Sam Neill was left redfaced after an old video of him auditioning for the role of James Bond refurfaced.
The Jurassic Park star had auditioned to play the iconic secret agent ahead of the 1986 film The Living Daylights.
While the role eventually went to Timothy Dalton, plenty of high-profile celebrities threw their hat in the ring to play 007, including Sam himself.
Now the actor has been surprised with his audition clip – played on live TV while he was in the middle of an interview.
Sam, 75, was appearing on the Today show to discuss his new book when host Brooke Boney aired the clip, which sees the star walk into a room with an unbuttoned shirt, and holding a gun in his hand.
In pure Bond fashion, the much younger Sam tells a half-nude woman lying on what appears to be a hotel bed, ‘My friends call me Bond. James Bond.’
Sam was visibly mortified by the almost-40-year-old-clip and even put his hand over his face with embarrassment, jokingly telling the host it was ‘so cruel to play that.’
However he added that in the end he was glad he didn’t get the role as he didn’t want to risk becoming the actor who messed it up.
Of course, things turned out for the best for Sam, as a few years later he clinched the leading role in another absolute monster of a franchise: Jurassic Park.
Sam starred alongside the likes of Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum in the 1993 smash-hit, and recently returned for the 2023 Jurassic World spin-off decades after they escaped from the park.
Recently the acclaimed actor revealed he was undergoing chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with stage three blood cancer.
The Hunt for the Wilderspeople star was told he had the disease shortly after experiencing swollen glands during publicity for Jurassic World Dominion last March.
While he is now cancer-free, it is expected he will continue treatment monthly for the rest of his life, and wrote his new memoir Did I Ever Tell You This? while receiving treatment.
Thankfully the actor has since shared another update about his health, telling his concerned fans he is ‘well.’
In a post posted to Instagram on Saturday, he said: ‘My news is all over the news at the moment, and it’s sort of [like], “Cancer, cancer cancer” and it’s slightly tiresome because as you see, I’m alive and well.
‘I have been in remission for eight months, which feels really good. And I’m alive and kicking and I’m going to work.’
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MORE : Jurassic Park’s Sam Neill has ‘never felt better’ months on from blood cancer remission
MORE : Jurassic Park’s Sam Neill shares health update after revealing stage 3 blood cancer diagnosis
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