Every Single James Bond Actor Had To Perform The Same Audition Scene

After 1962's "Dr. No" proved successful and kick-started what became cinema's most enduring franchise, United Artists was eager to bring 007 back to the masses. "From Russia with Love," which debuted the following year, was the result. Aside from helping bolster the series' standing as a pop cultural force and Sean Connery's standing as a bonafide star, it seems the film also contributed what became the go-to audition scene for 007 hopefuls. The moment in which Connery's spy returns to his Istanbul hotel room to find Soviet clerk Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) in his bed seemingly contained all the elements of a classic Bond scene, as it has since been used for casting throughout the series' more than 60-year run — though more recently it may have been superseded by a scene from a later Bond film.

We already know quite a lot about the James Bond casting requirements, courtesy of longtime casting director Debbie McWilliams. But former producer Michael G. Wilson shed more light on that process back in 2002. Alongside half-sister Barbara Broccoli, Wilson shepherded the franchise for three decades before selling 007 to Amazon in 2025. Prior to Jeff Bezos and co. getting their hands on the property, however, Wilson spoke about the "From Russia with Love" scene during a 60th anniversary event for "Dr. No" (via the U.K.'s Radio Times). "We always use the same scene," he said. "[...] anyone who can bring that scene off is right for Bond. It's tough to do." The erstwhile Bond custodian also highlighted the need for a good actress to read the Tatiana lines but stopped short of revealing who might have provided such services for prior auditions. Given the scene itself gets pretty raunchy, that might have been for the best.

In "From Russia with Love," Connery's James Bond is dispatched to Istanbul where he's soon attacked by a Soviet agent. He then returns to his hotel to discover Tatiana Romanova in his bed wearing nothing but a black choker. The two engage in some witty repartee, wherein the Soviet claims that her "mouth is too big," only for Bond to reassure her. "No," he says, "It's the right size. For me, that is," before kissing his uninvited guest. Things end on a creepy note when it's revealed that two grubby little Russian surveillance men are watching the whole event unfold from behind a two-way mirror, but otherwise it's one of the more tender and intimate scenes in Connery's Bond tenure — and apparently the ideal way to identify whether a Bond-to-be has what it takes.

You can see Sam Neill performing a snippet from this very scene on the DVD extras for "The Living Daylights" but otherwise it's not easy to track down any screen tests that use "From Russia with Love" as their source material. What's more, it seems Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli switched things up at some point. Anyone who saw Henry Cavill's early 2000s Bond audition will recall the actor struggling through a scene from "GoldenEye" in which 007 similarly flirts with Xenia Onatopp at the Monte Carlo casino. Several other audition tapes which surfaced soon after Cavill's revealed that this scene was used throughout the casting process, with everyone from Rupert Friend to "The Boys" star Anthony Starr trying out for Bond (sending fans into a frenzy into the process). Whether they also performed the "From Russia with Love" scene remains unclear, but it is interesting to see how prospective Bonds were tested.