Would you support the idea of a black actor playing James Bond?

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YES! Change EVERYTHING!! The next Bond should be from Krypton and he should also be the first 007 to give birth!!! I would ditch the Aston Martin in favour of a tricked-out skateboard and instead of a tux he should wear tank tops and jeggings!
No, his personality and skill as a super-spy are what matter. Will dark skin ruin that?
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On the outside looking in.
No, his personality and skill as a super-spy are what matter. Will dark skin ruin that?

He can still come from Krypton and be a working mother.



So which Fleming book featured a black James Bond for them to base a film on?
In the books, do other people constantly remark on how white he is? Are there are a lot of plot twists and action scenes that depend on skin being light?



He can still come from Krypton and be a working mother.
You're introducing absurdities and overstating your case. There is an enormous difference between making him black and making him, say, an alien zombie with three heads from Mars.

How would black skin alone automatically make for a wildly absurd Bond if his personality and skills are present?



Apologies if this topic has been done before.

I was reading an old article about the wonderful “Luther” actor Idris Elba being touted to replace Daniel Craig in upcoming James Bond movies when Craig leaves the role.

Admittedly, I at first thought this would be a mistake, and just pure tokenism. James Bond the character is a white man and I don’t get the need to change such a basic physical feature.The more I think about it though, the more I think somebody like Elba would bring something good to the role.

What do you think
Believe it or not, the first thing I thought of when I saw the title of this thread is what an awesome Bond Idris Elba would make.



There shouldn't be a black Bond for many years. Bond fans need to feel happy first about the new Felix Leiter and Moneypenny characters!



Sorry Harmonica.......I got to stay here.
I once produced an off-off-broadway play, and was casting for the part of a low-key Brooklyn Italian Godfather. A black actor auditioned poorly (doing an uncanny George Jefferson imitation) and asked what his chances were for the part. I told him truthfully he wasn't right for it, and he claimed I wasn't giving him a shot because he was black. Fact was, I simply didn't believe him as that character. Even though the part was written as Italian, his physical attributes play second fiddle to his making us believe he's that guy. It's called acting. If a black actor convinces us he's James Bond, then he's James Bond.
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YES! Change EVERYTHING!! The next Bond should be from Krypton and he should also be the first 007 to give birth!!! I would ditch the Aston Martin in favour of a tricked-out skateboard and instead of a tux he should wear tank tops and jeggings!
He can still come from Krypton and be a working mother.



@earlsmoviepicks: Exactly. There shouldn't be an advantage or a disadvantage. It all depends on the quality of the actor to be believable as the character.

It's a different case when you're playing a character whose ethnicity is important for the script/story. This isn't the case for James Bond.
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On the outside looking in.

How would black skin alone automatically make for a wildly absurd Bond if his personality and skills are present?

I'm glad you asked. People of different colour obviously will have experienced Life differently, which in turn would have an influence on personality. Skills can be learned, but life experience is unique and greatly affected by things such as background and the obstacles placed in our path on the way to maturity. As a youth, a black Bond will have experienced racism in its many forms in ways completely unknown to the character Ian Fleming created, which in turn would inform his personality and make him quite a different man than anything found in Fleming. He would be a totally new character, so why call him James Bond? It's completely unnecessary.
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I'm glad you asked. People of different colour obviously will have experienced Life differently, which in turn would have an influence on personality. Skills can be learned, but life experience is unique and greatly affected by things such as background and the obstacles placed in our path on the way to maturity. As a youth, a black Bond will have experienced racism in its many forms in ways completely unknown to the character Ian Fleming created, which in turn would inform his personality and make him quite a different man than anything found in Fleming. He would be a totally new character, so why call him James Bond? It's completely unnecessary.
What is a white personality, to you? What is a black personality, to you? Explain what there is about Bond's personality that no black man could ever have, and how you would know that.



On the outside looking in.
What is a white personality, to you? What is a black personality, to you? Explain what there is about Bond's personality that no black man could ever have, and how you would know that.

Why don't you explain to me why you think they would be so interchangeable?



On the outside looking in.
I've said multiple times why I think so.

You talk about his skills as a secret agent; you don't talk about the man himself and how he came to be that man.



He's confident because he's white, you mean? Is charm a white trait? If he was a superhero, would womanizing would be his White Power? Assertiveness is fo massah? You tell me which of those traits are For Whites Only.

Do all white men have to have that fictional character's background to be cool? Are all black people lacking those traits, in your mind, because they weren't born exactly in X time and place according to Ian Phlegming?



On the outside looking in.
He's confident because he's white, you mean? Is charm a white trait? If he was a superhero, would womanizing would be his White Power? Assertiveness is fo massah? You tell me which of those traits are For Whites Only.

Do all white men have to have that fictional character's background to be cool? Are all black people lacking those traits, in your mind, because they weren't born exactly in X time and place according to Ian Phlegming?

I never implied any of those things, but background and experience play a huge role in who we become. When creating a character, the author imbues his creation with certain traits and backstory, and naturally this is true of Ian Fleming's James Bond. Change the traits and historical background and he's no longer Ian Fleming's James Bond, he's just another action hero.



On the outside looking in.
What traits are changed with skin color?

Ask any non-Caucasian what it's like to walk into a room as a visible minority -- ethnicity influences life experience, it's a fact.



Btw, I couldn't give a ***** less about Ian Fleming's books. Haven't read any, and not planning to. The movies are all over the place in terms of tone and realism. They're fun but they aren't some philosophy or religion anyone must strictly adhere to, except maybe Fleming lemmings.