JAMES BOND fans are notoriously difficult to please.
When Daniel Craig was first announced as Pierce Brosnan's replacement as 007, there was an uproar in some quarters.
A few even went as far as to set up an online protest, via the website www.craignotbond.com, calling on fans to help "stop Sony and Eon [Productions] from ruining the future of James Bond by hiring Daniel Craig".
"How can a short, blond actor with the rough face of a professional boxer and a penchant for playing killers, cranks, cads, and gigolos pull off the role of a tall, dark, handsome and suave secret agent?" the website asked.
Not everyone was quite so negative, of course - including Brosnan, himself.
"I think Daniel is a very fine actor," said ever-classy Irishman said. "These are rocky waters, but I think he will have the last laugh."
Four films later and it's fair to say Craig is the one that has been left laughing, though that hasn't stopped the complaints.
The latest concerns a report in The Daily Mail which claims the franchise is set for another shark-up with black British actor Lashana Lynch taking over from Daniel Craig as 007.
A "movie insider" told the news provider the 25th film will begin with the introduction of an all-new secret agent.
“There is a pivotal scene at the start of the film where M says, “Come in 007”, and in walks Lashana who is black, beautiful and a woman,” the source said. “It’s a popcorn-dropping moment. Bond is still Bond but he’s been replaced as 007.”
Yes, as it turns out, Craig's Bond has hung up his Walther PPK and is now living the good life in Jamaica.
Or, at least, he is until M calls him back out of retirement.
Daniel Craig in the 24th Bond movie, SPECTRE.In any case, after the shameful reaction that greeted talk of Idris Elba taking over from Craig as Bond, it would appear a small faction of fans have had a similar reaction - as the depressing comments in the comments section of the Daily Mail article demonstrate.
"Welp... I guess I'm done with the Bond films," one wrote.
"NO. Just plain NO," another added.
"As a woman I find it insulting," a third chimed in. "Women and people of color need to find our own hero's...not replace a character who is a white male."
A fourth, meanwhile, said: "This is a joke right ? James Bond is all about Eaton and Safari suits, not Tower Hamlets and hoodies."
"That moment I realised my country is not that bad," a Russian reader declared. "Thank you PC of the so called free world. I better stay in my not free but more logic country."
All of whom appear to have missed the point entirely: Daniel Craig is still coming back as Bond.
More importantly, it would appear that write Phoebe Waller-Bridge is poking fun at the kind of faux-outrage that would greet such an announcement.
And they all fell for it.
