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Tom Hardy supports Christopher Nolan taking over James Bond franchise

Tom Hardy wants to play James Bond, but he doesn’t want to say he wants to play James Bond. At least not out loud.

“Oh, wow, Chris would be amazing,” Hardy said when asked by the Daily Beast about the idea of Nolan taking over the spy franchise. “Wow, that would be cool. That would be so cool.”

But what about Hardy himself as 007? That’s where the “Mad Max: Fury Road” star hit a bit of a conundrum.

“You know, there’s a saying amongst us in the fraternity of acting -- and in the fellowship of my peer group -- that if you talk about it you’re automatically out of the race,” he explained. “So I can’t possibly comment on that one. If I mention it, it’s gone.” 

That didn’t mean he couldn’t comment further about the idea of his “Inception,” “Dark Knight Rises” and “Dunkirk” boss in the director’s chair, though.  

“Chris Nolan, what a fantastic director for a Bond movie,” he said. “Because Daniel [Craig] is so good, and what [Sam] Mendes and Barbara [Broccoli] have done has been so impressive, that would be a very hard re-imagination to follow after. 

“I wonder what the next installment of that franchise would become, and I think when you mention someone like Christopher Nolan, that’s a very powerful figure to bring into that world who could bring something new and create something profound -- again.”

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