James Bond nearly cut a homoerotic line which saw the character imply his sexual encounters span multiple genders from Skyfall.
The scene in question saw Daniel Craig’s 007 being held hostage by Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) as the villain caresses Bond’s chest and thigh.
“You’re trying to remember your training now. What’s the regulation to cover this? Well, first time for everything I guess,” Silva says to Bond.
The hero, seemingly unbothered, responds: “What makes you think this is my first time?”
According to the franchise’s producer Barbara Broccoli, the interaction was almost axed from the 2012 film.
“I remember we were told to cut that line by the studio and we said, ‘No, no, no.’ We resisted,” Broccoli revealed in the new Apple TV+ documentary Being James Bond.
She added: “The night of the premiere, that line, just the whole place rocked it then… I remember looking at the studio executive going, ‘See, told you.’”
“I think there’s a huge homoerotic undertow in a lot of Bond movies,” said Sam Mendes, the film’s director.
John Logan, the film’s screenwriter who is also gay, discussed the production of the movie at the time of its release.
“Some people claim it’s because I’m, in fact, gay but [that’s] not true at all,” he said.
“[Director Sam Mendes] and I were discussing, there were so many scenes where Bond goes mano-a-mano with the villain, whether it’s Dr. No or Goldfinger or whatever, and there’s been so many ways to do a cat-and-mouse and intimidate Bond,” Logan added. “And we thought, what would truly make the audience uncomfortable is sexual intimidation; playing the sort of homoerotic card that is sort of always there subtextually.”
According to Forbes, the franchise has grossed over $16 billion (when adjusted for inflation).
Skyfall was the highest-grossing of the 24 movies released so far, making $1,218,849,723 with a profit of $910,526,981.
No Time to Die, the latest film in the franchise and Craig’s last appearance as 007, is scheduled for release in the UK on 30 September after a string of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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