Eva Green alias Vesper Lynd: her Royal Casino Diagry Journal

In 2006, the interpreter of Vesper Lynd had agreed to tell his adventure from the interior on this film – rebroadcast this Sunday evening on France 2 – which was going to change his career. Flashback.

Casino Royale Returns this Sunday on France 2 at 9:10 p.m. To wait until this replay of the James Bond of Martin Campbell, First offers you to reread the edge newspaper of Eva Green, the interpreter of the unforgettable Vesper Lynd.

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Arrived on the project

When the casting of Casino Royale started, I knew that the producers wanted to see me, but I had a few reserves. Not wanting to be a James Bond Girl for example … But when my agent managed to get the script, I immediately shared his enthusiasm. In fact, I was very surprised because, generally in the leaps, the role of girls is confined to the cliché of the submissive Barbie doll. This glamorous aspect makes people dream. Upon reading Casino RoyaleI feel a new tone. The character of Vesper Lynd is anything but a bimbo. The remarkable scenario of Paul Haggis reminds me of the world of films with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn in the 1940s. It is human and romantic without pouring into sentimentalism.

I get an appointment for a casting. And, from there, everything gets carried away. The tests take place the next day in Prague, where filming has already started! I have to learn a text block in less than 24 hours. Panicked, I don’t sleep at night! And a few hours later, I find myself facing Daniel Craig … In the room, I am welcomed by producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, apparently very happy to see me. I come out with the feeling that everything went well and I leave for New York where I live at that time, with a light heart. But as soon as I set foot in JFK, I get a phone call. I have to take the first plane to Prague for new tests. So I go back to the plane and I return the cast with this time a scene on a train. The atmosphere is extremely professional, all filmed in 35 mm. I admit that, again, I freak out a little. Barbara and the team do everything to make me comfortable. Daniel also supports me as much as possible. But that is not enough for me. I have nausea, I feel bad. Daniel then takes my hands and said to me: “Don’t worry, I too have been there and I know how terrible it is”. And there, I gradually understand, faced with the debauchery of the means used, that the tests carried out two days earlier must be technically of poor quality: because of the sound and the light, they had not been able to judge me! Without account that they also want to make sure that my level in English is sufficient.

The result fell three days later. The answer is positive … So I have to fly the next day for the Bahamas, where the shooting continues. The prospect of this new adventure enchants me and stresses me at the same time. I start to tell myself that I will never have time to prepare properly, given the amount of dialogues to play.

The preparation

Here I am in the Bahamas. We are at the end of February and my first week on site is devoted to costume tests. In parallel, I also work English with my coach of Kingdom of Heaven. Vesper Lynd being English, my accent must be perfect, with specific intonations and phrasing. And my coach is ideal for that: very precise, very boring in the good sense of the word, intuitive on the acting, she knows how to adapt. She is anything but a frustrated actress.

This work week also confirms my first impression: what immediately seduced me to read the script is the role. Vesper dialogues are full of puns. As such, it is really the equal of Bond. Like him, she plays a lot on irony. It looks almost two twins. When one starts a sentence, the other ends it. This is the first leap where dialogues are so important. Bond is still as smart and charming. But we discover an unprecedented facet at home: his emotional side. He is suddenly human. And Vesper, while being glamorous, is not an icon. They both have their feet on the ground. The love story that unites them will build the leap that we have known through the other films, the seductive leap, a fall, very little invested in his relationships with women.

Filming

After an intensive week of work, arrives on my first scene. It is supposed to take place in the city of Venice… therefore recreated in the Bahamas! Bond announces to Vesper her desire to abandon everything for her. And follows a scene of love. Not the easiest to throw yourself in the water! When I arrive on the set, I am shocked by the number of paparazzi present who try to shoot me in a swimsuit.

In the Bahamas, we do not live in camera. Daniel like me have the echoes of what the press has brought about for us for several months. Daniel is very affected. It puts an additional pressure on his shoulders: Bond is like the Queen in Great Britain, a national monument! For my part, everything that is written seems stupid to me. He is criticized for being blond and not knowing how to drive a car … I am sure that all of this will seem surreal afterwards but, at the time, he has difficulty taking.

For my part, I learn quite early by my mother (Marlène Jobert) that, shortly before my first shooting, this same People press announced that the studios wanted to fire me while giving precise details on the way I played, when I had not turned a single plan! That’s also leap. It attracts gossip! It’s the circus game arena!

