Why was a female selected for M's character in James Bond?

Question

Detailed review of M's character in Wikipedia showed that Ian had different real life people in mind while portraying M. Wikipedia states:

Fleming based much of M's character on Rear Admiral John Godfrey, who was Fleming's superior at the Naval Intelligence Division during World War II. After Fleming's death, Godfrey complained "He turned me into that unsavoury character, M.

Despite that different people are named, each one of them being a male. In the films also every characters for M was filmed as male before Judi Dench came into the scene.

So what might be the reason producers suddenly changed their view for M as male and introduced a female as M?

EDIT : After @jampez77 comment I also found this wikipedia link on Judi Dench, where it is told that

the producers brought in Dame Judi Dench to take over as the new M. The character is based on Stella Rimington, the real-life head of MI5 between 1992 and 1996.

So my question is now why did the producers took the risk to change the gender of such an important character in the movie? As it is seen viewers do not like it when anything vital is changed in the movie of any famous novel.

Answer 1

In the older James Bond movies, the women were basically just there as eye candy and wouldn't have been taken seriously as head of an organization like the Secret Service. It has become true to life now, especially as Stella Rimington became the Director-General of the real life MI5 from 1992-1996.

Also In Fleming's earlier James Bond novels M was always a man. At that time there weren't really many women who had achieved high office ranks, but now women serve as Presidents in some countries and Prime Ministers in some countries too. So women can now portray M who is the head of MI6.

Answer 2

@jampez77 s answer is fine. Just adding some more references to make the answer more compact. It is evident from all the wikipedia links or other sites that Ian Fleming himself portrayed M as a male officer, since in his time (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964), these type of jobs were typically handled by male.

In the Film series of James Bond, M was characterized by different great actors as male. But things changed with the emergence of Dame Stella Rimington.

DCB (born 13 May 1935) is a British author, who was the Director General of MI5 from 1992 to 1996. She was the first female DG of MI5, and the first DG whose name was publicised on appointment. In 1993, Stella Rimington became the first DG of MI5 to pose openly for cameras at the launch of a brochure outlining the organisation's activities.

When Judi came into the scene, Robert Brown was playing as M. But after a long period,

After the long period between Licence to Kill and GoldenEye, the producers brought in Dame Judi Dench to take over as the new M.

This IMDB trivia shows, she was selected as M as the first female character because of the emergence of Stella Rimimgton's being the first major DG of MI5. Producers thought it would be nice to change the gender of M from male to female to keep in pace with the contemporary thinking.

Lois Maxwell, who played the character Moneypenny in Bond movies from 1962-1985, had made the suggestion of having M as a woman in 1985.

Judi Dench is famous for acting as M, but Louis is also famous(other than her being Moneypenny) for making the suggestion to the producers. Link1 and Link 2 suggest the fact. She was the one who first thought of M being a female.

This is the way M was changed to female by introducing Judi Dench.

Answer 3

So I don't think the other answers, although good, actually address why a female M (they're more about why Judi Dench to which the answer is Stella Rimmington). To answer why a female M, we need to look at both the history of Bond pre-Judi Dench, and also the film GoldenEye itself.

Prior to GoldenEye the previous two Bonds had been a mixed success. Roger Moore had been popular in the role but his advancing age (58 in a View to A Kill) and an overkill of gadgets (Moonraker is basically Bond in Star Wars), had led the makers to move to a more Fleming-esque line of films: more plot, less gadgets, more stunts. This had mixed results (For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy are seen by many as minor Bond films), and Moore's swansong (A View to A Kill) returned to earlier themes (look at Zorin's fold out map dastardly plot reveal on the airship and his plan to become dominant in his field by nuking the competition ala Goldfinger).

Post AVTAK, we had Timothy Dalton, and again a more Flemingesque, plot driven, pair of films, again with mixed success (did ok at the box office, but again regarded by many, but not all, as minor Bond films). There was then a big hiatus due to legal action (the Danjaq stuff about Thunderball rights) which meant it was nearly 10 years until a new Bond and film appeared (GoldenEye).

At this point to look at GoldenEye we see a number of points.

The film was a change of direction (again), but this time there was an attempt to bridge the two worlds of Fleming fans and Gadget Fans. This was done by bringing in a plot which was again similar to Goldfinger, but also made some decisions to span the worlds:

• A suave Bond in Pierce Brosnan, evoking Sean Connery;
• A conflicted Bond ala Timothy Dalton;
• Still a number of quips and side seductions ala Roger Moore;
• Retro elements such as the Aston Martin;

There are also modernising elements, to account for the later decade in which the film is made:

• An updated storyline, taking into account the Soviet decline;
• The impregnable bank is electronic, not a physical place;
• The lead villain is an ex-ally turned traitor;
• The indestructible henchman is a sexy woman (Xenia Onatop!);
• The female lead (Natalia) is much stronger and survives much worse (the Severna attack, and return to Moscow) on her own without Bond's help;
• The film abandons John Barry for music, using French artist Eric Serra (although you can hear this is abandoned halfway through to return to stock Bond music, and this finally worked when David Arnold came in in Tomorrow Never Dies)
• Bond himself is seen as an anachronism, a blunt instrument and misogynist dinosaur;
• A stronger and less sappy Moneypenny (although she ends up as much in love with Bond).

