Eva Green tells Andy Welch why Casino Royale was just the start for her acting career

Nov 27 2009 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

IT’S one of the most coveted roles in the film world, being a Bond girl.

Glamorous locations, heavenly beaches and, of course, the chance to get intimate with a dashing leading man means there’s never a shortage of actresses to take the part.

But it often leads nowhere; just ask Maryam D’Abo, Carey Lowell, Talisa Soto, Izabella Scorupco, or any of the other girls whose careers stalled after locking lips with Her Majesty’s finest.

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

“I’m too demanding, my agent says I’m a nightmare,” she admits.

“‘You have to work!’ he always says. But if my heart is not in it, I can’t do it and I will do it badly. Some actors can do that, they think, ‘It’s two weeks, I’ll do it’ but I like to prepare for a role. I have to be in love with it.”

Since Casino Royale, Eva has appeared in The Golden Compass in 2007, nothing in 2008 and fantasy thriller Franklyn earlier this year.

“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.”

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

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

Miss G is the school’s enigmatic diving instructor. Unlike the rest of the staid teaching staff, she engages with the girls, enthralling the team with wild tales of her far-flung travels, elegant dresses and an attitude that appears modern and liberal, even by today’s standards.

Miss G – we never find out what the G stands for – has a particular effect on her team captain, the bitchy Di Radfield (Juno Temple), who is obsessed with her free-spirited mentor.

“She’s so flamboyant,” Eva says of Miss G. “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 like a little girl made of glass.”