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The next James Bond

Can James Bond be a man of color or a woman?

  • 1. As long as they have that British accent, anyone can be James (or Jamie) Bond

    Votes: 4 16.7%

  • 2. Men only regardless of race

    Votes: 4 16.7%

  • 3. White man only, every James Bond has been a white man, enough with the DEI

    Votes: 1 4.2%

  • 4. Why not a gay or transgender James Bond?

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 5. It's time for an American James Bond

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 6. Why do they always have to be sexy, aren't there any good guys that are just plain looking?

    Votes: 1 4.2%

  • 7. I don't care

    Votes: 11 45.8%

  • 8. Other opinions on this subject.

    Votes: 3 12.5%
  • Total voters
    24

SNOWFLAKE

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Pierce Brosnan, who previously suggested a woman could play James Bond, has now stated that 007 "has to be a man" - at least that is the latest.
Ok, but does it HAVE TO BE?
AND if a man, what about a man of color?
Black maybe - like Regé-Jean Page? Indian like Dev Patel?

What say you?
 
I don’t care. I’ve lost interest in the Bond franchise.
 
While I don't have a strong opinion either way, I don't think I particularly need a female James Bond when I already got something so much better with Charlize Theron in Atomic Blonde. Instead of a woman Bond, give me more of that character and actress. (Warning: language, violence etc.)

 
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FFS SNOWFLAKE....is nothing sacred????? Some things should just stay the same..sheeeeze.....like a British male good looking James Bond, give me a break here!
 
I didn’t vote in the poll because I didn’t agree with how the selections were worded, but people readily forget that the James Bond character was based on the stories written by Ian Fleming. If Fleming had intended the Bond character to be a woman, or anyone other than a straight British male, he would have written the part that way. Even the writers who wrote the short stories or novelizations long after Fleming’s death stayed true to the idea.

I don’t see anyone clamoring for new movie versions of Harry Potter with the role of Harry as a girl named Harriet. So, stay true to the way the Bond character was written- as a British male.

I would actually be interested in the Young Bond novels written by Charlie Higson being made into a movie or movies, before any radical change of the Bond character in the future. Those stories were about the adventures of a teenage James Bond in the 1930s.
 
SOOOOO well said......
 

The next James Bond should clearly be an Asogian.
 
From the same Wiki page:

Many of Bond's tastes and traits were Fleming's own, including sharing the same golf handicap, the taste for scrambled eggs and using the same brand of toiletries. Bond's tastes are also often taken from Fleming's, as was his behaviour, with Bond's love of golf and gambling mirroring his creator's. Fleming used the experiences of his espionage career and other aspects of his life as inspiration when writing, including using names of school friends, acquaintances, relatives and lovers throughout his books.

Somehow, I can’t picture a female Bond playing Auric Goldfinger, with Oddjob as his caddie, in match play on a golf course for a bar of gold, or picking up Sylvia Trench at the baccarat table in the Le Cercle casino in London. Guess I don’t see the need to change after such continuous success since Dr. No.
 


I figure a tall, slender transgender woman in tight tights like a super hero should go the way of recent filmdom thrillers.

What I WOULD Like to see is for them to boil DOWN the special effects and go back to the intricate plots, deceptions etc.

Anymore the characters are cardboard cut outs, the same nasty, sneering, predictable, mastermind and clever special effects, jumps, spins, crashes and big explosions.


Once I would like the film to have a 'holy shit!' reveal. But if you saw Thunderball, you've seen A View to a Kill and all the rest....we KNOW who the bad guy is and and no longer shocked by how slimy he can be.

Imagine 007 gets killed and replaced by the lesbian daughter who he never knew he had who secretly seeks revenge against the wishes of the management.

And oh yeah....let's get back to the gimmicks. Exploding condoms have never been tried and damn well should be!
 
I just don’t care. They can do whatever they want with their franchise. If it looks like shit, I won’t watch it.
 

I voted for sticking with a British white male. To me, that's the character. I've enjoyed every one of them, even though the Roger Moore series looks dated and camp.

As for women and Americans, just make new characters. America had Flint for a while. Maybe a Felix spinoff would work? Felix was always pretty bland, though.

