Matthew Goode explains how he bombed out with James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli

Matthew Goode, currently seen on the Netflix detective series Dept. Q, brought his charming British self to the Happy Sad Confused podcast to talk about his latest role and his 20-plus-year career in film and television.

Wearing a backward ball cap, Goode corrected host Josh Horowitz when he mentioned something about the actor once auditioning for the part of James Bond.

“I didn’t audition. I went in and met Barbara [Broccoli],” Goode said, referring to the then-primary producer of the 007 franchise, daughter of the late Albert “Cubby” Broccoli. Earlier this year, Broccoli and her brother Michael entered an agreement with Amazon MGM Studios in which the family maintains ownership of the property, but have a reduced role in the development of new work.

I didn’t get to the audition,” he continued, “but it was quite a funny one because — and she’s gorgeous and just a lovely, lovely person — she was like, ‘So what’s your idea for Bond?’ And I was like, ‘My idea for Bond. We’ve gotta take it back to the books, you know? Really, we absolutely have to make this guy an alcoholic, a drug addict. He hates himself. He hates women. He hates a lot of people. He’s in deep pain. He’s brilliant at killing people.'”

Goode continued, “I think by the end of the interview, she was like, ‘Mhmm. Next.'”

He added, “I wanted to make it really dark,” then said, “but what I should have said was, ‘But also incredibly charming.'”

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Summing up, he said, “Ultimately, you know, what they did get was Daniel Craig.”

Craig’s version of 007 was definitely darker than most (have you seen the Roger Moore films?), but still not quite as hardcore as Bond is presented in the books.

As Goode said, the original character was not exactly the debonair quip-maker moviegoers know. He downs outrageous amounts of booze, smokes up to 70 cigarettes a day, and, in the original Moonraker, is known to pop amphetamines. Looks-wise, he is described as resembling the songwriter Hoagy Carmichael, who, no offense, was hardly Sean Connery.

James Bond was first dreamt up by a 44-year-old author named Ian Fleming, who was a Lt. Commander with British Naval Intelligence during World War II. Indeed, he was chief of something known as Operation Goldeneye, which monitored Axis maneuvers in Spain. That name, eventually used for one of the Pierce Brosnan Bond pictures as well as a popular video game, was also what Fleming called his Jamaica estate where he wrote the first Bond book, Casino Royale, published in 1953.

As it happens, it was just announced that Quebecois director Denis Villeneuve will direct the next 007 movie, once he finishes the third Dune installment, Dune Messiah. Villeneuve, whose other films include Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, is not exactly known for being sunny — so Goode’s vision may come to life onscreen after all. Time will tell!

You can check out all of Matthew Goode’s talk on the Happy Sad Confused podcast below.