Hollywood star Cillian Murphy has backed iconic filmmaker Christopher Nolan to direct the next James Bond movie.
The actor, who has worked with the filmmaker several times over the years, starting with Batman Begins in 2005, said he was "not going to speak" for his frequent collaborator, but he would love to see him helm one of 007's action-packed adventures.
He told a media source, "I would. Of course, I'd go and see a Chris Nolan Bond movie. I feel though he's on a journey with his own material. I mean, he's a huge Bond fan. He loves the movies."
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The 47-year-old star suggested there is already a "little bit" of a Bond influence in Christopher's body of work, another media source.
He added, "I think there's parts of every movie that are a little bit Bond, aren't there? Not consciously, but I think you can kind of see it, particularly in Inception and Tenet. I don't know. Listen, ask him. I'd be interested to hear the answer."
However, he ruled out the idea of him succeeding Daniel Craig as the next actor to play Ian Fleming's creation.
He said: "I'm not James Bond - that ship has sailed, shall we say."
Although there could be other roles in a potential Nolan-led blockbuster, including Q, M or even a Bond villain, Murphy refused to be drawn into speculation.
He said: "Let's see what Chris comes up with."
If Christopher were to take on Bond and bring Murphy on board, the actor's experience being cast as Scarecrow in Batman Begins suggests the call would come "out of the blue."
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He recalled, "I was prepared for it. For me, just to be directed by Christopher Nolan, I was a young actor and I loved the experience of it. But I thought that might be it because I didn't see myself as (Batman).”
“Then as he always does, he called me out of the blue. He said, 'Look, it's not going to work out for Batman.' I thought, 'It's got to be Christian Bale, that makes complete sense.' Then he said, 'But there's this other character.' And that's how it started."