The acclaimed British actress Helen Mirren 79, criticized the James Bond franchise for the way it portrays women saying that “The whole concept” of films is “immersed and born of a deep sexism.”
Mirren, who is starring in the new Paramount+police suspense series, “Mobland,” alongside former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan told The Standard that “the whole James Bond series is not my beach.”
“I never liked James Bond. I never liked the way women were in James Bond,” she said, adding that she doesn’t want to see a woman portraying the fictitious spy.
“I would tell real stories about extraordinary women who worked in that world,” she continued, offering the example of “incredibly brave” women who were part of the French resistance.
For years, the franchise has faced criticism for their representation of women, relegating them in the first films to “Bond Girls”, celebrated only by their sexual appeal. More recently, and especially since the #Metoo movement, Bond tried to portray women in a different light.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who created “Fleabag” and “Killing Eve”, was hired to work on the 2021 movie script “007-No time to die” and, according to producer Barbara Broccoli, injecting a little British humor.
Three supporting female characters in this movie had more tasks than the traditional Bond Girls: Lashana Lynch played another agent, Nomi, who took over the famous codename 007; Ana de Armas played a newly named CIA agent, Paloma; While Lea Seydoux returned as Bond’s French psychiatrist and loving interest, Madeleine Swann, in an arc never seen in previous films.
Discussions about the future of the franchise, which is impregnated with British nostalgia of the 1950s and 1960s, returned to the spotlight in February, when Amazon MGM Studios announced that it was assuming her creative control.
Mirren was quick to clarify that she was still a “big fan” of some of the actors who played Bond.
“I’m a big fan of Pierce Brosnan, I mean a big fan,” she said. “I mean, my God. Obviously, he is beautiful and everything, and I think he is fabulous in ‘Mobland’, but he is also one of the coolest people with whom you will be happy to work. And in fact, Daniel Craig, which I met and know a little. Again, a very lovely and graceful person.”
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This content was originally published in Helen Mirren criticizes James Bond franchise for “deep sexism”; Understand on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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