Even Woke Celebrities Don’t Want A Female James Bond
Is Hollywood inching closer to finally getting what audiences actually want? The answer, as usual, is yes and no.
At the very least though, some actors are finally starting to understand that changing the gender of a well-known and well-loved character isn't the smartest idea. Jenna Ortega, one of the stars of the recently released "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," told the media recently that she doesn't want female leads to replace characters traditionally played by males. Specifically referencing the James Bond character.
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"I love that there’s a lot more female leads nowadays, I think that’s so special. But we should have our own," Ortega said. "I don’t like it when it’s like a spinoff — I don’t want to see like ‘Jamie Bond.’ You know? I want to see another badass." That sentiment was shared by actress Ana de Armas, who appeared in "No Time To Die," the most recent release in the Bond series.
"There’s no need for a female Bond," de Armas said. "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."
TORONTO, ONTARIO - SEPTEMBER 07: Ana de Armas attends the premiere of "Eden" during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival at Roy Thomson Hall on September 07, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)
Hollywood Needs To Make New Characters, Not Gender Swap Old Ones
Thankfully, the producer of the "Bond" films, Barbara Broccoli, also agrees that the character should remain a man.
"I think [the next James Bond] will be a man because I don’t think a woman should play James Bond," Broccoli said in 2021. "I believe in making characters for women and not just having women play men’s roles. I don’t think there are enough great roles for women, and it’s very important to me that we make movies for women about women. He should be British, so British can be any [ethnicity or race]."
That's the correct answer; make new characters. If there is a large audience for female action heroes or superheroes or "badass" archetypes, then write new scripts, develop new projects and release new movies. Don't just lazily re-make the same stories with a female lead and expect success.
The "Indiana Jones" franchise did all they could to telegraph that they would replace Harrison Ford with Phoebe Waller-Bridge in "Dial of Destiny." Not surprising given that Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy of "South Park" fame was the key executive on the project. It flopped.
If Lucasfilm and Kennedy want to make Phoebe Waller-Bridge the face of an action-adventure series, they should. Just don't make it Indiana Jones. If Jenna Ortega, who's a far left celebrity, can understand that, they should too.