Javier Bardem inked as new villain to Daniel Craig’s James Bond

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Now that Javier Bardem has had time off to be a new dad, he’s headed back to work being bad: The actor has been cast as Daniel Craig’s nemesis in the new James Bond film.

Bardem, last seen in ‘Eat Pray Love’ with Julia Roberts, will join Craig and director Sam Mendes for the next flick in the spy franchise. With the working title ‘Bond 23,’ the movie is set for a November 2012 release. Judi Dench will be back as M, with Naomie Harris on board as Moneypenny.

‘I am very excited. My parents took me to watch the movies and I saw all of them,’ Bardem said recently on ‘Nightline’ (see the interview, below). ‘So to play that is going to be fun.’

Sadly, the fact that he’s been cast was about all he could reveal, despite having had his eye on the role since earlier this year. ‘They chose me to play this man, but I cannot give you many details,’ he said.

But never fear -- the Internet is forever! ‘They’re changing the whole thing, the whole dynamic,’ Bardem told Awards Tracker in February. ‘I’d be playing Bond’s nemesis, yes, but it’s not that obvious. Everything is more nuanced. It’s very intriguing.’

Bardem is of course pretty good at playing the bad guy -- so much so that his turn as Anton Chigurh in 2007’s ‘No Country for Old Men’ scored him a supporting actor Oscar. He and Penélope Cruz -- who got married in July 2010, with her rep denying at the time that the actress was pregnant -- welcomed a baby boy in January.

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-- Matt Donnelly
twitter.com/MattDonnelly