Past Editor of 007Forever, Michael Kersey was right on the mark when he humorously yet seriously pressed for EON to hire Haile Berry as a Bond girl. See story below.–Editors

I’m talking about interracial romance. Yes, as President and Editor-in-Chief of 007Forever, i’m asserting my Executive Privilege and getting back on my soapbox again about this issue. No, I will not just let it die.

Normally I love everything EON puts out. And if I don’t, I still try and be supportive. So what am I doing complaining about Bond20 when it hasn’t even come out yet? I’ll tell you what i’m trying to do. I’m trying to influence EON and MGM into casting a black actress in the leading role for the next Bond film. The mere fact that credible rumors of Whitney Houston being asked to participate in the new film lead this egomaniacal Editor into believing his constant drumbeat for a “woman of color” in the next Bond film is being heard loud and clear. Apparently my drumbeat was misunderstood slightly though, as I prefer not to have a [deleted] playing opposite Pierce Brosnan.

Three of the most mentioned names I receive when someone tells me who they’d like to see play a Bond Girl are: (in no particular order) Halle Berry, Salma Hayek and/or Catherine Zeta-Jones. Tyra Banks has graced the cover of Sports Illustrated…alone. Why in 2001 has Bond not had a black leading lady? In 2002, Bond will celebrate his 40th anniversary on the big screen, and what better occasion is there than this for EON to step up to the plate and join the rest of mankind who have already entered the 21st century by hiring my top two picks: Halle Berry and Michael Michelle.

The lack of black characters in Bond films is bad enough when you consider that most have been villains, pimps, double agents or misidentified as prositutes. Other than Bernie Casey’s portrayel of Felix Leiter in Kevin McClory’s Never Say Never Again, in which no one in the audience gasped or shrieked in disbelief, black characters in EON’s official Bond films have been few and far between. Really EON, do you want Kevin McClory to beat you on this issue?

The last time Bond had any sort of romantic dalliance with a black woman was in the 1985 caper A View To A Kill. Of the four women Bond shagged, Grace Jones was one of them. However, she played the villainous MayDay, and she only turned good in the end after killing a half-dozen people and being betrayed by her Nazi-progeny boyfriend. Up to that point, she was perfectly willing to go along with Max and send California plummeting into the Pacific Ocean. Many of the new generation of Bond fans weren’t even born in 1985, or were only a few years old when the picture came out. For these young fans, they’ve lived a life of relatively “color” free Bond films.

Before MayDay there was….Rosie Carver. And that was in 1973. You’ve got to give credit to producers Broccoli and Saltzman at the time for not only having the first black/white interracial love scene in a Bond film, but to writer Tom Mankiewicz, who, if he had had his way, would have cast Diana Ross as Solitaire. And let’s not forget, this was Roger Moore’s first Bond film. United Artists was going out on a limb here. The last time a new actor tried to take over the role of 007 (George Lazenby), the results were less than spectacular. Connery had to come back in and temporarily save the series.
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But the lack of any black women in leading roles in the official Bond films has now reached the pathetic stage. Why is it that Hollywood casts Halle Berry, Angela Bassett and Thandie Newton as love interests in their respective movies, they all go on to be big hits, and EON sits on its hands, doing practically nothing? And then the first real bit of news we hear about casting is that they are considering hiring a [deleted] to sing/act opposite Brosnan for Bond20. Not to be outdone, the Mariah Carey camp has let it be known she to is up for a role in the new Bond picture. Whether those are dualing divas trying to outspin and out-public relations one another remains to be seen, but we can at least hope that the fact that the two strongest candidates rumored for roles in the next Bond film are black.

If it came down to Mariah vs. Whitney, i’d rather have Mariah. But she doesn’t have enough acting experience to star in a Bond film, and that’s a pretty BOLD STATEMENT when you consider that acting isn’t always a prequisite for playing a Bond Girl/Bond Woman.

In the 1920’s, the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) had 5 million members. Today, their pathetic little organization has less than 7,000 red-necking, white-trashing, trailer-parking members. Exactly whose demographics are MGM and EON trying to play to? The 7,000 trailer-trash bigots who probably can’t afford a movie ticket anyway, or the millions of 21st century moviegoers for whom race is no big deal?

So, in closing, may I please make a suggestion? Well, i’m going to anyway, because it’s my website. Here’s my suggestion: Hire either Michael Michelle from “ER” or Halle Berry as the leading lady in the next Bond film. They are talented, beyond beautiful and almost in a class that can only be described as “heavenly”. Second tier candidates could/should include Vivica A. Fox or Tyra Banks.

Please EON, I beg of you, join us in the 21st century and hire a beautiful, black actress named either Halle or Michael. Please bring back the cutting-edge, trend-setting Bond films we used to have, rather than just following the “pack mentality”. Even if you were following the “pack or herd mentality”, by now you should’ve hired a black actress. So what gives? Come on. Get with it!

That’s my opinion. It’s 100% accurate and I’m sticking to it.