Daniel Craig: James Bond Should Never Be Played By a Woman

He's been forced to say that because the new Bond movie is off the scale with its pandering to POC and SJWs and is gonna bomb big time and potentially bring down the entire franchise.

Finally. And it comes from the guy who's played the role for 20 years..

Isn't a black woman playing James Bond a form of cultural appropriation?

Yes, I'll be waiting for a good answer.

Kind of seems like a no brainer.

I liked the movie Salt. It's preposterous to see waifish Angie Jolie scaling walls and karate chopping an army of men, but it's no less preposterous than anything in a Bond film.

I've never liked James Bond movies, anyway.

It's blackwashing / womanwashing.

People are starting to reject the woman action hero as presented by Hollywood due to the excessive unreality.

I don't know why he can't be black or any ethnicity, but he is a male character. He epitomizes 'the patriarchy,' all emotionally detached violence and sex crazed. That's just not a woman unless she is a sociopath.

Sure, a woman can play the role but I don't believe it would catch on because no one would buy it.

If certain small groups did not hold the whole planet in hostage with demands that are more about blackmail and jealousy than about real opportunities for diversity, we would not be in this situation. Giving in to the hateful and capricious mobs of Twitter does not do any good. I don't want to see a black female James Bond. I'd rather see a new concept with a woman, a Native American FOR ONCE, because they are the real victims in America and in Hollywood. But the Wokes are too hypocritical, too radical, too uncultured to realize this.

It would be like replacing a bull at a rodeo with a cow. It's just not the same thing. All the wild bucking and chaotic danger would be replaced with cud chewing and moos.

I mean, let’s face it, if any of these Hollywood starlets encountered a man in a genuine fight, it would actually look like this:

[quote]Isn't a black woman playing James Bond a form of cultural appropriation?

No, because it's been long established in the movies that multiple agents fill the role of 007 at different times.

The James Bond of the movies isn't the same one as in the books. That is one specific agent. It's different people in the films and if they can have an Australian in the role, then they can have pretty much anyone. I would say the only real concern would be of nationality, i.e. you couldn't have a Russian or an American 007, but someone from the UK or one of its current or former colonies would surely be easy enough to explain.

R10 Not if she were using guns.

But women, TO THEIR CREDIT, are not killers except in very rare cases. A lot of women own guns, but they own them for self-defense. Almost all violent crimes committed with guns are perpetrated by men. Both on the streets and domestically, women are killed by gunfire; they're not the killers. And mass shootings are almost entirely male.

Women just don't have this pathology. It's psychologically false. It does seem weird that we expect writing and acting to be true psychologically and behaviorally if not always a realistic representation of the world, but then progress goes so far as to want to remake the positive characteristics of a group into the most negative of another group in the name of equal treatment.

[quote] It does seem weird that we expect writing and acting to be true psychologically and behaviorally if not always a realistic representation of the world, but then progress goes so far as to want to remake the positive characteristics of a group into the most negative of another group in the name of equal treatment.

This. What we’re seeing with Hollywood aren’t “strong women” but women given masculine qualities.

I agree with him.

Call me Bond, Jane Bond 💅🏻💄

He's completely correct.

Anyone could be 007, they just wouldn't be James Bond. I'm personally ok with any agent in MI6 being 007, but people who love "James Bond" as 007 might not.

Making a new 'female Bond but not Bond' character into a franchise would open a lot more creative opportunity because the writers and producers would not have to emulate the Bond franchise. It seems like the best creative option.

The only reason I can even think of why a woman would want to actually play the existing Bond would be for the money and exposure, which are guaranteed to be better, even if she were credited with harming the franchise with a novelty act, which seems inevitable.

Daniel Craig wasn't a household name until he was cast as Bond and all these years later, he is now the highest-paid actor, having secured a disgustingly huge $100 million deal. So even though I think it wouldn't work at all, I can see why a scrappy actress and her agent would campaign hard to play Bond.

