The late Michael Jackson was renowned as being the King of Pop, but it turns out he wanted the role of the first black and iconic James Bond. The startling news comes from an autobiography of renowned Hollywood agent Michael Ovitz.
As reported by Consequence of Sound, Ovitz explained in his tell-all book that Jackson had approached 007 Film bosses, pleading with them to let him play Bond.
Let’s just say, it didn’t work out well for him and as we know, Jackson never was Bond. However, just imagine the great soundtrack he could have contributed to the films?
Autobiography tells of Michael Jackson’s 007 dreams
The new Michael Ovitz autobiography, “Who Is Michael Ovitz?” claims that the King of Pop had spoken of his desire to be a star in an action movie while they were having a meeting at his home in Los Angeles. Ovitz said he and his associate Ron Meer had problems taking Jackson’s desire to play the iconic role seriously, especially after his hat fell off his head, landing in a bowl of guacamole.
Jackson seemed unaware of what had happened and carried on speaking, while there was a blob of guacamole on his hat. Ovitz said suddenly the blob fell off the hat and Meer completely lost it. He said he cracked up laughing too and Jackson stalked out of the meeting.
Ovitz said he immediately went after Jackson and when he found him, spent around 15 minutes explaining they hadn’t been laughing at him – it was all about that darned guacamole. He wrote that finally, Jackson’s angry expression cleared. Michael said “OK, Ovitz,” but continued saying he really wanted to play the role of Bond. Ovitz said he was proud to admit that he didn’t laugh at him this time.
Not built for James Bond
NME reports that after Ovitz listened to Michael again, he gently let him down.
He explained to Jackson that he was too “thinly built” and too sensitive and that he wouldn’t be credible in the role of a “brutal block of stone.”
That report notes that while Jackson’s desire to play a major action role never materialised, he did go on to play several leading movie roles during his career. Among these were leading roles the 1978 film “The Wiz” and the 1986 film “Captain EO.” He also starred in a number of music documentaries featuring his hits.
Consequence of Sound did make another interesting point about Jackson wanting to play 007, saying he would have been able to put together a really killer Bond track while he was at it.
In other 007-related news reported here, executive producer Barbara Broccoli has definitively stated there will never be a female James Bond.
So there were no Michael Jackson Bonds in the past and there will be no female 007s either in the foreseeable future.
Speaking of the first black Bond, it was reported here that Idris Elba was rumoured a while back to be playing the iconic role. While he tweeted at the time that his name was "Elba, Idris Elba," it turned out not to be true.