James Bond star and recent Oscar nominee Ana de Armas has said that she believes Ireland's own Paul Mescal should be the next 007.
The actress made the comments while promoting her new movie Ghosted, a romantic action-adventure comedy co-starring Chris Evans which has just premiered on Apple TV+.
In a Wired interview with de Armas and Evans, the actress' scene-stealing turn as Cuban agent Paloma in Daniel Craig's final Bond entry No Time to Die was highlighted. She was then asked if there was someone she would want to be the next 007, to which she replied:
"Oh man, I don't know. I think Paul Mescal should be the one... That's my vote."
Evans then nodded approval, saying: "Paul Mescal is great." However, he then threw out his own suggestion, adding: "I'm a big Aaron Taylor-Johnson fan."
Paul Mescal at the Oscars this year
Both de Armas and Mescal were nominated for Oscars this year. De Armas received a Best Actress nod for playing Marilyn Monroe in Netflix's divisive biographical drama Blonde, while Mescal was honoured with a Best Actor nomination for his lead turn in the acclaimed indie coming-of-age drama Aftersun.
Since Daniel Craig's retirement from playing Bond, there has been much speculation as to who will replace him in the role. As well as Mescal and Taylor-Johnson, other names floated as possible successors have included Cillian Murphy, Daniel Kaluuya, Henry Cavill, Idris Elba, Jack Lowden, James Norton, Regé-Jean Page, Richard Madden, Sope Dirisu, Tom Hardy and more.
If Mescal was to take on the role, it would be adding to an already busy schedule for the Kildare actor. He recently signed up to play one of the leads of Gladiator 2, legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott's much-anticipated sequel to his Oscar Best Picture winner.
Mescal is also part of the cast of writer-director Richard Linklater's coming-of-age musical comedy Merrily We Roll Along, which will take 20 years to make.
You can watch the de Armas and Evans interview below. They make their comments about Mescal at around the 2.30 minute mark.
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