Should the next Bond be played by a woman?
As Daniel Craig dismisses the idea of a female 007...
Bond is more about menace than gender
YES
KILLING eve’s Villanelle in a cage fight with spectre’s Blofeld — who’s coming out on top?
I’d put my money on the ice-cool, invulnerable, blonde female assassin. so it’s not a huge stretch of the imagination to put Jodie Comer (who plays Villanelle) in a suit and dispatch her off to mI6 to play another icecool, invulnerable assassin.
Daniel Craig may disagree but, to me, Bond has always been more about a mythical level of sangfroid, menace and sophistication than mere gender.
Just to be clear, I’m a huge 007 fan, who’s read all the Ian Fleming books and seen every single movie. my two favourite Bonds are, as it happens, the most grittily masculine: Craig and sean Connery.
even so, I believe the film 007 has long transcended Fleming’s ruthless original character and storylines: we’ve had a fop Bond (David Niven), a funny Bond (Roger moore) and an ironic one (Pierce Brosnan). so I see no reason why we shouldn’t have a woman in the role.
Of course, everything depends on casting. emily Blunt has been tipped for the role and I can see why. With her clipped voice, icy beauty and edge of humour, she would make a great Jaimie Bond.
Furthermore, the screenplay writers could have a blast with genderreversal scenarios. It’s all too easy to imagine government dinosaurs who mistake Bond for moneypenny. and moneypenny could be played by the kind of bloke who’s gorgeous when he takes off his glasses. Instead of all that homoerotic tension between 007 and his arch enemies (remember Craig being touched by Javier Bardem’s Raoul silva?), you could have a Bond that was part killer, part Pussy Galore. Why not have a seductive, evil woman plotting the demise of the world from her extinct-volcano hidden lair? a female Bond could flirt with this dastardly shadow-self.
If you really wanted to stage a great cinematic gag, you’d cast Craig’s real-life wife Rachel Weisz as a Bond villain. Though I can think of many other female actresses who’d relish the challenge: Game Of Thrones’ Lena Headey for starters.
and if we’re being playful with baddie casting, maybe we could be even more wayward and go younger with the casting of a female Bond.
It might be fun to have someone like anya Taylor-Joy, star of The Queen’s Gambit. If she can beat Russia’s top chess player, I’m sure she can take on their secret agents. and get to checkmate in three moves.