It seems like every time James Bond comes up, another actor is rumored to be in contention for the role after Daniel Craig passes the torch. Idris Elba‘s name has come up most often. Richard Madden was mentioned late last year. Daniel Craig said in the spring that “Everybody should be considered.” Now his predecessor, Pierce Brosnan, is weighing in, and he believes that a woman should take on the iconic role:
Pierce Brosnan has reversed his opinion on the prospect of a female 007: The former “Bond” star is now all for it.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter over the weekend, the former James Bond answered with a resounding “Yes!” when asked about the possibility of a woman taking over the iconic role. Lashana Lynch, set to make her franchise debut in the upcoming Daniel Craig-led 25th installment “No Time to Die,” is rumored to take on the 007 role in the future.
“I think we’ve watched the guys do it for the last 40 years. Get out of the way, guys, and put a woman up there. I think it would be exhilarating, it would be exciting,” he said at the Deauville Film Festival in France.
As the article goes on to note, Pierce took heat when he said in 2015 that “[A] female James Bond, no, I think it has to be male.” Pierce had also said, “[T]here’s no reason why you cannot have a black James Bond,” but thought that would be unlikely, and that the next person to be cast would be another white man. In the intervening years, he’s changed his mind about not having a woman be cast as Bond, but still cautioned: “I don’t think that’s going to happen with the Broccolis [current producers]. I don’t think that is going to happen under their watch.”
Pierce also believes that the franchise can’t ignore the existence of #MeToo. Brosnan said the #MeToo “movement has been relevant and significant and well-needed in our society, so they’ll have to address that.” I think it’s nice that Pierce now feels differently about the possibility of a woman playing Bond. I wonder what did it. I don’t know that it’s going to happen any time soon, of course, and I’d be very surprised if the next James Bond isn’t another white dude. Casting a woman would be one way to breathe new life into the franchise. I’d be interested in seeing where the writers might take a female Bond that differs from the previous films.
Photos credit: Avalon.red
Good!
Although anybody who saw sigourney Weaver in Alien back in 1979 would know that women can be action heroes.
Or Angelina Jolie in Salt. Or Charlize Theron in Atomic Blonde. Or literally any Marvel film. Or Wonder Woman…or Sarah Conner…the lost goes on and on.
After watching Age of Adeline, Im thinking Blake Lively could pull it off…but I realize she is the classic white girl so maybe no?
I like Lupita NYong’o but didn’t she already say No to the idea?
@stormsmama – Ooooo – Lupita would be amazing!
Meh. Fine I guess. Whatever. I don’t find much excitement in the casting of the “Female *fill in the blank*”. Because the qualifier “female” sets the expectation that once her run is done it goes back to being a man. I would prefer to see original female icons developed who are female at their core (and who in 50 years they are casting the Male *fill in the blank*).
Also, I’m waaaaaay over Bond of any colour or gender at this point. It peaked with Skyfall.
Really good point. I hadn’t thought of it like that. You are right.
I’d like to see Lara Pulver do it.
Ok so here’s hoping I don’t get yelled at for this. I am not a fan of changing an established character’s gender or race just because the writers are out of ideas. If you have a fresh take or an interesting story and you need to make the change to facilitate telling it then by all means go for it.
I am not saying women can’t be action stars. Far from it. Heck Charlize Theron might be the best thing about Fury Road and that is one of my favorite action movies of all time.
I am just saying if you have a fresh exciting story with a female spy why not just two that story? I see no reason why that character can’t exist in a world where we also have James Bond movies.
And if you don’t have a good or fresh story to tell and you know you are intellectually bankrupt and are going to make another bad bond movie but this time with a woman as bond then no I am not in support of that. I feel like that is a cheap hollywood cop out for when they are out of ideas and want to score some cheap pc points. Obviously women and POC have not been given a fair shake up to this point and we should have more cool female characters and more cool characters who are minorities. I am 100% for that. What I am not for is bad lazy writers and producers being out of ideas but still wanting to milk a tired franchise and rather run come up with cool new ideas (which would be hard and nuanced) just decide to change the character’s gender or race because that is much easier and creates instant buzz.
Just my two cents . I hope you guys get where I am coming from, rambling aside.
@tpoe: Feel the same way! Well said!
I wouldn’t be opposed to them mixing up the casting after 40 years and having a diverse set of actors do a take on the role, but overall I agree – let’s develop some new NEW characters, new stories, new franchises too.
This whole Bond thing feels dated to me not because of white saviour, the sexy male every woman faints as soon as he lays his eyes on them, but because they are incapable also to make the characters multi layered and more like real people as well as inability to get the story line outside the cold war narrative. Really there are many much more interesting stories to be told, so my impulse is why bother investing into Bond franchise and put money and skill to a better use? In short, I don’t care because I stopped carrying about Bond a long time ago. Also I wonder if Bond is stuck with the audience group that does not want any changes.
I will take this moment to say that copyright is too long! From a US perspective, it was 7, then 14, then as long as Mickey Mouse remains under copyright. Then the Berne Convention set it as life plus 50 years. Ian Fleming died in 1964, so Bond should have come out of copyright in 2014. However, the EU added another 25 years, so now we won’t have Bond for everyone until 2039.
But this whole who should be the next Bond shows why reasonable copyright lengths are important. Bond should be like Sherlock Holmes at this point. You can have Ian McKellan as elderly Holmes, Benedict Cumberbatch as aspie modern Holmes, and Lucy Liu as Asian lady Watson. We should have Idris Bond, Gillian Anderson Bond, Tom Hiddleson emo Bond, ALL the Bonds.
And I’m sure the main Bond franchise would continue apace.
I agree! It seems like cheap pandering to get kudos and be seen as “so woke.” Women and POC deserve their OWN unique stories. We don’t need to be handed over an established white make franchise because “it’s our turn.” The same thing bothered me with the all female Ghost Busters remake. Why can’t Hollywood make original, diverse characters?
He is a devilishly sexy man. I’d love to see a woman Bond and Brosnan as the villain. Now that, I’d watch.
my fave Bond.
I loved him as Bond and I love all the Bond movies even the cheesy Roger Moore ones were good in their day even though they look terrible now.
I personally don’t think a woman should play Bond because he’s male. I agree give women their own unique characte Charlize Theron is was amazing in Atomic blonde.
But I would be incredibly happy if they have the role to Idris Elba he is the only contender at this point!!
Idris Elba is everything, the whole package, and I want to see him everywhere, in every damn movie. He slays and always has.