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Helen Mirren has said that James Bond should never be played by a woman, as the spy franchise is “born out of profound sexism”.
The future of 007 is currently up in the air, after Amazon MGM Studios struck a $1bn (£770m) deal for creative control over the character with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, the British-American heirs to the film producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and longtime stewards of the Bond films.
Speaking about her MobLand co-star and former Bond actor Pierce Brosnan, Mirren said that though she was a “massive fan” of Pierce, Bond was “not [her] thing” due to its portrayal of women.
“I have to say I was never a great ward [of Bond],” Mirren told the Standard. “I’m a huge fan of Pierce Brosnan, I mean massive fan. I mean, oh my God. Obviously, he’s gorgeous and everything, and I think he’s fabulous in MobLand, but he also happens to be one of the nicest people you’ll ever have the pleasure to work with. And indeed Daniel Craig, who I’ve met and know a little bit, again – a very lovely, gracious person.”
But she added: “The whole series of James Bond, it was not my thing. It really wasn’t. I never liked James Bond. I never liked the way women were in James Bond.”
She told the Standard that she was opposed to the idea of addressing the spy’s historic sexism by casting a woman in the lead role, and that she believed that women would be better served by portrayals of real female spies.
“The whole concept of James Bond is drenched and born out of profound sexism,” she said. “Women have always been a major and incredibly important part of the Secret Service, they always have been. And very brave. If you hear about what women did in the French Resistance, they’re amazingly, unbelievably courageous. So I would tell real stories about extraordinary women who’ve worked in that world.”
In the wake of the Amazon deal, much of the concern among former Bonds has not been over his future gender but his nationality. Brosnan had previously said it was a “given” that Bond should remain a British character despite now having American owners, while Timothy Dalton said the deal had left him “kind of sad”, adding: “It is one of the few wonderful stories we’ve got in film that is British.”
With creative control, Amazon will have the power to move forward with new films and potentially spin-offs without approval from Wilson and Broccoli, who have overseen the integrity of the character originally created in 1953 by the author Ian Fleming.
There have reportedly been fierce rows over 007’s future, with Broccoli branding Amazon executives “fucking idiots”, according to the Wall Street Journal, over ideas to expand the franchise with spin-offs and a TV series.
Wilson has said he and Broccoli had been “very reluctant to delegate” the intellectual property to a television series, with Broccoli adding: “It’s not something we’ve ever wanted to do.”
While there is no script, director or lead actor in place for a new Bond film, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James and James Norton are currently all favourites for the role.
Mail Online reported a source from Amazon had said the actor “has to be British or from the Commonwealth – and he has to be male”.
