The Story Behind Denise Richards' Polarizing Bond Girl in "The World Is Not Enough," 25 Years Later

11/19/2024 03:56 PM

From who auditioned to play nuclear physicist Christmas Jones to how the character was rewritten during production

Debuting in theaters on Nov. 19, 1999, The World Is Not Enough marked Pierce Brosnan's third turn as James Bond following the success of GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies. In the actor's 1999 film, the MI6 agent finds himself tasked with defusing an international power struggle over an oil pipeline while protecting the grown daughter of a murdered tycoon. 

Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein and directed by Michael Apted, the 19th film in the long-running spy series also starred returning players, Judi Dench as M, Robbie Coltrane as Valentin Zukovsky, Desmond Llewelyn as Q, Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny. Among the franchise newcomers was Denise Richards, who appeared as nuclear physicist Christmas Jones, who would go on to become one of the most polarizing Bond Girls.

Dr. Christmas Jones was originally conceived as the second female character behind Sophie Marceau's Elektra King, the film's damsel turned villain. While in the final version of the movie she is a nuclear physicist played by Richards, now 53, the supporting role went through several major changes — and screen tests — before landing on its characterization and performer. 

According to Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films written by Ajay Chowdhury and Matthew Field, Vera Farmiga and "a number of actresses" tested for Elektra, while Sharon Stone's name was also discussed. But it was Marceau — who is French while the character is half English/half Turkish — who was ultimately cast as the female lead.

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As a result, a studio executive insisted that Christmas be American. "Sophie Marceau was clearly somebody for European audiences and very important to the movie overseas and the overseas aspect of a Bond movie is huge. It made sense to have somebody in the other part who was more known in America," Lindsay Doran of United Artists said, per Some Kind of Hero.  

The studio was also worried that Marceau, 57, didn't fit the "archetypal Bond girl" troupe that had become synonymous with the franchise by that point. The screenwriters were then asked to rewrite the Christmas character to "make her more American and 'sassy,' " according to Some Kind of Hero, which also noted that "rising Hollywood sex symbol Denise Richards fitted the bill." 

The character was originally written as a French-Polynesian woman working as an insurance investigative agent for Lloyd's of London, according to Some Kind of Hero. However, because Brosnan, now 71, was set to star in a remake of The Thomas Crown Affair with Rene Russo also playing an insurance investigator, the studio asked that her profession be changed. 

But before settling on a nuclear physicist, Christmas "briefly became a bounty hunter" inspired by Thandiwe Newton, who revealed to Vulture that she went on to screen test for a role in the Bond film Casino Royale with Daniel Craig.

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Per Some Kind of Hero, rewrites attempted "to make Jones more convincing as a nuclear physicist, but in retrospect [Dana Stevens, who did an uncredited rewrite to punch up the female roles] felt the character was still not entirely believable." 

Looking back on her audition, Richards told the SpyHard podcast in 2023 — about one year ahead of the film's 25th anniversary — that she met Brosnan "for the first time doing a screen test," adding that the whole process was "very daunting and intimidating. As an actress it's scary. I was so nervous, I had such anxiety."

While Richards — whose most notable roles at the time were Starship Troopers and Wild Things — landed the part, other actresses were considered. Among them were Natasha Henstridge, who said she "met with everyone for the role," and Tiffani Thiessen, who revealed that she "got very close" to being cast.

"One thing that I always wanted to do was be a Bond Girl. I tested but didn't get it. It was also probably the hardest rejection, because I'm such a fan of the movies. It was between me and two other actresses at the time," Thiessen said in 2014.

Related: Pierce Brosnan's Bond Girls: Where Are They Now?

When Richards was cast, she said that she "didn't grow up watching James Bond movies," and "never realized how big internationally the James Bond series was" at the time, according to production notes for the movie cited by Some Kind of Hero. 

However, her "mom was a huge fan," she told the New York Post in 1999, before revealing, "I was so intimidated I was like, 'How am I going to do this?' " In fact, she struggled on her "first day of filming," recalling, "I had two lines and I was afraid to say them because I had Judi Dench there." 

According to the outlet, Brosnan helped her through it all. "He was great, supportive, charming," she said, remembering what it was like to film the explosive action sequences. "We had bags filled with this stuff that blows up behind you and you had to fly into a mat with the camera right in front of you," she said. "It's scary because everyone is wearing gel and fire suits and I'm wearing a tank top and shorts."

During her conversation with SpyHard, Richards opened up about the filming process. "Surprisingly, we didn't do a ton of rehearsal before we started shooting, which is why I was extremely intimidated because I was also working with Sophie Marceau who is a beautiful French actress who has done films that were very different from what I had done," she shared. "So there were times when I didn't feel I was worthy because I was working with Michael Apted and Pierce Brosnan and Sophie Marceau. I would be scared sometimes going to work."

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Despite playing "the good girl who helps Bond save the day," the Post reported that "her part was reduced in the film's final cut." And unfortunately, Richards' role in the James Bond franchise was poorly received, with the character being "panned" by fans and critics alike. (Though, in 2015, PEOPLE defended the role, noting that "Richards was only playing the latest in a long line of ridiculously beautiful scientific geniuses to team up with Bond. She gets a pass. It's campy. We're into it.")

While speaking to Variety in 2023, she said, "It broke my heart that people were making fun of me." Recalling how people made comments like, "You're wearing shorts and you're a nuclear scientist," Richards retorted, "I'm playing a Bond girl," adding, that "if I wore a lab coat and pants and a suit, then [fans] would have been upset, like, 'Okay, why isn't she looking like a sexy Bond girl?' "

As she explained to USA Today in 2012, "there's not too many scientists who run around in little shorts with a tattoo. So many people made fun of how I was dressed when the movie came out. That's part of the appeal of Bond. These Bond girls are so outrageous and if I did really look like a scientist, the Bond fans would have been disappointed."

Related: Denise Richards Recalls People 'Making Fun of Me' for Bond Girl Role: 'It Broke My Heart'

Per SpyHard, Richards added that she "just felt that [Christmas] was strong and feisty and fun and didn't care what she looked like."

However, she said the backlash became too much. "It was very hard when that movie came out because I did get a lot of flack for it and it was not easy for me with the magnitude of the press that I did. And to go out there knowing people were making fun of me, that was the first time in my career that I had to deal with something like that," she recalled on the podcast.

The actress added, "It was very, very difficult for me and I just had to put a smile on my face and go out and do talk shows and then travel the world. I would go to my hotel room and cry because the reviews were making fun of me and saying stuff. It was very, very difficult."

Despite that, Richards said in 2012 that she "was so honored to be part of such an iconic franchise." She added, "The biggest part I got out of it was being part of something so iconic." And polarizing or not, her role as Christmas Jones continues to be one of the most memorable — and most talked about — parts of the James Bond franchise.