Gorgeous Eva bucks the Bond girl trend

Nov 27 2009 By Andy Welch

IT’S one of the most coveted roles in the film world, being a Bond girl: glamorous locations and, of course, the chance to get intimate with a dashing leading man.

But while being one of 007’s conquests might mean diamonds and designer dresses for a short time, it often leads to a stalled career.

Since her breakthrough as Vesper Lynd in 2006’s Bond reboot Casino Royale, however, Eva Green has well and truly bucked that trend, choosing interesting, unconventional roles proving she’s more than an admittedly very pretty face.

"I always look at the script and have to fall in love with it," she says. "I’m too demanding. My agent says I’m a nightmare. But if my heart is not in it, I can’t do it."

Since Casino Royale, she has appeared in just a couple of films: The Golden Compass in 2007, nothing in 2008, then fantasy thriller Franklyn released earlier this year.

"After Bond, of course I had offers but I don’t like cliché, or when it’s not complex enough.

"I got very lucky with Casino Royale, and I’m now more ‘bankable’," adds the 29-year-old, cringing at the word normally used by studio executives and producers, "but it’s great when you have meaty parts offered, like Miss G".

This is Eva’s latest character, the lead in Jordan (daughter of Ridley) Scott’s directorial debut Cracks.

Adapted from Sheila Kohler’s 1999 novel, it is set in a stuffy 1930s all-girls boarding school in England (South Africa was originally the setting of Kohler’s book).

Miss G – we never find out what the G stands for – is the school’s enigmatic diving instructor. Unlike the rest of the staid staff, she engages with the girls, enthralling them with wild tales of her far-flung travels, elegant dresses and liberal attitude.

Eva says: "It’s quite rare for an actress to have the opportunity to play so many colours, you know? She’s so strong, sharp, funny, a great teacher, passionate. And then you have the other side – she’s very fragile, like a little girl made of glass."

While Miss G is something of a fantasist, Eve herself really has had lots of globetrotting adventures.

Born in Paris, to a French mother and Swedish father, she and her twin sister Joy were raised in the French capital, also spending time in Ireland, and London where she now lives. She also trained at the New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts before doing stage work in her native France.

She says: "I went to a very normal school in Paris. It was a tough school, but I think your school makes you who you are." She adds: "For me it was a big challenge to play a teacher, I thought I might lack authority or not be old enough. I thought they should have picked Kristin Scott Thomas."

But she found her inspiration, in part, from an old drama teacher who was a bit like Miss G, though not her character in the latter part of the film when she crumbles in an atmosphere of obsession and jealousy before a tragic finale.

Eva loved the "magical" seven-week shoot but admits she is hard on herself during filming.

"I find it difficult to watch myself, and I can’t be objective. When I’m in it, it’s too disturbing. I hear my voice and don’t think I’m saying something properly or should have done something differently," she concludes, shrugging her shoulders in an oh-so-Gallic way, almost as if there’s nothing she can do about her condition.

"I suppose it’s better than having poor standards."

Eva will next be seen in Womb, starring alongside the new Doctor, Matt Smith; The Last Word, with Ewan McGregor, and in a remake of classic gangster flick Mona Lisa with Mickey Rourke.

There will be a review of Cracks on next Friday’s Culture when the film is released in cinemas.