Justice

This Idea for the Next James Bond Is Going Viral for a Brilliant Reason

May 23rd 2016

There have been no shortage of theories about who should become the next James Bond, but Twitter users made a truly revolutionary proposal late last week: actress Gillian Anderson.

The actress even embraced the idea in a viral tweet.

While the "X-Files" star has more than proved her acting chops as a leading lady, the Bond role would be particularly significant because of what the character has come to represent in popular culture. Bond has become an enduring symbol of masculinity on screen — he drinks heavily, loves cars, and is a serial womanizer — so a female Bond would be a major change of tune for the franchise.

Naturally, some Bond fans weren't crazy about the idea.

Some Twitter users took issue with the suggestion to shift gender roles in the Bond franchise, and implied that the calls for a female Bond were the result of an overly P.C. culture.

The backlash to diverse casting.

In 2015, the new "Ghostbusters" movie also caused a major divide among fans when it announced that it had cast four actresses in traditionally male roles.

The controversy resurfaced when a trailer of the "Ghostbusters" reboot was released. "As of Monday morning, more than 600,000 people had taken to the video streaming site to voice their disapproval of Sony’s 'Ghostbusters' reboot," Fortune reported in early May.

"'Ghostbusters‘ 618,000 dislikes rank at #18 on a playlist of YouTube’s most disliked videos of all-time, which makes the video the most disliked movie trailer ever on the Google-owned website," Fortune continued.

The fight for gender equality in Hollywood remains unfinished.

However "chilling" some fans might find more diverse iterations of popular films, it's important to note that the fight for gender equality in Hollywood is very much ongoing — reports have revealed that female directors and screenwriters, as well as actresses, remain underrepresented and underpaid compared to their male colleagues.

As ATTN: has previously reported, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs recently opened an investigation into gender discrimination in the entertainment industry.

In January, Anderson spoke out about pay inequality in the X-Files reboot, and shared that she was initially offered half the rate of her co-star, David Duchovny.

"It was shocking to me, given all the work that I had done in the past to get us to be paid fairly,” she told The Daily Beast.

It is unclear whether "Bond" casting directors will consider Anderson for the role — though last week, it was reported that Craig turned down $68 million to play Bond. However, the Independent reports that other sources have stated Craig has yet to make his final decision.

[h/t New York Magazine]

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