Back in 1986 Sir Roger Moore had retired as James Bond after starring in seven movies.
MGM were holding 007 auditions for 1987’s The Living Daylights, which eventually went to Timothy Dalton.
And one actor who impressed the producers but just missed out was Kiki actor Sam Neill.
Now in a new interview with the Daily Telegraph, Neill has spoken out on that audition – calling it “a bad dream.”
The 70-year-old Jurassic Park star said: “No. Don’t ask! It was all a bad dream.
“The lesson I learnt that day was never be bullied by your agent into going along to something you don’t want to do ever again. That was the last time.”
Meanwhile Neill’s main reason for not wanting to be Bond was because he wanted to avoid the movie star lifestyle.
He continued: “And it’s been really interesting being here at the film festival – my friend and I Bryan Brown, we can go into Venice and do whatever we want. We can live a life.”
Neill added: “And without naming names, some of the people who have been our hotel for the last couple of days, there is no money on earth that could compensate me for the lives they have to live.
“There are guests on my corridor with six security guards outside their door. Six! And those are the people they now live with.
“When you get there, you’ve lost all semblance of life. So I’m very comfortable with whatever career that I have. Because it’s permitted me great privilege with very little loss.”