THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 68 NOVEMBER 6, 2019
Colleen Camp. She introduced
the actress to Broccoli, who was
there with Spectre helmer Sam
Mendes. “We met very briefly
because I couldn’t say anything
[in English],” says de Armas. “But
I guess Barbara never forgot that
meeting.” When de Armas had
wrapped Knives Out, she says she
got a call from Fukunaga, who
told her that part of the Bond film
is set in Cuba and “he wanted to
write something for me.”
Broccoli, who also was key in
bringing Lynch on board, has
been vocal about the franchise’s
need to evolve. “#MeToo has
influenced our culture, which is a
great thing, so of course it’s going
to influence everything we do on
Bond,” she told the Daily Mail in
April. “The films are representa-
tive of the times they’re in.”
After producing a 2018 London
play in which Lynch starred,
Broccoli reached out to the
actress for the role of Nomi
(Lupita Nyong’o previously had
been eyed, but a deal was never
made, according to sources). “I
trusted Barbara from the begin-
ning,” says Lynch. “I think the
franchise has changed so much
over the years — with the past
five movies, I’ve witnessed
the change.”
Though she’s of Jamaican
descent, Lynch describes herself
as a “London girl through and
through.” She attended ArtsEd
drama school then jumped into
theater work, doing odd jobs to
make ends meet (retail, a car
service). “There was never a plan
B, from 5 years old to now, there’s
never been one,” she says. After
her feature debut, the 2013 British
film Fast Girls, she starred in the
short-lived 2017 ABC series Still
Star-Crossed, produced by Shonda
Rhimes, and signed with ICM.
Her big break came when
she landed the part of Maria
Rambeau, a former Air Force pilot
and a single mother, in Captain
Marvel, which earned $1.1 bil-
lion worldwide. “Getting into the
Marvel universe was something
that I’d been aiming for for two to
three years,” says Lynch, who had
sent tapes in for Black Panther and
Spider-Man: Homecoming.
“It’s her empathy,” says Captain
Marvel star Brie Larson of Lynch’s
appeal. “It is impossible not to
connect with her when you’re
watching her onscreen.”
Lynch says creating her Bond
character was about working
with Waller-Bridge and Fukunaga
to shape a real woman. “I didn’t
want someone who was slick. I
wanted someone who was rough
around the edges and who has a
past and a history and has issues
with her weight and maybe ques-
tions what’s going on with her
boyfriend,” she says.
She even talked to Waller-
Bridge, who is only the secondwoman in the history of the
franchise to be a credited writer
after Johanna Harwood (1962’s Dr.
No and 1963’s From Russia With
Love), about adding an issue that
nearly every woman faces but
rarely makes its way into action
films. “We had one conversa-
tion about her maybe being on
her period in one scene, and
maybe at the beginning of the
scene — and I spoke to Cary about
this — throwing her tampon in
the thing,” says Lynch, making a
motion of tossing trash into the
bin. (She’s mum about whether it
made it in.)
No Time to Die suffered no
shortage of offscreen drama.
Though both Lynch and de Armasjoined after the director switch-
up (Danny Boyle was attached
but dropped out over “creative
differences”), they were both
impacted when Craig sustained
an ankle injury in May while
filming in Jamaica and had to
undergo surgery. “Daniel is fierce
and wonderful, and I’m sure if
his eyeball was falling out he’d“There’s been an
evolution. She’s
not just there, going
from point A to B,
just walking and
looking beautiful,”
says de Armas of her
character in Bond.
“She has a purpose.”
Philosophy di Lorenzo
Serafini dress, Monica
Vinader earrings.