Chiwetel Ejiofor considered for Bond villain role - report
12 Years A Slave star Chiwetel Ejiofor has reportedly become a frontrunner to play the Bond villain in the next 007 blockbuster.
Sources tell trade paper Variety that MGM and Sony executives are considering casting the actor as Javier Bardem's successor in the as-yet untitled next Bond movie.
The film is scheduled to go into production later this year (14)
and has a 6 November, 2015 release date.
Meanwhile, heavyweight studio executives at Universal and MGM are
about to go to war over a new movie that features a spy character
similar to Bond.
MGM film bosses have filed suit against the rival company bigwigs
in a bid to shut down production of Section 6 after months of legal
threats.
Joe Cornish is on board to direct the new spy film, with 300: Rise
Of An Empire's Jack O'Connell attached to star, but the young actor
might not get the chance to play an MI6 agent.
The MGM suit, obtained by Variety, reads in part: "This lawsuit
concerns a motion picture project, in active development, featuring
a daring, tuxedo-clad British secret agent, employed by 'His
Majesty's Secret Service,' with a 'license to kill,' and a 00
(double-O) secret agent number on a mission to save England from
the diabolical plot of a megalomanical villain.
"Most moviegoers would assume from that description alone that this
lawsuit concerns the next James Bond picture. It does not. This
lawsuit is instead about a James Bond knock-off that defendant
Universal is readying for production."