Bond star Naomie Harris backs climate change film
‘I’m proud to be able to lend my voice to this project, which I hope will inspire viewers’
British actress Naomie Harris and musician Brian Eno have teamed up to produce a short film backing calls for urgent action to slow climate change, in support of civil disobedience campaign Extinction Rebellion.
Harris, who plays Eve Moneypenny in the James Bond movies “Skyfall,” “Spectre” and the forthcoming “No Time To Die”, provides the voice-over for the animation, which also explores the threat posed by the accelerating loss of species.
“I’m proud to be able to lend my voice to this project, which I hope will inspire viewers to get behind the ambitions of Extinction Rebellion with a great deal of urgency,” Harris said in a statement ahead of the film’s release last week.
Called “Extinction Emergency, Why We Must Act Now,” the film is the first of two animations backed by Hollywood stars to support Extinction Rebellion, which originated in Britain and mobilised thousands of volunteers to peacefully offer themselves for arrest at climate protests last year. The director was animator Mirite Ben Yitzchak.
The second film, called “Climate Crisis, and Why We Should Panic,” is voiced by actress Keira Knightley, and argues for emergency action on global warming.
Hundreds of scientists and academics have backed Extinction Rebellion, saying that civil disobedience is the only option let to force governments to embrace the scale of action needed to prevent millions of deaths due to climate change.
Critics say the movement’s disruptive protests, which shut down parts of London last year, have stretched police resources and caused unnecessary inconvenience to commuters.
Nevertheless, the movement has atracted a string of celebrity backers, including Eno, who composed the animation’s soundtrack.
In January, Hollywood star Joaquin Phoenix starred as a medic batling to save Earth in a two-minute film to support Extinction Rebellion and San Francisco-based Amazon Watch.
British actress Naomie Harris was born in London, England, the only child of television scriptwriter Lisselle Kayla. Her father is from Trinidad and her mother is from Jamaica.
Ater graduating from the University, Harris trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Acting success soon followed and her breakthrough film role came in Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later... Other notable projects include Miami Vice and Small Island (for which she was named best female actor by the Royal Television Society). Harris also won fans for her role as voodoo witch Tia Dalma in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and further international atention came her way when she played field agent Eve Moneypenny in the James Bond film Skyfall.
Naomie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the drama Moonlight which won the Best Picture Oscar that year.
Naomie Harris was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire ( OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2017 New Years Honours for her services to drama.