It’s been 25 years since Denise Richards played her Bond girl Dr Christmas Jones in The World Is Not Enough, which is on ITV1 this afternoon.
The 1999 blockbuster was Pierce Brosnan’s third of four outings as James Bond 007 and his co-star has admitted to having some serious struggles before, during and after production.
Speaking previously in an interview with SpyHards Podcast, Richards shared how these difficult feelings began with her Bond girl screen test opposite Brosnan himself.
Having been so grateful to have made it that far in the auditions, the 53-year-old remembered: “I met him for the first time doing a screen test.
“It’s very daunting and intimidating. As an actress it’s scary. I was so nervous, I had such anxiety.”
What did help was how affable she found the Bond star to be, saying: “Oh he’s a class act, he’s so nice, so sweet… Pierce is a little clumsy, so I found that… he’s really funny and very, very endearing and engaging and just super grounded. He was lovely.” However, when she arrived on set, the Christmas Jones star faced more challenges.
Richards said: “Surprisingly we didn’t do a ton of rehearsal before we started shooting. Which is why I was extremely intimidated because I was also working with Sophie Marceau who is a beautiful French actress who has done films that were very different from what I had done. So there were times when I didn’t feel I was worthy because I was working with [director] Michael Apted and Pierce Brosnan and Sophie Marceau. I would be scared sometimes going to work.”
Yet there was one actor in the film who the thought of working with kept her up all night.
Richards admitted: “My first day on set I think I had one line and I was up all night, could not sleep, because it was with Judi Dench. And I was terrified. She couldn’t have been nicer, but I was so scared that I was going to screw up my one line that I had to say that day it was my first day of shooting! I didn’t want to mess up.”
Then when it came to promoting The World Is Not Enough, the Bond girl faced criticism over the portrayal of her scientist in a tank top and shorts, admitting she would go back to her hotel room and cry before putting on a smile for press junkets and the premieres.
Nevertheless, she added: “Regardless of all that I am so grateful and proud that I was part of such an iconic franchise. You never forget it.”