It’s Bondvember, everybody! The month where everything Bond is gold, especially the eyes and the guns! You know what else is gonna be golden, though? The release of Daniel Craig’s last 007 flick, No Time To Die. We don’t exactly know a lot about the movie just yet and while a bit can be inferred from pre-production snapshots and the brief plot blurb we’ve been given, Ana de Armas, the de facto Bond Girl of the film, has now offered up a better taste of the personality that the movie will be going for.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter alongside co-star (and new 007 title holder) Lashana Lynch, Armas spoke highly of the female characters in the film, saying that herself and producer Barbara Broccoli have created something different than the typical Bond Girls of yesteryear.
“It’s pretty obvious that there is an evolution in the fact that Lashana is one of the main characters in the film and wears the pants — literally. I wear the gown. She wears the pants.”
That’s a good way to contrast her character to Lynch’s. But, don’t believe that just because Armas’ character, named Paloma, wears fancy gowns that she’s any less capable. Heck, despite being a real human with flaws, apparently she even helps Bond out more often than not.
“[Paloma] is a character that is very irresponsible. She’s got this bubbliness of someone who is excited to be on a mission, but she plays with this ambiguity — you don’t really know if she’s like a really trained, prepared partner for Bond…but brains and looks are equal this time. She’s very smart. She helps Bond navigate through certain things that he wouldn’t be able to do alone.”
It really seems like the crew of No Time To Die, including co-writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge, is pushing to make something different than what we’ve seen before from a Bond film. But they’re all a little different, aren’t they? More often than not, the 007 franchise is very indicative of its times, pursing and exploring emerging themes in our real world cultural zeitgeist. In From Russia With Love we explored the red scare, in Moonraker we experienced the space race, and in Tomorrow Never Dies we explored the 24 hour news cycle. Now we’re tackling the patriarchy, quite literally it seems.
Many nerdlingers were up in arms when Lashana was cast as the first female to hold the 007 handle. But why? Tons of fans of the series have acknowledged that 007 is just a codename given to that particular agent, which explains how Roger Moore turned into Timothy Dalton.
If what Armas is saying is true though, it seems like No Time To Die, despite its rocky road to existence, may be a high note that everyone can walk away from proudly…until the cycle starts all over again.
