Wonder Woman's Said Taghmaoui was cast by Danny Boyle as Bond 25's villain. Daniel Craig is looking to end his James Bond tenure on a high note after Spectre disappointed most. He's returning for one final movie, which was supposed to be directed by Danny Boyle. Due to creative differences, Boyle recently made the decision to leave the project. There's been several reports concerning what exactly caused the rift to appear and the two sides to split, but it looks to have come down to Boyle's story and villain.
There were reports that Boyle wanted to cast Tomasz Kot as the main villain for Bond 25. He would've been at the heart of a story that focused on a modern-day Cold War with Russia. Craig - who is both the star and a producer - reportedly vetoed this decision, which is what led to Boyle leaving. However, now a different actor says he was cast as Bond 25's villain.
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Said Taghmaoui told The National that he was actually cast by Boyle to play the lead villain in Craig's final Bond movie. Taghmaoui confirms that Boyle is the one who cast him, but he still appears to be in communication with the studio and Bond 25's producers. As it turns out, his involvement sounds like it will come down to what direction they decide to go with the story and villain.
We don’t know who the director will be, and the producers don’t know if they’re going to go Russian or Middle East with the baddie right now. I literally just received a message saying: ‘If they go Middle East, it’s you. If they go Russian, it’s someone else.’ It’s the story of my life. Always on that line between something that could change my life and something that disappears.
UPDATE: Taghmaoui responded to the news of his casting in Bond 25 on Twitter. See his tweet below.
Said played Sameer in Wonder Woman last year, one of Steve Trevor's (Chris Pine) pals who helped he and Diana (Gal Gadot) try to stop Ares. He made quite the impression with audiences, and possibly with the producers of Bond 25 as well. Since this is coming straight from Taghmaoui, there's no reason to believe he's lying, even if it does make the previous reports about a Russian villain not entirely line up. But, as Said pointed out, his involvement will now come down to the direction of the story - which will likely depend on who ends up the new director.
The most recent update for Bond 25's director search named three as contenders. Yann Demange is back in the mix after being part of the initial search. SJ Clarkson and Bart Layton have both also joined the mix for this latest search though. Whoever takes over as director, they'll have to then figure out if Said will still be their bad guy or not. Said's social media accounts are full of him training to be in the best shape possible just in case the role does come his way. If it does, then Said will hopefully make for a great villain in Bond 25, as Craig's final foe.
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Source: The National
