No Time To Die's Ben Whishaw wants a gay actor cast as next James Bond
The Q star picked out Luke Evans and Jonathan Bailey as two stars who would make for "ideal casting".
With Daniel Craig set to step down as 007 following the imminent release of No Time To Die, there has been a lot of talk about which actor might replace him as the new Bond.
And Q star Ben Whishaw has now had his say about who might be a good replacement, explaining that it would be a mark of "real progress" if an out gay actor was cast in the role.
Asked about the possibility by Attitude magazine, the actor said, "God, can you imagine? I mean, it would be quite an extraordinary thing. Of course I would like to see that."
He added, "I really believe that we should be working towards a world where anyone can play anything and it would be really thrilling if it didn’t matter about someone’s sexuality to take on a role like this."
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Whishaw also had a couple of suggestions about which actors might be a particularly good fit for the role – picking out Luke Evans and Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey as stars who would be "ideal casting."
"I mean, they’re both wonderful and they’re both wonderful actors," he said.
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“I wonder if either of them would want to – because it’s not just the demands of the role, but it’s like the demands of being Bond in the world and what it symbolises and how it would change your life.”
While speculation about the next Bond is set to reach fever pitch following the release of the new film, producer Barbara Broccoli recently revealed that discussions about Craig's replacement won't start in earnest until next year.
“We’re not thinking about it at all,” Broccoli told BBC Radio 4 earlier this week. "We want Daniel to have his time of celebration. Next year we’ll start thinking about the future."
- If you've heard the rumours, here's our explainer as to whether or not James Bond dies in No Time To Die.
No Time To Die is released in cinemas in the UK on Thursday 30th September – visit our Movies hub for more news and features, or find something to watch with our TV Guide.
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
