A female Bond would be a big mistake, says Daniel Craig’s wife Rachel
RACHEL Weisz, wife of Bond actor Daniel Craig, has joined the debate over who should play 007 after Craig’s departure – and says it would not make sense to give the role to a woman.
She was responding to a suggestion by actor Idris Elba, himself tipped as a possible Bond, that the role could go to a woman.
The 47-year-old actress, pictured right with Craig, said of Ian Fleming, Bond’s creator: ‘He 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.’
The Wire actor Idris has been touted as the hot favourite to take over the iconic role from Daniel for several years, but deflected the attention off himself and onto a potential female Bond.
Speaking to Vanity Fair in January, 45-year-old Elba asked: ‘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?’
Several actresses have been tipped to play Bond in the past, with X-Files star Gillian Anderson being shunted to the forefront of speculation after a fan tweeted a convincing poster of her as Bond in 2016.
Anderson made light of the fan art after it sent waves throughout the internet, retweeting it alongside the message: ‘It’s Bond. Jane Bond. Thanks for all the votes! (And sorry, don’t know who made poster but I love it!)’
Game Of Thrones star Emilia Clarke also put herself up for the role, saying in 2016 that she would ‘love to play Jane Bond’ – with Leonardo DiCaprio as her love interest.
And throwing her hat into the ring, Indian actress Priyanka Chopra told fans that playing a Bond girl would not be good enough for her. ‘I wanna be Bond,’ she said. Craig is to return for one more outing as Bond. He dramatically changed his mind having made some strong comments in 2015, following the release of Spectre.
He said he would rather ‘slit my wrists’ than play Bond again, adding: ‘I’m over it at the moment. We’re done, all I want to do is move on. If I did another Bond movie, it would only be for the money.’
He announced his change of heart last August, saying he would star in one more Bond movie but adding: ‘I think this is it. I just want to go out on a high note and I can’t wait.’