Former Bond girl Michelle Yeoh: a female 007 would never be accepted
Star of the 1997 Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies argues a woman couldn't get away with having so many lovers...
When she played Bond Girl Wai Lin in the 1997 Pierce Brosnan movie Tomorrow Never Dies, Michelle Yeoh's performance was so good some thought she could be the first woman to play the role.
And since the film was released, support for a female 007 has been growing with the likes of X-Files star Gillian Anderson joining the clamour for a Jane Bond.
However, as our exclusive interview with Yeoh herself suggests, she doesn't think a woman could ever play the part.
Speaking to promote the second series of Netflix drama Marco Polo, in which she plays a mysterious figure from Hundred Eyes’ (Tom Wu's) past, Yeoh told RadioTimes.com and co-star Lorenzo Richelmy (Marco Polo himself) why Jane Bond would never be accepted.
"They think it's cool with a guy that has many girlfriends but when a woman tries to do that the connotation goes downhill," she laughed.
Far better for a woman to find other ways of playing that sort of role, she says - like her new "kick ass"character in Marco Polo, perhaps?
Marco Polo series 2 launches on Netflix today [1 July].
