Some people were more shaken than stirred to find out that Lashana Lynch is set to take over the role of 007 in the new James Bond movie. So she reached out to her haters.
In July, The Mail on Sunday reported that in the upcoming 25th film in the franchise, No Time to Die, the actress' character, an agent named Nomi, is given the super spy's famous code number 007 in a "pivotal" scene in which she is told to head to Jamaica to convince him to emerge from retirement to deal with a new crisis. The studio has not commented on the report and has remained mum on details about the film, which will see Daniel Craig reprise his role as the actual Bond for the fifth and final time.
This will mark the first time both a black and female star will technically play "007." Some people, namely die-hard Bond fans and mainly men, have expressed anger and annoyance about this on social media.
"It doesn't dishearten me," Lynch told The Hollywood Reporter in a cover interview released this week. "It makes me feel quite sad for some people because their opinions, they're not even from a mean place—they're actually from a sad place. It's not about me. People are reacting to an idea, which has nothing to do with my life."
She also told the outlet that she has occasionally messaged haters back, usually saying something very nice.
"Then they've been like, 'Oh my gosh, thank you so much!' But it's an interesting test because it reminds them that they definitely wouldn't say that to someone's face," she said.
She added that she does not plan on interacting with trolls anymore.
Feedback from the cast and crew to her Bond heroine character has been positive.
"Everyone was really responsive to having her be what I wanted," Lynch said. "You're given a fresh perspective on a brand-new black woman in the Bond world."
Emmy-winning Fleabag and Killing Eve creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge and True Detective executive producer Cary Joji Fukunaga are among the writers for No Time to Die. The former is the second woman in the history of the spy film franchise to be a credited writer of a Bond movie.
Lynch told the Hollywood Reporter that creating her Bond character was about working with the two to shape a real woman.
"I didn't want someone who was slick," she said. "I wanted someone who was rough around the edges and who has a past and a history and has issues with her weight and maybe questions what's going on with her boyfriend."
"We had one conversation about her maybe being on her period in one scene, and maybe at the beginning of the scene—and I spoke to Cary about this—throwing her tampon in the thing," Lynch added.