No Time to Die star Ben Whishaw expressed concerns over how Q's sexuality was handled in the latest James Bond film.
No Time to Die establishes that Q has a boyfriend, a reveal that Whishaw described as "unsatisfying" in a recent interview with The Guardian. Whishaw elaborated, saying, "I think I thought, 'Are we doing this, and then doing nothing with it?'"
Whishaw's remarks appear to refer to how little screentime is spent exploring Q's sexuality in No Time to Die. The MI6 gadget guru's boyfriend never appears on screen and audiences only find out that he is gay because Q uses "he" pronouns to refer to his other half.
In the interview, Whishaw recalled how he considered challenging the throwaway nature of the reveal, stating, "For whatever reason, I didn't pick it apart with anybody on the film. Maybe on another kind of project I would have done? But it's a very big machine. I thought a lot about whether I should question it. Finally, I didn’t. I accepted this was what was written. And I said the lines. And it is what it is."
That said, the actor doesn't think No Time to Die's producers were pressured to work LGBT+ representation into the film or that they approached Q's sexuality cynically. "I don’t feel it was forced upon the studio," he said. "That was not my impression of how this came about. I think it came from a good place."
Q's sexuality isn't the only attempt at diversifying the franchise in No Time to Die. Lashana Lynch's character, Nomi, caused a stir after she temporarily adopted James Bond's 007 designation in the film. This marked the first time a woman or a person of color held the iconic 007 codename and has sparked speculation that Nomi will replace Daniel Craig's Bond in future franchise outings.
Eon Productions and MGM haven't yet named Craig's successor since the star departed the franchise with No Time to Die. Fans have bandied about several big names like Idris Elba, Henry Cavill and Tom Hardy, with Elba recently topping a social media poll as fans' top pick to play Bond. One actor who probably isn't in the running is Spider-Man: No Way Home's Tom Holland as the English actor previously revealed his pitch for a Bond origin film was shot down by the estate of James Bond creator Ian Fleming.
No Time to Die is now available on Blu-ray and Digital.
Source: The Guardian