John Logan on James Bond’s ‘gay past’

Skyfall screenwriter John Logan has discussed the apparent homoerotic subtext inherent in the James Bond series.

The 23rd 007 film includes a scene in which Bond (Daniel Craig) is tied to a chair as former MI6 agent-turned-villain Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) unbuttons his shirt and makes a sexually-charged remark, to which Bond responds: “What makes you think this is my first time?”

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Logan said “Some people claim it’s because I’m, in fact, gay but it’s not true at all. Sam 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. There’s been so many ways to do a cat-and-mouse and intimidate Bond, 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 with characters like Scaramanga in Man with the Golden Gun or Dr No.
So we just decided that we should play the card and enjoy it.”