Danny Boyle’s Danny Boyle James Bond pick is Jack O'Connell. At a Zurich Film Festival screening of Ink, Boyle said the 36-year-old should take on James Bond, adding his own weight to a casting race that has stayed unsettled for months.
Ink at Zurich
“They should cast Jack O'Connell as Bond,” Boyle said at the screening. He followed that with a direct seal of approval for the actor’s work in Back to Black: “Have you seen Back to Black? It’s a wonderful film. He plays the boyfriend and that’s an impossible part. It was an incredible performance.”
O'Connell’s resume gives the choice some bite. He broke through in E4’s Skins as James Cook, then moved through Lady Chatterley's Lover, Sinners, 28 Years Later, Back to Black and Ink. A public push from Boyle does not pick the next Bond for producers, but it does place O'Connell back in the front of a debate that has already narrowed around a few familiar names.
No Time to Die
Boyle also has history with the franchise. In March 2018, he was briefly attached to direct No Time to Die, then left the film over creative differences with the Broccoli estate before Cary Joji Fukunaga took over directing duties. No Time to Die was released in 2021, so Boyle’s endorsement now comes from someone who was close enough to the series to know how much the job can shift before cameras roll.
He spelled out that past in a new interview: “When they asked me to do Bond, we came up with the story [with John Hodge] and they lost confidence in it. It’s a shame, because it could have been really good.” That history gives his backing a different value than a casual fan choice. It is not inside information on the final decision, but it is the view of a filmmaker who has already sat inside the process.
Jack Lowden, Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi
Jack Lowden had been regarded as the favourite, and Callum Turner and Jacob Elordi were also named among recent contenders. Steven Knight said earlier this month that writing the script was becoming “a bit easier” because he knew who would be playing his protagonist, while Gary Oldman said producers had already made their choice and that his “fingers are crossed” for one name to emerge.
Boyle said Denis Villeneuve is directing the next Bond film and called him “amazing,” which keeps the spotlight on the creative team even as the casting field stays active. For now, O'Connell has the clearest public endorsement from a director with Bond history, and the smart money is that any formal announcement still sits further down the line, with official casting news said to be due by the end of the year.
