No Time to Die actor Rami Malek won’t confirm whether he is playing Dr. No or not but thinks the film will shock audiences regardless. No Time to Die is the 25th entry to the James Bond franchise, with the film also marking Daniel Craig’s last time playing 007. Originally slated to hit theaters in April, No Time to Die was delayed to November, and now April 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
While No Time to Die will be Craig’s fifth time playing James Bond, the film is introducing Malek as a new villain, Safin. Safin is being marketed as an original character for the film, but many people believe he is playing the original Bond villain, Dr. No. Safin has been shrouded in mystery throughout No Time to Die‘s trailers, but it was recently announced that he is a former SPECTRE assassin. With very little known about the character, speculation continues to run wild, which is being fueled by Malek refusing to confirm nor deny the Dr. No rumor.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view.
When speaking with GQ about his villainous character in No Time to Die, the theory that he is playing an updated version of Dr. No was brought up. Malek has always thought Dr. No was the best Bond villain ever since he was little, so he considers these rumors “interesting.” Malek’s full comment can be read below:
“That’s interesting. I’m not going to bite on that, but I do think it’s interesting. They’ll just have to wait and see. Let the rumours fly, because no matter what you expect from this movie, you will be shocked when you watch the film. I will not add any fuel to that fire.”
If Malek really is playing Dr. No, MGM likely won’t reveal that before No Time to Die hits theaters. Most studios won’t reveal big characters in the marketing for highly anticipated movies to create a bigger impact when it is revealed on screen. MGM tried to do this with Christoph Waltz playing Ernst Blofeld in Spectre, but most people assumed that to be true going into the movie. With all that in mind, Malek did give a similar answer back in February where he again wouldn’t deny the Dr. No rumor saying, “I heard that. Am I? I mean, isn’t that an exciting thing to consider all the way up to the release?”.
Introducing Dr. No in No Time to Die may not come as a huge surprise if the writers decided to go that route with Malek’s character. After all, Dr. No does seem like a logical choice. With this being the final Bond movie with Craig, the studio is no doubt pulling out all the stops to make his iteration of the character go out with a bang. Re-introducing Dr. No in a modern James Bond film could be one way to do this, especially since they have someone of Malek’s caliber playing the character.
Source: GQ
- No Time to Die/James Bond 25 (2021)Release date: Apr 02, 2021
About The Author
