Apparently, Robert Pattinson wants to play superspy and ulitimate cool lady's man James Bond sometime in the near future.

That would put him in direct competition with his current co-star, Irishman Pierce Brosnan, who remains the favorite Bond ever for millions of "007" fans worldwide. The two are filming a movie together in New York. Father-and-son sort of thing. Pattinson has the looks, but he doesn't have the suave, cool and clean persona that Brosnan personified for the spy role in Her Majesty's secret service. Lets face it, Pattinson allegedly doesn't wash too often -- and grunge doesn't work for Bond. Can you imagine our cool, clean hero putting off the bad guys with his body odor?

And as for that big shock of hair, it wouldn't work for Bond at all. Look at Pierce at the height of his Bond days, the short-back-and sides look defines James Bond. Roger Moore had it too, and so did the ultimate, Scotsman Sean Connery.

Giving Bond the hippie look would be a complete disaster. James Bond and Woodstock just don't mix. Pattinson says he looks like "an old Irish alcoholic." Brosnan looked like an Irish superstar when he played Bond, and was People magazine's sexiest man alive. Pattinson is hardly likely to ever win that prize. Then there's the action part. Brosnan did most of his own stunts -- incredible stuff in the high-risk arena, can-you-beat-this, Bond genre. Pattinson had to use a body double in "Twilight" for some very tame stunts indeed. Evel Knievel he ain't, although he did perform his own "stunt" the other day -- getting clipped by a cab as he fled from a gaggle of evil supervillains (teenage girls).

Finally, Bond is a man's man as well as irresistible to the ladies. Like all the Bonds, Brosnan had that charm. Pattinson certainly makes it with the women, but men are hardly shaken or stirred by the pasty-faced, grungy refugee from England.

When it comes to this, Brosnan is the word and our Bond .Pattinson would just be a mistake, though he might do better in a Mike Myers spy spoof than in THE spy role of all time.