Mel Gibson has become an icon thanks to his roles in movies like Lethal Weapon, Braveheart, and Mad Max, but there was a time when he came close to adding James Bond to that impressive list.
While British actors have typically been chosen to play 007, the American actor was offered the role and chose to turn it down. Gibson recently reflected on that decision during an interview with JoBlo.com (via ActioNewz.com), explaining why Sean Connery being typecast in Bond-like roles until he starred in The Untouchables led him to the conclusion that playing the spy might not be the wisest move.
"I got offered the James Bond movies when I was like twenty-six, which is like forty years ago, okay?" Gibson recalls. "And they said, 'Hey, we want you to be the next James Bond.' And I thought about it; I was in Australia, I was working with Peter Weir."
"And I did think about it, and I sort of turned it down – for that reason," the actor continues. "Because I thought, 'Look what happened to poor Sean, he got stuck there for like three decades.'"
It's interesting that Gibson turned down what could have been the role of a lifetime, but in fairness to him, he's made plenty of other characters iconic in their own right. Yes, those are roles he's most often associated with even decades later, but there is such a variety that the actor isn't only known for one (which was the case for Connery for a time and, to some extent, still is).
Daniel Craig was the last actor to play James Bond, but there's still no word on who his replacement will be. The hunt is said to be ongoing, but the franchise's producers don't appear to be in any rush as they look for someone who is willing to commit to the role for a huge chunk of their career.
Whether the actors they look at will have the same reservations as Gibson remains to be seen, though it wouldn't hurt for them to take what he's saying here on board as he's definitely making sense.