High Wycombe is having a celebrity moment, with two James Bond hopefuls hailing from the Bucks town joining forces to star in a new heist thriller about an unexploded World War II bomb.
As reported by Variety, Aaron Taylor Johnson, who grew up in Wycombe and attended the Jackie Palmer Stage School alongside James Corden, is set to share the big screen with Theo James, of The Gentlemen fame, who was also born in Wycombe and grew up nearby in Askett.
Both actors have been pegged as potential replacements for Daniel Craig’s 007 following his last outing in the franchise in 2021, with Taylor-Johnson appearing to deny the rumours back in March and James yet to comment on the still-mounting speculation.
But the two Wycombe-bred men will have to put any behind-the-scenes rivalry to bed when filming for director David Mackenzie’s heist thriller Fuze kicks off in July.
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The production, which is based on a screenplay by Ben Hopkins, will “open on the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb in a London construction site, sparking a mass evacuation – the perfect cover for a heist”, according to the film’s synopsis.
After beginning his career at just six-years-old in a local production of Macbeth, Taylor-Johnson’s star has been on the ascent over the last few years with an upcoming role in Marvel’s Kraven the Hunter (2024) alongside The Fall Guy (2024) and Bullet Train (2022).
James has seen a similar rise to the top of Hollywood casting lists, with a career-making stint in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen (2024) and an Emmy nomination for HBO’s The White Lotus (2023) under his belt.
Taylor-Johnson will next be seen in Robert Eggers’ much-anticipated adaptation of Nosferatu, releasing next January, while James will lead horror movie The Monkey, adapted from Stephen King’s short story of the same name, also expected to release next year.
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