Naomie Harris doubted herself as Bond girl

Naomie Harris didn’t think she’d make a “very good” Bond girl. The 35-year-old actress — who portrays field agent Eve in new 007 movie Skyfall — explained she wouldn’t be able to play a one-dimensional action woman, and is thrilled to be able to become a “new kind of Bond girl”.

“To be honest, I don’t think I’d be very good at such a role. What drew me to this was the opportunity to play a new kind of Bond Girl,” she said.

“It’s not just the women who have changed. James Bond himself has changed and Daniel Craig has been a very big part of that. He’s brought depth and humanity to the role. He’s so layered in a way that other Bonds just weren’t, because nothing seemed to touch them. Daniel’s Bond is very much touched by his relationships.

“In 2012, there’s a need to have female characters who are equal to that. Otherwise it would be totally imbalanced and no one would care about the relationships Bond has. I love the way it’s developed in that way.

“Those Bond Girls in the Sixties and Seventies might have been good back then but they wouldn’t be seen as very PC now.”

While the Pirates of the Caribbean star admitted the new 007 movie isn’t going for a “feminist” spin on the secret agent franchise, it presents Bond girls as “multi-faceted, intelligent and capable”.

“I wouldn’t go as far as to say that we’re going for a feminist take on the Bond Girl, because that has so many connotations to different people,” she said. “But I would say that we are Bond Girls who are multi-faceted, intelligent and capable.

“In the past, the Bond Girls were all over Bond and didn’t have a life outside that relationship. That’s not the case in this film.”

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