Ben Whishaw wants to see a gay actor play James Bond
30 September 2021, 12:12 | Updated: 30 September 2021, 12:18
Whishaw, who plays Q in No Time To Die, says "that would be real progress".
No Time To Die actor Ben Whishaw would love to see James Bond played by a gay actor in the future.
Whishaw, who has played the role of Q in Skyfall, Spectre, as well as the upcoming Bond blockbuster has expressed which way he feels the franchise should go in casting Daniel Craig's successor.
Now Craig has stepped down from playing 00, Whishaw thinks casting a gay actor would be a sign of "real progress".
In a recent interview with Attitude magazine, the actor said: "God, can you imagine? I mean, it would be quite an extraordinary thing. Of course I would like to see that."
He added: "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." he goes on to say.
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Whishaw accepts that there "aren't many out gay British actors" that could take on the spy movie franchise, but suggested that both Luke Evans and Jonathan Bailey would be "ideal casting".
"They’re both actors who it seems would be really capable of doing it and would be ideal casting. And it would be thrilling to see either of them do it."
He adds: "I wonder if either of them would want to – because it’s not just the demands of the role, but it’s like the demands of being Bond in the world and what it symbolises and how it would change your life".
NO TIME TO DIE | Final US Trailer
Rumours about who will fill the shoes of 007 post-Craig are rife as ever, with Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, Bridgerton's Regé-Jean Page, and even Harry Styles touted to replace him.
Daniel Craig himself weighed in on the debate whether the next Bond should be female, insisting that women and people of colour should be cast in different, but similarly high-profile roles:
"The answer to that is very simple. There should simply be better parts for women and actors of colour. Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?"
