Rami Malek responds to rumours his Bond villain is Dr. No: “I would never shoot something like that down”

(Image credit: Universal)

Spectre introduced the world to Christoph Waltz's Blofeld – a reimagining of the iconic James Bond villain. With the upcoming sequel, No Time to Die, heading into cinemas soon, rumours have begun circulating that Rami Malek's Safin could be a version of Bond's first-ever on-screen adversary, Dr. No.

Our sister publication Total Film magazine sat down with the Oscar-winning actor to ask him outright whether he was willing to shoot down these internet rumblings, and his answer was typically cryptic. “I would never shoot something like that down. It’s intriguing,” he replied with a smile. So which Bond films did Malek watch in preparation? “Only Dr. No,” Malek said. Intriguing indeed.

There’s no actual evidence that Safin and Dr No. are one and the same, of course. No Time to Die director Cary Joji Fukunaga tells TF that “there’s a sense this guy could be from a large- scale chemical/pharmaceutical family” and that Safin is “someone who’s not necessarily a public face, but who wields a lot of power behind those people”. Whatever the case, Safin promises to be a deadly threat to Bond.

Total Film speaks in detail to Daniel Craig, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas, Rami Malek and more in their new issue, which his shelves on 6 March. There are two different covers available on the newsstand, check them both out below:

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Jack Shepherd is the former Senior Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar. Jack used to work at The Independent as a general culture writer before specializing in TV and film for the likes of GR+, Total Film, SFX, and others. You can now find Jack working as a freelance journalist and editor.