New ‘Spectre’ Featurette Explores the Women in James Bond’s Life

Casino Royale may have stripped James Bond down to the bone, but the ensuing Daniel Craig entries in the immortal series have been slowly sliding all of the old tropes back into the series. In addition to resurrecting 007’s oldest nemesis, Spectre looks to bring back the “Bond woman” in a big way. Compare the casting of Lea Seydoux and Monica Bellucci in the new film to Skyfall, where Bond barely had time for romance. What was old is new again. Anyway, there’s a new feature that touches on both of these new characters, should every detail of the latest Bond adventure be of interest to you.

The video may be surface-level stuff and it may not feature any new footage from Spectre, but it does serve as a reminder that director Sam Mendes and the other 007 masterminds really went out of their way to populate this film with real talent. Seydoux and Bellucci are the real deal, actresses who have proven themselves as world-class performers long before they agreed to spend a year of their lives on a Bond film. The days of this franchise populating its female ranks with pretty faces first are long over – all hail the sophisticated, complicated Bond heroine!

To be fair, this style of Bond Woman (that phrase can’t help by sound sexist, right?) has existed since the Sean Connery era, popping up every few films or so. However, it was Eva Green’s performance as Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale that really reshaped this particular mold. If Seydoux and Bellucci are given characters half as good as hers, we’re in for a treat. Bond films that actually value their female characters are all the richer for it. Spectre opens on November 6, 2015.