“The role that I didn´t get.”
“The screen test for James Bond was a real ‘pinch yourself’ moment I’ll never forget.”
Just before the 007 yarn went into production, O’Loughlin was asked to meet Campbell at his Sony Studios offices in L.A.
“I thought he was going to ask me to audition for the villain or some other character – I certainly had no idea that he had me in mind for the (James) Bond role,” he recalled. “After explaining the whole story, he invited me to go with him to London, where I spent a week being fitted for wardrobe and screen testing.”
“It was an extremely exciting time for me as a young actor,” he continued, chuckling. “I felt as though I was doing a good job and handled myself professionally. I didn’t hear anything from them for a couple of months after that, so I shot a film called ‘The Invisible’ in Canada. Over breakfast in a Vancouver cafe, I spotted a fellow customer eating pancakes reading a newspaper with a large photo of Daniel Craig and a headline that read, ‘Bond Revealed.’
The whole Bond experience was a big, wonderful journey, according to the lean, 6-foot-2 actor, and he wouldn’t have had it any other way. Naturally, his ego was bruised for a while, but he got over it without major psychological scars.
“But I’m afraid it killed my mother,” he laughed. “She always thought I’d be a great Bond.”
Well, all that I can say is, their loss our gain!
Steve McGarrett kicks Bond´s a$$!
Alex O´Loughlin ~ An Intense Study 