Should new James Bond be a woman? Franchise film producer says no

“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,” Barbara Broccoli says.

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Pierce Brosnan stars as James Bond in “Die Another Day.”

Pierce Brosnan stars as James Bond in “Die Another Day.” In December Brosnan told USA TODAY he was “ready for a woman” to take over the iconic role.

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According to one producer, James Bond is many things — but he’s definitely a man.

In an interview with Variety published Wednesday, Barbara Broccoli, who oversees the franchise with her half-brother, Michael G. Wilson, said that while Bond can be played by an actor of any race, he should not be played by a woman.

“He can be of any color, but he is male,” she said.

Broccoli explained this is because she’d rather create new characters for women to portray, rather than have a woman play a role originally written as male.

”I believe we should be creating new characters for women — strong female characters,” she continued. “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.”

Broccoli also discussed how the Bond series is shifting in the Time’s Up era, noting filmmakers have been careful to reflect the current moment in portraying women. In the next film in the series, “No Time to Die,” Bond, played by Daniel Craig, will be joined by two female characters: a CIA field agent played by Ana de Armas and a 00 operative played by Lashana Lynch.

“Bond’s been evolving along with all the other men in the world,” Broccoli said. “Some have just gotten there more quickly than others.”

Pierce Brosnan, who played the British spy in four films from 1995 to 2002, came under fire in 2015 for expressing a similar opinion about Bond’s gender, though he seemed to change his mind in 2019.

“Anything is possible for sure, but I think he’ll be male and he’ll be white,” he told Britain’s Press Association about the future of the character in 2015. ”There’s wonderful black actors out there who could be James Bond, and there’s no reason why you cannot have a black James Bond. But a female James Bond, no, I think it has to be male. James Bond is a guy; he’s all male. His name is James, his name is James Bond.”

In December, however, Brosnan told USA TODAY he was “ready for a woman” to take over the iconic role.

“I think it would be magnificent to see a woman play it,” he said on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. “But I don’t think that’s going to happen. Ian Fleming wrote it as a man, all those decades ago. I don’t think the Broccolis will step into that direction.”

”No Time to Die” hits theaters April 8.

Contributing: Hannah Yasharoff, Erin Jensen

Read more at usatoday.com

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