From a feminist perspective, I think it's weird and reductive to turn Bond into a woman. Why can't a queen just be a great queen without naming herself a man? Ancient Egyptian female pharaohs depicted themselves in art with the same ritualistic beards that the male pharaohs wore, but they used feminine pronouns and didn't emulate men in their day to day lives. Queens Elizabeth I and Victoria are credited with the greatest eras of the British empire (from the old colonialist British perspective), and neither called themselves kings or renamed themselves with men's names or acted like men. They were great as their own individual selves despite misogyny. Same with Catherine the Great, who trounced her idiot husband and took over Russia, refusing to take no for an answer. She didn't call herself Nikolai or Vlad. She just claimed the number one spot and a lot of dick from her court, while introducing the smallpox vaccine to Russians and eliminating serfdom, something no male emperor would have done. So why not just make a better woman spy who acts like a woman instead of grafting a female body onto a male character?

Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act.

Western culture is insane.

[quote]So why not just make a better woman spy who acts like a woman instead of grafting a female body onto a male character?

You already answered your own question: because it's an iconic, popular, well-established character. In an era where big-budget movies are almost entirely reboots, sequels or entries in an established franchise, it's no wonder both actors and viewers want established characters to be changed up a little bit.

And Bond should never ever be played by an ugly, old lizard man. But Daniel Craig did it anyway.

Oh Daniel. Just no.

Nobody will replace Sean Connery anyway

Is Phoebe Beaver-Snatch still in this mess?

How about we just accept that James Bond is a mid-century, sexist, unrealistic trope and it needs to go, regardless of who is playing it?

R26 Too much profit to be made for feminism to trump continuing to make more of it. Equality 2021 means the women want to profit from misogyny, too. 🙃

Pretty tone deaf of Craig to dismiss the idea because “there should be better parts” for other than white, straight men. But there aren’t. As if he is saying, “But I’m glad I was able to use my white, maleness to make a ton of money.”

James Bond is a brand, and it comes with certain expectations. .Of course, ultimately, the producers (and the die-hard fans) decide what's on-brand for the James Bond franchise. And according to them: A woman is not on-brand to play Bond. A black person is not on-brand to play Bond. A non-British actor playing Bond is not on-brand. Change one thing about the James Bond brand, and it's no longer considered part of the James Bond brand (remember Never Say Never?).

However, Hollywood is more than welcome to create a female, black, non-British spy franchise of their own.

R15, Bond, Gold Bond.

[quote] No, because it's been long established in the movies that multiple agents fill the role of 007 at different times. The James Bond of the movies isn't the same one as in the books. That is one specific agent.

Well no… the concept of the movie series isn’t that it’s a bunch of different agents with the code name 007. They are all supposed to be versions of the same guy, whose actual name is James Bond. Other people could have the number 007 (and indeed someone in the new movie does since Bond gave it up) but they wouldn’t also be named James Bond.

[QUOTE] James Bond is a brand, and it comes with certain expectations. .Of course, ultimately, the producers (and the die-hard fans) decide what's on-brand for the James Bond franchise. And according to them: A woman is not on-brand to play Bond. A black person is not on-brand to play Bond.

If a black man can’t play Bond, then something is seriously wrong with their “brand.”

I agree with Daniel Craig!

Craig is correct on this.

He’s an established character, how would Bond as a woman even work?

I’m not a fan of re-boots but one franchise that got it right is when the Rocky movies transitioned to Creed.

Not sure why more people aren't talking about the character Nomi in the new film. Why didn't Huffpost even acknowledge this most obvious answer: any actor can play a character assigned "00" status working for MI6. I'm really excited to see this character:

[quote]Lashana Lynch as Nomi: A new "00" agent who entered active service some time after Bond's retirement and was assigned the 007 number. Lynch has said that she hopes her character brings a new layer of relatability to the world of espionage: "When you're dealing with a franchise that has been slick for so many years, I wanted to throw a human spin on it—to deal with anxiety and be someone who's figuring it out, completely on her toes".

Also, Lashana Lynch is so awesome 😍

Alok IS James Bond

R13, yup. I think it all started with Terminator 2.

r31 is correct. Bond is a specific person not a code name. The whole "007/Bond is a code name" thing is just clever fan fiction. A better alternative would be to make a Bond movie where his female partner is an equal partner and not just a fuck toy. Goldeneye came close to doing this. Maybe they could make a movie where his female partner is a better agent than Bond and they have zero sex.

Possibly, R38, but even then, the Sarah Connor in that film is motivated by a maternal instinct to protect her child, so the character is still grounded in the female archetype.

Hardly any of the current action heroines are based in any classic female archetypes.

