Gemma Arterton Says She Played A Bond Girl To Pay Off Her Student Loans

There are many reasons why an actress might accept the role of a Bond Girl in a James Bond movie. Like the chance to wear a great bikini, or utter absolutely iconic nonsense like: “Doctor Jones, Christmas Jones.” But for Gemma Arterton, who played the too-punny-for-its-own-good Strawberry Fields in 2008’s Quantum of Solace, opposite Daniel Craig, it wasn’t for any of those reasons above. According to Gemma, she did it solely because she wanted a fat Bond movie check.

Gemma accepted the role of Strawberry Fields (aka just call her Fields) when she was 21, and now – at 34 – she’s comfortable enough in her career to look back and say, “Yeah, not my best work.” Which is kind of what she did when she recently spoke to The Sun (via People magazine). Gemma says that she caught some shit after she decided to play Strawberry Fields, but she didn’t care, because she was broke, and it’s not like you can pay your bills with artistic integrity and pats on the back from people telling you that you’re better than a Bond movie.

“At the beginning of my career, I was poor as a church mouse and I was happy just to be able to work and earn a living. I still get criticism for accepting Quantum of Solace, but I was 21, I had a student loan, and you, know, it was a Bond film. But as I got older I realized there was so much wrong with Bond women.”

Strawberry Fields was an MI6 office worker turned agent who works with Bond before (SPOILER ALERT) getting drowned in crude oil. She also fucks James Bond and Gemma doesn’t really smile nostalgically about that last part:

“Strawberry should have just said no, really, and worn flat shoes.”

Gemma has previously said that she thinks Strawberry was a nice enough character, but that she didn’t really do anything and didn’t have a backstory. And the current James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, also sort of implied that the term “Bond Girls” can be patronizing, telling Vanity Fair that he can’t take the characters seriously when people are calling them girls.

Gemma shouldn’t ever be embarrassed that she did Quantum of Solace for the money. Money is money when you’re poor, and there are absolutely worse things in this life. For example, true earned embarrassment would be if played a character named Strawberry Fields for free.

Pic: Sony Entertainment