James Bond Producer Says 007 Will Always Be Male: 'Women Are Far More Interesting Than That'
Don’t expect James Bond to be played by a woman anytime soon.
Despite a growing fan campaign to make the super spy more diverse by casting actors of color or women, a longtime producer of the hit series has shut down any chances of a lady Bond. Instead, Barbara Broccoli thinks women should get their own, better characters.
“He can be of any color, but he is male,” Broccoli told Variety in a new interview. “I believe we should be creating new characters for women — strong female characters. I’m not particularly interested in taking a male character and having a woman play it. I think women are far more interesting than that.”
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It’s worth noting that Broccoli acknowledges Bond can be of any race, since fans have been hoping for British hunk Idris Elba to be cast in the role for years now. Fellow producer Michael G. Wilson backed up Broccoli, who is his half-sister.
“You think of him as being from Britain or the Commonwealth, but Britain is a very diverse place,” Wilson said earlier in the interview.
Daniel Craig is set to take on the role one last time in No Time to Die, out in April. The actor returned to the role for the fifth time, even though he had talked openly about not wanting to do another after 2015’s Spectre. But Broccoli got to him.
“Barbara doesn’t take no for an answer,” Craig said in the interview. “It’s not in her wheelhouse. I had a nice long break, which I really needed. And then she was just persistent and came to me with some ideas, which we started formulating, and I got excited again.”
No Time to Die opens April 8.
