Daniel Craig is officially done as James Bond, and that means that at some point the world will need a new James Bond at the movies. In recent years there has been an increased call to diversify the character, by potentially casting a person of color as the next Bond, or possibly a woman. Many have supported that idea, but No Time to Die’s Ana de Armas does not.
Speaking with the UK’s The Sun, Ana de Armas was asked about the call from some corners to cast a woman as the next James Bond. The No TIme to Die actress responded by echoing the same response that others have given on the topic, that taking over roles started by men is not necessarily the best way to achieve the goal of advancing female leads in Hollywood. De Armas explained…
There’s no need for a female Bond. 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.
We’ve seen similar arguments from others before regarding why Bond should not be a woman. The idea is that, if the goal is to make more movies with female leads, particularly in the action genre, that should be done by creating brand new characters for them, not by co-opting the roles that already exist and simply replacing men with women. The argument isn’t entirely without merit, though one has to point out that the existing roles like James Bond come with a certain amount of clout and built in popularity that an entirely original role would not have.
But while Ana de Armas isn’t on board with a female James Bond, that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t fully support stronger female roles within the existing franchise. No Time to Die had some of the strongest female representation in the history of the film series, thanks to her role as well as the performance of Lashana Lynch, and de Armas would like to see women continue to get more substantial characters to play as the movies continue. De Armas continued…
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.
For what it’s worth Ana de Armas is going to try her hand at possibly building her own action movie character. She’s been cast in the lead of Ballerina, a movie that is a spinoff of the John Wick franchise, but will focus on an original character that we have not met in that series.