Halle Berry Was Once Told She Wasn’t Being Sexy Enough as a Bond Girl in ‘Die Another Day
Halle Berry once became a part of the James Bond franchise’s mythology when she played the Bond girl Jinx in Die Another Day. But the role sometimes wasn’t met without challenges.
In one of Berry’s most iconic scenes, the actor was told she wasn’t being sexy enough for the take. This led to Berry shouting at those behind the scenes.
Why Halle Berry decided to become a Bond girlfriend
Berry was reassured that her character was going to be written differently than Bond girls of the past. Unlike previous Bond girls, her Jinx would have a much more prominent role in Die Another Day. This made the X-Men star confident in taking the part.
“I was really excited about Bond because that’s a franchise that’s iconic. It’s a part of film history, really, so to be a part of that franchise was very meaningful to me. And this version of a Bond woman was very different than any Bond woman I had seen before,” she once said in an interview with Vanity Fair. “When Barbara Broccoli came to me with the role, she explained that I would get to be a different kind – a new kind – of Bond girl. Which would allow me to be more active and sort of be… working alongside Bond in a new way, and that really excited me.”
She also felt it would give her the opportunity to give tribute to previous Bond girl Ursula Anders in a new way.
“But also it excited me too to reimagine that great Ursula Anders scene that was so iconic… in a new way and pay homage to who she was and what this series was really all about,” she said.
The scene in question was the Anders scene in the Bond film Dr. No where the actor emerges from the ocean. Berry would later re-imagine a similar scene in Die Another Day.
How Halle Berry reacted to being told she wasn’t being sexy enough for ‘Die Another Day’
Berry’s bikini scene in Die Another Day took a lot of effort to film just right. For one, the water’s temperature wasn’t exactly ideal for the star. But apart from that, Berry was urged to move sexier. She would later shout at those behind the scenes, quipping that taking this advice might lead to injury.
“The sea was freezing! I had to do it quite a few times too. I went in the water and I went out the water. Then I had to walk up the beach in a ‘certain way,'” she once told Total Film (via Contact Music). “‘They kept saying, ‘Can you be sexier?’, and I was like shouting back at them, ‘this is all the sexy I got! I’m gonna get hip dysplasia if I try and make it any sexier!'”
Still, however, the Oscar-winner was well aware that the shot was going to be special when it was completed.
“We had a knowing that it would maybe, because it was in a Bond movie, become an iconic situation … something that would live a very, very long time,” she said in an interview with Vogue.
Halle Berry was interested in starring in a Jinx spin-off
Berry had such a good time playing the character that she would’ve seriously considered doing a spin-off film if approached.
“If they ask me, honestly, if I could play Jinx and continue on with this character, I really love her, all that she embodies, I would do it in a heartbeat. I would just have to somehow work it out. And I love them. I love working for them,” she once told Chasing the Frog.
According to South Coast Today, producer Barbara Broccoli revealed there were even talks considering a proposed Jinx spin-off. But plans never came to fruition.
