Samantha Bond reiterates her plan to step down as Miss Moneypenny

04-Jan-2005 • Casino Royale

Following on from her interview in November 2004, Samantha Bond has gone on the record again that her days playing Miss Moneypenny are probably over.

The role has brought her fan mail from all over the world and made her a household name - reports the Herald Sun (Australia).

But after nine years as Miss Moneypenny -- the ice-cool blonde secretary who harbours a secret passion for James Bond -- the actor who plays her is ready to quit.
The appropriately named Samantha Bond decided that flirting with any actor other than Pierce Brosnan in the title role just wouldn't be the same.

"Call me old-fashioned, but as a 43-year-old mother of two, I would find it very odd flirting with a Bond who was younger than me," she said. "It just wouldn't feel right."

Many names, ranging from Ewan McGregor to Dougray Scott, have been suggested for the next Bond, but no casting decisions have been made.

Samantha Bond first appeared opposite Brosnan in Golden Eye in 1995 and has starred in the past four Bond films.

It brought her instant fame, despite the fact that she was already a leading lady with the Royal Shakespeare Company by the time she was 30.

"I saw 007 as a double-edged sword," she said.

"It certainly didn't help the careers of the two Miss Moneypennys before me. Caroline Bliss has now given up the business. And the original, Lois Maxwell, was typecast for ever."

In the last Bond film, Die Another Day, Moneypenny and Bond finally got to kiss in a steamy clinch across the secretary's desk.

It was a fantasy scene played out in Moneypenny's head, but marked the first time in the Bond films that the pair's lips had ever touched.

"No other Miss Moneypenny has snogged Bond and they won't be able to do it again because it was a fantasy. So nobody can take that away from me," she said.

Thanks to `JP` for the alert.