A woman cannot play James Bond, veteran actress Helen Mirren said at a recent event she attended with actor Pierce Brosnan, the Hollywood star who played the globe-trotting spy in the past.
While promoting her upcoming film The Thursday Murder Club alongside Brosnan, the acclaimed actress told Saga magazine, “I'm such a feminist, but James Bond has to be a guy, you can’t have a woman. It just doesn’t work. James Bond has to be James Bond, otherwise it becomes something else.”
Brosnan, who portrayed Bond in four films — Golden Eye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002) — extended his best wishes to the team of the next Bond movie.
“I’m so excited to see the next man come on the stage and to see a whole new exuberance and life for this character,” he added.
In a previous interview with The London Standard, Mirren had said that Secret Service stories centred around women should be based on real-life experiences.
“Women have always been a major and incredibly important part of the Secret Service, they always have been,” Mirren argued. “So I would tell real stories about extraordinary women who’ve worked in that world,” she added.
Mirren also criticised James Bond, inspired by Ian Fleming’s books, for being “drenched and born out of profound sexism”.
Dune director Denis Villeneuve is set to helm the next James Bond film. Earlier this year, Amazon MGM Studios had taken over creative control of the James Bond film franchise from long-time producers Eon Productions, as Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli stepped down from their leadership roles.
James Bond, created by Ian Fleming in 1953, has been a cinematic staple since 1962’s Dr. No. With over 25 films, the franchise has grossed USD 7.8 billion worldwide, with actors like Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig playing the British spy. Craig officially retired from the franchise after No Time To Die (2021).
Mirren is known for her roles in films such as The Queen, Gosford Park and The Last Station. She was recently seen in the British crime drama MobLand, also starring Tom Hardy and Pierce Brosnan.