Daniel Craig has said that he does not believe a woman should play James Bond.
Speaking during an interview with Radio Times, the actor explained that there are many opportunities for women to feature prominently in the franchise, just not in the leading role that has for decades been played by men.
"Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?" he said.
The comments come as Craig prepares to feature once more as the legendary spy in the upcoming film "No Time To Die." With his run coming to an end, attention has turned to the future of the franchise, and who will play the role next.
There have been rumors that the 007 moniker will go to a woman. Eyes have turned to actress Lashana Lynch, who will play an MI6 agent named Nomi who will work alongside Bond in the latest film. However, in an interview with The Guardian, she downplayed speculation that she will fill the role.
"Nooo! You don’t want me!" she said. That's not to say things are set in stone.
"We are in a place in time where the industry is not just giving audiences what it thinks the audience wants," Lynch continued. "They’re actually giving the audience what they want to give the audience. With Bond, it could be a man or woman. They could be white, black, Asian, mixed race. They could be young or old. At the end of the day, even if a two-year-old was playing Bond, everyone would flock to the cinema to see what this two-year-old’s gonna do, no?"
Several people directly and indirectly involved in the Bond franchise have dismissed the notion that a woman will play Bond. Amongst them is executive producer Barbara Broccoli, who echoed Craig's sentiments.
"Bond is male," she told The Guardian in 2018. "He's a male character. He was written as a male and I think he'll probably stay as a male."
Broccoli added that there was no reason to change male characters into women.
"Let's just create more female characters and make the story fit those female characters," she continued.
Idris Elba, a firm favorite for the Bond role, ignited the idea of a female 007 agent in a 2018 interview with Vanity Fair.
"Are we interested in having a Bond character other than being a male? It could be a woman — could be a black woman, could be a white woman," he said. "Do something different with it. Why not?"
However, not everyone was on board with the idea.
In an interview with the Telegraph, actress Rachel Weisz, who is married to Craig, said the role was best left to a man as author Ian Fleming had "devoted an awful lot of time to writing this particular character, who is particularly male and relates in a particular way to women."
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Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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