The new James Bond movie is now moving forward with a confirmed star, a director, and a writer. Now it's only missing one major item, a good villain. The James Bond series has created some memorable screen villains over the years and the current word is that the one that has been created for the next Bond film will be female. It's also being rumored that Helena Bonham Carter is at the top of the list of candidates the studio is considering.
The rumor comes from an unnamed "insider" speaking to the Mirror, so get your salt and find a suitable grain to go along with this story. No details are included about exactly who this character is, but the source claims that Carter is the front-runner. It's also unclear if there have been any actual talks with the actress who played Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter movies, or if producers are still finalizing their priority list before beginning to engage anybody. It sounds like things are still in the wish list phase.
Another name that is on the alleged list is Angelina Jolie. The same insider reports that "everybody" thinks Jolie will get the part even though producers actually want Helena Bonham Carter. It's unclear exactly who "everybody" is if nobody outside of the studio knows who is being considered, and they want Carter.
If Bond 25 really is looking for a lead female villain it will be the first time in franchise history that a woman has held that position. We've seen several popular female henchmen (henchpersons?) like Grace Jones' May Day in A View to a Kill and Famke Janssen's Xenia Onatopp in Goldeneye. Sophie Marceau's character Electra King from The World is Not Enough is probably the closest thing we've seen to a lead female villain in the series so far, but she was at best a co-lead alongside Robert Carlyle's character. There's no mention of any additional villain being looked for here, so while there will certainly be secondary villains, we may be looking at the first lead female villain in Bond film history.
Even if the female villain part of the rumor turns out to be true, it does sound like casting for the part is in the very early stages so anybody could end up in the role at this point. Filming for the movie isn't set to begin until December so the studio has plenty of time to find the right actress and to negotiate with whomever they want to get a deal done. Still, Helena Bonham Carter would be far from a terrible choice. We've seen her play the bad guy before and she tends to do it well, although she tends to play over-the-top villains frequently, and the current crop of James Bond films have been much more serious and grounded.
We'll be keeping our eyes on this one so keep reading CinemaBlend to find out when the next Bond villain has been cast.
