LANÇAMENTOS EM FILMES: Andrew Scott talks SPECTRE, Moriarty and the mystery of Denbigh

Could the Sherlock actor turn out to be the true villain of SPECTRE? Robbie Collin talks to him

Adam Scott plays Max Denbigh in the upcoming SPECTRE

Jonathan McAloon

Andrew Scott made a name for himself in Britain with his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes’s shadowy arch-nemesis. Now the actor is set to appear in the new Bond film SPECTRE as Max Denbigh: an intelligence officer even more mysterious than Moriarty.  

Speaking to our film critic Robbie Collin, Scott said that “a lot of what we’re talking about in the movie is about surveillance and privacy and the idea of what threats there are: what the new digital age brings, threat-wise and danger-wise”.

Scott first worked with SPECTRE director Sam Mendes on the 2006 Broadway production of David Hare’s The Vertical Hour, and said it was “really lovely to be asked back and step into a really big historic, classic franchise like Bond”.

But who is Max Denbigh? Details are scarce. In a short interview with the YouTube channel ScreenSlam in December 2014 Scott revealed only that Denbigh is “a member of the intelligence world. That’s all I can say”. We now only know for sure that Denbigh is the head of the “Centre for National Security” who work with MI6. We are also lead to believe, through a menacing glimpse of his face in the trailer, that he is also a baddie. Twitter users – including the Radio Times feed –  were quick to spot a more fleeting clip of the Sherlock actor fighting the new M, Ralph Fiennes’s Gareth Mallory, on top of a skyscraper.

Though the role of supervillain seems firmly occupied by Christoph Waltz as Franz Oberhauser, there are internet rumours that Denbigh is the real Blofeld; Bond’s arch nemesis from Sean Connery films in the Sixties. Other Bond fans engaging with theories have said that Scott’s voice is sandwiched between soundbites of Waltz, and the line: “You came across me so many times and yet you never saw me”, in the trailer was actually from the mouth of Denbigh.  

Either way, Scott seems excited about the imminent release of SPECTRE, adding that he has “a feeling” that Sherlock fans will enjoy it.