Being a Bond Girl is something that many actresses would love to do, from the total unknown to the already famous femme fatal. Of course, landing one of these parts can end up being one of the highlights of any actor’s careers – if only for the novelty and enjoyment factors. Playing the bad Bond girl is always fun, even though you’re sure to be dead by the movie’s end. But ever since Michelle Yeoh raised the bar for being less swooning and more Bond’s equal, choosing the good Bond girl has gotten tougher. Still, there are many actresses out there who could equal, if not top Yeoh’s performance as the good Bond girl in Tomorrow Never Dies. Here are a few that might make the grade.
As mentioned in my previous article about possible Bond villains, the story here is rumored to be taken from the two Ian Flemming short stories, “The Property of a Lady” and “007 in New York”. Unfortunately, the female in the latter was called Solange, and a character by that name was already killed off in Casino Royale. There’s also an unnamed MI6 female agent in this story. The relationship here is that Bond is supposed to warn off her boyfriend, after they discover that he’s a KGB agent. In the former story, we get a character called Maria Freudenstein. She’s supposedly working for MI6 but is also a double agent for the KGB. In this story she is being paid by the KGB through the proceeds from auctioning off a very expensive item, such as an antique clock or Faberge Egg.
Using this as a basis for the characters, the bad Bond girl Maria could be played by any number of non-American actresses now in Hollywood. For instance, Diane Kruger is beautiful enough and has the appropriate action track record to take on this role. Marion Cotillard of ‘Inception’ fame also has the right looks, but I’m not sure she’d do well as the bad girl. She has more of a sweet look to her, but who knows – we are always willing for talented actresses to surprise us. If we’re looking for sultry and strong, Monica Bellucci of the ‘Matrix’ movies is also an excellent contender, and EW.com seems to agree with me here. Certainly her playing Mary Magdalene means Monica doesn’t need goody two-shoes roles. I could also see ‘Resident Evil’ actress Milla Jovovich doing justice to either of the Bond girl roles. After seeing her in ‘The American,’ I can also recommend Italy’s Violante Placido to play one of the Bond girls.
One of the rumors that have been spreading around this film is that Rachel Weisz was interested in being a Bond girl. Her friendship with Daniel Craig may have been the impetus for this, but if it does come true, I’d rather she be on the right side of the fence, since I’m not sure she could pull off being convincingly evil. And if we want a bit more humor with this part, taking Mila Kunis as the good Bond girl might be an interesting choice. Mila must have the sex appeal it takes if she made #2 on the latest Ask Men’s top 99 sexiest women. What’s more, most recently she’s shown us she can actually act in such films as ‘The Book of Eli’ and ‘Black Swan.’
And speaking of ‘Black Swan’, our Natalie Portman could do worse than take on the part as a female Bond. If this Oscar hopeful is worried that she won’t be taken seriously after doing such a part, we can remind her that it didn’t hurt Halle Berry’s career any. Remember, Halle was an Oscar winning actress when she took on the part of Jinx. Plus, with Bond solidly moved to the 21st century, and Portman’s ability to speak Hebrew, who’s to say that the unnamed MI6 agent from the story can’t become an agent working for the Mossad?
Two other names came up while looking at EW.com’s list. One was Jessica Biel. This ex-“7th Heaven” star has been trying as hard as possible to distance herself from the wholesome character of Mary Camden, and this is one way to do it. The other suggestion was one that threw me for a loop, but then seemed to make sense. Talk about hard, if anyone can be tough, certainly ‘KillBill’ star Uma Thurman has that ability, and she also has the right looks. What’s more, she could fill either the good or the bad Bond spots with equal success. My final suggestion is ‘Sin City’ and ‘Fantastic Four’ star Jessica Alba. If you’re looking for someone to raise hell on screen and then slip out from under trouble, the girl who played Susan Storm, the Invisible Woman is your girl.
These are just a few ideas for girls who could play in Bond 23. Who would you like to see in one of these roles?
