The tradition of French actresses becoming Bond girls continues in SPECTRE – the 24th 007 film.
Producers revealed Lea Seydoux will play Madeline Swann opposite Daniel Craig – back as Bond for the fourth time.
Berenice Marlohe played Severine in the Skyfall.
Claudine Auger was Domino with Sean Connery in Thunderball.
Carole Bouquet was Melina Havelock in For Your Eyes Only starring Roger Moore
Sophie Marceau was Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough starring Pierce Brosnan.
This marks 3 French actresses for Craig: Eva Green was Vesper in Casino Royale, Marlohe in Skyfall and now Seydoux in SPECTRE.
How does an actress win the coveted role and join cinema’s biggest franchise?
Marlohe told Live magazine about how she found the casting agent which led to director Sam Mendes which led to a meeting with Daniel Craig.
“At that stage I was so focused on my performance that there was no room for nerves. I also reminded myself that I was meeting Daniel Craig, not James Bond.”
Marlohe pointed to a Bond femme fatale as one of her favorites.
“There is more scope now within the Bond movies to create a strong, independent woman. Earlier Bond girls were very dependent women. But I loved what Famke Janssen did in GoldenEye, in the way she portrayed a funny psychopath. In my character I’ve tried to bring a different kind of complexity. If I get recognised more when this movie comes out, I’ll deal with it. If someone says, ‘Hey, there’s that Bond Girl’ I’ll correct them and say, “No, I’m that Bond Lady’.”
A big question still to ponder: Is Swann a bad girl, heroine or a woman who walks both sides of good and evil? After all this is a James Bond movie.
SPECTRE arrives in November,2015.
By Editor