Charlize Theron on playing a female 007: 'I would be a very old James Bond'

Kevin Polowy
·Senior Correspondent, Yahoo Entertainment

Charlize Theron was arguably the closest thing we’ve seen to a female version of James Bond in last year’s spy thriller Atomic Blonde, in which she played Lorraine Broughton, a vodka-swigging, femme-fatale-romancing MI6 agent whooping butt clear across Berlin.

The idea has been raised, by the likes of W magazine, that the South African star actually play James Bond, especially as current 007 Daniel Craig tends to waver (or worse) on his long-term commitment to the franchise. (Fans have also pushed for a black Bond … namely Idris Elba, who himself has suggested a female Bond.) And in an age when popular franchises like Ghostbusters and Ocean’s Eleven are gender-swapping and Wonder Woman is outgrossing Batman v. Superman at the box office, it’s certainly within the realm of progressive possibility.

During our Facebook Live interview ahead of her dark new action comedy, Gringo, Theron responded to the notion (watch above).

“Look, that’s incredibly flattering,” she told Yahoo. “I’m super flattered by that. You know, I don’t have a feeling about it one way or the other. I love the idea that people are thinking outside the box. And I know for a long time people were talking about Idris Elba for it. And it’s just nice to see people now thinking outside of [these] confined ideas of what we think a character can be. I’m really all for that. I think it’s great that we are developing more characters within that genre for females, that they can take ownership. So it’s a really nice thing for people to say. I’m very old, though. I would be a very old James Bond.”

As her Gringo costar David Oyelowo, who joined her for the chat, pointed out, she’s not older than Craig (49): Theron (42) is seven years his junior.

“Then you know what, f*** that. Daniel, watch out, I’m coming for your job,” Theron joked.

There’s just the matter of settling what the double-X-chromosomed 007’s name would be. “I heard the ‘Jane Bond’ thing — it’s just not. She needs a bit of a cooler name, don’t you think?”

“Ballsack Bond,” the typically much more prim and proper Oyelowo (Selma, Queen of Katwe) responded, in a callback to a point earlier in the live stream when the duo talked about a line in Gringo about “grabbing life by the ballsack.”

Theron was feeling it. “My name is Bond, Ballsack Bond,” she said, laughing.

Gringo opens March 9.

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