Dame Helen Mirren has publicly disagreed with former Bond Girl Halle Berry who has insisted the role of James Bond should never be played by a woman.
The 72-year-old icon declared “I’m too old” to play a female Bond despite admitting she would have relished the role in her younger years.
The prospect of there ever being a lady playing the title role of the infamous British spy has long been a matter of debate and gossip; heightened by the recent casting of Jodie Whittaker as a female Doctor Who.
“In my youth, that would have been great of course,” Mirren told The Daily Telegraph.
“But that time was different; we could never even have imagined a woman playing that role.”
Mirren also spoke of her success and how she’s still grateful to this day.
“Of course, it’s wonderful to have success, and the thing I love most about it is economic freedom,” she said.
“Coming from a background where there was no money – and if you didn’t work, there was nothing to live on – to have bought my own house and to have never been in debt or on welfare is something I feel proud of.
“But there’s a part of me that thinks I should have been a struggling artist.”
A day earlier, actress Berry said she doesn’t think a woman should ever play the role of 007.
“I want women to be tough but I don’t know if Bond should be a woman,” Berry told US program Entertainment Tonight.
“I mean, that series is steeped in history, you know from Ian Fleming’s stories. I don’t think you can change Bond to a woman.
“We can create a new Bond character that’s a woman, and give her a new name, based on that theory, but I don’t know if Bond should be a woman.”
Berry starred as NSA agent Giacinta “Jinx” Johnson alongside former Bond actor Pierce Brosnan in Die Another Day.