Olga Kurylenko – I’m Happy And Proud We Did Not Have Sex!

Gorgeous “Bond Girl” Olga Kurylenko comes from the world of modeling and French films. She also comes from a very humble beginning in a small town in the Ukraine so she is very down-to-earth. Olga is glad that her Quantum of Solace character Camille is standing beside Bond doing amazing action rather than hopping in the sack and acting all helpless.

For our Beverly Hills interview, the dark-haired, gray-green-eyed actress wore a classy black dress with cowl drape neck over long leggings. A high pair of espadrilles and a fancy diamond bezel watch completed her sleek look.

In our candid conversation, we learned that this is Olga’s first action film and she is afraid of heights. She had some intensive physical training sessions and had trouble staying in the boat during a particularly active stunt chase.

She loved co-star Daniel Craig’s encouraging words during shooting and she is now wary of old, so-called “friends” who have resurfaced after her success in the recent Mark Wahlberg actioner Max Payne and now with Quantum of Solace.

Hey, where were these people when she needed them? Tune in for our gurl-chat and picture Olga’s soft European accent.

A ton of women wanted this role. So tell us how you got the part.

Olga: I did three auditions altogether. With the first one, I got there and realized I had the wrong (script) text so I thought ‘okay. I’ll never get this. This starts very nice. It’s not happening’.

They were seeing other girls so I just let other people in front of me and just tried to memorize the text but I couldn’t remember the whole thing so I half-improvised.

But, they called me back anyway and I went to London and met (the producers) and (director) Marc Forster and did the second audition, with the right text this time. The third audition was at Pinewood Studios in London with Daniel and that’s when I first met him. After that, I waited for about three weeks and I got the answer.

What an odyssey! When you got the part, did you do a crash course and re-watch a bunch of Bond movies to mentally prepare?

Olga: I re-watched or watched for the first time some old ones that I hadn’t seen. I re-watched the one with Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies) because I knew she was fighting and I knew I had a lot of fight scenes that I had to do.

She inspired me because she’s the one that always does all the stunt scenes herself. She’s known for performing martial arts and she did it so well. I watched that movie just for the inspiration.

Which James Bond do you like the best?

Olga: Daniel! Before Daniel, I guess Sean Connery.

Good choices. Which costume did you like best?

Olga: My favorite is what I’m wearing at the end; the cargo pants. It’s comfy, it’s totally me. That’s what I would wear every day. That’s what I feel comfortable with.

So not the sexy black dress that was all cut up?

Olga: No. I just like sports shoes, something comfortable, and I think it’s really sexy. The black dress was cute and simple. There were no sparkles. I think it fits Camille because she doesn’t want to attract too much attention. She’s going for something quite subtle, dark.

When you were on the Bond sets shooting, did you suddenly have a lot more friends who wanted to visit you on set?

Olga: Yeah. Suddenly I have a lot of friends, people who haven’t spoken to me in years are like ‘Yea! I’m so happy’. Yeah, right. Where were you before? It’s weird and I’m sure they’ll say ‘oh, she became a star and she doesn’t want to communicate’.

No! You, didn’t want to communicate for years and then you are suddenly very interested. I appreciate people who were there when I was nobody and they are my real friends. Not just people who are suddenly falling out of the sky on my head.

Good attitude! There are so many dangerous-looking action scenes. Did you expect to do all that when you signed on? You had to jump right in, right?

Olga: I didn’t realize, because even though you read the script, you never know exactly how (it will work). I had never taken part in any action scenes. It was the first time. From the moment I found out that I got the part, there was less than a week and my agent said ‘pack your bags. You’re leaving’.

So, I went to London and met right away with the stunt coordinator and he told me ‘look, we’re going to train you really hard’. I said ‘yeah, sure. No problem’ (laughter) and then we started training and I was like ‘why didn’t you tell me you were going to train me really hard?’

I had four hours per day for a month before shooting just so I’d get in shape and know how and what to do.

What kind of training did they put you through?

