For a franchise that's been around for as long as James Bond has, it's probably not surprising to consider that some of the spy's previous adventures may not hold up quite as well as they used to.
Certainly, Cary Fukunaga - the director of the upcoming 25th Bond outing No Time To Die - believes that some of the older movies are problematic when compared to how we look at the world today. Well, that's me sugar coating it actually. What Fukunaga actually said was that Sean Connery's iconic version of the character was "basically" a rapist.
In a recent interview The Hollywood Reporter, Fukunaga was discussing this scene in 1965's Thunderball which has aged about as well as the packet of Babybel I accidentally left in my student flat over Easter break. The scene in question sees Connery's Bond make an advance on a nurse (Molly Peters), who has made it pretty clear she's not interested. Bond hints that he won't share information that might cost the nurse her job if he sleeps with him, before taking her into a sauna and removing her clothes.
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"Is it Thunderball or Goldfinger where basically Sean Connery's character rapes a woman?" Fukunaga said. "She's like 'No, no, no,' and he's like, 'Yes, yes, yes.' That wouldn't fly today."
No Time To Die's executive producer Barbara Broccoli, who has been producing Bond films since 1995, added that the character has come a long way over the years: "I think people are coming around, with some kicking and screaming, to accepting that stuff is no longer acceptable. Thank goodness. Bond is a character who was written in 1952 and the first film [Dr No] came out in 1962."
No Time To Die arrives in cinemas September 30.
Featured Image Credit: MGMTopics: TV and Film, News