Debbie McWilliams has cast more than 10 Bond films.
EW spoke with McWilliams about what goes into casting such a career-defining character.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What are you looking for when you’re casting James Bond?
Pierce Brosnan as Bond; Daniel Craig as Bond.Everett Collection (2)
What goes into a James Bond audition?
Is there a test for the physicality as well as the acting chops?
It’s a pretty rigorous process, it goes on for quite a considerable time.
Lots of people are considered and then rejected for one reason or another.
They’re pretty much in control.
It’s not something that happens overnight, shall we say.
What was it about Pierce Brosnan that made you think he could play Bond?
He’d been on the sidelines for a long long time.
Let’s talk about Daniel Craig.
There was such a loud response to that casting at the time.
It was unbelievably negative, I have to say.
He’s going to be a tough act to follow.
He was a bit of a different choice blond hair, blue eyes, a more rugged look.
Did you set out to cast someone so different or was he just the obvious choice?
Well, he was obvious to me and obvious to Barbara Broccoli, not so obvious to everybody else.
[Laughs] It was she who battled long and hard for him and she won the day.
Had you known him beforehand?
Yes, of course, he was pretty well known from having done several films and TV series.
Absolutely, I knew him.
It’s going to be very, very hard I must say [to cast the next one].
I’d love to also touch on casting Bond villains.
Has there been a villain that was the most difficult to cast?
Minds get changed quite long into the process.
Having fought the battle for Daniel, Barbara felt she couldn’t really push it any further.
That was a slightly odd situation.
But they’re always quite odd situations.
DidNo Time To Diepresent any challenges in terms of casting?
I, again, just happened to be in the right place [at] the right time.
He went, “No.”
[Laughs] I’ve learned to be quite bold.
If you want something you go and get it.
