January 6, 2008–British actress Gemma Arterton will join the team of Bond girls, landing a supporting role in the 22nd film of the franchise. Arterton made her bigscreen debut in last year’s “St. Trinian’s” opposite Rupert Everett.
The femme lead is still uncast even though production began last week at Pinewood Studios in the U.K.
Marc Forster’s film, loosely based on the Ian Fleming short story “Risico,” has 007 (Daniel Craig) dispatched to infiltrate a drug ring flooding Britain with heroin. “Casino Royale” scribe Paul Haggis wrote the screenplay, based on earlier draft written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.
French actor Mathieu Amalric joined the cast last week to play Bond’s adversary. Amalric’s character is the French-Algerian boyfriend mentioned by Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) in “Casino Royale.”