CASINO ROYALE
An Interview with Eva Green
By Wilson Morales

November 13, 2006

After Halle Berry measured up to Pierce Brosnan in the last James Bond film, how you come back with a new Bond. Since the producers have decided to reboot the series starting with remake of “Casino Royale”, they needed to find someone who not only could match up a new Bond, but the part of the reason he became the man who we would know. In casting Eva Green, they have found someone who’s beautiful, smart, and saavy. Having made a lasting impressing in “The Dreamers”, she then captured the attention of Ridley Scott, who cast her in last year’s Kingdom of Heaven”, opposite Orlando Bloom. In “Casino Royale”, Green plays Vesper Lynd, the love interest and new Bond girl to Daniel Craig. In speaking with blackfilm.com, Green goes over her role, working with Daniel Craig, and the media’s treatment of the film prior to its release.

When you were cast with this role were you familiar with Daniel Craig’s work?

Eva Green: The first time I’d seen him was in ‘Sylvia.’ Then I saw ‘Enduring Love’ and ‘Munich.’ I haven’t seen ‘Layer Cake’ yet. I’ve always liked him. When you see him onscreen he’s always very intense and still, very much like a man.

What was it like to meet him in person?

Eva Green: No, actually. I mean, I was cast last minute. They asked me to fly to Prague. I read the script. I like the script very much. I flew to Prague; I did a bit of an audition. I was really focused on the thing and stressed out. And he was there, he’d had a party the night before and he was very, very blonde like a Steve McQueen. He’s very quite nervous. He was very lovely, very patient and really connecting with me when we did the screen test unlike other actors you’d get.

You said you came last minute?

Eva Green: They asked me to come and audition a year and a half ago in London and I didn’t want to. And I didn’t want to go, because the Bond girl role is kind of dangerous for an actress I must say. So, I don’t know what happened, but they didn’t find Vesper and they sent me the script. Then I went to Prague and did the screen test. Did one screen test and they were not completely happy of course. I was in New York and they called me and asked me, ‘Can you please go to Prague straight away?’ And do it again, because your English is not that perfect and blah, blah, blah.’ Y’know there is always like a pretext and I had to do a formal audition in costume on the set with Daniel. I had to sign a pre-contract beforehand and I got the part a week after. And then it was straight to the Bahamas. It was quite mad.

Were you surprised about that? Were you wondering if they were wasting your time?

Eva Green: Yeah, you would think, ‘Oh, they just want another actress in case, whatever.’ But, when I met Daniel and the producers the first time, in Prague, they were really looking for somebody and they were very interested I would say. I could see they were interested. It was not like, another one.

You mention that it is kind of dangerous for an actress to take one of these Bond roles. What made you decide to go there?

Eva Green: I loved the fact that it was very funny and sassy in the beginning. Very intelligent, very, very enigmatic and that she evolved throughout the whole thing. She becomes a bit more vulnerable and just blossoms. And I mean, they were just my colors for an actress. I didn’t see this as just another Bond girl.

Were you a fan of the Bond franchise before hand?

Eva Green: Fan? No. Fan? No. (Laughs.) I mean, I always liked Bond; it was always on TV on Sunday night. I liked Sean Connery and yeah; it was very entertaining.

What’s it like going from the indie world to being in this blockbuster? How has it changed your take on acting?

Eva Green: I think the work is the same it’s just a difference when you do all the publicity. It’s like another job. Oh, god. I remember the first time I did ‘The Dreamers’ I went to Venice. Quite a good amount of publicity. A lot of roundtables and TV and I was just not expecting that. I thought I was going to visit Venice, but actually no. And, yeah, when you do the action scenes on set – big. And the beginning of the last scene and the boys are so serious about their guns. But, it was fun. It was quite intimate most of the time. It was O.K.

The chemistry between you two is quite amazing. Did you do a lot of rehearsal together beforehand?

Eva Green: Wel, we did the screen test together with Daniel working very hard we didn’t have a lot of time to really prepare. It was more instantaneous and instinctive and yeah, Yeah, in the morning I went to his trailer and we, if I wanted to make some changes there was sort of a go between me and the director. (Laughs.) No, no, it was good because Daniel is always like, ‘C’mon let’s go for it. Let’s fight for it!’

That scene on the train, was it off the cuff? It feels…

Eva Green: The screen test scene. I worked really hard on it. And it was quite tricky, because Martin Campbell wanted me to speak really fast and I was like, ‘How could you speak that fast and recover?’ And it actually it works. It’s like a mental poker game. And he kept saying like ‘Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, boom, boom, boom.’

Did you have to do anything in terms of training for the role?

Eva Green: No. I mean, I don’t have a lot of action to do. You’re talking about the black dress with the, that’s quite booby? (Laughs.)

It sounds like you got Daniel on your side with Martin Campbell. What didn’t you like about the character that you wanted to change?

Eva Green: I wanted, but it’s always from Bond’s vision, from Bond’s point-of-view. It’s not from my vision, my point-of-view. So, I wanted to let the audience see that she was torn between things. That she felt guilty. When she starts to fall in love with him. And it’s quite true, I think you need to see the movie several times to understand all that Lady Macbeth guilt. To show the ambiguity. Like in the shower, ‘I couldn’t get the blood off my hands. The blood.’ And when she…just little things. I’m not sure you can see. Because people would ask me, ‘Oh, she’s just a baddie, she betrayed him.’ And she saved his life and she completely feel in live with him.

Were you worried about that change in tone? She becomes one of the few girls he falls in love with and then because of her actions he becomes a woman-hating misogynist later on?

