James Bond Can Never Be Gay, Says Roger Moore

James Bond could never be gay, says former Bond actor Roger Moore.

"It is not about being homophobic or, for that matter, racist, it is simply about being true to the character," Moore told the Daily Mail on Sunday. "I have heard people talk about how there should be a lady Bond or a gay Bond," he said. "But they wouldn't be Bond for the simple reason that wasn't what Ian Fleming wrote."

With the current Bond, Daniel Craig, saying he's leaving the part, talk of who takes on the iconic role next is gearing up. Maybe it could be played by a woman, a black man, or the character could be a gay man.

Craig was asked for his take by Sky News this month and gave a much different answer than Moore. "Anything's possible," he said. "You can do anything as long as it's credible and it works. It doesn't matter."

Craig had given the opposite answer in 2012, saying that Bond "isn't gay." He was promoting Skyfall at the time, which had a bisexual villain.

Former Bond, Pierce Brosnan, was asked by Details magazine in August if he could picture a gay 007.

"Why not?" Brosnan had said, before imagining reasons it probably won't happen anytime soon. "Actually, I don't know how it would work. I don't think Barbara [Broccoli, the James Bond producer] would allow a gay Bond to happen in her lifetime. But it would certainly make for interesting viewing."

As an aside, the whole conversation seems a little off. Maybe all these reporters intend to ask whether Bond could be bisexual, rather than suddenly gay.

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Still, like many others have suggested (and the likes of Moore have said wouldn't work), Brosnan leaned toward starting with a black man as Bond.

"Let's start with a great black actor being James Bond," he told Details. "Idris Elba certainly has the physicality, the charisma, the presence."