How Did Cary Fukunaga Push for Bond's Female Characters to Have Equity?
Don't let this progress shake (or stir) you.
Inside the many tropes of the James Bond movie universe lie characters like the damsel in distress and the femme fatale. While these were hallmarks of the films across the decades, when Cary Fukunaga took the reins as the director of No Time to Die, he wanted to smooth things out a bit. Not only did those tropes feel tired, but he thought they could be done better, delivering a much more thrilling Bond with equity for its stars.
Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge was brought in to help punch the dialogue and story up, and we recently heard a story about how Fukunaga asked the producers for more agency and equity for the movie's female characters.
In a recent THR long-form piece about Fukunaga, we learned No Time to Die will feature two new Bond girls, Nomi and Paloma, played by Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas. But these are not like the Bond girls of old. Lynch spoke about how Fukunaga advocated for No Time to Die’s female characters, and how he worked with Daniel Craig and producer Barbara Broccoli to make sure there was equity in the story, saying:
"Cary had big discussions with Barbara and Daniel about how to give the female characters equity, how to keep them in charge of themselves, how to give them solo moments where the audience learns who they are. It was really important to empower the female characters as stand-alones. And I think that he kept that in mind throughout the whole shoot. I didn’t feel like Nomi, as a young Black woman, was constantly standing behind the white guy, which, for me, is job done. And that was a very conscious decision for Cary."
This makes me even more interested in this movie and where the Bond series can go in the future.
Everyone has talked about whether or not James Bond is a code name or a person. There are lots of opportunities for the mantle to be passed as well as an entire spinoff series. But you only get stories like that if the audiences connect with the characters and care about what stories they will tell.
Let us know what you think in the comments.
