3) Sam Riley
In 2007, Sam Riley gave a barnstorming performance as Joy Division’s Ian Curtis in Anton Corbijn’s biopic Control; big things seemed to be on the horizon for the actor. Since then, however, Riley’s career has stalled – not because he suddenly lost his innate raw acting talent, but because a series of bad role choices have left him in the Hollywood doldrums. Still, stranger things have happened than a once-promising talent staging a major comeback in a single, career-defining role.
Riley’s not just outwardly right for Bond (he was a model before he got into all this acting malarky), but he’s also got the brooding intensity of classic Bond and wounded fragility of Craig. After almost a decade of barely getting the chance to show what he’s made of, Riley must be more than ready to take on a significant leading man role by now.
Bond could be it.