Bond Actress Gemma Arterton Slams ‘Outrageous’ Idea For Female James Bond, Calls for Respecting Tradition
Another former Bond girl has made clear her reservations about the idea of gender-swapping the iconic character of James Bond. This time it’s Gemma Arterton, who played Strawberry Fields in 2008’s Quantum of Solace.
In an interview with The Times, Arterton argues, “Isn’t a female James Bond like Mary Poppins being played by a man? They talk about it, but I think people would find it too outrageous. Sometimes you just have to respect the tradition. I don’t regret doing a Bond film, but I am perplexed why it has followed me around. I was only in the film for five minutes.”
Gemma is only the latest Bond girl to make this sort of statement. As our Editor-in-chief Spencer Baculi reported back in 2022, Ana de Armas also pushed back at the concept of gender-swapping James Bond. In an interview, she stated, “There’s no need for a female Bond… There shouldn’t be any need to steal someone else’s character, you know, to take over.”
The actress continued, “This is a novel, and it leads into this James Bond world and this fantasy of that universe where he’s at.”
But the former Bond girl didn’t stop there. She also pointed out that if studios were serious about female representation they’d make a new character instead of just swapping genders. “What I would like is that the female roles in the Bond films, even though Bond will continue to be a man, are brought to life in a different way.” She went on to say, “That they’re given a more substantial part and recognition,” she explained. “That’s what I think is more interesting than flipping things.”
Then there’s long-time Producer Barbara Broccoli, who flatly shut down the idea of a female James Bond. Back in 2018, she stated in an interview, “He’s a male character. He was written as a male and I think he’ll probably stay as a male. And that’s fine. We don’t have to turn male characters into women.”
Though there has been good pushback from both fans and former Bond girls at the concept of gender-swapping 007, many still worry that it can happen. One of those reasons is that it seems that Broccoli may be reconsidering her statement about how James Bond will change over time. As reported last year by Bounding Into Comics, she stated that the character would be “reinvented”.
And based on how reinventions have worked in the past, this will likely worry fans of the long-time franchise. But it will be some time before we know for sure what this means for the legendary 007. For now, fans can count on former Bond girls Gemma Arterton and Ana de Armas who believe gender-swapping the character wouldn’t benefit the franchise.
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