Much has been said about Daniel Craig’s frank, no-holds-barred approach to the press tour surrounding the upcoming Bond installment, Spectre. Love it or loathe it, Craig is at least using his spotlight to say something, and in a new interview he’s taken careful aim at the macho legacy of James Bond. How is the franchise fixing some of Bond’s out-dated attitudes? According to Craig, you can thank the girls, er, women.
After his interviewer said that many men admire Bond’s “way with the ladies,” Craig was quick to point out, “But let’s not forget that he’s actually a misogynist. A lot of women are drawn to him chiefly because he embodies a certain kind of danger and never sticks around for too long.” This kind of language might come as a blow to men who consider Bond the be-all and end-all, but Craig did have some nice things to say about Bond’s old-fashioned approach. “Bond can be a gentleman,” he explains. “Sometimes, anyway. He’s a considerate person, he takes care of business, and he looks out for other people and his family. He’s someone who opens doors for people— for everyone, that is, not just women.”
But when the interviewer from The Red Bulletin protests that Bond has gotten better in the misogyny department of late, Craig gives the credit away to female co-stars such as Eva Green, Naomie Harris, and Judi Dench. Bond has becomes more “chivalrous,” Craig says, “because we’ve surrounded him with very strong women who have no problem putting him in his place.” And when the interviewer praises Craig’s Bond for succumbing to the charms of an “older woman” in Spectre, Craig corrects his interviewer, saying, “I think you mean the charms of a woman his own age. We’re talking about Monica Bellucci, for heaven’s sake. When someone like that wants to be a Bond girl, you just count yourself lucky!”
Craig has been a longtime advocate for women, memorably cross-dressing in his Bond persona for International Women’s Day, back in 2011.
Perhaps no one is more ready than Craig to see someone else take on the 007 moniker, but one thing is for certain, whoever takes his place will have mighty chivalrous shoes to fill.
