Jenna Ortega won’t be suiting up to play a female version of James Bond anytime soon — and that goes for all male-originated roles.
The “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” star told MTV in the below video that she is not interested in a gender-flipped “spinoff” of a male-led franchise. Ortega was specifically asked if she would consider collaborating with her “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and “Wednesday” director Tim Burton on a revival of “Edward Scissorhands” as Edith Scissorhands, a female take on Johnny Depp’s titular character.
“I love that there’s a lot more female leads nowadays, I think that’s so special. But we should have our own,” Ortega said. “I don’t like it when it’s like a spinoff — I don’t want to see like ‘Jamie Bond.’ You know? I want to see another badass.”
A timely comment, considering we need a new 007. While Aaron Taylor-Johnson has been rumored to be the frontrunner, the idea of a female Bond has been discussed over the years.
Former Bond Daniel Craig echoed Ortega’s remarks in a conversation with the Radio Times. “There should simply be better parts for women and actors of color,” he said. “Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?”
Franchise producer Barbara Broccoli also told The Guardian that Bond is a “male character. He was written as a male and I think he’ll probably stay as a male.”
She continued, “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.”
Broccoli further told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021 that “I don’t think a woman should play James Bond. I believe in making characters for women and not just having women play men’s roles. I don’t think there are enough great roles for women, and it’s very important to me that we make movies for women about women. He should be British, so British can be any [ethnicity or race].”
Broccoli formerly tried to launch a female-led action franchise in the past with her intended “Die Another Day” spinoff centered around Halle Berry’s character Jinx, but MGM would not commit to an $80 million budget and the project died.
