Oscar-winner Danny Boyle has been confirmed as the writer-director for the new James Bond film, which is currently going by Bond 25. I’m glad they’re not bringing back Sam Mendes, whom I generally like as a director, but who was ill-suited for the Bond franchise. Mendes made everything SO dark (like, literally, the scenes were not properly lit) and the stories suffered under the Mendes reign. While Skyfall made a ton of money and had an okay story, Spectre was utter garbage. So it’s good that Boyle is being brought in to not just direct, but write the script. Daniel Craig is obviously coming back, because of course. But what about the Bond Girls? Well, Boyle says that in this modern age, maybe the Bond stories need to reflect #MeToo and #TimesUp. Um…?
“Trust” producer and director Danny Boyle has confirmed he’s working on the next James Bond movie — and confirms he is looking at the “modern world” when it comes to the portrayal of women. After being asked if Bond Girls could be depicted in a different light in the #MeToo and Time’s Up era, Boyle told Page Six on Thursday, “You write in real time…. You acknowledge the legacy of the world [of Bond] and you write in the world — but you also write in the modern world as well.”
Of any specifics of his female Bond characters, he said, “I can’t tell you yet, will report back later.”
While female Bond characters have shed their innuendo-laden names and become more feisty over the years, we’ve yet to encounter one who is truly Bond’s equal. Dame Judi Dench’s M — Bond’s boss — was killed off in “Skyfall.” Although we’re not yet near a female Bond, the currently called “Bond 25” project is said to be Daniel Craig’s final 007 role and the search is on for the next male star to lead the franchise.
Boyle had said of his Bond movie, “We are working on a script right now,” with his frequent collaborator John Hodge. But he added of directing the closely guarded franchise, “It all depends . . . I am working on a Richard Curtis script at the moment. We hope to start shooting that in six or seven weeks. Then, Bond would be right at the end of the year.”
For all the conversations about who should or who will take over as Bond when Daniel Craig is done, it’s sort of ridiculous how the “who should WRITE the new Bond story?” is basically an afterthought for Barbara Broccoli. While I respect Danny Boyle enough to trust that he’ll care about the story, it also seems very fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants. Bond 25 starts filming later this year and the script is being treated like an afterthought!
As for Bond Girls in the Me Too era… I mean… ??? Bond Girls are, by their nature, a regressive trope. But maybe the best way to write Bond Girls with modern sensibilities is to – perhaps? – get a female writer in there? Or maybe give James someone to talk to who he doesn’t end up banging and leaving? It’s really not that hard (that’s what she said).
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Sounds good. The first Bond Girl should be introduced mid conversation telling someone about why she cancelled Woody Allen years ago.
I’m just here for ‘the next Bond will be…..’gossip
LOL
I’m shuddering at the thought of having #metoo filtered through Danny Boyle.
Oh god, my first thought too. Yes, Danny Boyle, fan and hirer of James Franco, you seem like a great advocate of #metoo.
He hired James Franco like a decade ago though…
We’re holding that against him?
The “Bond girls” cannot be “reformed”, so to speak, because the idea of Bond girls is sexist in itself. We have a hero living a life of adventure and risk, fulfilling his destiny, while meeting occasionally a revolving door of stunning women of different ethnicities who are just fleeting episodes, secondary footnotes to the great saga of his life. Like Ullysses fulfilling his Illiad while women are just short-lived “temptations” to be left behind while he makes history.
So, you can’t polish a turd. It’s better to write a completely new and different story of a capable and extraordinary woman spy. A Jenna Bond.
This would be amazing!
Isn’t “Jenna Bond” what Atomic Blonde was?
The 007 franchise doesn’t need to change. People know exactly what it is and enough like it to make them blockbuster hits. Don’t fix what isn’t broken.
How about a Moriarty level villaness. Angelina would be so perfect for that.
Bond girl and #metoo don’t belong in the same sentence. I really don’t like Daniel as bond. There was some rumors that John Boyega might be in the running, I like that idea alot.
i kind of thought eva green’s vesper lynd was a pretty modern take on a bond girl…until the end of course. same with naomi harris in skyfall. i actually think if he doesn’t have a love em and leave em scene – it can work bc he can just have a competent co-worker.
Vesper Lynd was my FAVORITE. She wasn’t taking any of his shit. And then, whoopsie…dead.
Yes, Vesper is the only Craig’s Bond girl I like, its all downhill from there
Casino Royale was the first Bond movie that I loved. One of the reasons for that was the unconventional Bond girl. Eva Green was fabulous and she was a supporting character in a great movie, not a typical Bond girl. CR is still my favourite Bond movie.
I liked spectre lol
Oh, goodie. Feminist Bond. Does this mean he’ll never again hit girls and then have sex with them? Cause that would be nice.
Lol the bar is low.
Michelle Yeoh was the best Bond girl. She was certainly a match for Bond. They need another character like that.
I appreciated Vesper’s quick wit and sharpness and Michelle Yeoh’s abilities. We need a female character who has some amazing qualities because… why not? And if SHE wants to have some no-strings-attached sex, why not? Just as long as it’s what she wants, too.
I loved Vesper and I still love Moneypenny. Yeah she slept with him, but was still a team member and is still a part of the inner workings. I believe that Olga Kurleyneko’s Bond girl from Quantum of Solace did not sleep with James Bond in that film
In Skyfall Bond straight up rapes a woman he’s met once, who’s shown zero romantic interest in him, and who has been held prisoner *as a sex slave* since childhood and who regards Bond as her only possible escape *from being a child sex slave prisoner.*
I mean it. I don’t know if there was a cut scene or what, but he breaks into where she’s living, realises she’s in the shower, and his response is to instantly strip and jump her, naked, without warning. Obviously she responds rather than pushing him away, but hello kidnapped child sex slave who knows he’s her only chance of escape? Ie zero capacity to give consent? Of course by the time she’s even in a position to give/not give consent he’s already naked and wrapped around her.
Then he voluntarily participates in a sadistic game to torture her to death, despite knowing MI5 helicopters will be there any minute and that all he needed to do to save her life was stall for 5 minutes.
Then he calls M the b-word and the rest of the movie is about his weird mommy issues with M, when he never had a single issue with M before and it’s clearly just because he can’t handle having a female boss.
The old Bond movies were sexist in having women as decorative pretty little things in bikinis, but for the most party not actively misogynistic in showing sadistic rape and torture. The Roger Moore Bond films are paragons of forward thinking by comparison.
Why try to rewrite? Bond is Bond. Today’s Bond has evolved and so has his “girls.” Their names and demeanors are hardly the fluff of early years. Austin Powers would have a harder go at emulating our current Bond because it’s not as funny, silly or cringe-worthy. So really, the franchise has already rewritten itself.
The whole concept of Bond is obsolete in a world that’s trying to get rid of sexist stereotypes and rape culture. The funny thing is, it was obsolete 40+ years ago as well — I remember an interview with George Lazenby saying how out of date he was with the hippy culture that was taking over at the time. Personally, I think Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan did the best job by bringing humour into it. Bond should be laughed at. But lets be real, most of the Bond appeal lies in the fantasy about ‘real men’ and women as expendable amplifiers of their masculinity. The fact it’s still considered relevant in the 21st century is sad.
It would be awesome if they wrote a really strong, kick ass woman who was also an agent, worked with Bond, and then in the next movie she takes over and becomes the main character…. A girl can dream, right?