Hugh Jackman: why he turned down the role of James Bond

Hugh Jackman as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007.

That is what the title card might have read for Casino Royale had Hugh Jackman accepted the role of James Bond back in 2002.  Though at the time, Jackman had no idea that Bond 21 would be based on Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel.   

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In an interview with Variety, Jackman recalls turning down the role because of the story lines in recent films. He says,

"“I just felt at the time that the scripts had become so unbelievable and crazy, and I felt like they needed to become grittier and real. And the response was: ‘Oh, you don’t get a say. You just have to sign on.’ I was also worried that between Bond and ‘X-Men,’ I’d never have time to do different things.”"

Indeed, how was Jackman to know that Bond 21 would indeed be that grittier Bond film?

But with this statement, Jackman revealed something else:

Production on X-Men 2 began in summer of 2002, several months prior to the release of Die Another Day. This suggests that EON had their sights set on replacing Pierce Brosnan much earlier than what is widely known. Reports and interviews had always suggested that the decision to replace Brosnan came well after the release of Die Another Day, his fourth film as Bond. In fact, MI6 Headquarters had reported that screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were still writing with Brosnan in mind as late as March 2004.

One can only wonder what Pierce Brosnan thinks of this revelation.