After three days of shooting at the Bahamas, we leave for Prague where we will stay two months, with a few passages to Karlovy Vary. In this city, the whole team is gathered in a hotel similar to that of Shining In smaller and little recommended for claustrophobes. But it allows us to get closer. Because Bond is also a family with Barbara Broccoli in the role of Mama! She does not have a money report with this project. She puts her blood in the fight! And probably because she is a woman, I finally speak to her more than Martin (Campbell)!

In terms of game, I have a lot of fun. I who am not at all physical, I find myself running with high heels, I handle a pistol and I also have the right to sub-navy sequences for which I followed diving lessons and learned to remember my breathing. But Vesper, however, is more a cerebral than Action Girl. So there are a lot of play scenes itself. And there, Martin completely trusts Daniel. He lets us do. Before each scene, we agree on game intentions and all the more since Martin is above all an action director. He knows exactly what he wants and how to do it. On the set, behind the instructor, it looks like an overexcited child.

From the first day, Daniel is very “paternal”. He keeps wondering if everything is fine and I hardly dare to answer him so much I am shy. Our report tells the friendly and family climate of shooting. The big machine aspect, I discovered it especially with the promotion. I have never done so much press during a shoot. On the set, journalists do not stop parading with a question in their mouths: “So what is a James Bond Girl?” Each time, I therefore re -explain who is Vesper Lynd. But it’s part of the game.

After Prague, we leave for Lake Como. A magical place. In the precise place of the scene of The attack of the clones where Natalie Portman walks in a pre -raphaélite setting. This house which seemed false exists. It belonged to an explorer without heir and was transformed into a museum that one would think straight out of a dream.

Once the camel scenes in the box, we go to Venice to shoot an outdoor action scene. And, inevitably, the paparazzi are back! As we are on a boat, they machine gun from the bridge. It feels like a photocall in Cannes. It’s really anything! Obviously impossible to prevent them but it makes concentration difficult.

On the set, I often ask for additional sockets. And, each time, sailor grants them to me. He himself does a lot because he multiplies the angles of shots. Sometimes 30 or 40! This filming therefore allows me to learn to keep freshness in my game. And, over the days, I feel more and more comfortable. I know myself by heart. Each time, at the start, I am always very stuck, anxious not to be up to par. It’s pretty maso, I recognize it. But the adrenaline of these moments boosts me. I need to work a lot, as if I went on every day.

Once the shots in Italy are finished, we leave to finish the shooting in London outdoors and in the Pinewood studios: scenes where a “nice” sir throws me in an elevator, locks me in a Venetian house which flows and where Bond tries under the water to save me. It is in this last straight line that it is the most difficult to keep your influx. We are late, there are more action scenes than pure play. We are often summoned an entire day without ever setting foot on the set. It is human that the team loses a little of its energy, in such a marathon shoot. But not Martin! I don’t know what he swallows in the morning but he never weakens. He is really an army general!

Throughout the shooting and even in this last straight line, every day, I repeat with my coach. This work is only focused on dialogues and the rendering of a very snub English accent. It is also a voice teacher thanks to whom I learn to control my breathing. Playing in English requires music very different from French. And for that, we even work on shakespeare as soon as we have free time. Nevertheless, doubts do not leave me and it is my coach who will see the rushes in my place and note the sockets where the result is the best. She will even work then hand in hand with the editor and I can never thank Martin enough for accepting this situation. I have a lot of trouble looking at the control screen. It paralyzes me in my game. It is negative narcissism, I know. But I can’t do anything about it. The total confidence I have in my coach allows me to avoid this torture.

And then arrives on the last day. And as in all the filming that goes well, I am sad to leave those with whom I had created links.

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EPILOGUE

As I finish this newspaper, I have not yet seen the film. I only hope that it will be faithful to the scenario and that the action will not prevail over the rest, even if necessarily it will occupy a significant place. In any case, the only presence of Daniel Craig reassures me. Being at the forefront, I found him incredible and so invested in his character that we felt very well on the set that Bond was dangerous and sexy at the same time. An explosive mixture that is the best response to all the bullshit you have heard.

Even before the film comes out, I feel a renewed interest in my person. There I will go and turn At the crossroads of the worlds, the northern kingdoms by Chris Weitz. I will play a nice witch there. And as this witch flies, I will have to work on her gestures. I think I have a lot of fun. Once again!

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