James Bond will finally be ushered into the age of #MeToo and Time’s Up, according to actresses Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas, who will both be playing opposite Daniel Craig in the upcoming Bond flick “No Time to Die.”
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter (THR), the actresses said that James Bond will be experiencing an “evolution” as the makers attempt to modernize him to keep the character in tune with current culture. Much of this new take on the famed MI6 agent has been credited to screenwriter Phoebe Waller-Bridge, whom Lynch praised for her on-screen portrayal of women.
“I very literally squealed when I first heard her name,” Lynch said upon first learning of Waller-Bridge’s involvement. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, British girl just like me. She’s going to know how to actually take care of women on-screen.'”
Lynch’s role in the upcoming film will be novel, as she is set to become the first black woman to play 007.
“It’s pretty obvious that there is an evolution in the fact that Lashana is one of the main characters in the film and wears the pants — literally. I wear the gown. She wears the pants,” de Armas said of Lynch’s character.
Lynch praised the “No Time to Die” creative team for making the character everything she wanted. “Everyone was really responsive to having her be what I wanted,” she said. “You’re given a fresh perspective on a brand-new black woman in the Bond world.”
“I didn’t want someone who was slick. I wanted someone who was rough around the edges and who has a past and a history and has issues with her weight and maybe questions what’s going on with her boyfriend,” she later added.
Lynch even suggested to Waller-Bridge the possibility of a scene in which her character is on her period. “We had one conversation about her maybe being on her period in one scene, and maybe at the beginning of the scene — and I spoke to Cary about this — throwing her tampon in the thing,” said Lynch.
When news of Lynch’s role as 007 first broke, THR noted that although Twitter trolls expressed outrage, Lynch said that none of the criticism has disheartened her. “It doesn’t dishearten me. It makes me feel quite sad for some people because their opinions, they’re not even from a mean place — they’re actually from a sad place,” she said. “It’s not about me. People are reacting to an idea, which has nothing to do with my life.”
Ana de Armas added that the “Bond Girl” in this outing will be taking a different trajectory than have those in previous installments. “[The women] have been sexualized before, a stereotype, a kind of woman who will always be in danger and waiting to be rescued by Bond,” she said.
Producer Barbara Broccoli, who oversees the franchise with her half-brother Michael G. Wilson, has previously stated her desire to see Bond films arrive in the #MeToo era.
“#MeToo has influenced our culture, which is a great thing, so of course it’s going to influence everything we do on Bond,” Broccoli told the Daily Mail in April. “The films are representative of the times they’re in.”