The former casting director for the James Bond franchise has insisted that whoever plays the titular spy must align with the white male character as described in the original books.
Debbie McWilliams, who was in charge of casting the famous role across four decades and three iterations, made the comments during a recent appearance at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic.
When asked during an interview panel whether James Bond could ever be played by a woman or a person of colour, McWilliams pushed back, saying the role for the upcoming entry into the franchise should match that written by Ian Fleming in the source material.
“Not in my opinion. No. Ian Fleming wrote a character, and that’s the character that stays. That’s what I think. I mean, other people might think otherwise, but I don’t think that,” McWilliams said, per Variety.
It follows calls for the next instalment of James Bond, which has yet to announce a cast, to be led by either a woman or a Black actor, with stars like Anya Taylor-Joy and Idris Elba sitting atop fan-cast lists ever since Daniel Craig exited the role in 2021.
Elba has spoken of the racial element that would underpin a potential role as James Bond, saying the chatter about him leading the franchise was “never legit” and that audiences aren’t ready for a POC 007.
“I think, in realistic terms, some markets just don’t go for that,” Elba said. “Bond is big all over the world, and [audiences] won’t [all] go for a black male, an African male, playing Bond.
Though Fleming’s original Bond novels describe the agent as a white man, numerous blockbuster franchises — from Ghostbusters to HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter reboot — opting for gender-swaps or more diverse casting choices in recent years.
It’s not the first time McWilliams has weighed into casting commentary ahead of the new Bond movie, saying last month that a bunch of fan-favourite frontrunners for the role, including Jacob Elordi, Callum Turner and Harris Dickinson, aren’t the right fit.
“I don’t want to see any of them as Bond because we now know so much about them,” McWilliams said. “It is absolutely essential that [Bond] remains a total enigma. We want to know as little about them personally as possible because that’s what spies are.”
Working across 13 of the 25 Bond films, McWilliams was responsible for casting Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and most recently Craig, as 007.
While we don’t yet know who’ll front the next film, we do know the next Bond instalment will be helmed by Denis Villeneuve, with shooting to begin after the director wraps up the third Dune movie. The script will be penned by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.
No release date for the new movie has been announced.
Lead images: Getty and MGM Studios
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