Ex-Bond 25 director Danny Boyle thinks that Robert Pattinson should be the next James Bond. Boyle was confirmed to be helming Bond 25 last spring, but just a few months later it was announced he had left the project due to ‘creative differences’. He later elaborated stating that the vision he and screenwriting partner John Hodge – who has penned the scripts for many of Boyle’s films including Shallow Grave, Trainspotting and T2 Trainspotting – clashed with what Bond 25’s producers wanted for the movie.

Though Boyle has remained rather vague and diplomatic about the exact nature of those creative differences and clashes, he did recently state that his experience with Bond 25 was enough to put him off making mainstream film franchises in the future. Nevertheless, it seems the Oscar-wining director still has a few opinions about what direction the long-running Bond franchise should take in the near future.

It’s no secret that Bond 25 will be Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007 which has led to a lot of speculation as to who should take on the iconic role of James Bond next. Actors including Tom Hardy, Richard Madden and Henry Cavill have emerged as fan favorite contenders and some have even suggested it’s high time a female actor took up the Bond mantle – someone like Charlize Theron or Emily Blunt, perhaps. According to an interview with The Guardian, Boyle doesn’t think any of the above are the man (or woman) for the job. In his opinion, there’s no one better than Robert Pattinson to play James Bond next and it was his performance as a death-row prisoner in Claire Denis’s sci-fi horror High Life that convinced him:

“… it was so bizarre, because I was sitting there thinking: ‘Oh my God, they should get him to be the next Bond.’”

When questioned whether Pattinson wasn’t a tad too young to take on the role, Boyle disagreed pointing out that Connery – who was 32 when he first played Bond in 1962’s Dr. No – wasn’t all that old either. While Boyle is convinced Pattinson would make a great 007, the actor himself might feel a little differently. Having recently signed up to play the equally iconic role of the Caped Crusader in The Batman, taking on another big franchise role might be more than Pattinson’s schedule could handle. It’s not impossible, of course, but it seems unlikely that Boyle’s dream of seeing Pattinson as Bond will come true.

Still, the release of Bond 25 is still almost a year away and any future Bond films – and casting announcements – probably won’t be announced for some time yet, so perhaps Pattinson as Bond isn’t a total pipedream. Until the casting of 007 is confirmed, however, the debate over who should play James Bond next rages on.