Henry Cavill: 'An American could play 007'

New Superman Henry Cavill has risked incurring the wrath of James Bond fans by insisting 007 could be played on the big screen by an American.

The Man of Steel star, who was considered as a potential Bond before Daniel Craig got the job in 2005, tells Reuters that film fans should welcome an American 007 just as much as they should a British Superman.

He says, "As long as I can do it convincingly, as long as I can play an American well enough, then I'm OK with that, and I wouldn't mind if an American played Bond, as long as he's good and played the role right."

And Cavill, 30, could still be in the running to play the movie superspy - and become the first actor to play both 007 and a comic book superhero - GoldenEye and Casino Royale director Martin Campbell recently revealed the main reason Craig beat him to Bond was because The Tudors star was too young.

The filmmaker said, "He was 22 at the time we auditioned for Casino Royale, but maybe he could still be James Bond in the future, after all, Pierce Brosnan did a great screen test only to eventually get the part years later."