Clint Eastwood As James Bond, 007?! At One Point, It Could've Happened...

Merrick here...
Regular readers may've noticed by now that I am fascinated by the "What if's" that constantly surround Holywood projects (as is Quint). They evoke a tantalizing, alternate universe of possibilities and resonances that I find truly compelling. What if George Lucas...whose storytelling was so visionary, raw, vibrant, and bold in his early career...had directed APOCALYPSE NOW (which would've been a fake documentary) instead of Francis Ford Coppola? Almost happened. What if Guy Hamilton (GOLDFINGER, FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE, REMO WILLIAMS) directed the first SUPERMAN movie instead of Richard Donner? 'Twas real at one point. What if Klaus Maria Brandauer played the defecting Russian sub commander, and Kevin Costner appeared as the CIA operative analyzing his potentially dangerous moves, in THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER? Both were actually cast at some point in that film's development. See? It's kind of fun to imagine these things. Along these lines... The Los Angeles Times has an interesting discussion with Clint Eastwood, in which he talks about icon roles for he was approached, but didn't accept. Here's a snippet from the article, the fascinating entirety of which can be found HERE. Mr. Eastwood says...

“I can remember – and this was many years ago – when [Warner Bros. President] Frank Wells came to me about doing Superman. So it could have happened. This was when they first started to think about making it. 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. “I was also offered pretty good money to do James Bond if I would take on the role. This was after Sean Connery left. My lawyer represented the Broccolis,” who produce the Bond franchise, “and he came and said, ‘They would love to have you.’ 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.” [EDIT] Eastwood explained: “I always liked characters that were more grounded in reality. Maybe they do super things or more-than-human things — like Dirty Harry, he has a knack for doing crazy things, or the western guys — but, still, they’re not caped crusaders.”

This is, by no means, the only time a significant name was approached/courted for...and didn't end up in...a role that was already iconic (or would become iconic). Personally, my most favorite what if is that HAWAII 5-0's Jack Lord was offered the role of James T. Kirk - was looking into accepting it - but essentially demanded too large a percentage of STAR TREK. How different things could have, would have been... If this kinda stuff is in any way interesting to you, I'd highly recommend a book called THE GREATEST SCI-FI MOVIES NEVER MADE by David Hughes (available HERE. It's highly detailed, but it's a fast read and touches on many Geekish film projects that never happened, or came close to happening, etc. An unmade CHILDHOOD's END adaptation, for example. Or STAR TREK: PLANET OF THE TITANS from director Phillip Kaufman (the INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS remake, THE RIGHT STUFF, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING). In the meantime, let's take a moment to consider Mr. Eastwood as Clark Kent/Kal-El...
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