‘Avatar’ star Sam Worthington revealed that his “awful audition” cost him the role of a lifetime as James Bond.
The 46-year-old British-born Australian actor recalled being in the running to become the next martini-drinking secret agent in 2006, but said self-sabotage ultimately cost him the role.
Explaining his audition for the role, Worthington told Nova FM Fitzy & Wippa that the screen test saw him wearing a tuxedo for a scene from the 1963 Bond film, “From Russia With Love,” which starred Sean Connery.
“So you [have to] walk in, and there’s the girl in the bed. You charm her… And I couldn’t get the killer of Bond down, I just couldn’t get the charm, I couldn’t charm her. The suit didn’t fit man.”
Not only that, but Worthington admitted that despite having two British parents, he couldn’t quite nail the British accent.
“I sounded like Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins. I remember [director] Martin [Campbell] going, ‘Just do your normal voice. It’s all cool man.”
Unsurprisingly, a slew of other Hollywood heavyweights, including Sam Neill and Mel Gibson, tried out for Bond at one point or another, according to Worthington.
Daniel Craig was eventually cast as Bond, and he went on to appear in five 007 films. But things worked out in the end for Worthington, who landed the lead role in “Avatar,” the highest-grossing film of all time.
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