‘Avatar’ star Sam Worthington revealed he missed out on the role of a lifetime as James Bond thanks to his “awful audition.”
The British-born Aussie actor, 46, recalled being in the running to become the next martini-drinking secret agent in 2006, but said self-sabotage ultimately led him to miss out on the part.
Explaining the audition process he went through 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” — starring 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,” he recalled.
Not only that, but Worthington admitted that he couldn’t quite nail the British accent down to a tee — despite both of his parents being Brits.
“I said, ‘If I do an Australian I’m gonna be the next George Lazenby,’” he said, referencing the Australian actor who only starred in one Bond film. “He only did one and I didn’t want to be like that. So I tried British. It was awful.”
Worthington said the accent that came out of his mouth was nothing short of “laughable.”
“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,’” he added.
Unsurprisingly, a host of other names belonging to the Hollywood elite also tried their hand at auditioning for Bond at one point or another, including Sam Neill and Mel Gibson, Worthington notes.
The role of Bond ultimately went to Daniel Craig, who went on to star in a total of five 007 films.
But things worked out for Worthington in the end, after he landed a lead role in “Avatar” — the highest-grossing film of all time.
He then reprised his role as Jake Sully in “Avatar 2: The Way of Water” which was yet another box-office hit.
The role of Sully was originally offered to Matt Damon, who regrettably turned it down despite being offered a staggering 10% of profits.
The role was initially offered to Matt Damon, who was given the option of 10% of the profits, but turned it down.
The deal would have gotten him at least $250 million. Ouch.