Eva Green to be Bond girl to Daniel Craig’s new 007 in Casino Royale

Apart from French actress, Columbia Pictures announces Danish-born actor Mads Mikkelsen as the villain in the 21st Bond flick.

19 February 2006
MUMBAI, INDIA

The new James Bond heroine is French actress Eva Green, it was announced on Thursday by the movie’s distributor, Columbia Pictures.

Columbia had earlier announced that English actor Daniel Craig will be the new James Bond. Eva Green will play the role of Vesper Lynd in the next James Bond flick named Casino Royale.

Twenty-five-year-old French actress Eva Green made her first appearance in 2003 movie The Dreamers. She enacted the role of a French woman, who along with her brother strikes a chord with an American during the infamous student riots that rattled Paris in 1968.

Her another notable performance was in the Kingdom of Heaven in 2005.

By naming Eva as the new Bond girl, Columbia Pictures has put to an end rumor mills that where working overtime on the famous English spy’s next costar.

Many Hollywood stars, including this year’s Oscar-nominated South African actress Charlzie Theron, Thandie Newton, Olivia Wilde and Kimberly Davies, were rumored to be considered as the Bond heroine after Daniel Craig’s name was announced as the new Bond.

Columbia Pictures, owned by Sony, also said Danish-born actor Mads Mikkelsen will be the Bond villain, Le Chiffre.

US actor Jeffrey Wright has also been named in the new Bond flick. He will play the role of CIA sleuth Felix Leiter.

Casino Royale’s production has started in Prague. It is slated for a November release worldwide. The shooting will be completed in the exotic Bahamas, Italy and United Kingdom.

Casino Royale, an adaptation of an Ian Fleming novel penned in 1953, is being directed by Martin Campbell.

Daniel Craig takes over from Pierce Brosnan, who played Her Majesty the British Queen’s secret service agent in the last four James Bond movies.

The last Bond movie Die Another Day was released in 2002 and it raked in more than $425 million in ticket sales alone. Halle berry was Brosnan’s heroine in the movie.

The first James Bond Movie was Dr No, in which Sean Connery played Bond. Casino Royale will be the 21st in the Bond series.

Sean Connery and Roger Moore have played the most popular Bond characters. Roger Moore’s Bond movie Octopussy (1983) was partly filmed in India. It also had tennis ace Vijay Amritraj and Kabir Bedi in its cast.