Director of No Time to Die, the latest installment in the James Bond franchise, Cary Fukunaga, addressed 007's history with misogyny and issues with consent in a recent interview.
"Is it Thunderball or Goldfinger where, like, basically Sean Connery's character rapes a woman?" Fukunaga said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "She's like 'No, no, no,' and he's like, 'Yes, yes, yes.' That wouldn't fly today."
Fukunaga's comment was in relation to the hiring of Fleabag writer and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who was brought on to help polish the script Fukunaga wrote with Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who are both Bond veterans, having worked on the films since 1999's The World Is Not Enough. Fukunaga also addressed the previous speculation that Waller-Bridge's hiring was meant to create a more "woke" spy film that would coincide with modern attitudes towards race and gender.
"I think that's the expectation, a female writing very strong female roles, but that's something [producer Barbara Broccoli] wanted already," Fukunaga said. "From my very first conversations with [Broccoli], that was a very strong drive. You can't change Bond overnight into a different person. But you can definitely change the world around him and the way he has to function in that world. It's a story about a white man as a spy in this world, but you have to be willing to lean in and do the work to make the female characters more than just contrivances."
Actor Daniel Craig, who has somewhat shifted the character away from the womanizing behaviors in his tenure as James Bond, personally requested that Waller-Bridge join the film as a writer. Waller-Bridge, who has won numerous awards including three Primetime Emmys and a BAFTA for her work on Fleabag and Killing Eve, also stated in previous interviews that the goal of the film isn't to change Bond as a character. She also said that the films haven't lost relevance due to the spy's general attitude towards women. "The important thing is that the film treats the women properly," Waller-Bridge said. "[Bond] doesn't have to. He needs to be true to this character."
Directed and co-written by Fukunaga, No Time to Die wrapped filming in October 2019 and, after significant delays, will arrive in theaters on Oct 8.
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Source: The Hollywood Reporter