The new Bond girl Olga Kurylenko has opened up about her character Camille and her experiences filming "Quantum of Solace" to the world's press...

Bonding With Olga Kurylenko
5th April 2008

Ukranian actress Olga Kurylenko told press last week that her character Camille has "a masculine spirit." The latest in a long line of Bond girls, she explained how her character's relationship with James Bond in "Quantum of Solace" will get along. "When she meets Bond, it clashes," she said. "She's careful and she doesn't trust that easily. So basically with men, she either uses them, or if they're no use, and she sees that they can't serve her, then she throws them away. First she is trying to figure this guy out. But Bond and Camille do warm up to each other."

“Daniel is my favourite Bond. He suits the part perfectly and he is a great actor.”

Her character's attitude is a result of the backstory: Camille's family has been killed by General Medrano and Dominic Greene's organisation 'Quantum', and she is out for revenge - on her own.

Casting for the role spread from South America to Russia, with Camille's biography tweaked to make her half Bolivian (father's side) and half Russian to explain away Kurylenko's Ukrainian accent. But the casting was transparent for the actress. "When [director] Marc [Forster[ looked at me he was so blank. I told my agent, ‘Forget about it’. I was so sad", she said to reporters in Chile last week. "It was Christmas Eve I found out I got the part. I was sat with my friends, it couldn’t have been a better present."

A lot is being asked of Kurylenko as her role involves a lot of action and her own stunt work. She admitted that she has been scared of doing every stunt asked of her so far, but her initial nerves have ebbed away as she grow ever more confident in her abilities. Just before reporters got to speak to her, she filmed a 12 foot leap from a roof on to a balcony. "Did you see me doing the stunt? I am very impressed with myself because there was no way I could do it before. Yesterday, I came to the top, looked down and said to the stunt guys, ‘No, guys, there is no way I am doing it — I am very scared of heights. And they just slowly, slowly, very patiently got me to do it. There was another scene where my back was to the balustrade and it moved and I felt I couldn’t do it. The stunts in this film are crazy. They are really tough. Certain things are really scary and it always starts with me saying ‘No’...and I end up doing it. I really overcame my fears.”

"I am still under the emotion of the scariest stunt. We were in Panama and we did this boat chase in the sea. The boat went so fast and when you hit the waves it really jumps up and when you land it is really hard. And we were not sitting safely, we were fighting. The stunt guys fell into the sea a few times. So I had to really hold on. I got bruises. It was for real."

"I learned sky-diving in London. They have this big tunnel where they simulate the air. During a month I was training I was squeezed like a lemon by the air after a few minutes. I said, ‘I am not doing this’. I couldn’t even lift my arms up. But after a month I was spending a whole day in there. Before I started I trained for a month in Pinewood. I did stunts, gun-firing and I had to learn how to put a gun back together. My record was eight seconds. I beat my teacher and he got really upset!"

The filming completed in Chile last week is based around Dominic Greene's hideout in the desert, alongside rogue dictator General Medrano. Both Camille and Bond have scores to settle with the outfit.

"The action we were filming today is happening more towards the end of the movie", Kurylenko explained. "Camille is about to get to her goal, which she is trying to get to throughout the whole movie. She is about to get her revenge. After that jump over the balcony she is pretty close. It’s going to be a big fight."