MOVIE NEWS – We have a rare treat for James Bond fans: there are two actresses who not only shone by 007’s side, but also won the golden statue for best supporting actress for another film. One of them is Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies), the other one is…

 

…Kim Basinger! Yes, you read that right: the American beauty was not only Sean Connery’s partner in the 1983 Bond film Never Say Never Again, but four years later she won the Oscar for her performance in the neo-noir drama L.A. Confidential.

But how did Kim Basinger get into the Bond universe? The story is quite interesting: the 1983 film was not part of the official series produced by Eon Productions, but was made as a result of a legal dispute. The film was based on Ian Fleming’s 1961 novel, which he wrote with Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham. The novel had already been filmed in 1965 under the title Thunderball with Sean Connery in the lead role.

McClory, however, retained the rights to the screenplay and after decades of litigation he was able to make his own version under the title Never Say Never Again (the title refers to Connery’s previous statement that he would never play Bond again). The film starred Connery and other stars such as Klaus Maria Brandauer , Max von Sydow , Barbara Carrera and of course Kim Basinger.

Basinger played Domino Petachi, a beautiful woman whose brother Jack Petachi was a SPECTRE agent. Jack Petachi stole two American nuclear warheads and handed them over to Maximilian Largo (Brandauer), the leader of SPECTRE. Largo planned to detonate the warheads in Washington D.C. and London , unless he received a 25% share of the oil revenues of every NATO member state.

Bond managed to discover Largo’s diving center near Nassau , where he saw Domino and fell in love with her. Bond told Domino the truth about her brother’s death and convinced her to help him stop Largo’s plan. Domino eventually shoots Largo with a harpoon , after Bond defeats Fatima Blush (Carrera), another SPECTRE agent.

The film was successful at the box office , although it made less than the Eon-produced Octopussy in the same year. The critics praised Connery and Brandauer’s performances , but were less impressed with Basinger. Roger Ebert , for example, wrote about her :

“Kim Basinger looks great , but doesn’t have much character”.

Basinger did not get discouraged , but continued working on her acting career. In 1986 she starred in the erotic drama 9½ Weeks with Mickey Rourke , which achieved cult status. In 1987 she also showed her comic side in the comedy Blind Date with Bruce Willis , whom she later married.

Basinger’s real breakthrough came with the film L.A. Confidential in 1997. The film deals with a 1950s Los Angeles police scandal on several threads. Basinger played Lynn Bracken , a prostitute who resembles Veronica Lake , who is run by Pierce Patchett (David Strathairn), a businessman who offers copies of famous women to his clients.

Lynn Bracken gets involved with Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) and Bud White (Russell Crowe) detectives , who both fall in love with her. Basinger brilliantly played the woman with a complicated past and no future , who is still able to love and dream. The film was a great success among critics and audiences alike , and was nominated for nine Oscars , including Basinger for best supporting actress.

Basinger eventually won the Oscar , which she accepted with emotion. At the awards ceremony she thanked : “This is a dream come true . I always wanted to be an actress . I always wanted to be in movies . And now I’m here”. Basinger wrote herself into film history as one of the most dazzling Bond girls.

Another actress who was both a Bond girl and an Oscar winner is Halle Berry. She won the best actress award in 2001 for her role in Monster’s Ball, where she played a waitress who had an affair with her convicted husband’s executioner. Berry became the first woman of color to receive this award. In her acceptance speech, she expressed her hope that this would not be a one-time occurrence.

A year later she was Jinx Johnson, an NSA agent in Die Another Day, which was Pierce Brosnan’s last outing as 007. Berry delivered a memorable scene when she emerged from the sea in a bikini, referencing Ursula Andress’s classic shot from the 1962 film Dr. No. Berry can therefore rightfully be counted among the Oscar-winning Bond girls.