In a non-pandemic world, we would be seven months removed from the premiere of Daniel Craig’s final Bond film, “No Time to Die.” And if, uh, “leadership” in the United States would have been better prepared and handled things differently, maybe we’d have had the same April delay but would be bracing ourselves for a November release. Sadly, that didn’t happen and we’re still months away from “No Time to Die” arriving in April 2021. But that doesn’t mean we can’t talk and speculate about what might happen in the highly-anticipated James Bond film, especially when it comes to the mysterious villain played by Rami Malek.
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If you’ve seen the trailer for “No Time to Die,” you know that Malek portrays a character named Safin. Not much is known about him or his evil plans, but we do know that Safin wears a mask to hide his disfigured face and that Malek has previously said that the character is “unsettling.” But in a new profile of Malek over at GQ, it’s clear that Safin isn’t the typical bad guy that you might see in a spy film. He’s something more. But what is so special about him is going to remain a surprise.
“Once we got into Christoph Waltz/Blofeld territory, you can’t go small again,” director Cary Fukunaga said about Malek’s villain character. “We had to think bigger. It’s tricky because you don’t want to make a cliché supervillain, but you have to make someone that’s threatening not only to Bond and the people he loves but to the world at large.”
How do you go bigger than Blofeld? Well, one theory that seems to be making the rounds amongst Bond fans is that Malek’s character, Safin, is indeed a new version of the classic villain, Dr. No. When pressed about this possibility, Malek neither confirmed nor denied.
“Yes,” Malek said about the speculation. “That’s interesting. I’m not going to bite on that, but I do think it’s interesting. They’ll just have to wait and see.”
The reason for the Safin/Dr. No theory stems from the physical look of both characters. There’s no denying that Malek does resemble Joseph Wiseman from the 1962 Bond film, “Dr. No.” But not only that, the film presents a villain that has disfigured himself due to radiation, which is similar to the issues that face Safin in the new film. And if you want a deeper dive, you can venture into the Bond discussions had by fanboys and fangirls that dissect it even further.
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Regardless of whether or not Safin is Dr. No, it’s clear that Daniel Craig’s final Bond film is going to feature a villain that is even bigger than Blofeld, who might be the most famous villain of them all. So, that should definitely pique the interest of 007 fans hoping for a memorable finale for Craig.
“No Time to Die” is scheduled for release April 2, 2021.
