Dr Stephanie Jones of Aberystwyth University in Wales chose legendary “James Bond” Casting Director and ICDA Co-Founder Debbie McWilliams as the subject of her research on the elusive and largely misunderstood role of casting directors, the invisible and unrecognized labour they shoulder, and the impact of McWilliams’ work on the casting profession worldwide.
Read an excerpt below or download the full paper here.
Debbie McWilliams and the Elusive Role of the Casting Director in the Bond Franchise
by Stephanie Jones
Abstract: Who will be the next 007, villain or ‘Bond girl’ remains a perennial topic of lively discussion. Yet the casting of Bond films as a professional process is not well understood. This is illustrated well by our relative lack of knowledge about one of the longest standing women behind James Bond, Debbie McWilliams, who has been the casting director of the Bond franchise since the early 1980s. Putting McWilliams at the centre of the casting discussion moves it away from the business of substituting one actor for another towards the day-to-day work of the casting department, where auditioning and selecting of actors represents just a small part of the job. Drawing on interviews and production histories, this article argues that the longevity and global scale of the Bond series has shaped the casting profession in important ways that have been overlooked.
“Film and television casting is an occupation dominated by women and casting directors remain elusive figures. The mystery of the casting director is illustrated by the gaps in our knowledge about Debbie McWilliams, who is credited with casting the Bond franchise since For Your Eyes Only (1981). By way of illustration, the French comedy TV series Dix pour cent / Call My Agent! (France 2, 2015–20) presents viewers with a remarkable comic scenario involving the mysterious anonymity of McWilliams. The show concerns the professional lives of several agents who work at a Paris talent agency. In many ways, the programme works, with the same intentions as this article, to normalise the visibility of women’s professional activities that go on around the acting and film-making trades. As Loïc Bourdeau has argued, Call My Agent! is radical in the way that women’s professional activities take up space in the story (2022: 291). While numerous French superstars appear, the agents’ actions provide the focal point for the story. In an episode first broadcast in 2017, one of the talent agents, Andréa Martel (Camille Cottin), hatches a plan to lure the film star Fabrice Luchini from a rival agent by having an actress impersonate McWilliams. Luchini appears in the episode – as do all the stars – as a comic interpretation of his own star persona and has always harboured an ambition to play a Bond villain. Accordingly, Andréa tempts him to change agents with a ruse that makes it appear as if his existing agent is blocking an approach from the Bond production team. Despite being an experienced industry professional, Luchini is taken in by the impersonation because he does not know what McWilliams looks or sounds like.”
You can download the full paper here.
