“Emily in Paris” co-star Lucien Laviscount has reportedly caught the eye of the producers of the James Bond franchise as a potential candidate, according to British tabloid The Daily Mail.
Laviscount ticks multiple boxes. The Lancashire-born actor is 30, spot on the early 30s window Bond bosses have been looking at for a potential replacement. The paper claims that “it’s thought Ms [Barbara] Broccoli and her team are keen to have an ethnic-minority star to play 007 so the franchise is reflective of modern society” and that she “is very taken with him”.
An ex-Marks & Spencer ad model, Laviscount has been a British TV regular since he was 14 and clocking up appearances in everything from regular stints in “Waterloo Road” and “Grange Hill” to guest roles on “Coronation Street,” “Shameless,” “Death in Paradise,” “New Tricks,” and “Skins” along with making the final of “Celebrity Big Brother” in 2011.
More recently, he’s been doing U.S. TV shows like a guest spot on “Supernatural” and regular spots on “Scream Queens,” “Snatch,” “Katy Keene,” “Threesome” and now “Emily in Paris”. As a result, he’s an actor that comes with a decent amount of experience, and has an established young fanbase yet is unknown enough in mainstream circles to be seen as ‘fresh’. In addition, he fits the more traditional dapper Bond image compared to Daniel Craig’s rougher-edged version.
The paper adds that despite talk that no announcement on a new 007 film is imminent, stunt men and women are “being tested at Pinewood Studios”, with a source saying: “They want to be ready for when things start moving with the new Bond.”
Laviscount is the latest name to join the list of rumored Bond candidates over the past few months and follows a similar British tabloid report a few weeks back that had “Kick-Ass” star Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the front runner.
