Unlucky 007

Image credit: Julian McMahon: Tammie Arroyo/AP

THE UNKINDEST CUT McMahon's mom says he turned down 007

It's dangerous being a superspy, especially when a billion-dollar franchise is riding on your shoulders. Maybe that's why some of those tipped as possible replacements for Pierce Brosnan in the forthcoming James Bond movie have said thanks-but-no-thanks. Brosnan himself told interviewers recently that Colin Farrell would make a fine 007, but Farrell told reporters at the junket last weekend promoting his movie Alexander that he's not interested. ''I would not like to do it,'' he told Reuters, adding that producers should cast an unknown. ''They should find someone the audience has no history with.''

Also turning down the role is Nip/Tuck star and soon-to-be Fantastic Four villain Julian McMahon. So says his mother, who told Melbourne's Sunday Herald Sun that he'd been approached about the role but had to decline because he'd ''recently signed a long-term deal with his hit TV drama series.'' One actor who does seem to be interested in playing Bond is Hugh Jackman, who reportedly started rumors earlier this year that he'd been asked to succeed Brosnan, then admitted that producers hadn't yet approached him. Yo, Wolverine, how can you be a spy if you blow your own cover?