Britt Ekland says early Bond girls had "more fun" but praises progress
The Goodnight star said that women in Bond films now "have a much better time", but that "the end product" isn't "as fun".
Britt Ekland, star of films such as The Wicker Man and Get Carter who also played Mary Goodnight in The Man with the Golden Gun, has expressed her mixed response to developments in the James Bond film franchise when it comes to female roles.
Speaking with the PA news agency, as reported by Metro, about how the role of so-called 'Bond girls' has changed over the years, Ekland said: "There are no more Bond girls, they are Bond women today. They have it with the political correctness and the #MeToo, they have a much better time than we had."
However, Ekland also added: "I don’t think that the end product is as fun as ours were, because we were pretty and we had good bodies and we didn’t try to look sexy, we just were.
"Today, everything is so, 'Don’t do that because that will upset that side'. We didn’t have any of that. We just went out there, we were always in a bikini and all these people are fully dressed, very typical, but it was a job and we did it."
Ekland continued: "So, I think today the Bond women have it – from a political correctness point of view – in a much better position. But I think we had more fun."
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There has been a lot of discussion of late around how the Bond franchise is being updated for modern audiences and sensibilities.
In February it was announced that Ian Fleming’s original 007 books had been revised to remove a number of racial references, and add a disclaimer that the books might use terms reflecting attitudes "considered offensive by modern readers".
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The edited novels were published in April, with Fleming's estate saying that the revisions were made in line with “guidance from the author himself”, citing Fleming’s historical support of such changes and referring specifically to his approval of edits made to the US version of Live and Let Die.
When it comes to the direction the film franchise should take, one person who has their own thoughts is none other than Quentin Tarantino, who has said that they should "not remake the movies" but instead "actually just do the books, but do them the way they were written".
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Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
