November 7, 2012 | Arts / Entertainment

Despite scene, James Bond is not bi

In the new James Bond movie, Skyfall, a scene takes place in which Bind meets the film's bad guy Silva, played by Javier Bardem. 

Silva introduces himself to a captive Bond and then starts to flirt, as if threatening him with a homosexual moment. Bond, not missing a beat, says: "What makes you think this is my first time?"

The scene has some asking if the writer, John Logan, has turned the popular womanizer into a bisexual. 

"Some people claim it's because I'm, in fact, gay but not true at all," Logan said. "Sam [Mendes] 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, and 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."

When asked about his own character's sexuality, Bardem was coy. "You could read it that way," Bardem said. "That option was there in the script. The word that [director Sam Mendes] kept using was ‘uncomfortableness’. Beyond the sexuality, he wanted it to feel like you don’t know if Silva’s joking or not."

Is Javier Bardem playing the first gay Bond villain in 'Skyfall'? ... [Entertainment Weekly]

New Bond Goes Old School: Exploring 007's Past and Playing With 'Sexual Intimidation' [The Hollywood Reporter]