In this realm of change it is easy to see that with so many strong female characters, it's obvious that a female M would be a part of it. That they had Judi Dench/Stella Remington was a bonus.

As the Brosnan films went on, they ended up drawing back to the Moore days of gadgets, and when another hiatus due to studio financial issues caused them to start yet again, this time it was a full revamp of a young Bond, partly due to the only novel being left being the first, Casino Royale.

In this context the Judi Dench M was subtly changed to be a comforting carry over, AND a surrogate mother to the younger, less experienced Bond.

Answer 4

While the other answers are thoughtful and thorough, I can't help but think that women became more prominent in Bond films since the 1995 change of EON ownership from Cubby to his daughter Barbara Broccoli as well as her half-brother, Michael G. Wilson.

She is listed as Bond producer for:

• GoldenEye (1995)
• Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
• The World Is Not Enough (1999)
• Die Another Day (2002)
• Casino Royale (2006)
• Quantum of Solace (2008)
• Skyfall (2012)
• Spectre (2015)
• Bond 25 (2019)

Look at how that lines up with The Wandering Dev Manager's chronology! At the end of Cubby's (1909–1996) series of Bonds, there was variability of audience reception to the films—maybe attributable to the plots being out-of-touch, irrelevant, or recycling previous stories.

Beginning with the new ownership of EON, the stories are significantly modernized, partially by featuring Judi Dench as M in GoldenEye. Other touches that GoldenEye contains would not have appeared before:

• Moneypenny appears in glamorous evening wear having been interrupted from a theatre date "with a gentleman"; she mocks the classic Bond situation saying that she "doesn't sit home praying for an international incident so I can run down here all dressed up to impress James Bond." Bond says "I'm devastated. What would I ever do without you?" Moneypenny says "As far as I can remember, James, you've never had me." Bond speaks of "eternal hope" at which Moneypenny replies that such talk could be considered sexual harassment. Modernization: They are near equals relationship-wise, not a poor woman pining away and a dashing gentlemen promising to save her.

• As Moneypenny and Bond arrive by elevator at MI6's surveillance centre, Bond offers for Moneypenny to exit first; she counters insisting that he go first (which he accedes). Modernization: A woman performs the traditional male role.

• Tanner (a surveillance analyst) calls M The Evil Queen of Numbers thinking she isn't present. Bond immediately hints that M is there causing Tanner to wince and back off. M accepts him backing off and mentions that if she wants sarcasm, she can talk to her children. Modernization: M is completely in charge and has earned a large measure of respect, even though her methods are not agreeable to everyone.

• When Bond discusses the situation with M in her office, seemingly goading her about several lapses of covert intelligence, she calls him a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War, whose boyish charms, though wasted on me, appealed to" the young woman sent to evaluate him. She continues, "If you think for one moment I don't have the balls to send a man out to die, your instincts are dead wrong." Modernization: There is no longer any use for the former Bond attitudes toward women.

• During Bond's briefing with Q about the new BMW, Q says, "Need I remind you, 007, that you have a license to kill, not break the traffic laws." Modernization: Juxtaposing the extraordinary with the mundane—which we know Bond is going to ignore—contrasts how the premise of a double-O couldn't exist in the real world.

• Bond mentions "safe sex" in a steam bath encounter with Xenia Onatopp. Modernization: Sex was always implicitly safe before.

• Onatopp is a "top" in sex and using weapons. She appears to become very aroused firing a gun and enjoys rough foreplay and sex. Her thighs are able to seriously injure men. Modernization: Dominating women didn't exist in the pre-1995 Bond universe. Though Bambi and Thumper (Diamonds Are Forever) came close.

• A scene in a statue junkyard of Soviet relics (and the main title sequence) underscore that the Cold War is history.

• Trapped in an armored train with Natalya Simonova, Bond looks for a means of escape. Natalya picks up a computer keyboard and begins hacking. 007 asks Natalya what she's doing and she says tracing where Onatopp and Janus/Alec Trevelyan/006-turned-evil are fleeing to. Bond is surprised and appreciative. She then demands "Don't stand there! Get us out of here!" Modernization: The woman performs the high value technical task while Bond is relegated to menial labor.

• After they get out—narrowly missing a gigantic train explosion—Natalya seduces Bond. Modernization: Traditionally women pine for Bond but only he initiated.

• In a tropical U.S. location, 80 miles from Cuba, Bond is clearly troubled about something, though sitting on a beautiful beach at sunset. Natalya's insight gets Bond to open up about having to kill his former friend, Alec Trevelyan, and former MI6 comrade. She has an impressive tirade saying she is not impressed, killing and being killed is pointless, and trivializes heroism. "How can you act like this? How can you be so cold?" Bond: "It is what keeps me alive." Natalya: "No. It's what keeps you alone." Modernization: A macho male acknowledges having feelings and discusses them.

I suggest that the combination of Barbara Broccoli, the demise of the Soviet Union, Stella Rimmington, and Judi' Dench's intense and impressive version of M is why pre-1995 M was replaced by a female character.