Henry Cavill tested for James Bond back in 2005, and now that audition has leaked, fans aren’t impressed with his efforts.
Henry Cavill is best known for playing Superman in Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League.
Supes isn’t the only icon he’s played either, as Cavill was also Sherlock Holmes in the Enola Holmes movies, Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher, and Wolverine in a Deadpool & Wolverine cameo.
He’s also played spies and secret agents in the likes of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Argylle, and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. And now his audition to play a super-spy has leaked online.
Henry Cavill performs GoldenEye scene in James Bond audition
The 2005 audition sees Henry Cavill wearing a black t-shirt and black leather jacket, with his long dark hair swept back. He performs a scene between James Bond and Xenia Onatopp from the 1995 movie GoldenEye, with a woman delivering Xenia’s lines from off-camera.
The dialogue has Bond asking Onatopp about her accent and what words she lives by, ordering a vodka martini (shaken not stirred), and stating that his name is “Bond, James Bond.” Over the course of the seven-minute video, we see Cavill deliver these lines several times.
YouTube comments underneath the video suggest that Bond fans don’t like what they see. “His voice is there but his face is too static, barely anything going on,” writes one. “He’s just staring at the reader without actually reacting to what she’s saying.”
Another says: “I think it’s pretty obvious why he didn’t get the part from this. He’s so wooden and lacks any charisma here.” While a third adds: “Not good at all. These are lines from GoldenEye – compare how much better Pierce Brosnan is with this scene.”
Paramount PicturesHenry Cavill in Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
But while the majority of comments are negative, some try to find positives. Cavill was just 22 when he shot the video, and one fan acknowledges that fact, saying: “I can see how it wouldn’t have been right then. He wasn’t ready for the subtleties… now he is ready.”
Another writes that “I can see why he was a close second,” while a third Cavill fan is simply mesmerized by his looks, stating: “God he’s beautiful.”
Daniel Craig ultimately got the part, but Cavill wasn’t the only actor to audition. You can see The Boys star Antony Starr testing for Bond here. While the likes of Clive Owen, Matthew Rhys, Sam Worthington, and Rupert Friend were also in the running.
Craig has since stepped down from the role, and while there’s still no official word on who will replace him as 007, the smart money is currently on Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing the next Bond.