character. To be fair, Craig's first Bond film was critiqued as being the most faithful Bond interpretation to the book by several pundits... I didn't like it... Maybe because I had a preconceived notion based on the film instead of the book.... Maybe if having read the books first I would have said "finally a real Bond".
You're right about the transitions. As one example, Americans play English characters all the time and vice versa but at least they use the accent of their written characters. Sean Connery didn't even try and the accent is central to the role, yet he is considered the best Bond.
I don't think Connery CAN disguise his accent. He always has a Scottish accent even when it is inappropriate for the role.
I guess the logical thing to do would be to create a new 00? agent who could be any ethnogenderidentisexiwhatever and do all the things that Bond normally does, or not, if that's the whole basis. But that wouldn't be the point. The people who are really pushing identity politics, progressiveness and critical race theory etc etc are never satisfied until the target is completely obliterated, even if as is the case here and as you've pointed out, it makes absolutely no logical sense to try and fundamentally alter a character, as that's simply not the point, therefore things like sense and plausibility have utterly no bearing on the decision making.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure there's a thread for all that. I've had a hefty cold ... fever, sweating, chills, aches and pains, shortness of breath, loss of taste and smell for a bit until I started snorting the sudafed, persistent cough. Two covid tests done and both were negative.
Look, theres a million and one spy movies but bond is bond. I personally dont mind there being a guy who's not white playing him. I dont see that as a prerequisite. The fact is though bond is a womaniser and designed to be the guy you want to.be If you make it a woman you might as well go after a new fan base. Unlike doctor who where a specific mechanism within the story clearly allows for all comers this is james bond not Jane bond.
I thought that was a retrofit though? Something Fleming introduced into the later books in order to fit Connery's performance. I read this somewhere - I'm not really a huge fan of either the films or the books.