History WhatCouldHaveBeen / JamesBond

* Creator/Gemma Chan auditioned for Sévérine.

* Video game tie-ins for UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and PC were planned but canceled. There were, however, versions on both the [=N64=] and the [=PS1=] and the engine developed for the [=PS2=] version was used for ''VideoGame/AgentUnderFire''.

** DonaldEWestlake was engaged to write a story using the Hong Kong handover premise which was rejected; he later retooled it as his original novel ''Forever and a Death'', in which an American construction tycoon who was ruined by the handover plans to use a machine which dissolves landfill to literally sink the entire city into the sea.

* There had also been a plan for [[spoiler: Elektra to survive]] and for Bond to visit her in the hospital where she was being treated for [[spoiler: Stockholm Syndrome]], but this was considered too downbeat.

* Music/DavidArnold [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3O3KKQGmnI wrote a cue for Bond's arrival in London and Graves' introduction]] that was rejected in favour of "London Calling" by Music/TheClash.

-->'''Robert Wade''': We always found that really, really difficult to make credible or satisfying. It was very dark and frankly, I don't think it really worked. The only thing that really remained was M's past comes back to haunt her and she dies at the end.

* Creator/SeanConnery [[http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/11/07/sean-connery-skyfall-cameo-was-discussed was the director's first choice to play Kincade,]] but he ultimately wasn't approached for fear that it would take the viewers out of the movie [though given Connery had not come out of retirement for ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', it's doubtful he would have accepted the role if he had been approached]. Some of Kincaid's lines suddenly take a whole new meaning when one realises Connery was envisioned for the role, especially the one where Bond asks him if he's ready, and Kincaid replies "I was ready before you were born". Daniel Craig was indeed born 6 years after 1962's ''Film/DrNo''.

* Creator/PierceBrosnan reportedly lobbied the Broccolis to hire Creator/BrettRatner as director, but they didn't like his previous work and nixed the idea. Creator/MichaelBay was offered the job, but he did ''Film/BadBoysII'' instead. Creator/AngLee, Creator/JohnMcTiernan, Creator/BryanSinger, Creator/MartinScorsese and Creator/TonyScott was also considered.

* The infamous (at least among fans) "James Bond codename theory" was actually being considered as a plot point. The theory states the name James Bond isn't a man, but actually a codename given to agents by [=MI-6=] explaining why 6 different guys have played 007. The theory has thoroughly been discredited, however, director Lee Tamahori thought of putting it in the movie in form of Creator/SeanConnery making a RemakeCameo and speaking with Brosnan. Alternativly, the idea was reported in tabloid newspapers at the time but with Connery as Bond's long lost father.

** Creator/JulianGlover, Creator/JohnGavin, [[Series/{{Doomwatch}} Simon Oates]], [[Series/TheSixWivesOfHenryVIII John Ronane]], [[Series/TheChampions William Gaunt]] and [[Series/UFO1970 Michael Billington]] read for the role of James Bond as well before the casting of Moore.

* Creator/MartinCampbell auditioned Creator/VincentCassel for Le Chiffre, but he chose ''Film/OceansTwelve'' instead. Creator/RomainDuris was deemed too young for the role, while Creator/DavidSuchet was deemed too old.

-->He's playing chess an old drunkard guy called Two Fingeres who may or may not be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bingham,_7th_Earl_of_Lucan Lord Lucan]].

* Richard Maibaum originally envisioned Creator/MaxVonSydow as Blofeld. He would play the role in the unofficial ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain''.

* Music/{{Blondie}} submitted a possible [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D7NY7B49Gc theme song]], but they went with Sheena Easton instead. Music/BillConti had originally written the song thinking about Music/DonnaSummer or Music/DustySpringfield, singers he thought "fit the Bond style". He originally wanted Music/BarbraStreisand to do the song.

* The most well-known is that Music/TomJones' "Thunderball" was the ''fourth'' attempt at a title theme. It was preceded by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4m9ptFefwo Shirley Bassey's "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSxT6mufIyM Dionne Warwick's take of the same song]], and ([[WTHCastingAgency of all people]]) {{country music}}ian Music/JohnnyCash's [https://youtu.be/Tx-x-sGk9oI theme song, also called "Thunderball"]].

[[caption-width-right:350:Still from Creator/HenryCavill's screen test for the role of James Bond in ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006''.]]

* Creator/CaryGrant was the first choice for the role of James Bond in ''Film/DrNo'' before Creator/SeanConnery was cast. However, Grant turned down the offer due to his reluctance to commit to a three-film contract and on the fact that he was considered "too old" for the part.
** Creator/DavidNiven, Creator/RexHarrison, [[Film/TheLongestDay Richard Todd]], Creator/PatrickMcGoohan, Creator/RichardJohnson, Creator/StanleyBaker, and Creator/TrevorHoward were also considered for the role of James Bond before the casting of Connery. Niven would eventually go on to portray a parody version of the character in the ''{{Film/Casino Royale|1967}}'' spoof.

