Is Shaft The Black James Bond?

In my Crime Beat column back in 2015 I noted that a remake of the film Shaft was in the works. 

The black private detective character was originally portrayed in the 1971 film by a black actor, Richard Roundtree, and by another black actor, Samuel L. Jackson, in a 2000 remake.

Should a white actor, I asked in my column, now be cast as John Shaft in the newest remake?

Ridiculous? 

No more ridiculous that a black actor portraying James Bond. 

Well, the new Shaft film has finally been made and released and a black actor, Samuel L. Jackson (seen in the above photo), is back as John Shaft. 

And in the film a character calls Shaft “the Black James Bond.”

I rest my case. 

You can read my Crime Beat column on a black James Bond via the below link:    

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/10/my-crime-beat-column-should-black-actor.html

You can also read my Washington Times piece on a female James Bond via the below link: 

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2018/10/no-jane-bond-says-007-film-producer.html 

My Washington Times Piece On No "Jane" Bond

The Washington Times published my piece that gave a thumbs down on a female or black James Bond. 

In a recent interview in the British newspaper the Guardian, Barbara Broccoli, the executive producer of the James Bond film series, basically ruled out the idea that Ian Fleming's beloved and iconic character would be portrayed by an actress once actor Daniel Craig gave up the role.

“Bond is male,” Ms. Broccoli told the Guardian. “He’s a male character. He was written as a male and I think he’ll probably stay as a male.”

Ms. Broccoli, 58, the head of EON productions and daughter of the late Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, the EON producer of the Bond series that began with “Dr. No” in 1963, added, “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.”

The drive to have a female Bond perhaps began when actress Gillian Anderson retweeted a photoshopped image of her replacing Daniel Craig in a “Skyfall” movie poster.

“It’s Bond. Jane Bond,” she wrote, partly, I presume, in jest.

Ms. Broccoli’s idea that film makers should let Bond be Bond and simply create more female characters of their own can also be applied to those who wish to see James Bond portrayed by a black actor.

… The late Sir Roger Moore, who died in May of last year at the age of 89, portrayed James Bond in seven films, beginning with 1973’s “Live and Let Die” to 1985’s “A View to a Kill.” He weighed in on the idea of a female, gay or black James Bond in an interview with the Daily Mail newspaper in 2015. 

“I have heard people talk about how there should be a lady Bond or a gay Bond.” Sir Roger Moore said. “But they wouldn’t be Bond for the simple reason that wasn’t what Ian Fleming wrote. It is not about being homophobic or, for that matter, racist — it is simply about being true to the character.”                                                                                                                            

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/oct/23/no-jane-bond-says-007-film-producer/

Does It Matter If James Bond’s Character Is Black Or White? Yes, it does.

Nola Ojomu at the British web site metro.co.uk offers her take on the idea of a black actor portraying Ian Fleming’s iconic James Bond character.

James Should a black actor be the next James Bond? Does it matter if his character is white or black? Those are the questions that have been on everyone’s lips ever since the Sony leaks revealed producers were interested in getting Idris Elba to play 007 – and opinion has been extremely divided.

Don’t get me wrong, someone like Idris Elba has the talent, looks and charm to play the world’s most iconic spy. I can totally understand why so many people would love to see him or another black actor suited and booted, wooing the ladies and saving the world in style. But the fact he is a black man means he simply isn’t suited for this particular role.

Idris Elba seems to be the people’s choice for the next James Bond. The character of James Bond was created back in 1953 by Ian Fleming (seen in the above photo) with a very clear description and back story. Fleming described his character as a Scottish man in interviews and his parentage was made pretty clear in the 1964 book You Only Live Twice, where his mother was revealed to be Swiss and his father was Scottish: a Highlander from near Glencoe.

Fleming himself has Scottish roots and spent a lot of his childhood in Glencoe and we saw how important Bond’s history is in the latest films Skyfall and Spectre. Plus Fleming used many of his own interests to shape Bond. His love of scrambled eggs, golf and gambling all come from Fleming’s own tastes and Bond uses the same toiletries and cigarettes Fleming loved.

Small details like this that helped to shape the spy we know today make it harder to understand how that can suddenly change in order to allow a black man to play the part.

While a character like Doctor Who has the power to regenerate into a completely different person, Bond is meant to be a normal man. Yes, I know we’ve already let go of some of the realism attached to the story by having different actors portraying him over the years but changing his ethnicity won’t work without having to start tweaking important parts of the character and his story.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://metro.co.uk/2018/01/23/matter-james-bonds-character-black-white-yes-7252011/ 

You can also read my Crime Beat column on the idea of a black James Bond via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/10/my-crime-beat-column-should-black-actor.html 

And you can also read my open letter to Bond producer Barbara Broccoli via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2016/05/my-crime-beat-column-open-letter-to.html 

Will Poldark's Aidan Turner Be The Next James Bond?

Jacqui Merrington at the British newspaper the Cornish Guardian offers a piece on the odds of actor Aidan Turner taking over the role of Ian Fleming's iconic character James Bond if and when Daniel Craig gives up the role.

Poldark heartthrob Aidan Turner is now second favourite in the running to become the next James Bond.

Amid rumours Daniel Craig has turned down a multi-million pound deal to return as 007, Turner has apparently held talks with producers.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.cornishguardian.co.uk/Poldark-s-Aiden-Turner-James-Bond/story-29295345-detail/story.html

You can also read an earlier post on Turner as a potential Bond via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2016/03/the-new-james-bond-aidan-turner-steals.html

And you can read my Crime Beat column on a black James Bond via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/10/my-crime-beat-column-should-black-actor.html 

Note: The above photo is of actor Aidan Turner in And Then There None.

Rush Is Right: James Bond Is White - Here's A Big Reason Why

Joe Concha at mediaite.com weighs in on the black James Bond controversy, highlighted by conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh's comments that Bond was white and should only be played by white actors.

Give Rush Limbaugh credit: the guy certainly knows how to stir a debate over topics few would touch for politically correct reasons.

The latest controversy stirred up by the 63-year-old radio icon (and regardless of your opinion on Rush’s politics, the “icon” label has absolutely been earned, given his huge audience and decades of success in the business) surrounds the prospect of Idris Elba–a black British actor–playing James Bond on the big screen.

And as you may have heard, Limbaugh is staunchly against the idea, stating, “That’s NOT who James Bond is, and I know it’s racist to probably even point this out: We had 50 years of white Bonds because Bond is white. Bond was never black. Ian Fleming never created a black Brit to play James Bond. The character was always white. He was always Scottish.”

The argument against Rush is that a fictional character can be whomever since he isn’t based on an actual person. That said, it’s not Limbaugh’s opinion that matters here, nor Sony’s, regardless of holding rights to the franchise. Instead, the only person who has a say in who exactly Bond is… is one Ian Fleming, who created 007 in his mind back in 1952 when writing the first of many books on the spy character starting with the timeless Casino Royale.

So just how did Fleming–who passed away back in 1964–imagine Bond looked like? To find the answer, one has to go back to 1958, when the author agreed to allow London’s Daily Express to create a Bond comic strip, but only under the condition that all published material must be approved by him and him only. Once an agreement was finalized, Fleming hired an artist to draw a portrait of how he envisioned Bond would look like:



You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.mediaite.com/online/rush-is-right-james-bond-is-white-heres-a-very-big-reason-why/

You can also read my Crime Beat column on a black James Bond via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/12/my-crime-beat-column-black-james-bond.html

Note: The top photo show Sean Connery - the actor Joe Concha correctly calls the "Gold Standard" for portraying James Bond - as he first appears as Bond in the first Bond film Dr No.