The name's Cavill... Henry Cavill. Eight years before "Man of Steel" turned the actor into the perfect Superman, he wanted to play everyone's favorite British spy — and a newly leaked audition tape has revealed exactly what he would have been like in the role.
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00:00The name's Cavill. Henry Cavill. Eight years before Man of Steel turned the actor into
00:04the perfect Superman, he wanted to play everyone's favorite British spy, and a newly leaked audition
00:09tape has revealed exactly what he would have been like in the role.
00:12Why can't I take your shaking in today? And you?
00:15After Die Another Day brought Pierce Brosnan's arc as James Bond to a close, Eon Productions
00:20started hunting for the next actor to take on the title of 007. Although they eventually
00:24settled on Daniel Craig, hundreds of men were considered for the parts, including Hugh Jackman,
00:29Carl Urban, and, of course, Henry Cavill. While the world may never get to see firsthand
00:33what the actors responsible for Wolverine and Billy Butcher would have been like as
00:37Bond, that's not the case for Cavill.
00:39Two decades after it was recorded, Cavill's screen test for Casino Royale and other future
00:43Bond projects was leaked on YouTube. The uploader claimed that the footage was found on a VHS
00:48tape that was taken from a recycling bin at a movie studio.
00:52Audition tapes for Sam Worthington, Rupert Friend, and Anthony Starr were also uploaded
00:56to the same channel, but Cavill's attempt at embodying James Bond has received the most
01:00views by far. The clip shows a long-haired Cavill reading through a scene from Golden
01:04Eye in which Bond is introduced to the gorgeous assassin Xenia Onatopp. His performance honestly
01:09isn't anything to write home about, especially when compared to Pierce Brosnan's read in
01:12the 1995 film, but it proves that Cavill definitely has the temperament to play the coolest guy
01:17in MI6.
01:18Nice to meet you, Mr. Bond.
01:19The pleasure, I'm sure, Ms. Orman.
01:24So why wasn't Cavill chosen over Craig? For starters, he was simply too young. The future
01:30Clark Kent was just 22 years old at the time, with only a handful of roles under his belt.
01:35According to Cavill himself, though, that wasn't the only reason. In an interview with
01:38Men's Health in 2019, he revealed that his fitness routine, or lack thereof, may have
01:43lost him the part. He admitted,
01:45I remember the director Martin Campbell saying,
01:47Looking a little chubby there, Henry. I didn't know how to train or diet. And I'm glad Martin
01:52said something because I respond well to truth. It helps me get better."
01:55Thankfully, Cavill wasn't too broken up about the failed audition, and a decade later he
01:59got the chance to play a different suave super-spy with a badass name. Cavill's turn as CIA agent
02:05Napoleon Solo in The Man from UNCLE earned him positive reviews from critics and passionate
02:09fans still holding out hope for a sequel.
02:12We're struggling here. Why don't you take a shot at him?
02:15Somehow, it just doesn't seem like the right thing to do.
02:20Now that Cavill is jacked, in his 40s, and has a well-received spy movie on his resume,
02:24he's a much more reasonable candidate for the rank of 007. Conveniently for him, the
02:28role has been vacant ever since Craig said goodbye to the character in 2021's No Time
02:32to Die.
02:33While there's still no news on when James Bond will be returning to cinemas, Cavill
02:37will definitely be a worthy contender for the part if he decides to throw his hat into
02:41the ring once again. Fans in the comments are certainly in agreement, as one wrote,
02:45"'Nowhere near as good as Craig at this point so early in his career, but now? He'd be perfect
02:49and absolutely nail it.'"