Actor Daniel Craig indicated that he’s open to the idea of a female or even black James Bond.
British tabloid the Mirror reports Craig noted, “I think that everybody should be considered. Also for women and for African-Americans, there should be great parts anyway, across the board.”
The report comes after a previous one in The Daily Mail which indicated that his James Bond character might have already been replaced by a female agent in the upcoming Bond 25 film. They noted the film could feature an old James Bond who has retired and is living in Jamaica. They note the 007 moniker is given to a woman and on one of her missions, Bond is forced to come out of retirement. Much of their report would be confirmed during the James Bond 25 Live Reveal last week.
The movie will shoot in Jamaica. Bond producer Barbara Broccoli also stated, “Bond is not on active service when we start the film. He is actually enjoying himself in Jamaica. We consider Jamaica, Bond’s spiritual home. He starts his journey here and we’ve built an extraordinary house for him.”
Craig is the latest in a string of actors who have called for a change to Ian Fleming’s James Bond character. Most notably Idris Elba, who many want to be the next James Bond, indicated he wanted to radically change Bond, ““There’s no such thing as a black Bond. Are we interested in having a Bond character other than a male? It could be a woman, could be a black woman, could be a white woman. That character everybody would like to have, you know. Do something different with it. Why not?”
Parts of Elba’s idea would be echoed by his Thor: Ragnarok cast mate Chris Hemsworth, “Yeah. Look. Any actor would jump at that opportunity. I’m certainly a fan. A whole lot of pressure comes with that, though. I think the Bond fan base is probably more critical than the comic book fanbase. But I don’t know, there’s plenty of guys that would do a better job than I would. Plenty of English men or women that could probably take over that one.”
However, the idea of changing James Bond does have its influential detractors. Actress Rachel Weisz, who just so happens to be Daniel Craig’s wife, shot down the idea of a female James Bond:
“Fleming] devoted an awful lot of time to writing this particular character, who is particularly male and relates in a particular way to women. Why not create your own story rather than jumping on to the shoulders and being compared to all those other male predecessors? Women are really fascinating and interesting and should get their own stories.”
Bond actress Eva Green, who played Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, also indicated that James Bond should remain a man:
“I’m for women, but I really think James Bond should remain a man. It doesn’t make sense for him to be a woman.”
She added:
“Women can play different types of characters, be in action movies and be superheroes, but James Bond should always be a man and not be Jane Bond. There is history with the character that should continue. He should be played by a man.”
But maybe the most definitive voice was Bond producer Barbara Broccoli. Just last year, Broccoli stated, “Bond is male. He’s a male character. He was written as a male and I think he’ll probably stay as male.” She added, “And that’s fine. We don’t have to turn male characters into women. Let’s just create more female characters and make the story fit those female characters.”
The idea of a female James Bond might just be that an idea that might not actually ever make into the iconic franchise.
What do you make of Daniel Craig’s comments regarding the future of James Bond?