26 December 2015

The New York Times: “A Family Team looks for James Bond’s Next Assignment”

At that point, a Sony operative arrived and put Ms. Broccoli out of her misery, insisting that an agreed-upon hourlong interview had to end early. But a reporter had (at least) one more question: Does Ms. Broccoli consider herself a feminist and, if so, does she look back on some of the “Bond girls” and wince?

I am absolutely a feminist, she said. If you think about the women in the recent films, they’re far more interesting and complex than they once were. Bond has changed, too, in how he deals with women.

She added: Women still have a long way to go. There are not enough women in positions of power in the film industry. And now there are all these questions about women in Hollywood not being paid equally. When that happens, it’s outrageous.

Brooks Barnes

Interesting look behind the scenes of Bond movies, Hollywood’s longest-running franchise. I am by no means a hard-core fan – the only time I saw a 007 movie in cinemas was this year with Spectre – but I also got the sense that the role of women has begun to change in recent movies. The supporting characters also got more space in Spectre, expanding the roles of M, Q and Moneypenny beyond their classic, by now almost archetypal figures. With a strong woman in charge and a change of lead actor in sight, I think this old series might still hold surprises for fans in coming years.

James Bond Spectre poster

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