British thespian and perpetual "next big
thing" Clive Owen spent a better part of the early 2000's hounded by
rumors that he'd been tabbed to replace Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, largely because
the bulk of his star-making turn in 1998's Croupier involved cruising
around a casino while wearing a tux. Of course, the role eventually went to the
beefier, blonder Daniel Craig, whose two stints as 007 have together earned
over a billion dollars worldwide. Owen's films, as you might guess, have earned considerably less.
We'll never know the extent to which Owen lobbied
for the Bond role -- or if he ever desired it at all -- but his recent career
choices are telling. Next year, he's set to play an Interpol agent in Tom
Tykwer's thriller The International and an MI6 agent-turned-corporate spy in
Tony Gilroy's thriller Duplicity. And just today, Owen signed on to star in the
thriller Cartagena.
According to THR, he'll play an undercover agent working in Colombia "who gets caught in a
complex plot and must elude drug dealers and international agents if he hopes
to survive." Huh. It just so happens that the majority of the action in the
latest Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, took place in the South American country
of Bolivia.
Coincidence? Perhaps, but if Clive's subsequent film project involves playing a Nazi-hunting concentration camp escapee, it might be time to schedule an intervention.