Ana de Armas on a woman playing James Bond next: There's no need

Hollywood star Ana de Armas is setting the records straight. The actress who will soon be seen in 'The Gray Man' recently spoke about her stint in Daniel Craig's final Bond film 'No Time To Die' and even weighed in on the conversation on whether the new Bond should be a woman or not.

"There's no need for a female Bond. There shouldn't be any need to steal someone else's character, you know, to take over. This is a novel, and it leads into this James Bond world and this fantasy of that universe where he`s at," she added.

"What I would like is that the female roles in the Bond films, even though Bond will continue to be a man, are brought to life in a different way. "That they`re given a more substantial part and recognition. That`s what I think is more interesting than flipping things," de Armas shared.

De Armas famously appeared in Daniel Craig`s final Bond film, 'No Time to Die,' in which she had a meagre five minutes of screen time despite being heavily publicised as a star in the 2021 movie.

She played CIA agent Paloma, who teams up with Bond on a mission in Havana. While her cameo was quick, de Armas received acclaim for her performance.

Meanwhile, Ana de Armas is in news for her former relationship with Ben Affleck. Recently she recalled the level of public scrutiny around her former relationship with Ben Affleck and why it led her to leave Los Angeles.

While the duo dated for less than a year in 2020, they were frequently photographed by the paparazzi and everything from their afternoon strolls to their vacations made headlines.

"Going through it (myself) confirmed my thoughts about, `This is not the place for me to be`. It became a little bit too much. There`s no escape. There`s no way out," said Armas.

After Affleck and Armas starred together in the movie `Deep Water`, following which they sparked romance rumours in March 2020 after they were spotted visiting Havana, Cuba, where she was born. They made their relationship Instagram official that April.

In January 2021, a source confirmed to E! News that de Armas and Affleck split. At the time, an insider close to Affleck said the duo "started having problems in the fall" and noted they were just in "different places" in life.

Affleck is now engaged to Jennifer Lopez, rekindling their romance from the early aughts, and de Armas is dating Paul Boukadakis. 

(With agency inputs)