There’s been excement about Q’s queer revelatn ‘No Time to Die’ but the anchise’s first gay characters appeared all the way back 1971’s ‘Diamonds Are Forever’. Fifty years on, Adam Bloodworth talks to the actors who played Mr Wt and Mr Kidd about why they’re worth celebratg
Contents:
- ‘I KNEW WAS A URAGEO THG TO DO’: THE CUR STORY OF BOND’S FIRST GAY VILLAS
- IS JAVIER BARM PLAYG THE FIRST GAY BOND VILLA 'SKYFALL'? BARM AND DIRECTOR SAM MENS WEIGH
- 'NO TIME TO DIE' HTS Q IS GAY LANDMARK LGBTQ+ SCENE
- JAM BOND, AMBIGUOLY GAY VILLAS AND MASCULY
- JAM BOND'S FIRST OPENLY GAY CHARACTER REVEAL NO TIME TO DIE MA ME TEAR UP
- JAM BOND’S GAY HT WAS ALMOST CUT OM SKYFALL, SAYS PRODUCER
‘I KNEW WAS A URAGEO THG TO DO’: THE CUR STORY OF BOND’S FIRST GAY VILLAS
* bond gay villains *
This isn’t to give eher of those away, but to divulge a third: that Bond’s handy gadget man, Q, is gay.
)All of which mak gay henchmen Mr Wt and Mr Kidd back 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever, all the more remarkable.
To give some ntext, 1970, the year the film was shot, 70 per cent of Amerins thought homosexual relatns were wrong, while the UK was only three years to Wt and Mr Kidd were played by Bce Glover and Putter Smh, two straight men, but even then they reportedly riled Connery.
IS JAVIER BARM PLAYG THE FIRST GAY BOND VILLA 'SKYFALL'? BARM AND DIRECTOR SAM MENS WEIGH
Glover, who is now 89, remembers the star beg unfortable wh homoerotic jok durg the shoot. “He didn’t know me, so he thought I was gay.
Villas throughout cema history have tend to reflect current “fears” and attus, and homosexuals have a long history of beg vilified. It’s a topic wrer Vo Rso explor his semal 1981 book The Celluloid Closet, which ns through onscreen queer stereotypg om the Sixti to the Eighti, om Dr Frank-N-Furter The Rocky Horror Picture Show to Sharon Stone’s bisexual Cathere Tramell Basic and director Guy Haton were rponsible for nceivg the characters for the screen and feels as if they med edy orr to create gay characters sued to themselv and mastream dienc of the time.
“I didn’t want to be that kd of clichéd gay guy, ” Glover rells, thkg perhaps of the mpns of Richard Burton and Rex Harrison’s gay barbershop uple 1969’s Stairse. ”Lowbridge-Ellis go so far as to pots out that much about the characters is, actually, “unniably homophobic”. From the way Mr Wt was dispatched wh a bomb up his backsi to the obv fact that here were two straight men makg margalised gay men the butt of their jok, ’s easy to argue how Wt and Kidd were explog the LGBT+ muny rather than supportg by simply beg onscreen, the duo had reprented the gay muny – and ma a whole crowd cludg myself feel seen – whether their creators had tend to or not.
'NO TIME TO DIE' HTS Q IS GAY LANDMARK LGBTQ+ SCENE
Bond villas have always flirted wh homoeroticism.
But the latt Bond stallment, Skyfall, Javier Barm ph the gay envelope farther than 's ever been phed before. "I thk there's a huge homoerotic unrtow a lot of Bond movi, " says Mens.
No Time to Die featur a scene that seems to nfirm Ben Whishaw's Q is gay, makg his character the first ally of Jam Bond (played by Daniel Craig) to be out as a member of the LGBTQ+ the 007 anchise has prevly had characters that were d gay or were LGBTQ+ the Ian Flemg books, the were nearly all the new Bond movie (**spoilers ahead**), Bond and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) make a surprise vis to Q's apartment to lnch a vert missn whout the knowledge of M (Ralph Fienn). Avengers: Endgame h the headl for a scene which a man mourns the loss of his male partner durg "The Blip, " for example, while the more recent Jungle Cise featur a scene which Jack Whehall's character some have praised the scen, others have cricised them for beg mor moments that are tratgly y, that avoid speakg plaly about characters' gay liv.
JAM BOND, AMBIGUOLY GAY VILLAS AND MASCULY
Meanwhile, some viewers have poted out that the films should seek to tegrate their characters' sexuali throughout the film, rather than talk about them short clips that seem to be signed so they n easily be cut out untri wh anti-gay laws and sentiments. As No Time to Die has only been released a few untri so far, however, remas to be seen whether the film will ed this scene ls tolerant this Q scene may only be a mor moment, is a landmark a anchise that has prevly had gay villas, wh their homosexualy d as part of what mak them so example, the novel Diamonds are Forever, Felix Leer spects that sadistic killers Mr. Kidd are gay – somethg the movie leans to by havg them hold hands and say that one character is attractive "for a lady.
JAM BOND'S FIRST OPENLY GAY CHARACTER REVEAL NO TIME TO DIE MA ME TEAR UP
The latt Bond movie "No Time to Die" hts that the character is gay. The novel Goldfger featur the homophobic trope that Psy Galore only beme a lbian after beg sexually abed by a man.
JAM BOND’S GAY HT WAS ALMOST CUT OM SKYFALL, SAYS PRODUCER
In the movie, meanwhile, she is d lbian, but is implied that Bond is able to turn her straight wh his male this Q scene No Time to Die suffers om the same problems as other morn blockbters that overpromise and unrliver on LGBTQ+ ntent, do speak for the efforts the anchise has ma to be more makers of Skyfall, for example, have spoken about havg to fight to keep a scene which Bond flirts wh Silva (Javier Barm) and hts at a prev gay experience. Whishaw, who me out himself 2013, has prevly played gay characters like Norman Stt A Very English Sndal and Danny Holt London Spy. In 2019, The Sun reported that Whishaw was lobbyg the Bond team to clu a gay character – though this should be treated wh some scepticism, as filmg had already begun on the film when the report me recently, he has h headl for advotg for a gay actor to play Bond.
In the 1950s, homosexual acts, or at least on volvg mal, were agast the law the Uned Kgdom. In the post-war perd, a number of real-life Brish spi, such as the Cambridge Four fected to the Soviets, and some of them, such as Guy Burgs and Antony Blunt were attracted to men, which helped create a negative image of gay spi.
Lren Spungen cricized the portrayal argug that the "battle between heterosexualy and homosexualy" is a metaphor for the battle of "good and evil". He forms part of the gay gentleman's outfter trope, which n be found Brish culture om ss such as Are you beg Served? It is subtly hted that he may be a relatnship wh Q, if so that would make this film's Q the first gay one until Ben Whishaw.