Eva
Green, winner of the Orange Rising Star Award, presented
at the 2006 BAFTA Film Awards, talks to Jean Lynch
The Orange Rising Star Award is the only audience award
at the Film Awards, and the British public voted for Eva
Green as the next star to light up our screens. Eva stole
the show from a shortlist of five international young actors
and actresses, nominated for their outstanding performances
and exceptional talent. The other nominees shortlisted for
the award were: Ben Whishaw, Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt
and Naomie Harris.
Eva made her Hollywood debut in Ridley Scott's Kingdom
of Heaven (2005) alongside Orlando Bloom. In her most recent
film Casino Royale (2006), she won the hearts of critics
and UK audiences alike with her outstanding performance as
the enigmatic Bond girl, Vesper Lynd.
The Orange Rising Star Award celebrates a young actor or
actress of any nationality who has demonstrated exceptional
talent and ambition and who has already begun to capture
the imagination of the British public as a film star in the
making.
Eva's reaction to winning the award
is one of delighted surprise. “I was not expecting that at all actually.
I was like, I'm French...I was like, oh, my God. I'm surprised
in a very good way.” She adds: “I forgot, actually,
to thank the people who voted for me but it's fantastic.
I'm so surprised. I can't really believe it. I really thank
the people.”
It's perhaps fair to say that most of the 'Bond' girls in
previous instalments of the franchise haven't been roles
that lend themselves particularly well to critical acclaim,
making Eva's soaring recognition and approval by audiences
all the more remarkable. The word on the street is that Eva's
performance as Vesper Lynd has broken the mould of the typical
'Bond' girl, and could prove quite a hard act to follow.
Eva considers: “It's quite tricky
because we're going backwards [with the film] and this
is the first Bond, and it explained how Bond became Bond,
you know, so he was more human at the very beginning, more
emotional. Vesper is less cliched than the other Bond girls,
so I don't know how they're going to do the next Bond.
You know, his heart is broken and I don't know, we'll see.”
Her two Bond co-stars, Daniel Craig
and Judi Dench, were also nominees on Awards night, Craig
being the first actor to be nominated for the role of 007,
another indicator of the credibility being directed at
Casino Royale's pared down, leaner, meaner production. “He's a real gentleman...a
real actor,” Eva says of her leading man. “He's
not like all in the head, you know, he's very visceral, plays
with his guts and he was very paternal, very reassuring.” And
Dame Judi? “She's an amazing actress.”
One of the things that most appealed
to Eva about her role was that the Pinewood shoot meant
she didn't have to stray too far away from her family. “I don't really like
Hollywood. London is not too far from Paris and my parents
can get on the Eurostar quite easily,” she explains, “I
have a lot of friends around here and I just love it, but
Hollywood is a bit...I don't know...it's too far from my
mother. Let's put it that way.”
By her own admission, Eva is an old-fashioned
girl. Her BAFTA gown is a stunning, full-length vintage
Dior, but the chic is underscored by a hairstyle that can
be best described as a gravity defying, asymmetrical bird's
nest, a creation of her “wonderful” French hairdresser. “I
like it when it's a bit crazy and messy”, she smiles.
This Bond girl, it seems, is a lethal
combination herself, strong, demure and unconventional,
the perfect candidate, one might say – should long-held speculation prove
true that there could one day be a female Bond – for
the role of Bond herself. Eva's not so sure. “She would
be more like a bitch, I think, so too naughty, no.”
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