Olga: Fight training. Then we (she and Daniel) learned how to sky-dive and we had to go into this wind tunnel which is outside of London. We did that two or three times a week too and then, also I learned how to use a gun; how to strip them apart, put them back together, how to aim, how to load a gun, all those things.

Of all the stunts you did in this film, which was the scariest?

Olga: To me, it was on the boat. That was the most difficult and the most breathtaking. It was like being on a roller-coaster. It was all for real. I love boats but it was just going so fast and it was not just going straight.

It was abruptly turning. We were crashing into these guys in another boat and they screamed ‘hold on!’ It was very hard not to fall out of the boat.

We were fighting so we’re not attached. It was very hard physically to stay stable and still to do our choreography that we rehearsed.

You are the first Bond Girl who doesn’t hook up with Bond. Did you think that was really cool when you read the script?

Olga: Sure. I was very happy. Yeah, I’m very happy and proud that she didn’t sleep with Bond (laughter). It’s okay. He slept with all of them in twenty-one movies, you know?

Here is a change. But, he was behaving well, so we gave him a kiss (big smile and we laugh).

What was it like working with Daniel? Was he kind?

Olga: (raising her eyebrows and smiling) He was kind (laughter). He was very sweet. He’s a very good actor and he’s very professional; always ready, always into his thing. He’s James Bond. He’s James Bond even in life, No, not really. But, I’d see him on the set and he’s really concentrated and focused which is great.

He’s totally into his role, into his character. But, he was very encouraging. When we did all those stunt scenes and on the boat, he was encouraging me. He was like ‘look, when you watch the movie you’ll be so happy you did this’. (laughter).

I’m like ‘yeah sure’. But I am very happy actually because I know how difficult it was to do.

I’ve read that you are afraid of heights so you weren’t too happy doing the balcony scene.

Olga: Yeah. I don’t like heights. Yeah, first I was like ‘oh, let me get used to that’ and I couldn’t really so they worked with me, the stunt guys. They said ‘look, we’re going to show you how it works’.

They showed me that they could do it. When I see people do it, I think ‘oh, if they can do it, I can do it too’. So, basically, by the end I could do it. They made me do it and I learned.

We also heard that there were some paparazzi around the set trying to get pictures. Was that difficult?

Olga: No, it wasn’t a pain because the people who worked on this movie were very professional and they really protected us really well. There were guys waiting for us at the entrance of the hotel. What can you do? They’re there.

We tried to go through different entrances and exits so they wouldn’t take pictures but, in Chili, the guys were sleeping there. They were there at night so they’d get us in the morning. We were leaving really early, like sometimes at 4:30 AM and the guys were there.

How many months were you actually shooting? Which countries did you get to go to?

Olga: I stayed with the team for six months straight, all the time, because I had to train as well. I shot in Panama, Chile and in London in Pinewood Studios. I didn’t get to shoot in Austria and Italy.

Daniel said he’d just like to do the next film lying on a beach! If you had a choice of one place to go back to just to spend a week, which one would it be?

Olga: Chile and not just a week, months. I loved Chile. I want to go back and travel and explore the whole country. It’s the best landscapes I’ve ever seen in my entire life. It’s amazing. They have glaciers, they have deserts, they have mountains.

In the same area we would start and it would be really hot and we would be by the ocean and then we would drive and we would have to put on gloves, hats and we would be in the snow. In the desert, the ground is just red and brown and orange.

They have this place called Valle de la Luna. You feel like you’re on the moon. They have these salt lakes that are dry and for kilometers it’s just white and you think it’s snow but it’s salt. They have pink flamingos and pecunas. A pecuna is this furry animal that’s between a llama and a deer. They’re so cute!

Have you shot anything since Bond or are you getting ready to shoot anything?

Olga: Yes, I finished this Israeli film which I shot in Israel for two months. Basically, after I finished Bond I went straight to Israel. I didn’t have any vacation. I don’t do that anymore. Now I’ve learned. It’s too tiring.

But, it’s an Israeli film called “Kirot” which means ‘walls’ in Hebrew and I just shot with all Israeli people, Israeli director, actors, team and then there was me. The only foreigner. It was so cool.

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