With nearly forty years of career behind her, Fanny Ardant is undeniably an emblematic figure of French and international cinema. But if the actress has played everything, and even distinguished herself on stage or in song, one role has always been refused to her: that of James Bond Girl. Invited by Anthony Martin in the morning of RTL this Sunday, April 14, the actress very close to Gérard Depardieu told the journalist about having been excluded from the 007 franchise by a casting director whom she greatly appreciated, under the pretext that she did not was “not beautiful enough” for the role. A difficult, but educational experience for Fanny Ardant.
Indeed, the casting director added: “But you’ll do much more interesting things.” A nuance that served as “lantern in the night” for the young woman of 20 years old that she was then, who had not only been told “You are ugly, pass your turn”but who had predicted a career very different from the one she was destined for with James Bond. “And I met her twenty years later, and she remembered. She said, ‘Do you remember what I told you?’ I wanted to kiss him.”remembered Fanny Ardant. “She remembered it, that’s what’s crazy.” A memorable memory for both women.
These French actresses who played a James Bond Girl
If Fanny Ardant did not have the chance to face agent 007, several other French women were offered the role. The latest is Léa Seydoux, who closed her chapter in the saga with Daniel Craig. Before her, there followed Ursula Andress, the first French-speaking person to face James Bond, then many beauty queens like Claudine Auger or Denise Perrier. Carole Bouquet and Sophie Marceau also played an important role in the secret agent universe, as did Eva Green, who played Vesper Lynd, Bond’s great love.
Article written in collaboration with 6Medias.
Photo credits: Lucia Sabatelli / Bestimage