WAS CONNERY’S BOND REALLY A RAPIST?
That’s claim by director of new 007 blockbuster
SEAN CONNERY’S James Bond was ‘basically’ a rapist, the director of the latest 007 film has said.
No Time To Die director Cary Fukunaga is thought to have been referring to a scene in Thunderball.
In the 1965 film, Bond meets nurse Patricia Fearing, played by Molly Peters, who rejects his advances, pushing him away when he forcibly kisses her.
Later she begs Bond not to tell her boss about something as she would lose her job. The spy replies: ‘Well, I suppose my silence could have a price.’
Miss Fearing backs away, saying: ‘You don’t mean… oh, no!’
But Bond says ‘oh, yes’, before pushing her into a steam room and taking off her clothes.
He later romances Domino (Claudine Auger).
Mr Fukunaga told the Hollywood Reporter: ‘Is it Thunderball or Goldfinger where, like, basically Sean Connery’s character rapes a woman.
‘She’s like “No, no, no,” and he’s like, “Yes, yes, yes.” That wouldn’t fly today.’
Mr Fukunaga is said to have sought to empower the female characters in No Time To Die and ‘give them equity’.
The film’s producer, Barbara Broccoli, said that 007 has a ‘long history’.
She said: ‘I think people are coming around – with some kicking and screaming – to accepting that stuff is no longer acceptable. Thank goodness.
‘Bond is a character who was written in 1952 and the first film [Dr. No] came out in 1962.
‘He’s got a long history, and the history of the past is very different to the way he is being portrayed now.’
A women’s studies professor who teaches a course on gender and Bond called the Thunderball scene ‘especially troubling’.
Dr Lisa Funnell wrote in a blog post: ‘In popular culture, James Bond is known for his sexual magnetism and ability to attract women.
‘This scene in Thunderball challenges the way we “remember” Connery’s Bond while forgetting his use of deception, intimidation and sexual violence to accomplish his professional and personal goals.’
‘Intimidation and sexual violence’