Entertainment

Bond girl Lea Seydoux taking time off acting after ‘crazy’ year

The French actress returns as Dr Madeleine Swann in No Time To Die.
The French actress returns as Dr Madeleine Swann in No Time To Die. The French actress returns as Dr Madeleine Swann in No Time To Die.

James Bond star Lea Seydoux has said she is taking time off acting after a “crazy” year in which she filmed No Time To Die.

The French actress, who is returning as 007’s love interest Dr Madeleine Swann, said the past 12 months had been “too much” for her.

Aside from the 25th Bond film, Seydoux, 34, filmed for Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, Ildiko Enyedi’s The Story Of My Wife and Bruno Dumont’s On A Half Clear Morning.

She told Town And Country magazine: “For now I have nothing, no projects and I don’t want to work. I want to have time for myself.

“This year was crazy because I worked non-stop. I have to say it was too much.”

Seydoux said she enjoyed working in concentrated bursts because it gave her time with her three-year-old son, George, and her partner, banker Andre Meyer.

She said: “I’ve always wanted to travel. For me it’s part of the joy of being an actress.

“I think being an actress is also good because you can work very intensively for a few months and then have a month where you’re off and you can have a normal life.

“It suits me in a way. My goal right now is to read books.”

Spectre Royal World Premiere – London
Spectre Royal World Premiere – London Lea Seydoux, Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci at the premiere of Spectre (Anthony Devlin/PA)

The actress, who won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for Blue Is The Warmest Colour, also addressed the effects of the #MeToo movement.

“I think that it’s really difficult now,” she said.

“The world has become so binary. Everybody gets so politically correct, and it frightens me, because some people have done very serious damages and things that are unacceptable, but we need to forgive also. And now c’est la guillotine.

“I don’t want to be objectified for my sexuality. And I feel that women, for a long time, they’ve been defined by their sexuality. What’s funny in the world today is you have extremes: You have the super-strong feminists and you have those women who are oversexualised.”

No Time To Die will be Daniel Craig’s final outing as Bond.

The film picks up after 007 has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica when his old friend Felix Leiter, played by Jeffrey Wright, from the CIA turns up asking for help.

Read the full interview in Town And Country.