If Hollywood wants to understand how to create some kickass action heroines who also have depth and are grounded in core female archetypes, here are some classic performances from the Golden Age worth checking out:

Ann Sheridan in Edge of Darkness (1943)

Virginia McKenna in Carve Her Name With Pride (1958)

Eva Bartok in Operation Amsterdam (1959)

Who'd want to see a male Honey West?

Looks like this is really his last Bond movie.

R18

[quote]Same with Catherine the Great, who trounced her idiot husband and took over Russia, refusing to take no for an answer. She didn't call herself Nikolai or Vlad. She just claimed the number one spot and a lot of dick from her court, while introducing the smallpox vaccine to Russians and eliminating serfdom, something no male emperor would have done.

Actually, serfdom in Russia was eliminated by Alexander II, her great-grandson. I’m not sure what any of that has to do with whether or not James Bond should be played by a woman, but you brought it up.

Joanna Lumley (if she were younger) as Jane Bond....but no one else.

......................................................................................

Ruby Rose as the next James Bond! Amandla Steinberg will be her bond girl.

[quote]And Bond should never ever be played by an ugly, old lizard man. But Daniel Craig did it anyway.

Respectfully disagree. I've watched Casino Royale a number of times, and have yet to get past the scene where he emerges from the water on the beach without pausing the film for a quick one off at the wrist.

Daniel Craig is ugly. I don't get the appeal. How does he keep getting work?

I demand the villains having more diversity. Off with the funny man with the European (mostly German) accent and the interesting physical impairment!

R22 he is getting old - happens to us all if we're lucky. All credits to him for not pumping his face full of fillers. Better a lizard than a hauled-up deep sea creature with decompression damage.

DC is my least favorite Bond.

Whether it makes money or not this is the kind if stupid studio decision to make money, not make a good film. Oh wait. Making money is what studios are there for. The quality of films does not matter in the least.

We can have a female bond when we have a male Mary Poppins

[quote]The whole "007/Bond is a code name" thing is just clever fan fiction.

The code name is the assumed explanation in the movies, not the books. The movies established two 002s who were different people, and of course several 007s, including a recent transfer of the 007 number to a different agent who takes it for a while until the Daniel Craig 007 gets it back.

The books establish that agents have to retire at 45, a rule that the movies also do not follow, so I don't really see why the 007 can't be transferred to a woman in the films, if the movies are playing so fast and loose with the original Fleming character anyway.

I think it would be more interesting to have a woman agent of another type and not a woman 007, but women spies and action heroes in movies are rarely done right, they're almost always "camp events." Can't think of many that aren't, maybe the original La Femme Nikita.

Do the people who have a problem with James Bond being played by a woman or POC have a problem with whitewashing in film?

Didn’t think so 🙄

[QUOTE] Daniel Craig is ugly. I don't get the appeal. How does he keep getting work?

I know so, so many women who find him attractive. It’s rather odd. I never thought a man so homely could be James Bond. He looks like a bartender, somebody who would play a Bond villain’s top henchman at the most. Hopefully the ugly Bond era ends with his departure.

To you Dr. Who fans, did the show have to make massive changes in the character for a female to play the role as The Doctor?

God, it seems like yesterday when he was in that speedboat, looking silly and self-conscious, to announce he was the newest Bond.

Who will be Janes Bond, a non-binary, transgendered and biracial person of international mystery?

“Har-ry Poppins !”

Then, it'd be MISTER Moneypenny -- or would Miss Moneypenny be a lesbian!

Bruce Jenner as Miss Moneypenny???

I'm gay and I find him attractive.

He is not pretty at all. Not everyone has to be pretty.

He is very weathered. Better that than what Rupert Everett has done to himself.

He has big ears and kind of looks primate-like. Yet his eyes are transfixing, and somehow his face looks very sweet to me.

Sometimes 'attractive' can mean something other than conventional, modelesque good looks. At least to some people. I'd love to snuggle up with him.

Good for him. Takes balls to speak the truth.

[quote]I'm gay and I find him attractive. He is not pretty at all. Not everyone has to be pretty.

What does one have to do with the other?

I can actually imagine Joanna Lumley saying 'Bond, Jane Bond' in her beautiful accent. Albeit she's a bit old.

Yes, I agree. They ruined Doctor Who.

