Mel Gibson reveals why he turned down James Bond role early in his career

Mel Gibson has reflected on turning down one of the biggest roles in film, after rejecting an offer to play James Bond. Pierce Brosnan, Sir Roger Moore, Sir Sean Connery and Timothy Dalton are some of the famous faces who have appeared as 007 on the big screen for decades. While all eyes are on who could take over the role next, after Daniel Craig’s exit following No Time To Die, Mel has opened up about why he wasn’t keen to take part.

During an appearance at MegaCon, he was reportedly asked about some of the projects that he had missed out on over the years, and named the spy franchise, as well as Maximus in Gladiator – with Russell Crowe eventually stepping in. ‘Of course you go back and you think, “Man, I wish I had done that,”’ he said, via People Magazine. ‘Like, Ridley [Scott] came to me with Gladiator; I didn’t do that movie. I was doing The Patriot, so I couldn’t do Gladiator.

‘It’s kind of interesting, the things you miss. … It’s a bunch of stuff.’. According to the outlet, Mel also got a call from Albert Broccoli in the 80s, when he was 26 years old, about possibly starring as 007. ‘He said, “We want you to be James Bond,”’ the What Women Want star recalled. ‘But then I thought to myself, “I’m 26 years old,” and I just remembered that Sean could never escape that character.

‘So I thought, “I’m not going to do that,” and I let it go. Because I thought, “I’ll do some other stuff.”’. Sir Sean, who died in 2020, was the first to portray Bond on the big screen, with Sir Roger, Timothy, Pierce and Daniel slipping into his swanky tux in subsequent outings. Film fans are still waiting for any inkling on who the next spy could be, a string of names have been linked to the franchise – including Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Taron Egerton, Idris Elba and Lucien Laviscount all linked.

However, despite Leo Woodall being heavily tipped, thanks to stand out performances in Netflix’s One Day, the White Lotus and the upcoming Bridget Jones sequel, it turns out that he hasn’t secretly been approached just yet. Popping up on Lorraine this week, he was questioned about the speculation, but insisted: ‘I asked my agents a while ago if there was anything in it and they went “we haven’t heard anything about it”.

‘So I think it’s one of those rumors spawned from nothing.’. We’re still holding out hopes that he’s bluffing…. Got a story?. If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you. Cineworld is going all out for the release of Wicked, and we couldn’t be more excited.