Richard Madden Downplays Rumors That He’ll Play James Bond

In an interview with GQ, Richard Madden downplayed reports that he is set to play the next James Bond when Daniel Craig steps down from the role. Here are highlights:

On rumors he’ll play James Bond: “My first reaction is always the same reaction, which is the papers make up a story on a Sunday so they can discredit that story on the Monday so they can sell papers on both days. They aren’t, no, but this is what happens with all these shows, like Tom Hiddleston in The Night Manager. Then there’s the next one. I’m the next one. Everyone just loves the rumour mill on that topic. I’m just the current one. There’ll be a different one next week.”

On how he feels to be wanted for the role: “Lovely. I’m more than flattered to be mentioned, for people to consider putting me in that role. I’m very flattered and thankful. It’s a really brilliant thing to be in.”

On not ruling it out: “I don’t want to curse anything by saying anything. I think that’s the curse of that. If you talk about it, you’ll curse it. Yeah. I love the movies. I’ve read all the books.”