No Time to Die star Ben Whishaw would love to see an openly gay actor play James Bond. Whishaw's Q has been a key part of Daniel Craig's tenure as Bond, though it took him some time to make his official debut; he first appeared in Craig's third outing, 2012's Skyfall. With the long-awaited No Time to Die, both actors are taking their final bows in the franchise. Following the first screenings on Tuesday, the reviews are out for No Time to Die, and all signs point to a satisfying conclusion to this chapter in James Bond history.
While there are still plenty who are focusing on saying goodbye to Craig, many are looking ahead to the franchise's future. There has been much debate online over who should be the next to play Bond for some time now. Names like Tom Hardy and Idris Elba have been tossed around with frequency, and earlier this year, there was even talk of Bridgerton breakout Regé-Jean Page being in the running. For their part, longtime Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have said the next Bond likely won't be chosen until well into 2022.
Everyone has an opinion on who should take on the mantle of James Bond, including Whishaw. For him, though, it's less of an idea of exactly who should be cast, and more of a broader wish. While speaking to Attitude about No Time to Die, Whishaw shared his hopes that a gay man could be cast as Bond someday. "God, can you imagine? I mean, it would be quite an extraordinary thing. Of course I would like to see that," he said when asked about the prospect. He then went on to explain just what it would mean to have an out actor playing a character so iconic:
I really believe that we should be working towards a world where anyone can play anything and it would be really thrilling if it didn’t matter about someone’s sexuality to take on a role like this. I think that would be real progress. But we’ll see, we’ll see where we’re at. I’m amazed by how much has changed just in the last five or six years, so we’ll see.
As for who Whishaw believes would be best for the role, he pointed out that there "aren’t many out gay British actors. It’s quite hard to say, isn’t it?" However, he did settle on Luke Evans and Page's Bridgerton co-star Jonathan Bailey as excellent picks, saying they both "would be really capable of doing it and would be ideal casting." As for Whishaw himself, he said he was perfectly content to just play Q, as he never saw himself as Bond material.
Whishaw makes a fair point about how monumental it would be for an openly gay actor to step into the role of James Bond. Even if Bond isn't queer himself (though Craig's iteration had some interesting subtext in Skyfall), casting a gay man would speak volumes about who can play certain characters. Whishaw's sentiments somewhat echo those made by Jake Gyllenhaal recently when he was recalling his experience on Brokeback Mountain. Gyllenhaal said he believes people of all experiences should be playing all kinds of roles, and that certainly applies to queer performers in massive franchises. No one knows what the future holds for James Bond, but it will be exciting to find out.
Source: Attitude
