The Bottom Line: Owen a Man among ‘Children of Men’

To catch a glimpse of what should have been for Clive Owen, watch The Pink Panther.

Looking all very dashing and dangerous in a tuxedo, Owen swooped out of nowhere to save Steve Martin’s Inspector Clouseau from certain death. At Martin‘s behest, Owen was channeling James Bond as Nigel Boswell, Agent 006.

“We knew at the time we approached Clive he was being considered for James Bond,” Martin said, per WENN.

Remember, The Pink Panther was shot before Daniel Craig entered the conversation as Pierce Brosnan’s successor. All eyes naturally fell on Owen, the most fiercely intense of British actors, when Bond producers decided they wanted Bond to have an edge.

No, The Pink Panther wasn’t Owen‘s unsubtle way of auditioning for Casino Royale.

“I thought it was a funny scene so that’s why I did it. No other motive behind it,” Owen told Black Film.com.

Owen would have been a fine Bond if you recall his heroics as a driver in The Hire, a series of cinematic-style BMW commercials directed by John Frankenheimer, Tony Scott and John Woo. Or Sin City. Or King Arthur. And now Children of Men (Dec. 25), a chilling and perspective sci-fi thriller that finds Owen protecting the first pregnant woman in 18 years.

Bond would have come in the way of Owen‘s ascent. It took Owen, 42, long enough to get to work with directors Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men), Mike Nichols (Closer) and Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) after making a name for himself in his native England with the 1990 TV show Chancer.

Everything started to come together for Owen in 2000, when Croupier won $6.2 million after critics raved about the smart thriller and his cool turn as a card dealer. Croupier led to The Hire. Gosford Park—Robert Altman’s Oscar-nominated murder mystery—finally put him on the map.

Yes, he’s suffered a few setbacks. Sparks hardly flew between Owen and Angelina Jolie in Beyond Borders. Few Americans bowed before King Arthur, although it did take $203 million worldwide. Derailed was dismissed as a Jennifer Aniston disappointment, despite earning more than its $22 million budget.

So far Owen‘s made more of an impact in supporting turns, whether it’s as Brittany Murphy’s vengeful boyfriend in Sin City, Julia Roberts’ lover in Closer, or Denzel Washington’s masked quarry in Inside Man.

But Owen‘s wisely established himself as a hero haunted by his inner demons, a pursuer of the truth and an enforcer of righteous anger. And that’s what continues to separate him from such fellow countrymen as Hugh Grant and Jude Law.

Oddly enough, Owen‘s next thriller seems to start where Children of Men ends. Shoot ‘Em Up (Sept. 7) apparently opens with Owen delivering a baby during a gunfight. It’s then down to him to keep the baby alive. If the thriller is as wild and warped as its premise, Shoot ‘Em Up could be a real blast and a big hit.

Owen is also coming down with a case of sequelitis. OK, Owen wasn’t in Elizabeth, but he does play Sir Walter Raleigh to Cate Blanchett’s Queen of England in The Golden Age (Oct. 5). And Sin City 2—possibly reuniting him with Jolie—and an Inside Man sequel are in the works.

“All I’m going to say is that I’m pretty booked out for the rest of the year,” Owen told the BBC in 2005 when asked about becoming Bond.

And it’s likely he’s going to be busy for years to come.

The Bottom Line
Smart, socially conscious sci-fi thrillers are a tough sell. Think Solaris ($14.9 million), Gattaca ($12.5 million) and eXistenZ ($2.8 million). So Children of Men may not duplicate its English success when it opens in limited release on Christmas Day. But Owen has already shown he survive a disappointment without having to beg for a license to kill. Still, the man who should have been Bond deserves his own potential franchise to carry. How about the long-gestating movie versions of The Prisoner or The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ? Or even Sam Raimi’s revival of The Shadow. If anyone knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men, it’s Owen.