Who REALLY made Silva want Bond?

Javier Bardem told the BFI London Film Festival that during a Skyfall script reading he pitched Sam Mendes a Silva who, besides destroying the world, wants to have sex with Bond. But hold on to your Tom Ford...

Screenwriter John Logan has been on the record for years. In 2012 he said he and Mendes decided to “play the homoerotic card”. In 2021 he wrote in the New York Times that he and Sam “boldly announced” the scene as a homoerotic seduction. Barbara Broccoli says she fought the studio to keep “What makes you think this is my first time?”

So who’s lying? Probably nobody.

Logan wrote a power play: sexual intimidation. Bardem pushed for something hotter: Silva genuinely wanting Bond. Mendes himself once asked whether Silva actually desires Bond or is just messing with his head. The answer on screen is both, because cinema is never one auteur. It’s a polycule of writers, directors, actors and producers, each claiming their piece.

What’s fascinating is how the story has changed: hedged in 2012, celebrated in 2021, owned by the actor in 2026. Queerness in Bond used to be something people deflected. Now everyone wants the credit. That’s progress, darlings.

The full story of how the story has changed is covered in my queer re-view of Skyfall.