Vegas Says Taylor-Johnson Is the Subsequent Bond. Don’t Wager on It

James Bond definitely is aware of his approach round a on line casino, however even he would possibly elevate an eyebrow at who oddsmakers are betting will play him subsequent. In response to the most recent possibilities from playing web site VegasInsider, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is now the clear favourite to slide into 007’s tux, with odds hovering round 2.4-to-1.

However earlier than anybody bets the home on the 35-year-old Kick-Ass actor, business sources observe the sport hasn’t actually begun — the playing cards haven’t even been dealt. The truth is, Taylor-Johnson’s frontrunner standing might owe much less to spy-craft than to spin-craft. His odds have been clearly boosted by a string of U.Ok. press leaks — most notably in The Solarwhich has been touting him as the following Bond ever since Daniel Craig holstered his Walther PPK. In late 2022, the tabloid quoted “insiders” claiming Taylor-Johnson had “impressed” producer Barbara Broccoli throughout a “top-secret display check” at Pinewood Studios.

Just a few months later, one other so-called insider claimed: “Bond is Aaron’s job, ought to he want to settle for it.”

However Rambling’s personal insiders level out just a few points with that narrative. Traditionally, Bond display exams are tightly managed 007 rituals — normally involving a scene out of From Russia With Love — and so they don’t occur till a director is on board. And in 2022, there was no director. (Denis Villeneuve wasn’t employed till June.) Apart from, even when Taylor-Johnson had knocked Broccoli’s socks off at that supposed 2022 check, that shouldn’t be influencing his odds in 2025 — Broccoli and her half brother Michael G. Wilson offered the franchise to Amazon earlier this 12 months. Nowadays, it’s Amy Pascal’s socks that want knocking off. She’s operating Bond now.

Vegas handicappers additionally might need been swayed by a spherical of latest on-line tea-leaf studying after Taylor-Johnson’s auspiciously timed deal to change into a worldwide ambassador for Omega — the official Bond timepiece — again in Might. That was seen by some as a transparent signal the position was his. It wasn’t. In any other case, previous Omega ambassadors like Nicole Kidman, George Clooney and Zoë Kravitz would’ve been zipping round in Aston Martins years in the past.

What VegasInsider isn’t factoring in is that the entire above — the leaks, the whispers, the watch deal — would possibly truly be hurting Taylor-Johnson’s possibilities. As Rambling’s insider places it: “The extra you push for the position, the extra it will probably backfire. Wanting it an excessive amount of could be one of the simplest ways to not get it.”

RealReal Theft Was Actually Actual. However SMPD Says Nothing to See Right here

Instances are so robust nowadays, even the criminals are thrifting.

On July 18, within the newest affront to Santa Monica, greater than a dozen masked marauders stormed the RealReal secondhand luxurious boutique on twenty sixth Road — close to the Brentwood border — the place celebrities from Kim Kardashian and Julianne Moore to Parker Posey and Kate Moss are stated to unload their no-longer-needed Hermès, Cartier and Rolex equipment. It was a brazen, broad-daylight smash-and-grab: Surveillance cameras captured the crew looting high-end resale gadgets and loading them into getaway automobiles with the license plates eliminated.

This marks the third flash-mob-style hit on the identical retailer in three years — however not like the earlier break-ins, no arrests have but been made. The truth is, investigators are actually trying into whether or not the crew is likely to be linked to the same gang that hit an Anaheim jeweler simply in the future earlier. In that case, thieves wielding hammers and pickaxes had been chased off when the shop proprietor fired a warning shot.

A spokesperson for the Santa Monica Police Division tells Rambling that detectives are “conscious of the latest incident in Anaheim and are coordinating with regulation enforcement companions to evaluate any potential connections” — including, with out prompting, that any perceived enhance in legal exercise is solely imaginary. “We now have not seen a latest spike in organized retail thefts in Santa Monica,” the spokesperson insists. — MERLE GINSBERG

A Jaw-Dropping Screening at Comedian-Con … Actually

For as soon as, essentially the most talked-about title at San Diego’s Comic-Con wasn’t a Marvel or DC tentpole — it was a dystopian horror story so graphically violent, organizers actually lined it up.

The 6,500 attendees who turned out to see footage of The Lengthy StrollLionsgate’s adaptation of Stephen King’s 1979 novel about 100 teenage boys compelled to compete in a lethal endurance problem — stroll 3 miles an hour or be executed — had been proven 20 minutes of the film. However what they didn’t get to see — as a result of it was blacked out on the display — was a very brutal second wherein a younger man’s jaw is blown off by a bullet.

“Followers will get so much out of it once they see it in theaters,” was about all Garrett Wareing, who performs one of many contestants, would say concerning the cover-up whereas chatting with Rambling after the screening.

From the sound of it, taking pictures the movie— directed by Starvation Video games alum Francis Lawrence — was nearly as brutal as what ended up within the can. The younger solid walked miles day by day, creating actual blisters and bruises. “At some factors, we’re not appearing,” Wareing confesses. “These limps you see? These are actual limps.” He recollects one co-star pausing as a result of he thought he had one thing in his shoe. “He pulls off his Converse, and his socks had been simply stuffed with blood,” Wareing says. “I might sit down on the recent highway [between takes] and be like, ‘God, that is what peace seems like.’ I by no means thought asphalt can be so snug.”

Nonetheless, proving that distress does certainly love firm, all of the actors claimed to have had a blast on the Winnipeg shoot. Provides co-star Tut Nyuot, “I couldn’t think about filming this film with those that I didn’t actually get together with.”

This story appeared within the July 30 concern of The Hollywood Reporter journal. Click here to subscribe.