Clive Owen was a frontrunner in the Bond race, but he turned the role down because he felt it would 'limit' his acting career. To be fair, 007 always had to be obscure, and had to turn an unknown into a superstar, and not even remotely vice versa. Owen, after an Oscar nomination for Closer, and currently on top of the box office with Sin City seems to have made a smart enough decision.

If confirmed, Daniel Craig will be the sixth to play James Bond, after the classic Sean Connery, the aristocratic Roger Moore, the misfit George Lazenby, the theatrical Timothy Dalton and the box-office ruler, Pierce Brosnan.

The next film will also feature Orlando Bloom playing a teenaged James Bond.

Martin Campbell, who directed GoldenEye, will direct Bond 21, an adaptation of Ian Fleming's Casino Royale.