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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from dtheatre.com, located at http://www.dtheatre.com/read.php?sid=1453. --------------------------------------------------------------
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Gerard Butler Announced as Next 007 (updated) By Jack, (DT) June 26, 2001 3:17 PM PT |
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(http://www.gerardbutler.net) We cracked the secret first SCOTS actor Gerry Butler is in line to play James Bond after Pierce Brosnan gives up the role, as exclusively revealed in OTR in April.
Yesterday on GMTV the actor, who is currently staring in Wes Craven's Dracula 2001, admitted we were spot on. In a twist that only Bond would find funny, he joked that he agreed to play 007 if Ann Widdecombe was his Bond Girl. He said: "I've chatted with Barbara Broccoli and she knows that I'll only do it if Ann Widdecombe can be my Bond girl. "She's off thinking about that right now. It's very flattering and I can't say much more than that. "I was getting phone calls from Los Angeles saying that it had been announced on CNN that I had been named the new Bond. Since then I've had calls from Israel and South Africa." Bond bosses wanted Gerry to take over from Pierce when the Irishman finishes his fourth Bond. Gerry would become the second Scot after Sean Connery to play the famous part. Dougray Scott, star of Mission Impossible II, was approached last year, but turned down the role. Determined to bring Bond north of the Border again, producer Barbara Broccoli met the 32-year-old Butler to discuss taking over the role. Glasgow-born Gerry, a strapping 6ft 2in, has already appeared in the Bond series - in Tomorrow Never Dies - and played Billy Connolly's brother in Mrs Brown. Other names tipped for 007 include another Scot, Iain Glen, Welshman Ioan Gruffudd, Eastenders star Steve Owen, Rufus Sewell, Jeremy Northam, Greg Wise - and even Catherine Zeta Jones. Update: Gerard Butler has fed the frenzy of speculation that he will be the new 007 with a few jokey comments about his ideal Bond girl. But it seems the rumours are as much a fantasy as the spy films's plots. "I'm sorry but it's not true, he hasn't been approached. These rumours are crazy," Eon publicist Catherine McCormack said. |
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