Aaron Taylor Johnson may soon be 007 but to a generation of Brits, he’ll always be Robbie from the Stiff Dylans.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson may soon be sipping on martinis and getting all the girls in the next iteration of the James Bond franchise, but the British actor has some far more humble credits to his name from his early career.

Aaron has been in the media spotlight in the last week after reports that he had been offered the coveted role of 007, but for a certain generation of hopeless romantics, the potential Mr Bond needed no introduction thanks to a certain teen rom-com titled Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

Aaron Taylor Johnson as a fresh-faced teen in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. Credit: Getty/ Paramount Pictures
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging plot

If you’re unfamiliar, here’s the TL;DR plot summary: Georgia is 14 and she is worried that she won’t have a boyfriend by the time she’s 15, she fancies Robbie (an adorably baby-faced Aaron Taylor-Johnson) whose fraternal twin brother is dating Georgia’s bestie, Jas.

Sadly for Georgie, Robbie – who is in a band called the Stiff Dylans – is dating Lindsay who fulfils the classic ‘most popular girl in school even though she’s kind of a bi*ch’ trope that all teen rom-coms need.

Georgia takes ‘snogging’ lessons from her mate Peter who obviously starts to fancy her so she pretends to be a lesbian and then a bunch of other cooked things happen until Robbie and Georgia get together just in time for her 15th birthday bash and the final credits.

A cult classic

While the existence of this film (and the YA novel it’s based on) may be news to us Aussies, it’s got something of a cult following over in the UK with fans sharing their reviews to explain why they loved it so much.

Another shared that it had been “v integral to my 11 yr old brain development” while another still argued that the film “deserves an Imax release”.

According to The Independent, “this was the film we piled into cinemas to watch, then pored over at sleepovers and quoted ad nauseum. Fifteen years later, many still return to it, branding it their ultimate comfort movie.”

Alexa, play ‘Ultra Violet’ by the Stiff Dylans. Credit: Paramount Pictures
Over on Rotten Tomatoes, one fan echoed this sentiment writing, “Fun and cheesy in all the right ways!

A favourite when I was a teenager and still a source of quotable one liners for me today.

Not an entirely serious film but definitely something fun to watch every now and again.”

“Honestly this film may not be a cinematic masterpiece but it was an iconic part of every British teen’s life,” someone else agreed.

Other Aaron Taylor-Johnson credits

A two-time BAFTA nominee, Aaron’s breakthrough role was as a young John Lennon in Nowhere Boy, directed by his now-wife Sam Taylor-Johnson.

He became widely known through starring in Kick-Ass, and its sequel and has starred in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Christopher Nolan movies – playing Pietro “Quicksilver” Maximoff in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Ives in Tenet, respectively.

Earlier in the week The Sun reported that he had received an offer from producers to star as the iconic MI6 spy and that an announcement is imminent.

If true, he will be the first new 007 in 15 years, taking the mantle from Daniel Craig, whose final outing as the character was in No Time to Die in 2021.

So, while he may do a admirable job as Bond, James Bond, it’s safe to say to legions of Brits who were coming of age in the 00s, he’ll always be Robbie from the Stiff Dylans.