Miss Moneypenny, 007’s tart-tongued, flirtatious foil, is returning to the James Bond movies in the shape of Naomie Harris.
The actress met with Sam Mendes, director of Bond 23, earlier this year and is now in the final stages of negotiations to play the long-running Bond girl - although, strictly speaking, Moneypenny isn’t a Bond girl at all; she’s the assistant to Bond’s boss, M.
Naomie made her name in Danny Boyle’s film 28 Days Later. Many will also know her from the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies, but I think she did her best work in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, The First Grader (an enjoyable low-budget recent release) and Danny Boyle’s National Theatre production of Frankenstein, in which she played the leading lady opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller.
The actress is poised to appear alongside Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes and Judi Dench when filming begins later this year.
The Moneypenny character, who holds the rank of Lieutenant RN, hasn’t been seen in a Bond picture since Samantha Bond played her in Die Another Day back in 2002, when she appeared with Pierce Brosnan.
Samantha appeared in four 007 thrillers, starting with GoldenEye. It’s widely thought she threw the best retort ever at James Bond. Having bedded his Scandinavian tutor, he tells Moneypenny: “I always enjoyed learning a new tongue.” Moneypenny responds dryly: “You always were a cunning linguist, James.”
It’s too early to know whether Mendes will want Naomie to play Moneypenny in the same drier-than-a-shaken-martini vein, but she’s an astute actress who will be able to deliver her character any way he desires.
Lois Maxwell was the original (and still the most famous) Moneypenny, appearing in the first Bond picture Dr No in 1962. She retired following A View To A Kill in 1985. Caroline Bliss played the part in The Living Daylights and Licence To Kill before making way for Ms Bond.
Barbara Bouchet played her in the 1967 Casino Royale, and Pamela Salem had a go in 1983’s Never Say Never Again.
Both of those movies were made outside of the Eon organisation, which controls the screen rights to Bond creator Ian Fleming’s works.
A spokeswoman for Eon said that Naomie had met with producers but stressed it had not been confirmed she would be in the film. - Daily Mail