Ana de Armas says “There’s no need for a female” James Bond
The No Time To Die star says women should instead be given "a more substantial part and recognition" in the franchise
Ready for more “Should a woman play James Bond?” discourse? Perhaps it’s just a way to keep the Bond convo going when there’s no solid plan yet for the future of the franchise, but for some reason, the conversational loop is being restarted. This time it’s Ana de Armas, star of No Time To Die, weighing in on the subject.
“There’s no need for a female Bond,” is de Armas’ ruling. “There shouldn’t be any need to steal someone else’s character, you know, to take over. This is a novel, and it leads into this James Bond world and this fantasy of that universe where he’s at,” she says in an interview with The Sun.
She adds, “What I would like is that the female roles in the Bond films, even though Bond will continue to be a man, are brought to life in a different way. That they’re given a more substantial part and recognition. That’s what I think is more interesting than flipping things.”
Her reasoning is basically the party line for those involved in the franchise. The most recent Bond, Daniel Craig, similarly told the Radio Times that “There should simply be better parts for women and actors of color. Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?”
Producer Barbara Broccoli also said she doesn’t think a woman should play Bond, explaining to The Hollywood Reporter, “I believe in making characters for women and not just having women play men’s roles. I don’t think there are enough great roles for women, and it’s very important to me that we make movies for women about women. He should be British, so British can be any [ethnicity or race].”
For the record, another previous Bond was all for the idea: “I think we’ve watched the guys do it for the last 40 years, get out of the way, guys, and put a woman up there. I think it would be exhilarating, it would be exciting,” said Pierce Brosnan. However: “I don’t think that’s going to happen with the Broccolis. I don’t think that is going to happen under their watch.” Clearly not. And yet the discourse continues, inevitable as the tides, trapping us in the unceasing whirlpool in perpetuity…