Debbie McWilliams, Former James Bond Casting Director, Sticks to Her Guns: ‘Ian Fleming Wrote a Character, and That’s the Character That Stays’

By Leo Barraclough

Leo Barraclough

International Features Editor

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Debbie McWilliams, who cast the last 14 James Bond films, has stuck to her guns when it comes to her view that 007 should be white and male.

Speaking at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival Friday in an onstage interview, the casting director was asked by an audience member whether the spy could be a woman or a person of color. “Not in my opinion. No,” she responded firmly. “Ian Fleming wrote a character, and that’s the character that stays. That’s what I think. I mean, other people might think otherwise, but I don’t think that.”

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