MEAWW.COM / ENTERTAINMENT / MOVIES

Piers Morgan attacks Daniel Craig for suggesting a female James Bond: 'Why would you ruin a franchise?'

Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan was in no mood to listen to Craig's take on the Bond role. After referring to a previous dig he had made at the actor with 'papoose-gate', the talk show host continued to say why he thought the actor was wrong.

Daniel Craig will be stepping down as 007 in his fifth and final role as the secret service agent in next year's Bond 25. Since he has been doing the role for such a long time, the actor was questioned if he would like to see a woman as James Bond. 

Craig's answer was: “I think that everybody should be considered,” he told the Mirror. “Also for women and for African-Americans, there should be great parts anyway, across the board.”  However, not everybody was pleased to hear this from the actor who has played the iconic role for so long. Riled by this opinion, 'Good Morning Britain' host Piers Morgan, on Monday, decided to share what he thought of the actor's words. 

Calling out to the time he criticized Craig for carrying his newborn in a papoose, he said: “Daniel Craig, fresh from papoose-gate, has now decided the next James Bond should probably be a woman. Why shouldn’t James Bond be a woman? Well here are two reasons: name is James Bond there’s a clue in the name and James Bond is a man.”

Among the rather outrageous digs he took at Craig's opinions, he also added that women, in particular, would not want a female Bond as they like to “fantasize” over the secret service agent saying  “James Bond was written as a man. James Bond should remain a man. James Bond is a towering monument of masculinity so why would anyone in the entire world, least of all women who all secretly fantasize about James Bond, now want him to become a woman?”

He also took aim at Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller Bridge’s involvement in the script for Bond 25, claiming she was recruited to make the film more “woke”.  Moreover, Morgan had a rather strong opinion about having Bond girls and fears that Waller Bridge’s involvement means Bond “won’t be able to hit on women anymore”.  He also quipped saying that Bond girls will now be “Bond people”.

Questioning the move, he asked: “Why would you ruin a franchise?”

Producer Barbara Broccoli last week shut down the idea of a female Bond, telling Good Morning Britain the character would become a 'gimmick'.  "I always feel Bond is a male character," Barbara said. "I think that’s just a fact. I think we have to make movies about women and women’s stories, but we need to create female characters and not just for a gimmick turn a male character into a woman."

The cast for the upcoming untitled Bond 25 film was announced last week at a live reveal at Ian Fleming’s home in Jamaica. Rami Malek will play a villain while Jeffrey Wright will return as Felix Leiter for the first time since Quantum of Solace. Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Rory Kinnear, and Lea Seydoux will also reprise their roles while David Dencik, Ana de Armas, Billy Magnussen Dali Benssalah and Lashana Lynch will make their 007 debuts.