A RTS & C U LT U R EIn the 25th Bond film, Lashana Lynch
is set to stir up Her Majesty’s Secret
Service. Warm, wise and whip-smart,
we’ve been expecting her, says Ellie
Austin. Photographs by Lucian BorJust over a year ago, Lashana Lynch
received a phone call from Barbara
Broccoli, the celebrated film producer
best known for the James Bond franchise.
The call wasn’t completely out of the blue –
Lynch had recently finished a play that Broccoli
had produced, Ear for Eye, at London’s Royal
Court theatre – but its specific purpose was
cloaked in mystery.
“Barbara said she was interested in me taping
for an unidentified project,” says Lynch, her lips
creeping into a knowing grin. “I sent a tape in
and then I didn’t hear anything for months.
Eventually I got invited to a meeting and realised
that it was definitely No Time to Die, but I still
didn’t know whether I was being considered for
a walk-on part or a lead character.”
It was, of course, the latter, and Lynch, 32,
was cast as Nomi, a sophisticated and fiercely
capable secret agent who inherits the “00”
(licence to kill) designation while Bond is in
self-imposed exile in Jamaica.
“The world’s moved on, Commander Bond,”
purrs Nomi when Daniel Craig’s James returns
to find that he has been replaced by – shock
horror – a woman. But the story that played out
online when the film’s trailer dropped at the
end of last year suggested otherwise, with some
Bond fans taking to social media to lambast the
idea that a black woman could be the next 007
as political correctness gone mad. Did their
response surprise her? >“I had really
good examples of
what I was able to
do, not what my
barriers were,” says
Lashana Lynch,
who stars alongside
Daniel Craig in
his last Bond film.
Fashion editor:
Donna Wallace.
Hair: Earl Simms.
Make-up: Siddhartha
Simone. Nails:
Zarra CelikLASHANA WEARS TUXEDO SUIT, GIVENCHY. SHOES, JIMMY CHOO. NECKLACE, BULGARI. RING, CARTIERTHE AGENTof INFLUENCE^04-20-Arts-LashanaLynch_1971618.indd 95 30/01/2020 08:25
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