Pierce Brosnan has backed Helen Mirren, who has said the Bond film series is “saturated and bred with deep sexism”.
Mirren plays the wife of Brosnan’s character in Guy Ritchie’s new series Gangsterland. The actress was recently asked how she felt about Amazon’s recent acquisition of creative control of the franchise, to which she replied that she wasn’t particularly fond of the movies as a whole.
“The whole James Bond movie series is not my thing. I’ve never liked James Bond. I never liked the way women were portrayed in those movies. The whole concept of James Bond is steeped in and bred of deep sexism,” Mirren said.
Brosnan, who starred in four Bond films between 1995 and 2002, responded to her comments by telling People, “Yes, I can agree to a certain extent. Then he thought for a moment and added: “…But there is room for movement in the world created by Ian Fleming.”
The thing is, he does want to play an aging James Bond in the new movie, after all.
“Of course, how could I not be interested? But it’s a delicate situation right now. I think it’s best not to wake the sleeping dog. It’s quite a romantic idea, but I think things change, things fall apart,” Brosnan concluded.