A New Bond Girl

After weeks of speculation about the next Bond girl – all bets were on Rihanna – 007’s next co-star was revealed last week. French actress L?a Seydoux will take on the as yet unnamed role – thankfully innuendo-laden character names died a death with the franchise reboot a couple of years ago. Seydoux’s casting further reflects how the Bond movie series is serious game.

Seydoux was the star of Cannes last year when she starred in romantic drama Blue is the Warmest Colour and industry folk were curious to see what her next move would be. Considering Casino Royale put Eva Green, another French indie darling before kissing Daniel Craig on screen, on the movie map, joining Bond 24 is a good career decision for the young actress who has also taken the fashion world by storm. Seydoux is a Paris Fashion Week regular and has amassed many brand ambassador roles in the past year, including Prada and Miu Miu. Irish audiences have also seen her in Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel earlier this year.

To celebrate L?a’s new ascension to mainstream leading lady status we take a look at our favourite Bond girls, starting with Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd, obviously.

The Bond series got rebooted in 2006. The blond outsider Daniel Craig got cast as the man with a license to kill to the surprise of Hollywood and the unknown French actress Eva Green was to be his love interest. Green’s Vesper Lynd was the coolest banker going, helping James Bond beat the baddies and bankrolling his poker game while capturing his stone cold heart with her keen intelligence and smoking fashion sense. Vesper Lynd was a new kind of Bond girl for a new era, and boy did she work a smoky eye and dark lip.

Nothing fazed Honor Blackman’s Pussy Galore in Goldfinger. Blackman was 39-years-old when the movie was shot, making her the oldest Bond girl ever. Her character was an implied lesbian and a pilot, and even had her own Flying Circus of women aviators. She was also part of a global criminal syndicate but after a few scenes opposite Sean Connery’s Bond she was helping the CIA catch the villain Goldfinger and then fell into the British spy’s arms.

Diana Rigg had the distinction of starring opposite the most tepid Bond of all, George Lazenby. Her character was called Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo, but by the movie’s end she was Mrs. Tracy Bond, and dead. Up until then however she was as glam as heck, working a bun that we wish many a young Irish woman would strive towards. RIP Tracy.

Honey Ryder AKA the most famous bikini body in the world was the most legendary Bond girl and leaving her off this list was not an option. Swiss actress Ursula Andress walked out of the sea in Dr. No in 1962 and so iconic was her entrance that Die Another Day‘s Halle Berry recreated the look in a coral bikini.

Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies. She did her own stunts! While handcuffed to Pierce Brosnan! She was also amazing in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

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