James Bond casting director who picked three 007s retires after 44 years

Broccoli and Wilson will remain co-owners of the franchise alongside Amazon, but Amazon MGM Studios will gain creative rights. McWilliams confirmed to the publication that she made her decision to retire from casting prior to this rights shake-up.

The first Bond film on which McWilliams served as casting director was 1981's For Your Eyes Only, alongside Maude Spector. She went on to cast every film in the franchise up until 2021's No Time to Die.

During this time she cast three of the actors to have played Bond himself - Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig - while she has also worked on other films such as 1983's Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life and 2017's Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool.

McWilliams told Screen Daily: "I have now hung up my casting hat and have moved on to other film-related projects."

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She explained that she was "sad to see the end of this era", with regards to Broccoli and Wilson stepping back from creative control of the franchise, but added that she "totally" understands why it has happened.

"Prior to Amazon acquiring MGM, Barbara and Michael had a good working relationship with the studio and always held the final decisions," she said. "Producing a Bond film takes at least two years of their lives with little time for anything else.

"And with Michael retiring I think Barbara did not have the appetite to shoulder the burden alone. She has so many other interests, especially with her theatre projects."

McWilliams added that "looking at Amazon’s previous theatrical films does not fill me with any great enthusiasm" for the future of the franchise, and said that "if they mess with the essence of Bond they risk alienating a huge audience".

McWilliams previously revealed when speaking exclusively with RadioTimes.com that there is "no set process" for casting Bond, adding that "when Daniel [Craig] was cast, I met hundreds of people and travelled here, there and everywhere".

"Barbara Broccoli was the main advocate," McWilliams said. "She knew she wanted him pretty much from the beginning, but it was proving to everybody else which was the difficulty."

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