Daniel Craig is ready to hand over the James Bond title, just not to a woman. The actor who has played the daring character for the last 14 years believes that the Bond character should be a man. Period.
“Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?” said Craig, who fearlessly defended his opinion. The 53-year-old has a right to have an opinion, after all, his body took a beating for a long time while he played the role.
Not The Only One
Craig first started his journey as the famous MI-6 agent in Casino Royale released in 2006. In total, he has played James Bond five times Quantum Of Solace, Sky Fall, Spectre, and now, No Time To Die. The actor may have also been comfortable sharing his opinion because the franchise’s producer Barbara Broccoli said the same thing a year ago.
“James Bond can be of any color, but he is male.” However, she did point out that it is up to the industry to create a woman who is equal to the suave agent, they have already done their part. “I believe we should be creating new characters for women – strong female characters.”
Plus, the producer feels as though women are too complex to box into a James Bond title. “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.”
No People Of Color Either
While Broccoli and Craig have both agreed at different times that the character can be of any race, when the idea was thrown around, fan’s reactions were not what most expected. Some people of color whose names were allegedly attached as the next Bond were British actor Idris Elba who recently played Bloodsport in The Suicide Squad, and Rege-Jean Page of Bridgerton fame.
This enraged some fans who had horrible things to say about “woke” culture and Bond not needing to change his race because, historically, he’s a white man. As if the fictional book character was a real human being.
Fans were also lowkey annoyed when the official trailer was released, and a new addition, actress Lashana Lynch was playing another 007 agent. Some people speculated that this is who Craig’s character would be passing the torch to and were less than satisfied with the option.
Not An Easy Job
Lynch has not publicly commented on the backlash of her possibly being the first black James Bond and the first woman. Some fans expressed that it would be interesting to see for sure. However, suiting up for the role is no easy feat.
Craig has pointed out numerous times that the physical aspects of the role have taken a toll on his body and at 53, that is it for him. The actor even admitted that he wasn’t sure if another Bond movie was in his future after he filmed Spectre in 2015.
One Last Go Around
Regardless of the physical toll, the actor signed on for No Time To Die as his final James Bond role. The film is set to be released Sept. 30 after originally being pushed back due to a mix of issues like Craig being injured on set in 2019 and, of course, COVID-19.
