Forget Idris Elba, forget Tom Hiddleston. The name is Bond … Priyanka Bond. Or at least it could be if Priyanka Chopra actually gets her wish and becomes the next James Bond. In a new cover story for Complex, she says that while it’s great that fans want her to play a Bond girl, she has other ideas: “Fuck that — I wanna be Bond.†In fact, Chopra already gender-swapped one role in Baywatch, telling Complex that the villain she’s playing was originally supposed to be a man. “Another barrier broken,†she says. But she’ll have some tough competition to be the first female Bond. Over the weekend, Gillian Anderson responded to a fan-made campaign pushing for her to become the next Bond, tweeting: “It’s Bond. Jane Bond.†Both women would be breaking new ground, but for Chopra, it’d inevitably represent something much bigger.
Elsewhere in the interview, Chopra talks about her constant fight against race-based casting in Hollywood: “I was very sure I did not want to be the stereotype of what Indian people are seen as, which is Bollywood, and henna. That’s all great! It’s what we are, and I love it. I love saris; I love music; I love henna; I love dancing, but that’s not all we are.†So if she were to ever win the role of Bond (fingers crossed!), she’d rather it be because of her acting chops rather than her last name. “I wanted to be seen as just an actor, not because of my ethnicity or where I come from. I think global entertainment needs to become like that,†she says. “It needs to be about the best person for the job rather than what you look like or where you come from.â€