Ioan Gruffudd says he is 10 years too young to play James Bond

14-Jul-2005 • Casino Royale

Ioan Gruffudd's name has been mentioned as a possible successor to Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, but he denies ever having been in the running. "I think I'm 10 years too young to play Bond," he said. "To play Bond properly you need to have weight and gravitas and a little more life experience - reports The Telegraph.

"To be honest, I think people would find it hard to believe that I was a trained killer, which is an important element of Bond - to have that darkness. That was the beauty of Sean Connery; you believed he would beat the hell out of you and charm you at the same time."

Surprisingly, perhaps, for someone on the verge of Hollywood stardom, he freely admits he would like a chance to return to television and the Horatio Hornblower series. "I'd love to make more. He's an incredible character to play, and the quality of that series was so good. For a small-budgeted television series the production values were so high and I would certainly jump at the chance to go back to him.

"I have this image of playing Hornblower through every stage of his life, from 17 years old until when he becomes an admiral.

"We touched on only three novels, and I think there are 10 in the series, so, if an offer came, it would be very difficult to turn it down."

Thanks to `Kyvan` for the alert.