Mel Gibson

Before Sir Roger Moore vacated the role in 1985, Mel Gibson was in serious contention to take on the 007 mantle, though but the ‘Mad Max’ star chose to reject the part as he was working on ‘Gallipoli’ with director Peter Wier at the time.

He explained: “I got offered the James Bond movies when I was like 26, which is like 40 years ago, okay?

“And they said, ‘Hey, we want you to be the next James Bond?’ And I thought about it; I was in Australia, I was working with Peter Weir. And I did think about it, and I sort of turned it down – for that reason.”

Gibson added he didn’t want to get “stuck” in the role like Sir Sean Connery - who played the character from 1962’s ‘Dr. No’ to ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ in 1971, and then again in the unoffiical Bond movie ‘Never Say Never Again’ in 1983.

He said: “I thought, ‘Look what happened to poor Sean, he got stuck there for like three decades.’”