Ben Whishaw has admitted he thinks "some things were not great about" the decision to acknowledge Q's sexuality in James Bond's latest film installment, No Time to Die.
In the scene, James Bond (Daniel Craig) shows up at Q's apartment with Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and asks Q — who is the longtime purveyor of Bond's gadgets and guns — for help on a mission.
Q, however, is unhappy as he's in the middle of preparing the table for a romantic date. "He'll be here in 20 minutes," he tells Bond, confirming that his date is a man.
When the subject of the scene was raised in a new interview, Whishaw — who is gay — told The Guardian that he had been disappointed by how brief the scene was when he first read the film's script.
What's more, he said that beyond a positive text from TV writer Russell T Davies, he was yet to receive "any feedback".
"I'm really interested in these questions," he said, adding: "And I'm very happy to admit maybe some things were not great about that [creative] decision."
Whishaw continued: "I suppose I don’t feel it was forced upon the studio. That was not my impression of how this came about. I think it came from a good place."
He admitted to having concerns about the scene during a chat with producer Barbara Broccoli, stating: "I think I remember feeling something like what you've just described. I think I thought, 'Are we doing this, and then doing nothing with it?'
"I remember, perhaps, feeling that was unsatisfying."
However, Whishaw said that "for whatever reason, I didn't pick it apart with anybody on the film".
He added: "Maybe on another kind of project I would have done? But it’s a very big machine. I thought a lot about whether I should question it. Finally, I didn’t. I accepted this was what was written. And I said the lines. And it is what it is."
