Daniel Craig does not want a woman or a person of color to succeed him as James Bond. The debate about the role of the British agent is growing.
Los Angeles – On September 30, 2021, James Bond: No Time To Die starts in theaters. It is the fifth and final appearance of Daniel Craig as an agent on His Majesty’s Secret Service. Many fans are wistful about the departure of Craig, and there is wild speculation about his successor.
Ever since Craig’s departure from being a spy became known, there have been rumors and a general debate about whether it is not time to position yourself more diverse in the James Bond universe. Many are demanding that for the first time no white man should take on the role of 007, but a dark-skinned man or woman.
Daniel Craig: “Why should a woman play James Bond?”
Therefore, in an interview with Radio Times magazine, current James Bond actor Daniel Craig was asked if he would support “a diverse person as his successor” – such as a woman or a person of color. Craig replied, “The answer to that is very simple. There should just be better roles for women and black actors. Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a role as good as James Bond for a woman? “
That view echoes what the Bond franchise executive producer Barbara Broccoli said in 2018. “Bond is male. He is a male character. It was written as a man and I think he will likely stay as a man, ”explained Broccoli. “And that’s fine. We don’t have to turn male characters into women. Let’s just make more female characters and adapt the story to these female characters. “
Debates are racist and sexist
Such statements leave a bitter aftertaste. One feels reminded of the debate about the live action adaptation of the Disney film “Arielle”. In the new “Arielle” film, the black actress and singer Halle Bailey will play the mermaid, and there are racist comments because the mermaid was white in the 1990 cartoon. And recently there was a shit storm because Marvel antihero Loki has a female variant in the new Disney + series.
Time and again, when there is a deviation from the status quo – male, white, heterosexual – in the representation in films or series, a discussion is triggered, be it among the fans, but also among those involved in the industry. Of course, these debates also have nuances. But they are always sexist and racist in color.
“Better if James Bond disappeared from the big screen”
Daniel Craig and Barbara Broccoli made an important point: we just have to create better roles for women and black actors. Nothing can be said against that. But through their clear discussion against a female James Bond, the two also admit: James Bond cannot be saved. Because the character of the fictional superspy who murders, sexually assaults women and never talks about feelings, does not work without his toxic male characteristics. As Broccoli says: “It was written as a man.”
If James Bond was and is a sexist bastard, what does that mean for the next few films? How does the figure fit into the MeToo era? Film and cultural scientist Marcy Goldberg thinks that Bond cannot be changed at all: “James Bond embodies this toxic masculinity.” Christoph May from the Berlin Institute for Critical Male Research goes one step further: “It would actually be better for everyone if James Bond would disappear from the screen. It does not contribute anything positive to our current social problems. “
Lashana Lynch was traded as James Bond’s successor
In 2019, the Guardian wrote optimistically that the next James Bond would be a woman and black. The speculation related to Lashana Lynch, who plays the double-0 agent Nomi in “James Bond: No Time to Die”. In an interview with the Guardian a week ago, when asked if she was going to be the next James Bond, Lynch replied, “You don’t want me.” If you look at Daniel Craig’s statements, she seems to be right.
The rumors that the next James Bond could become female came not least from the fact that the author and actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge was hired for “James Bond: No Time to Die” in order to polish up the script and make it younger and more feminine .
But in the last three years since Daniel Craig announced his retirement as James Bond, with the exception of Lynch, almost exclusively men have been named as possible successors. Tom Hardy (“Venom”) is highly regarded, as is James Norton (“Little Women”) and Luke Evans (“The Hobbit”). After all, there are two black men in the running: “Bridgerton” actor Regé-Jean Page and Idris Elba (“Luther”). (Sonja Thomaser)
