Cillian Murphy: 'James Bond should be a woman'

The 'Peaky Blinders' actor has ruled himself out of being the next 007

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 30:  Actor Cillian Murphy attends the Birmingham Premiere of Peaky Blinders at cineworld on October 30, 2017 in Birmingham, England.  (Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)
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Cillian Murphy has long been among the actors tipped to replace Daniel Craig as James Bond.

But the Peaky Blinders actor has now effectively ruled himself out, stating that he thinks the next Bond "should be a woman".

In an interview with The Guardian, Murphy said: "The thing about it is, if you say anything about Bond it becomes the headline, right?

"There’s two things I'll say about that. Firstly, there's a whole other industry, which is completely separate from the film side of things, and that's the bookies. The second thing I'd say is that I think it should be a woman, which rules me out."

Murphy also said that he felt the impact Brexit might have on his native Ireland is "not equitable or fair".

"The Good Friday agreement was predicated on there not being a border and to think that you can hold Ireland to ransom, you can't," said Murphy, who was born in County Cork. “Listen, if you and I are in a club and there are 28 members of the club and I decided to leave, why would I get preferential treatment? Doesn’t make any sense.

"And if Ireland is a member of that club and me leaving undermines their whole set-up and the peace they have, it doesn't make any sense, and it's not equitable or fair and it's because the whole thing was sold on a bunch of misinformation."