Female James Bond on the horizon.

magic_murph · 22-09-2021 2:53pm #1

Thoughts.

By all means build a brand around a female led spy movie but making James bond a female character just wont sell.

flazio · 22-09-2021 2:54pm

I hear it'll be a female Agent 007 with a brand new name.

I see sheep · 22-09-2021 2:55pm

Bond movies are rubbish.

banie01 · 22-09-2021 2:56pm

Bond is bond, retconning that to a carousel code name is IMO pointless.

That said, build a movie around a female 00 in the Bond universe. Let the story lead where it will but don't force such any easily shunned gender swapping into a franchise. It's tokenism IMO.

10000maniacs · 22-09-2021 2:58pm

I can't wait for the trans-gender version of Batman.

JimmyVik · 22-09-2021 2:58pm

It will be like womens soccer.

People only read about it because they clicked on a link that said something like "Chelsea trounce Arsenal".

They would never have clicked on it if it made clear it wasnt the mens teams.

There are some great spy action movies with female lead characters. Keep doing that. But making James Bond a woman. Not going to work.

Wibbs · 22-09-2021 3:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117924255#Comment_117924255

Plus the producers/studios wouldn't risk it. Too much at stake with that franchise and changing Bond into a woman would almost certainly hit sales. When Doctor Who did it, after an initial flurry of interest, likely at the novelty, ratings fell off a cliff, at one point hitting the lowest viewing figures in that franchise's history. When the Oceans Eleven franchise went to an all woman cast it had the lowest profit of the series, though it did turn a healthy profit at least. The all women Ghostbusters tanked.

Well done franchises with women front and centre can be very good, popular and make squillions, the Hunger Games a good example. Never mind the Alien series, but gender switching originally male stuff no.

Gregor Samsa · 22-09-2021 3:15pm

I look forward to her sexually harassing Mr. Moneypenny.

Spook_ie · 22-09-2021 3:16pm

There was a film "Jane Bond" released in 1975

Look it up at your peril 🤐

nj27 · 22-09-2021 3:18pm

Just have him identify as female

mariaalice · 22-09-2021 3:18pm

No, a really good female baddie from whatever country is the current enmey of the UK or the US, she would be a super-wealthy billionaire and psychopath, that would be interesting.

B.A._Baracus · 22-09-2021 3:19pm

If the world wants a woman secret agent spy then create a new property. Heck, set it in the James bond universe if they want. But don't make James Bond Jane Bond.

I would say the same if the world wanted a male Mary Poppins. Just make a male magical nanny property. But I can't help but feel if someone did say they wanted to see a male version of Mary Poppins they would be met with comments like "well that's a bit sexest"

JupiterKid · 22-09-2021 3:35pm

Ian Fleming would be spinning in his grave at this news. 😏🤨

Fleming's Bond was an out and out misogynist, racist, imperialist and probable homophobe. In one early Bond book, Fleming describes a sexual encounter between Bond and a woman as "having a tang of rape." James Bond does not really belong in the 21st Century.

James Bond is a Cold War creation and his raison d'etre vanished when the Cold War ended in the early 1990s.

Much as I love the Bond franchise, it has become formulaic, predictable and very tired and should be put to rest soon. As long as it continues to makes a shed load of money, it won't.

A female Bond would be the kiss of death for the franchise, which makes a ton of money for Eon Productions. A separate woman secret agent film would probably work, but not as Bond.

billyhead · 22-09-2021 3:37pm

Absolute Woke horse manure. Bond should be a male and entertaining any other gender is stupid.

Atlantic Dawn · 22-09-2021 3:41pm

Janet Bond, work away, first remake could be "The Person With The Golden Gun".

EmmetSpiceland · 22-09-2021 3:51pm

I dunno, the nerds all got over the Starbuck character being a woman in the ‘Battlestar Galactica’ reboot. Maybe they’d get over a similar change to the Bond “franchise”.

Sonics2k · 22-09-2021 4:02pm

Remember when people lost their mind about the possible casting of Idris Elba and then went mental claiming it had nothing to do with racism. Bet they'll be along soon claiming not wanting a female Bond has nothing to do with women too.

