James Bond news: SS-GB lead Sam Riley was almost the NEW 007 but ducked out and here’s why

As Bond producers wait to hear whether Daniel Craig will be up for another 007 adventure or not, speculation surrounding a replacement has been rife.

Now it turns out that lead Riley was hotly tipped to be the new .

The news came ten years ago after he starred in Joy Division biopic Control, as Ian Curtis.

However, in a recent interview with The Telegraph, the privately educated actor revealed why he stepped away from his chances at global stardom.

It turns out the 37-year-old actor found all the celebrity attention too much.

He revealed: “My wife [German actress Alexandra Maria Lara] said the night after the [Control] premiere: ‘I’ve been working in this business for 15 years and haven’t had that moment.’

“It threw me a lot higher up the food chain. I arrived a lead actor.”

Instead Riley went to live with his family in Berlin, where he could have a relatively normal life.

The actor continued: “I felt protected there from what everybody was going to try to make me into after Control – a cash cow.

“‘While the moment’s hot, let’s get him in as many things as possible.’

“I was nervous about it, I think, and still am. It’s a twisted mix between being jealous of the success of some of my colleagues and at the same time being very happy that no one knows who I am.”

SS-GB is a new BBC drama, based on the book of the same name, set in an alternate 1941 Nazi-occupied Britain.

Riley stars as widowed detective Douglas Archer, who works with the Germans  to keep his position.

SS-GB starts on BBC1 on February 19, 2017 at 9pm.

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Daily Express :: Entertainment Feed

Post Author: martin

Martin is an enthusiastic programmer, a webdeveloper and a young entrepreneur. He is intereted into computers for a long time. In the age of 10 he has programmed his first website and since then he has been working on web technologies until now. He is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of BriefNews.eu and PCHealthBoost.info Online Magazines. His colleagues appreciate him as a passionate workhorse, a fan of new technologies, an eternal optimist and a dreamer, but especially the soul of the team for whom he can do anything in the world.

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