Rumors are flying that even though Christoph Waltz’s character is technically named Franz Oberhauser in the next James Bond installment, ‘Spectre,’ he’s actually playing Bond’s arch-nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The now two-time Oscar winner, Waltz, is currently promoting his Golden Globe nominated turn in Tim Burton’s ‘Big Eyes.’

On Friday, I spoke to Waltz (the full interview will publish next week) and Waltz, for his part, is adamant he’s playing Franz Oberhauser. He was also very careful with the way he phrased his answer and I have no doubt that for most (or maybe all) of the film his character’s name is Franz Oberhauser. Let’s say Waltz is playing Blofeld (which makes a lot of sense), well, it’s not really up to Waltz to reveal that if the studio and filmmakers want to keep that a secret. And, to preface, Waltz was pretty open to talking about the next James Bond movie and why he wanted to be in the movie. He was just not quite as open when it came to talking about the character. I mention this because his answer is obviously short, but I don’t want to at all give the impression that Waltz was being glib—in person, he’s about as charming as they come.

Anyway, here is Waltz’s answer when I told him that people don’t believe he’s just playing a character named Franz Oberhauser.

No, That’s a fact. I can guarantee.

Has he heard the rumors?

Yeah, yeah. I have. The character is called Franz Oberhauser. F-R-A-N-Z, Oberhauser, and I don’t need to spell that.

So, that’s Waltz explanation. Next week we will have a lot more with Waltz about ‘Big Eyes,’ his place in Hollywood, hosting ‘SNL,’ and yes, why he took the role of “Franz Oberhauser” in a James Bond movie.

Mike Ryan has written for The Huffington Post, Wired, Vanity Fair and GQ. He is the senior editor of ScreenCrush. You can contact him directly on Twitter.

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