Henry Cavill's 'tremendous' James Bond audition footage unearthed after 20 years - as director reveals just how close he was to getting Daniel Craig's coveted role Footage of Henry Cavill's 'tremendous' audition for the role of James Bond has been dredged up 20 years after he very narrowly missed out on playing the iconic character to Daniel Craig.
In the old tape, Henry did his best to impress the production team as he delivered some of the character's most famous lines in a bid to beat around eight other stars.
'I know that the director [Martin] preferred your audition, but Barbara [Broccoli] preferred Layer Cake, just so you know,' he told Henry, who was sitting right by him, in a reference to his own crime film Layer Cake (2004) that he directed with Daniel in the lead.
Daniel (pictured, in Casino Royale) reportedly only narrowly beat second-placed Henry to play Bond.
Daniel, 56, became Bond (pictured) and went on to play him in five installments, most recently bowing out in the 2021 thriller No Time To Die.
