Rachel Weisz has spoken out about the prospect of having a future female James Bond.
In a recent interview with The Telegraph, the actress wasn’t keen, saying that Ian Fleming (the original author of the James Bond spy novel series) very much intended the character to be a man, and that women deserve their own role.
“[Fleming] devoted an awful lot of time to writing this particular character, who is particularly male and relates in a particular way to women,“ she said.
“Why not create your own story rather than jumping on to the shoulders and being compared to all those other male predecessors? Women are really fascinating and interesting and should get their own stories.”
This comes after speculation following 2015’s ‘Spectre‘ over whether Weisz’s husband Daniel Craig would continue to play the role of James Bond.
At time of release the film scored the biggest ever debut at the UK box office, taking a massive £41.7m ($63.8m) during its first seven days on release, beating the previous seven-day record held by 2004’s ‘Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban’.
The film was confirmed as the longest Bond movie ever.
Last summer it was reported that Daniel Craig had decided to return to the role of Bond one last time, despite having previously said that he was “over it”.
Sources said that he made a U-turn on his decision after director Sam Mendes quit the franchise, following their alleged artistic difficulties.
Late last year, Barbara Broccoli, producer of the next installment – due November 2019 – responded to to possibility of the next Bond being black or female by saying: “Anything is possible. Right now it’s Daniel Craig, and I’m very happy with Daniel Craig, but who knows what the future will bring?”