R58, every incarnation of The Doctor is different, with different personalities and looks, so no, they didn't really have to make changes to have a female Doctor. I don't think having a female Doctor has ruined the show, but some of the choices the writers have made have been unfortunate, but it doesn't have to do with the Doctor being a woman. I'm not even talking about the Timeless Child, but a general aimlessness, and lack of vision. I don't think they would have The Doctor referring to the companions as "fam" if they hadn't made The Doctor a woman, but that is just the writers being obnoxiously twee, and it isn't necessary just because The Doctor is a woman. I wish that Whittaker would change her mind and stick around for Davies to return in hopes that she could get some good material to work with, as I think she has been robbed during her tenure as The Doctor. I hope at least that the upcoming series being all one story will give her some decent material to stretch into before her time as The Doctor ends.

You don't watch the show, so hopefully that will make sense to you, even if some of the specifics don't.

James Bond is a different story, as James Bond isn't a Time Lord or anything of the sort. That isn't to say that 007 couldn't be a woman or a person of color, they just wouldn't be James Bond. They could be A Bond - illegitimate child of James Bond becomes secret agent and receives his old number, or some such.

I've been a Bond fan since I was a kid in the 70s and 80s. Read all of Fleming's novels as a teen and have seen all of the films multiple times. Bond can't be a woman; the whole point of the character is that he is the über-masculine fever dream of a thorough-going misogynist, so it wouldn't make sense to have the character played by a woman.

While he's also specifically Scottish-Swiss in the novels, I personally wouldn't have a problem with Bond being played by a person of another ethnicity -- I think Idris Elba, Henry Golding, or Ray Panthaki would be terrific in the role.

But I suspect Broccoli and company will stick with a white British actor -- partly as being faithful to the creation from the novels but also because, let's face it, would certain other countries embrace a Bond of another ethnicity?

R68 Yes. Will Smith had huge box office appeal domestically snd overseas for his dumb action movies. He could have also carried dumb Bond movies.

[quote]Sometimes 'attractive' can mean something other than conventional, modelesque good looks. At least to some people. I'd love to snuggle up with him.

Agreed. In fact to me, those conventional looks we are so often told are the pinnacle of male beauty often seem so bland to me.

Agreed, r70. Matt Bomer is undeniably, almost perfectly handsome, but he does absolutely nothing for me. Conversely, German actor Franz Rogowski is definitely not classically handsome, but there's something about him that I find very sexy.

[QUOTE] Agreed. In fact to me, those conventional looks we are so often told are the pinnacle of male beauty often seem so bland to me.

James Bond was never an ultra pretty boy. He’s always been a ruggedly handsome dude who you could see changing a flat tire. Daniel Craig is just ugly.

[quote] Isn't a black woman playing James Bond a form of cultural appropriation?

No black woman has ever played James Bond, and no one has proposed that.

Vilanelle in Killing Eve was a great example of a role written for a woman which had the glamour and danger of a James Bond. If moviemakers had a shred of originality they could have adapted those books years ago as a movie franchise.

The SJWs should forget about the movies and go with streaming services. That's where all the good new ideas are, and have been since HBO was a pup. The credibility of movies went down the drain around the same time as Broadway's.

Not that I want SJWs dominating streaming services, but there's a hell of a lot of content on there to choose from.

[quote]Vilanelle in Killing Eve was a great example of a role written for a woman which had the glamour and danger of a James Bond

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who helped write "No Time to Die", was asked at the premiere about a female Bond and she wisely said, "James Bond is James Bond" and someone has to write a character to rival him."

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who also helped to write Killing Eve?

[quote]Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who also helped to write Killing Eve?

Yes.

It's a rule of Datalounge that some crusty old fuck has to bring up SJWs in a thread that has nothing to do with that topic. Thanks, r74

How does a thread arguing about James Bond being played by a woman not have to do with the social justice war? Like anyone would ever suggest Bond be played by a woman otherwise?

Craig looks ANCIENT for only 53. Is everyone in H-wood a drunk?

Elaine Figgis thinks Catherine Tate should be the new Bond.

Believe it or not, but Fleming had Hoagy Carmichael's horsey BDF in mind when he started writing the novels.

Weren’t they supposed to be making a franchise for Jinx, the character that Halle Berry portrayed in [italic]Die Another Day[/italic]? But they scrapped the idea for some reason…

[quote] Weren’t they supposed to be making a franchise for Jinx, the character that Halle Berry portrayed in Die Another Day? But they scrapped the idea for some reason…

The reason:

R61 I'd watch that.