Why I turned down offers to play James Bond AND Superman, by Clint Eastwood



Bond style: Clint Eastwood as he would have looked as 007

Quite what sort of an English accent he can muster remains in doubt.

And he can hardly see himself in a red cape and blue tights.

Yet Clint Eastwood claims that he was offered the roles of both James Bond and Superman in his younger days.

The 80-year-old actor and director said he was approached to take over as 007 after Sean Connery walked out on the role in 1967, fearing he was becoming typecast following his fifth Bond movie, You Only Live Twice.

At the time Eastwood had yet to emerge as a serious player in Hollywood, having played one-dimensional characters in spaghetti westerns such as The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.

He said his then lawyer also represented the Broccolis, who produce the Bond franchise.

‘He came and said, “They would love to have you”. I was offered pretty good money to do James Bond if I would take on the role. But to me, well, that was somebody else’s gig. That’s Sean’s deal. It didn’t feel right for me to be doing it.’

When Eastwood turned down the role, the producers chose Australian actor George Lazenby as the new Bond.

Mocked for his ‘wooden’ acting, he appeared in only one film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1969.

Iconic roles: Sean Connery as James Bond and Christopher Reeves as Superman



Connery, considered by many fans to be the best Bond, returned to the role in 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever having been convinced by a bumper pay packet to overcome his qualms about typecasting.

He was succeeded as 007 by Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and latterly Daniel Craig.

Eastwood went on to achieve international stardom after winning the role of San Francisco detective Harry Callaghan in 1971’s Dirty Harry.

In a rare interview about his career, he told the Los Angeles Times how he was considered as Superman before the lead role in the 1978 blockbuster went to Christopher Reeve.

‘This was when they first started to think about making it,’ he said. ‘I was like, “Superman? Nah, nah, that’s not for me”. Not that there’s anything wrong with it. It’s for somebody, but not me.’

Eastwood said he would not have relished having to dress up in tights and cape. ‘I always liked characters that were more grounded in reality.'