Daniel Craig: No, A Woman Should Not Be Given The James Bond Role
Daniel Craig, who portrays Ian Fleming’s international British spy, James Bond, said the iconic character should not be played by a woman despite all the recent woke push in the industry.
Craig was asked in a Radio Times interview who should replace him in the role as his fifth and final turn as Bond in “No Time to Die” is set to release in US theaters next month.
The English actor said a woman should not be tapped for the James Bond role as debate on who should be the next 007 after Craig should be following the actor’s revelation that the newest installment of the franchise set to hit theaters on October 8 will be his last Bond film.
“The answer to that is very simple,” Craig told Radio Times. “There should simply be better parts for women and actors of colour. Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?”
Tom Hardy, Tom Hiddleston have all been named as possible Bond successors, including Idris Elba, who would be the first black actor to portray Bond.
However, as society has become more woke, the idea of a woman playing the iconic British secret agent working for MI6 under the codename 007, has risen in popularity.
Daniel Craig says “why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?”
“There should simply be better parts for women and actors of colour.”
(Source: https://t.co/CoUOfE1pTS) pic.twitter.com/bcwW238MOs
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 21, 2021
Speculations also grew that the next Bond movie might be a “Jamie Bond” instead of a “James Bond” when a female MI6 agent who works alongside Craig in the upcoming movie inherits the 007 codename from a retiring Bond, as reported by The Guardian.
Lashana Lynch, who plays the woman character alongside Craig said the Bond franchise could be changing — but said “nooo! You don’t want me!” when asked by the publication whether she will be the next Bond.
“We are in a place in time where the industry is not just giving audiences what it thinks the audience wants,” she told the paper.
“They’re actually giving the audience what they want to give the audience. With Bond, it could be a man or woman,” Lynch reportedly said.
Meanwhile, Craig insisted that the James Bond role should stay with a man, although noting that women “should be offered roles of this calibre.”
He is also not the only one in the Bond Universe who thinks the legendary spy should be played by a man.
James Bond franchise producer Barbara Broccoli, lol, feels similarly; she told Variety in 2020 that Bond “can be of any color, but he is male.” Very progressive. https://t.co/6H0k4YIbEO
— MissRoshni (@MissRoshni) September 21, 2021
Barbara Broccoli, whose firm Eon Prods., holds the exclusive rights to fund and distribute Bond films, told Variety that Bond would always be a male.
“He can be of any color, but he is male,” she said. “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.”
Halle Berry, who earlier played Jinx Johnson, an American spy, in the “Die Another Day” installment of the franchise also echoed the same sentiment of keeping the Bond role for males.
“I want [women] to be tough but I don’t know if Bond should be a woman. I mean, that series is steeped in history, you know Ian Fleming’s stories. I don’t think you can change Bond to a woman,” Berry said according to Entertainment Tonight.
“We can create a new Bond character that’s a woman, and give her a new name, based on that theory, but I don’t know if Bond should be a woman,” she added.
