LONDON (AP) - The James Bond franchise's less-than-progressive portrayals of women, who are often relegated to the role of love interests and femme fatales, have for years led a faction of fans to clamour for a woman to take over the part.
And now, two Bonds are saying it is time for a casting shake-up.
In interviews at two film festivals over the weekend, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig endorsed the idea of a woman taking the helm of the storied spy franchise.
Craig spoke to Variety while promoting the Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery Knives Out at the Toronto International Film Festival.
He jokingly endorsed his co-star Jamie Lee Curtis for the role.
At the Deauville American Film Festival in France, Brosnan told Hollywood Reporter: "I think we've watched the guys do it for the last 40 years; get out of the way, guys, and put a woman up there."
However, he conceded that a female Bond is unlikely, given executive producer Barbara Broccoli's insistence that "Bond is male".
She told the Guardian in October: "He's a male character. He was written as a male, and I think he'll probably stay as a male.
"And that's fine. We don't have to turn male characters into women.
"Let's just create more female characters and make the story fit those female characters."
But there have been rumours that the upcoming Bond film would feature actress Lashana Lynch taking over the code name of 007, even though Craig will still play the famous spy.
