Naomie Harris Hopes No Time To Die Isn't Her Last Time Playing Eve Moneypenny [Interview]
Naomie Harris is one of the few people who have gotten the best of James Bond. Granted, she wasn't trying to take out 007 while in the field as Eve Moneypenny in "Skyfall," but her misfired bullet still took the iconic secret agent out of action for a little while. Even though Daniel Craig's tenure as James Bond has officially come to an end in "No Time to Die" (arriving on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD this week), Harris told /Film in a recent interview that she hopes she's not finished filling the shoes of the famous Ms. Moneypenny. After all, the character was given a full name when Harris took over the role, and she made history as the first Black actress to play the character, so why wouldn't she want to stick around? But who would she like to appear next to hear as James Bond?
"There is no way of doing stunts without getting hurt."
This is a big send-off for James Bond. It's Daniel Craig's last outing, and maybe your last outing as Moneypenny?
Oh, don't say that!
Well, I wanted to ask that. We've seen Moneypenny transfer over with different actors playing James Bond, and we saw Judi Dench transfer over as M from Pierce Brosnan to Daniel Craig. Would you like to come back with a new James Bond?
I would love, love, love to come back. Yeah, I love this franchise. I love being part of it. You know, it's a real team effort, and it just feels amazing. As an actor, generally, you're constantly meeting all these wonderful new people, creating these really strong bonds for three, four, five months, and then it's all over, and you never see each other again. So it feels really lonely, but it's been so nice to have this continuity of Bond, this amazing family to be part of. So I'd love to continue to be part of it. It's also revolutionized my career in phenomenal ways, so I have such gratitude and such affection for this franchise.
Your Moneypenny made history too, because we learned more about her than we had in any iteration of the character before. You got to become a field agent, and I feel that there's an opportunity here to maybe team up with Lashana Lynch, maybe coming back and doing some kind of two-hander here.
Well, I like that idea very much. Yes, yes, let's keep that idea going.
Yeah, making history as having the first James Bond spin-off and bringing these two characters back as a secret agent team.
I love that. Oh, my God, what a great idea. Yes, please.
So Moneypenny was a field agent in "Skyfall," but then decided to head back behind the desk. Which did you prefer? Is it more fun getting involved in the action, or is the desk job a little bit more comfortable?
The desk job is way more comfortable, I have to say. When you're doing stunts, there is no way of doing stunts without getting hurt. If you're being thrown against a wall, no matter how much padding they put on you, you always get a few bruises. So it's really stressful doing stunts, because they're so perfectly timed that you have to get them right. Whereas with acting, it's a little more fluid, and if you get it wrong, you just do it again. It's very involved doing stunts, and it requires a lot of training. Lashana Lynch, obviously, and Ana de Armas, as well, they did so much training, months and months of training, before we even started filming. So it is easier to be behind a desk, I have to say.
"It's so nice to be the actor who just gets given the script."
I want to talk about saying farewell to Bond, because this is obviously a different kind of goodbye. It's not just the last movie, it's the character meeting his end. So I wondered what that scene was like shooting with Ralph Fiennes as M and everybody else as they cheers to Bond for sacrificing himself in this last mission.
Yeah, it was really sad. We felt the kind of emptiness of that moment, but actually, it didn't really hit me until the premiere. I always thought, when I was making the movie, "Yeah, it's really sad that it's Daniel's last movie, but I'll get to see him again when we're doing the press tour. I'll get to see him again when there's the premiere. I'll get to see him again when..." Then it came to the premiere, and I was "Oh, this is it. I won't get to see him again". So it really hit me then. It was really emotional.
Because Daniel Craig is finished, the future of the James Bond franchie is unclear. We don't know where it's going. Where would you like to see them take the franchise next?
Anywhere where I can be involved would be great. If I can still be part of it, then that seems great to me.
I wonder, because this franchise is definitely more serious than previous James Bond efforts, more grounded than Bond has ever been before, would you like to see it maybe veer back towards being a little bit more campy, kind of cheeky and fun?
Yeah, I think that's, I think that's nice. I don't know. People always ask me who should be the next Bond and which direction should it go in. I'm just so glad that I don't have to get to make those decisions. You know what I mean? It's so nice to be the actor who just gets given the script. "Oh, that's what you chose. Oh, amazing. I'm down for that. Great."
"I just finished working with Tom Hardy, so, of course, I was going to say that."
I think I read that you have said that Tom Hardy would make a good James Bond before, right?
Well, I just finished working with Tom Hardy, so, of course, I was going to say that.
This is a little bit off-topic, but it's something that I only just recently realized. You were in "The Tomorrow People" in the 1990s. iIs there any chance, whatsoever, of a reunion happening after all these years?
I would love that. I would really love that. Yeah.
That was a show that came to the United States on Nickelodeon, and I could never catch every episode, so I never got the full story as a kid, but picked it all up as an adult, and I think it would be so fun to have a reunion.
I'm down for that. I'm down for that. But I have to say, I just finished a sci-fi TV show, which I think rivals "The Tomorrow People."
And what is that?
It's called "The Man Who Fell to Earth."
Oh, right! I can't wait to see more about that.
Thank you!
"No Time to Die" arrives on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD on December 21, 2021.