** Creator/JeremyBrett, Creator/MichaelCaine, Creator/MichaelGambon, Creator/RoyThinnes, and Creator/AdamWest were approached for James Bond as well. West turned down the offer due to his insistence that the iconic character be portrayed by a British actor.
** Creator/PeterPurves, Creator/PatrickMower, Creator/TerenceStamp, and Creator/DickVanDyke also auditioned for the role of James Bond before the casting of Lazenby.
** Creator/OliverReed was the top choice to play the role but producers felt his real-life behavior, mostly his love of drinking, womanizing and tendency to start fights, ran against the classy, refined image Bond had and it was easier to simply cast someone new without such baggage than to try, likely in vein, and radically change Reed's image.
* Creator/RogerMoore lost the role twice due to television commitments - he missed out on ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' as he was busy with ''Series/TheSaint'' and he missed out on ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'' due to filming ''Series/ThePersuaders''.
* Creator/JohnGavin was almost signed on to star in ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'' until Connery returned. Gavin's contract was still honored despite losing the role. Creator/MichaelGambon rejected an offer, telling Broccoli that he was "in terrible shape and had tits like a woman". Creator/RobertWagner was also considered.

** Creator/JulianGlover, Creator/JohnGavin, [[Series/{{Doomwatch}} Simon Oates]], [[Series/TheSixWivesOfHenryVIII John Ronane]], [[Series/TheChampions William Gaunt]], and [[Series/UFO1970 Michael Billington]] read for the role of James Bond as well before the casting of Moore.

** Creator/SamNeill, Creator/JamesBrolin, Creator/MichaelJayston, [[Literature/BratFarrar Mark Greenstreet]], [[Series/{{Manimal}} Simon MacCorkindale]], and Creator/ChristopherLambert also screen-tested for the role of James Bond before the casting of Dalton.
** Antony Hamilton was in talks to replace Moore after the cancellation of the Creator/{{CBS}} action series ''Cover-Up'', but Broccoli was hesitant to cast him due to Hamilton being gay.
** Creator/ChristopherReeve was offered a million dollar salary to play Bond but turned it down.

** Creator/HughGrant, Creator/MelGibson, and Creator/LiamNeeson were considered for the part of James Bond as well. Neeson turned down the offer stating he didn’t want to be [[{{Irony}} typecast in action movies]] and that his then-fiancé, Creator/NatashaRichardson, would outright ''refuse'' to marry him if he accepted the job.
** [[Series/KindredTheEmbraced Mark Frankel]], Creator/LambertWilson, and Creator/RalphFiennes also auditioned for the role of James Bond before the casting of Brosnan. Fiennes would eventually go on to portray M in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}''.

** Creator/HenryCavill was the runner-up for the role of James Bond. Given that ''Casino Royale'' was an origin story for Bond, the producers seriously toyed with playing up the youth of 22-year-old Cavill and having him be a more "wet-behind-the-ears agent". However, they eventually chose Daniel Craig to play a more traditional Bond.
** Creator/OrlandoBloom, Creator/ChristianBale, Creator/EwanMcGregor, Creator/SamWorthington, Creator/JulianMcMahon, Creator/AlexOLoughlin, Creator/JamesPurefoy, Creator/GoranVisnjic, Creator/DominicWest, [[Series/{{Homeland}} Rupert Friend]], Creator/GerardButler, Creator/DougrayScott and Creator/KarlUrban were considered for the part of James Bond as well before the casting of Craig.

* Kevin [=McClory=] purchased a full-page ad in 1984 that he would do a rival Bond series starting with ''S.P.E.C.T.R.E.''. This never came to be. So he sought to make yet another independent film remake of ''Thunderball'', first announcing in 1989 ''Atomic Warfare'', which he wanted Pierce Brosnan for (as he was the first option before Creator/TimothyDalton came in, and ended up his replacement), and then by the following decade trying to get ''Warhead 2000'' off the ground, reportedly with Dalton or Creator/LiamNeeson as the lead. To do that, he partnered with Creator/ColumbiaPictures, who still had the rights to ''Casino Royale'' and thus could use two Ian Fleming novels to start a rival Bond franchise (the rumours even claimed Columbia had brought in Creator/RolandEmmerich and Dean Devlin to work in ''Warhead 2000''). However, legal action by MGM blocked this attempt. As part of the legal action, MGM bought out the 1967 ''Film/{{Casino Royale|1967}}'' as a result of the settlement with Columbia's parent Sony, and given they had purchased ''Never Say Never Again'' from Schwartzman shortly prior, this united the entire Bond canon under one single roof (Sony in return got the rights to ''Franchise/SpiderMan'', which they had inherited from Creator/TheCannonGroup - they would also later lead a group that would own MGM for a time, resulting in them releasing the Craig-era Bond films up until ''Spectre''). [=McClory=] in turn tried an extreme measure: suing MGM and Eon claiming the cinematic Bond character is not only separate from the literary secret agent, but was partly his creation, and therefore co-owned by him - which was dismissed in 2001 as a FrivolousLawsuit with claims made too late to be taken seriously. Any further ideas of a rival Bond movie died with [=McClory=] in 2006, and his family did not share the same desire to go forward with a Bond series as he did, selling the rights back to EON in 2013 and removing the remaining legal snags between the official Bond series and SPECTRE, which led to the organization as a whole [[Film/{{Spectre}} returning in 2015]].

* Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}} were offered the chance to sing the title song but declined. Music/AceOfBase [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFIm-90hZrA recorded a song that wasn't used]]. Music/{{U2}} [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9wwC_J24ao recorded a version of the song]], which was written by Bono and the Edge.

** Creator/DavidNiven, Creator/RexHarrison, [[Film/TheLongestDay Richard Todd]], Creator/PatrickMcGoohan, Creator/RichardJohnson, [[Film/{{Zulu}} Stanley Baker]], and Creator/TrevorHoward were also considered for the role of James Bond before the casting of Connery. Niven would eventually go on to portray a parody version of the character in the ''{{Film/Casino Royale|1967}}'' spoof.

** Creator/DavidNiven, Creator/RexHarrison, [[Film/TheLongestDay Richard Todd]], Creator/PatrickMcGoohan, [[Film/{{Khartoum}} Richard Johnson]], [[Film/{{Zulu}} Stanley Baker]], and Creator/TrevorHoward were also considered for the role of James Bond before the casting of Connery. Niven would eventually go on to portray a parody version of the character in the ''{{Film/Casino Royale|1967}}'' spoof.

* The most well-known is that Music/TomJones' "Thunderball" was the ''fourth'' attempt at a title theme. It was preceded by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4m9ptFefwo Shirley Bassey's "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSxT6mufIyM Dionne Warwick's take of the same song]], and ([[WTHCastingAgency of all people]]) {{country music}}ian Music/JohnnyCash's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3rqS98seNA theme song, also called "Thunderball"]].

* Mishka and Grishka were originally French, but the knife-throwers offered the parts didn't want to be killed off, so Brits were cast instead.

[[caption-width-right:350:Still from Creator/HenryCavill's screen-test for the role of James Bond in ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006''.]]

* UsefulNotes/CharlesIII (then the Prince of Wales) entertained the idea of making a cameo in the film, but that didn't go through. He had previously visited the set of ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'' alongside his then-wife UsefulNotes/{{Diana|PrincessOfWales}}, leading to a joking moment (albeit awkward in hindsight) of Diana testing a prop bottle [[https://assets.mi6-hq.com/images/stills/tld_35_500.jpg by smashing it over Charles's head.]]

%%The first two sentences in the following paragraph really don't make sense in combination- please see the Discussion page for more on this.
* The original outline had Mr. White being handed over to the CIA for questioning. Unbeknownst to Bond, he allows White to escape and follows him to his employers. White goes to the Palio in Siera - a passion of his - knowing he is to be killed by his own organisation. Bond turns up and witnesses White being shot by his own outfit. Bond pursuses the killer across the Palio, ending in a vertiginous rope fight where Bond shoots the hitman. M reprimands Bond, as a vital lead is now dead. The money that White collected at the end of the previous film is being used by a mysterious organisation called Quantum, which is hiding in plain sight as OPEC. The villain, named Dante, is in league with Vesper's boyfriend, Yusuf Kabira. Bond infiltrates the organisation and takes on the job of the assassin he killed in Siera, a woman in Libya who is trading trafficked antiquities that have been looted from Iraq. Bond captures and tortures Yusef over a prolonged period of time, extracting information from him, but also out of rage for Vesper. Bond later goes rogue from [=MI6=] ''and'' the CIA. The coda takes place at the Bregenz opera, where Quantum are using earpieces and hiding in plain sight to have secret meetings within meetings. Bond catches up with Dante, only to discover that he's been killed by Quantum, leaving Bond to chase further up the Quantum hierarchy. There was a symbolic ending where Bond walks in front of a giant eye "and he's just a sillhouette again".

* Writer Paul Haggis suggested a startling ending which the filmmakers rejected:

** Creator/PeterPurves, Patrick Mower, Creator/TerenceStamp, and Creator/DickVanDyke also auditioned for the role of James Bond before the casting of Lazenby.

[[caption-width-right:350:Still from Creator/HenryCavill's screen-test for the role of James Bond in ''{{Film/Casino Royale|2006}}''.]]

** The plot would have centred on a ''Film/TheBoysFromBrazil''-esque Nazi conspiracy and instead of an ATAC, the MacGuffin would have been the Sokol-17, a Skylab-type crashed Soviet space satellite/secret orbital weapons platform.

** The initial draft of ''Property of a Lady'', featured a terrorist attack on a British nuclear facility in Scotland, leading Bond traveling to East Asia to investigate corrupt British-Chinese businessman Sir Henry Lee Ching along with jewel smuggler/CIA freelancer Connie Webb, and Bond fighting his former mentor Denholm Crisp, as well as crossing paths with the Chinese Ministry of State Security and fighting Ching's girlfriend, who is revealed to be a Terminator-esque security robot who Bond eventually fights.