Every James Bond has to pass the same bizarre audition, and it’s incredibly awkward

To be a good James Bond, you have to be charming, you have to be confident and you have to… pass a really odd audition test, apparently. 

Right now, everyone’s talking about who’s going to take on the role of the British MI6 spy after Daniel Craig parked his Aston Martin for good in 2021’s No Time To Die.

There have been a fair few frontrunners for the next 007 over the years, from Idris Elba and Aaron Taylor-Johnson to Jacob Elordi and Callum Turner. And the search took on a whole new life after longtime Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson handed creative control of the franchise to Amazon MGM last year.

But now we might finally be getting somewhere. Gary Oldman recently claimed the next Bond has already been chosen, saying his “fingers are crossed” that his Slow Horses co-star Jack Lowden gets the part. 

Lowden is rumoured to be a frontrunner for the next 007, so understandably Oldman’s comments added fuel to the fire. Meanwhile, Bond 26 writer Steven Knight has said that the next Bond has been cast – surely it’s only a matter of time before we find out who. 

Obviously, no matter who it turns out to be, they’ll need to look good in a suit, know their way around a vodka martini (shaken, not stirred) and, perhaps most importantly, have some serious chemistry with whichever Bond girl is by their side.

And apparently, there’s a very specific – albeit incredibly awkward – way producers have traditionally tested that last part.

All prospective Bonds have had to act out the same From Russia With Love scene

Forget jumping out of a plane or introducing themselves as “Bond, James Bond”. According to former producer Michael G. Wilson, 007s have traditionally been asked to recreate a rather steamy bedroom scene from the 1963 entry From Russia with Love.

To refresh your memory, the scene sees Sean Connery’s Bond return to his hotel room after an eventful evening to take a bath. But after hearing something and reaching for his gun, he discovers Soviet agent Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) lying in his bed wearing nothing but a black velvet choker.

Bond tells her she’s one of the “most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen,” to which Tatiana says, “Thank you, but I think my mouth is too big.” But Bond pulls out some of those old school moves. “No, it’s the right size… for me that is,” he says, before planting one on her. 

Yep, that’s the big James Bond audition test.

Wilson revealed the unusual tradition while speaking at a BFI event celebrating the franchise’s 60th anniversary in 2022.

“We always use the same scene and that’s the one in From Russia with Love where Bond comes back to his room after the assassination… anyone who can bring that scene off is right for Bond. It’s tough to do,” he said (via the Radio Times). 

Yes, it’s tough to do, but why this scene specifically? Well, apparently it’s a pretty brutal test of whether an actor can actually pull off being Bond without slipping into parody. Because, let’s face it, those are some pretty cheesy lines in this day and age. 

In a conversation with Gold Derby last year, Martin Campbell – who directed both Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig’s first outings as 007 – summed up what the scene requires in one word: “Effortless”.

“You never see Bond fumble; he’s very economic, efficient and effortless,” he explained. “That scene covers all the bases, basically.”

Whether Knight and director Denis Villeneuve will subject the next candidate to the same test for Bond 26 (or they already have) remains to be seen. But if they do, here’s hoping they release the audition tape. 

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Featured image credit: Sony Pictures/United Artists