Ex-Bond girl Halle Berry doesn't think making 007 a woman is 'the right thing to do'
While serving on the jury for the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, the 58-year-old actress addressed the ongoing discussion about replacing the fictional spy with a woman in a future franchise.
"I don't know if 007 really should be a woman," Berry responded. "In 2025, it's nice to say, 'Oh, she should be a woman.' But, I don't really know if I think that's the right thing to do."
Berry previously played the character Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson in the 2002 film "Die Another Day" alongside Pierce Brosnan as James Bond.
The idea of a female James Bond has been a hot-button issue in Hollywood for nearly a decade. In 2017, Berry similarly dismissed Bond being played by a woman in favor of more original characters.
"I want [women] to be tough, but I don't know if Bond should be a woman," Berry said. "I mean, that series is steeped in history, you know, Ian Fleming's stories. I don't think you can change Bond to a woman."
"We can create a new Bond character that's a woman, and give her a new name, based on that theory, but I don't know if Bond should be a woman," she added.
Berry wasn't the only former Bond girl who questioned the idea of gender-swapping James Bond over the years. In 2019, "The Spy Who Loved Me" actress Valerie Leon blasted the idea, arguing that the character was always successful as a man.
"He's a fantasy. So many men have wanted to be Bond and women have wanted to be with Bond. How can people fantasize about a woman as Bond? Men aren't going to go for a woman as a killer or an assassin," Leon said.
In 2024, British actress Gemma Arterton, who starred in 2008's "Quantum of Solace," said Hollywood should respect the tradition of the character and called out the absurdity of the idea.
"Isn't a female James Bond like Mary Poppins being played by a man?" she remarked. "They talk about it, but I think people would find it too outrageous."
The most recent iteration of James Bond was played by British actor Daniel Craig in the 2021 film "No Time to Die." Though Amazon MGM Studios recently made a deal to control the creative rights to the 007 character, there have been no announcements regarding the future of the franchise.
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