Michael Fassbender suggested Daniel Craig to producers at his James Bond audition

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When Michael Fassbender auditioned to play James Bond, he ended up promoting a different actor for the role.

In a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Fassbender said he suggested Daniel Craig might make a good James Bond during his own audition for the film Casino Royale.

“I met with Barbara Broccoli just, you know, through passing, and I actually went in to an audition phase before Daniel [Craig] was cast, but I don’t think I was ever in the mix,” Fassbender said. “But I remember going into that room and meeting with her and [Michael G.] Wilson, and I think I was like, ‘Daniel Craig is …’ — I don’t know why I was promoting him, I should have been promoting myself.”

Fassbender said the flub is par for the course, admitting he was an hour late to his Mad Max: Fury Road audition. “This is what I was saying, I was terrible at auditions,” Fassbender said.

Even though he ended up not getting the role, Fassbender still gave Craig his flowers.

“Obviously Daniel did a fantastic job and went on to be I think the most successful Bond in history, but that was it really, there was never a conversation after that,” Fassbender said.

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