"Hey baby, think you need a Rupert Friend to stand here by your side?"

Rupert Friend, who shocked many Homeland viewers when they learned he's British and not American, has spoken about becoming Bond.

At just 22 years old, he declined a screentest to replace Pierce Brosnan in the role. The part, of course, went to Daniel Craig.

"Back then, not only could the part have sort of eclipsed me, but I felt like the part was bigger than me as an actor or even as a person", he recalled.

"I thought it would sort of swallow me up. I might sink the franchise, or at least be the worst Bond that ever lived. And that was just not an option because I love the franchise".

"But very, very recently, last week [in mid-April], it started to come back into my consciousness that, let's put it this way, maybe I've got the scars and the bruises now".

"I've literally been around the block or in the school of hard knocks, but also have navigated film sets, directors and difficult situations. You sort of realise you're at a point where you can take things on that perhaps you couldn't before".

Bond mogul Michael G. Wilson recently declared that the next actor to play 007 will be "thirty-something".

Would he make an exception for 41-year-old Rupert?

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