We also had Jack Bauer from the excellent "24" series. And Jack Ryan from the Tom Clancy novels. No need to have an American James Bond.
 
I say anyone who deviates from Ian Fleming's depiction of Bond without changing the characters name (and number) is guilty of dishonesty and plagiarism.
Dont piggy-back a new creation on the back of someone else's work. Make your own.
 
Those minimalist Cold War spy stories were far more interesting than the tech-driven plots today. The master of the genre, my opinion, was James Clavelle but Ian Fleming had a background in espionage and a good eye for plot.
 
Is there a clamor for a female Bond character? I really have no idea. But I do not like morphing gender adaptations. They seem to chip away at and trivialize the iconic character altogether. Better, I think, to dig deeper into historical sources for a female thriller which stands on and creates new ground. Hellen Mirren has a suggestion:

“Women have always been a major and incredibly important part of the Secret Service, they always have been. And very brave,” [Mirren] added. “If you hear about what women did in the French Resistance, they're amazingly, unbelievably courageous. So I would tell real stories about extraordinary women who've worked in that world."
 
1. As long as they have that British accent, anyone can be James (or Jamie) Bond
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A British accent or the ability to fake one convincingly.

2. Men only regardless of race
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Yep, that's important too. There are some characters that can be sex-swapped without changing the story, but James Bond is definitely not one of them.

3. White man only, every James Bond has been a white man, enough with the DEI
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Nah, that's irrelevant to the story.

4. Why not a gay or transgender James Bond?
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The actor can be gay, the character cannot.
Obviously no tranzez. An actual man who looks like an actual man.

5. It's time for an American James Bond
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Only if he can fake the British accent and the setting doesn't change. If you want a completely different character in an American setting, then we have Matt Damon in the Jason Bourne movies, and we have the hilarious cartoon Archer.

6. Why do they always have to be sexy, aren't there any good guys that are just plain looking?
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Being sexy is an essential part of the character.

We should consider what the purpose of James Bond is. His character is a male wish-fulfillment fantasy: He kicks the bad guys' asses, sleeps with all the women, has a shit-ton of money, and does it all while being classy. That's the core of who he is. So some elements of that story can change (e.g. his race) but other elements definitely cannot (e.g. the character must be a straight man).
 
It depends on the answer to the question, "who is James Bond?"

If it's a guy, that guy should be faithful to the novel's description. If James Bond is a persona, an identity occupied by successive individuals after the previous 007 retires, then it could be anyone. I always thought Idris Elba would make a great Bond, but I think he's too old now. Henry Cavill, maybe, but he's too jacked to be Bond, I think, and perhaps a little too old as well. Same for Tom Ellis, who played the title role in the Fox series Lucifer. Assuming he's a better actor than how they directed him in the Star Wars sequels, John Boyega could pull it off.

If we're going the "girl power" route, Florence Pugh, Jodie Comer, or Emilia Clarke could pull off the physique and sex appeal.
 
I'm not really worried about it. I think the Bond franchise is way past its sell date. It is old and tired. The early films were fun and campy, but past Sean Connery it was just dated. I only watched the Brosnan films because I liked him, but even I admitted that the films were pretty bad.

When a film franchise is 60+ years, it is time to let it die a peaceful death.
 



Agree. It's about time its retired. But if its to keep getting another lease on life it should avoid going woke. I did like the Brosnan films but none of the ones afterwards.
 
Grand Mal said:
I say anyone who deviates from Ian Fleming's depiction of Bond without changing the characters name (and number) is guilty of dishonesty and plagiarism.
Dont piggy-back a new creation on the back of someone else's work. Make your own.
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Cannot agree more.
 
I was rather fond of the Daniel Craig movies. They weren't the best movies in the history of the universe by any means, but they were all well plotted, carefully crafted, fun to watch with top notch story, acting, cinematography and action set pieces from beginning to end, and unlike the other Bond movies, these last ones actually a somewhat meaningful character arc for Bond.
 
I know a former gameshow host who would be a perfect cast as Goldfinger.

 
Race or sexuality is irrelevant, but it needs to be a man because James is a man's name.

If they want to make Jane Bond movies, fine, but those should be their own separate thing.
 
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