Quantum Erasure · 22-09-2021 4:19pm

I always thought they should bring out a Perfect Dark movie

Quantum Erasure · 22-09-2021 4:21pm

Dr No means No...

Larbre34 · 22-09-2021 4:24pm

Nothing wrong with a woman secret agent or a black secret agent or a gay secret agent or a trans secret agent, but the character of James Bond is a straight, white, early middle aged, British man as created by Fleming. If thats not the profile, then it's not James Bond.

If that is objectionable, then I wish new creators and producers all the luck in the World building a new brand from scratch, which I've no doubt the right people could do very well indeed.

Tony EH · 22-09-2021 4:27pm

It's a stupid and unnecessary move.

If they want to make a movie or movie series about a female superspy, do so. But sex changing Bond is ridiculous.

And I'm not even a Bond fan.

generic_throwaway · 22-09-2021 4:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117924747#Comment_117924747

The character has already been five or six completely different men. The character can be whatever the creators want it to be. People getting angry about this sort of thing is completely baffling - if you don't like it, don't watch it.

In years to come people will be so amused by people getting angry about this stuff, the way people used to get angry when women wore trousers or something.

AustinLostin · 22-09-2021 4:29pm

The worst part about it all is having to listen to the discourse. No movie could be as bad as that.

Quantum Erasure · 22-09-2021 4:30pm

>The character has already been five or six completely different men.

its been the same character, played by five or six completely different men.

Sonic the Shaghog · 22-09-2021 4:34pm

I also never understood why they just dont do 00 spin offs.

They talk about Idris Elba make him 009 and give him a chance and I'd guarantee it would do a lot better and the idea well received by 99.9% of Bond fans compared to just to making bond black.

It would give great scope for cross overs etc depending might even launch some new popular characters.

It just seems to me taking an already established bond and trying to change the gender or skin color smacks of activists who deep down believe that black people or women, etc aren't good enough to carry their own and need a step up

22-09-2021 4:34pm

Look what happened when they cast an all female Ghostbusters. Absolutely dire.

Can they not come up with original class female led movies? Do they have to bastardise everything to appease the woke crowd.

Make more kick ass protagonists like Ellen Ripley..

magic_murph · 22-09-2021 4:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117924765#Comment_117924765

What movie would you consider necessary??

Tony EH · 22-09-2021 4:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117924814#Comment_117924814

I never said I considered any movie necessary. I said sex changing a character was unnecessary.

Why can't people read easy to understand sentences any more? 🙄

whisky_galore · 22-09-2021 4:40pm

Can't they come up with original stuff rather than tweaking an already tired franchise?

Cienciano · 22-09-2021 4:41pm

I hope they do, it's hilarious seeing people getting upset over it.

Wibbs · 22-09-2021 4:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117924548#Comment_117924548

Battlestar Galactica had a long gap between the original and the reboot and the original was seen as a bit camp, so a gritty update was a clean slate in many ways. I remember the original as a kid and was initially excited by it showing up on telly, but quickly got bored of it. It didn't have near the staying power of say Star Wars or Trek. Plus it was very much an ensemble cast not focused on one main character, so swapping out one character was less jarring and it was very well written(at first) and miles ahead of the original. The Bond thing is a single character on which the whole kit and caboodle pivots around, so very different on that score.

When they wrote the first Alien flic they had specifically written the parts as gender neutral and Ripley was in the early stages going to be male, but again an ensemble piece. However after its success and Weaver's performance swapping out Ripley for a bloke would have completely ruined the sequel. A very well liked sequel at that and featuring a woman as the focus and hero. Even the alien antagonist is female. Indeed as feminist commentators have noted it's one of the few Hollywood movies, including earnest feminist ones that pretty much ticks all the boxes for a feminist narrative and it does so without being preachy or unrealistic or tokenism and as I said still remains wildly popular. Nobody's accusing Aliens or Ripley of being "woke". A great story and character doesn't need any of that stuff.

The suggestion of having Bond as a woman is marketing to keep interest up, or some misguided notion of hamfisted "equality" outside the studio. I suspect the Idris Elba rumours are similar, though that's a pity as I reckon he'd make a good Bond.

Female James Bond on the horizon.

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