The director of the upcoming James Bond film No Time to Die has hit out at the older films in the franchise by describing James Connery's Bond as 'basically' a rapist.
Cary Fukunaga spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the new flick and discussed bringing the character into a post era post #MeToo.
Appearing to reference the 1965 film Thunderball, Fukunga asked: "Is it Thunderball or Goldfinger where, like, basically Sean Connery’s character rapes a woman?"
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He then added: "She’s like ‘No, no, no,’ and he’s like, ‘Yes, yes, yes.’ That wouldn’t fly today.”
The scene in Fukunga referred involves Connery's Bond kissing a nurse Patricia Fearing (played by Molly Peters) under protest.
In a later scene, the nurse pleads with Bond to not tell her boss information that could lead to her firing. Bond offers the nurse a compromise. "Well, I suppose my silence could have a price," he says, implying the nurse should sleep with him to keep him quiet.
Nurse Fearing backs away, as she realises what the spy is proposing. "You don't mean… oh, no!"
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But Bond replies "Oh, yes", before pushing the nurse into a steam room and taking off her clothes.
Fukunaga’s comments come just one week before No Time to Die’s delayed premiere on 28th September.
The film, which marks Daniel Craig’s last outing as 007, has been touted as the Bond film with the most empowered female characters. Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge co-wrote the screenplay for the newest Bond film and Lashana Lynch - who stars as one of two main black female characters - will reportedly inherit the 007 codename from Bond.
In recent years, fans have lobbied for a black Bond and a female Bond as all previous actors who have inherited the James Bond role have been white males. Barbara Broccoli, the No Time to Die’s executive producer, has said 007 will always be a man, explaining that new characters should be created for women.
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“He can be of any colour, but he is male,” Broccoli told Variety.
"I believe we should be creating new characters for women - strong female characters. I'm not particularly interested in taking a male character and having a woman play it. I think women are far more interesting than that."
No Time to Die will be in UK cinemas from 30th September.
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