Hugh Jackman

After proving he had what he took to play the MI5 agent through his performance as Wolverine in ‘X-Men’, Hugh Jackman was a serious contender to play James Bond once Pierce Brosnan walked away from the series in 2002 following ‘Die Another Day’.

However, the actor couldn’t agree to the part due to his commitment to the ‘X-Men’ franchise.

He explained: “I was about to do ‘X-Men 2’ and a call came from my agent asking if I’d be interested in Bond. I just felt at the time that the scripts had become so unbelievable and crazy, and I felt like they needed to become grittier and real.

“And the response was, ‘Oh, you don’t get a say. You just have to sign on.’ I was also worried that between ‘Bond’ and ‘X-Men’, I’d never have time to do different things.”