NO TIME TO DIE
Movie’s new star says she’s happy to play a woman with modern attitude opposite Daniel Craig.. but with no shortage of glam
INCE Ursula Andress walked out of the ocean in a white bikini for the first 007 movie Dr No, Bond Girls have been a key part of the franchise. Sometimes with outrageously nudge-nudge names, the girls were usually there to be saved or seduced by the suave spy. But the most recent movies have caught up with the times and Bond girls such as Halle Berry’s Jinx in Die Another Day have been the match for 007’s myth. No longer are the women some kind of trophy for Bond to treat himself to at the end of the movie after he’s saved the world. For next week’s No Time to Die, there are three Bond girls – one of whom, Nomi, played by Lashana Lynch, is the new 007. Cuban actress Ana de Armas, 33, is also not there as window dressing playing CIA agent Paloma, who is there to assist Bond in Daniel Craig’s last outing. She said: “I am just happy to be in it at a time when things are shifting and I am happy to portray a new, more evolved and smart Bond girl. “Our producers understand what this situation in the world is and what needs to be changed. They are aware of how many people follow this franchise. “They have taken that into account without stepping away from the core and the essence of what a Bond movie is – that fantasy and the glamour.” Some great actors have been Bond Girls, including Dame Diana Rigg, Honor Blackman, Jane Seymour, Michelle Yeoh, Eva Green and Gemma Arterton. But Ana never dreamed of joining that club. She said:“It wasn’t my dream to be a Bond girl but it happened and I am very proud, especially with the shift that the franchise is taking on women.” The Havana-born actress moved from Cuba to Spain when she was 18 and had her breakout role as Joi, a holographic AI projection in Blade Runner 2049, before being nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in Knives Out alongside Daniel. Her role in the new Bond wasn’t even written when she was offered the part but she was interested, especially when Fleabag writer Phoebe WallerBridge was asked by Daniel to help with the script and give it a more
feminine perspective. Ana said: “Usually these women need to be rescued. Or they die. Or are evil. I needed to read that script. And it took a little but they sent me the scenes. It’s important, because I want to bring something else to the story.”
Originally due out last year but delayed because of Covid, the 25th Bond movie, directed by Cary Fukunaga, sees the return of Christoph Waltz as Blofeld, Ben Wishaw as Q, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny and Ralph Fiennes as M.
Bond baddie for Daniel’s fifth and final outing as 007 is Rami Malek as the masked terrorist Lyutsifer Safin.
We don’t know too much about Ana’s role as Paloma other than she’s an intelligence agent who helps Bond.
She isn’t feeling any pressure that audiences will finally see the film when it’s released next week.
Ana said: “I don’t. It’s fun. I feel like we have things to say. Hopefully, people will love it or learn something from it.’” After starring alongside Daniel in Knives Out, an ensemble comedy thriller, she is happy to be teaming up with Daniel again. Ana said: “It was really awesome. I love working with Daniel, first of all, because he is so very talented.
“He’s so hard working and it doesn’t matter if he is exhausted, or has broken bones in his body, he will still show up and deliver. I admire him as a partner on set. We had so much fun on Knives Out and it only helped to feel more comfortable for Bond.”
While she never dreamed of being a Bond girl, she claimed she has been a fan of the franchise and her favourite was 2012’s Skyfall because it was the first Bond film she saw in the cinema.
She added: “I thought Javier Bardem was the best villain ever. I was obsessed with his performance.”
Ana spoke very little English when she got her first Holywood part in Knock Knock, learning her words phonetically. But Keanu Reeves, who
she starred alongside in her next American film, Exposed, offered her the best advice she’s had in her career.
She said: “We had just finished a scene and I felt very frustrated about it but we were moving on and we couldn’t reshoot anything.
“I got very upset and I said something like, ‘Anyway, who cares? We are not saving lives!’
“Keanu got very serious, he looked at me and he said, ‘Don’t say that. We do save lives. We make movies to change people’s lives.’ That really stuck with me.”
Now Ana is hot property and has been chosen to play the ultimate American silver screen icon Marilyn Monroe in Netflix film Blonde.
She said: “I can’t wait for that to come out. It was such a pleasure project and I think it’s going to be a big surprise.”
No Time To Die is in cinemas from Thursday.
ANA DE ARMAS ON BOND GIRL FLAWS