Eva Green: Was it appealing to meo play the first Bond girl? (Laughs.)

No, that shift. It seems murky.

Eva Green: I like it, because she breaks his heart, but she has a big impact on his life and this is why he became the Bond we know, he’s an asshole. (Laughs.) It’s interesting, but I don’t know what they are going to do in the next Bond. I mean, what are they going to do? I mean, I know he’s going to try and take revenge or something, but we are going backwards. We are not going to make all the Bonds again.

So, ‘Dr. No’ again..

How hard was the underwater scene?

Eva Green: I rehearsed it a lot underwater with a mouthpiece and not freaking out, because you can’t see a thing. It’s like being in a really bad nightmare. I’ve never seen somebody drown, but I really swallowed water and everything. But it was fine, because I really knew what exactly. It was like choreography, I knew what I was doing. It was O.K. But people were like, ‘Oh my God, how did she do it?’ It was very emotional because when you breathe. I was crying underwater at one point. I was like, “Why? Why?’ It was mad.

Did you say swallowed water underwater while you were doing it?

Eva Green: Yeah, yeah. It was fine.

It looks like she does it intentionally.

Eva Green: It’s a suicide.

Was that in the script?

Eva Green: It is completely. In the novel she takes pills actually. She’s completely neurotic with alcohol.

Your first big Hollywood movie was ‘Kingdom of Heaven.’ Did that sort of make you wary of Hollywood? It was so different from the release and director’s cut.

Eva Green: That is the thing about the studios that is really hard. They are scared of things that are so dark. It was really painful to do the publicity and talk about it. It was not what I had done. It was more like a love interest and that’s it. But, I learned a lot from it. I realized, ‘You know what? This is just a movie. This is not your life.’ And the movie exists now. And Ridley was really angry.

Was he angry? Because he played it off at the time…

Eva Green: He’s British, you know… (Laughs.)

Were you aware there was a longer cut?

Eva Green: I did the dubbing for it and then I saw it quite recently actually. I knew he was going to release the long one, but it’s quite hard. I think it’s his own production who released.

Were you surprised when you saw the longer cut?

Eva Green: It was really painful. I had my glass of red wine. It was fine. The whole movie makes more sense. It’s beautiful. All the characters are much deeper.

It’s so much better in the longer cut; does that make you wary now?

Eva Green: Yeah, I’m like. Yeah, but what can you do?

Are you weighing big budget vs. indies? Or is it any good script that comes along?

Eva Green: The good thing about this Bond thing that I hope and pray is that I’ll have more opportunities. That roles will come up to me rather than going to the auditions and y’know that kind of thing. But I still have a lot of things to prove. I haven’t I think shown all my talent. (Laughs.)

Is there a particular kind of role you’re trying to play in the future?

Eva Green: I discovered recently Susanne Biers’ work. She’s Danish and she did those movies with Mads Mikkelsen.

Have you seen any of his films?

Eva Green: I have seen ‘Open Hearts’ and ‘After The Wedding.’ I saw them on the plane, because I didn’t know Mads’ work. And that’s the kind of thing I would love to do. It’s very independent and quite Danish and quite dark, but I think I need to do something like that now. I don’t want to be, back home everyone is like, ‘Oh yeah, you want to work in Hollywood in big blockbusters and make money.’

Are you looking for more mature roles? It seems so weird to us. ‘The Dreamers’ came out two years ago and you looked so young in it.

Eva Green: (Laughs.) I look good, I look young.

Are you trying to find more mature roles though?

Eva Green: I don’t know. I am older, but yes, kind of. Because in the movie when I was looking at stills in the trailer I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I look so young! They aren’t going to believe I am Vesper Lynd.’

The casting was such a media event. Every week in the press it was Angelina Jolie or Charlize Theron. Did you detach yourself from the process?

Eva Green: I didn’t know. I didn’t know about the Bond girl thing. I was approached very quickly, boom, boom, boom it happened. And everyone was like, ‘Oh, my God.’

Were you aware of the criticism that Daniel was receiving?

Eva Green: It’s funny, because in the make up trailer there are always lots of trashy magazines and it’s always quite pleasant to go through them in the morning and that’s when I realized, ‘Oh, my, it’s quite nasty.’ And there was a lot of pressure on him. He was quite nervous and paranoid sometimes, especially in the Bahamas in the beach. Lots of paparazzi. Even on me in France – nasty things! Like I was going to get fired, I was so bad. It’s a type of publicity I must say. I just laugh about it. It’s so ridiculous. And now, he’s so amazing in the movie.

Were there more things they cut off camera?

Eva Green: No, we didn’t have any sex scenes at all.

Caterina said how nice Daniel was to break the ice before their sex scene. Did he do anything with you?

Eva Green: He was very paternal. Very, ‘Are you O.K.? Are you alright?’ Very tactile and very sweet and nice. And you know he’s new and it’s quite scary to be part of this big machine at the beginning.

There is no scene where we see Vesper shift. Did you want to have a scene where there is that emotional ‘I betrayed you’?

Eva Green: Yeah, but it’s from Bond’s point-of-view.

So what’s next?

Eva Green: I’m doing ‘The Dark Materials.’ I play Serafina Pekkala, the witch.

Q: There had been some controversy over whether they were going to take the church business out. Is it in the script?

Eva Green: Yes, yes. Absolutely, I hope the studios will be brave enough and keep the darkness. But yes, the magic theory of the church is very present.

And you are signed on to all of the movies?

Eva Green: We are doing the first one and if it works at the box office we will do the other ones.