The ‘Bond girl’ who grew to despise their role: “I am perplexed why it followed me around”
What even is a ‘James Bond girl’? This question has had several different answers throughout the years, and the definition has inevitably shifted as 007’s big-screen adventures have evolved and moved with the times.
In the Sean Connery, George Lazenby, and Roger Moore eras, it was an archetype that existed as little more than eye candy. Women were cast in Bond films to look pretty, bat their eyelashes at the secret agent, and end up either betraying and trying to kill him or becoming the spy’s latest conquest.
It wasn’t until the Pierce Brosnan era that things noticeably began to change, and even then, it wasn’t a wholesale shift. Denise Richards was cast as a nuclear physicist and was savaged for it despite the ‘Bond girl’ trope, at least trying to present a prominent female character as the hero’s intellectual and professional equal.
Michelle Yeoh was given the platform to hold her own in the action stakes and wasn’t once presented as a damsel in distress, so progress was being made regardless of how incremental it was. The Daniel Craig years were leaps and bounds ahead of their predecessors in terms of bringing women with genuine depth and complexity to the fore, but there were still exceptions to the rule.
In what was only her fourth film appearance, Gemma Arterton was drafted into Quantum of Solace as something of a throwback. Daft name? Check, because she was Strawberry Fields. Pointless arc? Check, because she was bedded by Bond and then swiftly killed off. That said, the actor was initially enthused about joining one of cinema’s marquee franchises early on.
Unlike several other ‘Bond girls’, Arterton’s career only went from strength to strength in the aftermath after she landed plum roles in several Hollywood blockbusters. However, the more distance she gained from Quantum of Solace, the more she grew to regret the day she’d signed on the dotted line.
Arterton almost quit during production after being criticised by a studio executive, and when reflecting on Quantum of Solace, she admitted that she “realised there was so much wrong with Bond women.” Unfortunately, playing a ‘Bond girl’ isn’t something an actor is allowed to forget, regardless of what they go on to accomplish.
The actor told The Times she remained “perplexed why it has followed me around” for almost two decades, even though she “was only in the film for five minutes.” In 2008, Arterton was thrilled to join the Bond franchise and even received an apology from producer Barbara Broccoli, who wished that she’d never killed off the character to preserve her for future instalments.
And yet, with the benefit of hindsight, she’s hinted that she probably wouldn’t do it again, and she’s hardly the first ex-‘Bond girl’ to say so.
