The world is in James Bond limbo right now, on a couple fronts. After decades of safeguarding the franchise, producer Barbara Broccoli relented in February and handed over total creative control to Jeff Bezos/Amazon, for a cool $1 billion. And, of course, there’s the fact that Craig, Daniel Craig, has officially retired from the role. Remember when people were outraged by Craig’s casting? “But Bond can’t be blonde!!” LOL. Well those naysayers need to get their pearls ready to clutch, because fans have been hoping this will be the time we finally get a POC Bond (I’ve seen support for Idris Elba, Dev Patel, and Regé-Jean Page), or — GASP — a female Bond. You know who’s neither shaken nor stirred by that idea? Helen Mirren. But only because she thinks James Bond is sexist to begin with, and there are plenty of original stories to tell about women spies, thankyouverymuch. Mirren shared her thoughts while promoting her new Paramount+ series MobLand, which costars a former Bond himself, Pierce Brosnan.
The name’s Bond, Jane Bond? Not if Helen Mirren has anything to say about it.
The “1923” star, 79, voiced objections to the idea of there being a female James Bond in an interview with The Standard, calling instead for more films about real women from the world of espionage.
“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.”
Though Mirren stars alongside former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan in the Paramount+ show “MobLand,” she admitted she is no fan of the spy franchise. Mirren’s late cousin, Tania Mallet, was also a “Bond girl” in “Goldfinger.”
“The whole series of James Bond, it was not my thing,” Mirren told The Standard. “It really wasn’t. I never liked James Bond. I never liked the way women were in James Bond.”
The actress did note, though, she’s a “massive fan” of Brosnan and that Daniel Craig, the most recent Bond actor, is a “lovely gracious person.”
Mirren’s comments come amid questions of who will play Bond next after Craig retired from the role in 2021’s “No Time to Die.” In the past, Bond producer Barbara Broccoli has ruled out the possibility of a woman succeeding Craig in the role.
“(Bond) can be of any color, but he is male,” she told Variety in 2020. “I believe we should be creating new characters for women — strong female characters. I’m not particularly interested in taking a male character and having a woman play it. I think women are far more interesting than that.”
But in February, Broccoli and her producing partner Michael G. Wilson stepped back from the franchise and handed creative control to Amazon, leaving it unclear what the casting criteria is under the new leadership. Just after news that Amazon had taken full control of Bond was announced, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos posted on X, “Who’d you pick as the next Bond?”
Oh my Goldfinger, I didn’t realize Tania Mallet was Helen Mirren’s cousin! Tania really is stunning in that movie as Tilly Masterson. Although, if you’re anything like me, then you watched Goldfinger completely blinded by Sean Connery. No, I don’t mean by his beauty. I’m referring to the powder blue terry cloth hot pant belted onesie Connery wears in the pool sequence. And boy, does he wear the sh-t out of it. [insert Thunderball double entendre here] I would totally have watched more Bond films if the enigma agent’s wardrobe had continued along those (skimpy) lines! So I’m with Helen on this one, cause I think James Bond isn’t an interesting enough character to be played by a woman. To me, he’s not even the most interesting spy. (That title belongs to Derek Flint.) But all this talk is likely moot, because the current betting favorite to be the next Bond is Theo James. A great actor and great choice! If exactly the same lane Bond has always been in. So the better question for Bezos to ask might be who we’d pick as the next Bond villain. In which case I would advise him to look in a mirror.
Photos credit: James Warren/Bang Showbiz/Avalon, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Backgrid