The “problematic” ‘Bond girl’ everyone knew was doomed to fail: “She is not credible in the role”
There’s barely a franchise in cinema that’s completely immune to the pressures of studio interference, and even James Bond, which everyone assumed was ruled over with an iron fist by the Broccoli family until they sold up to Amazon, found itself bowing to those in positions of power.
For the most part, though, Eon Productions had fairly free rein. The company was responsible for almost every facet of the 007 brand, ranging from casting and choosing the director to recruiting the crew, devising the set pieces, and tasking a hand-picked writing team to whip everything into shooting shape.
However, the bigger Bond became, the more likely it was that the studios distributing the films would want to get involved. Things reached a head in Michael Apted’s The World Is Not Enough, when Denise Richards was cast as a hotpants-wearing nuclear physicist called Christmas Jones. Through no fault of her own, she was immediately dubbed one of the worst ‘Bond girls’ of all time.
“The Christmas Jones character clearly, as people have written about it, is problematic,” co-writer Bruce Feirstein acknowledged. “The casting came from MGM, and I had tried to address the obvious red flag, which was a nuclear physicist walking around in short shorts with a tank top. It was a decision made above my head, above my pay grade.”
Richards did everything that was asked of her, but once the movie had been released, the character became a laughing stock. It wasn’t her fault, since she’d played the role the way it was written in the script, and she’d even tried to suggest some alterations that would make Dr Jones a little less ludicrous, which were swiftly shot down by Apted.
“Denise Richards came onto the film at MGM’s insistence,” Bond historian John Cork concurred. “I think Denise Richards gives a credible performance, but she is not credible in the role. She’s hampered by the Lara Croft outfit and that she has no character arc or outside life at all. The audience simply never believes she is a nuclear disarmament scientist, and nothing the filmmakers do helps convince us that she is.”
Nothing he said is untrue, with Feirstein sympathising with the actor’s plight. “This is not about Denise,” he clarified. “This was about, Denise tried her best and really gave her all.” The fault lies with MGM, who foisted both the casting choice and the characterisation upon the scribe, which left him feeling irritated that the negative response to Christmas Jones became “one of those things where they blame the screenwriter for something that he had nothing to do with.”
He effectively had one hand tied behind his back, knowing the ‘Bond girl’ was a one-note and underwritten archetype, but he couldn’t do anything about it because the studio was peering over his shoulder to make sure the script he handed in was to their satisfaction, which included a nuclear scientist who didn’t for one second come across as remotely realistic, a fact hammered home by Richards’ Razzie win for ‘Worst Supporting Actress’.
That said, the big unanswered question is who came up with the execrable, “I thought Christmas only comes once a year?” line that ends The World Is Not Enough, since Feirstein probably wouldn’t take the blame for that one, either.
