Léa Seydoux has made history in her role as psychologist Madeleine Swann.
Léa Seydoux is the latest Bond girl who has made history in her role as psychologist Madeleine Swann. Reprising her role from 2015’s Spectre, Léa was a central character in the latest installment of the Bond franchise, No Time To Die. Before making waves in Hollywood, the French actress was already a part of various successful projects in France including the iconic film Blue is the Warmest Colour. You may also recognize her from The Grand Budapest Hotel and her cameo in Inglourious Basterds.
This year, she will also be a part of Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch and already has many other projects in the pipeline. But here are a few things you didn't know about her.
Léa did not think she would become an actress. In fact, when she was a child, she thought she would be a singer. "As a kid, I was always singing and sometimes performing in front of my parents but I didn't really know that I wanted to be an actress," she told W Magazine. But she found formal singing settings too difficult. She turned to a career in acting when she met a guy who was an actor and fell in love with his lifestyle. It was unrequited love with the guy himself and Léa decided to take up acting to win him over.
Even though Léa has partaken in explicit scenes for her films, she says, as a child she was very shy. She belongs to an influential and privileged French family but her parents' divorce and her general upbringing caused her to be a quiet child. "I was quite... sad. I was very shy. Very shy. I was always the little one in the shadow. Can you say that? Sitting in the corner," she told Tatler.
At the time of its release, the film was very controversial and shocked critics with its graphic sex scenes. But it was, however, praised for its raw portrayal of sexuality and desire. There were also LGBTQ voices who pointed out that this was dominantly to cater to the male gaze. In 2014, the sex scenes from the film were ranked at #4 on the list of “The Top 150 Greatest Celebrity Nude Scenes of All Time.” She was also awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in the film. Her co-star and director also won the coveted awards.
In addition to the subject matter of the film itself, the film also came to light after being criticized for the abysmal working conditions. The crew revealed that they suffered from what could be termed as moral harassment which caused many people to quit. Léa and co-star Adèle Exarchopoulos also came out and said that the film director, Abdellatif Kechiche's behavior was horrible. They said they would never work with him again. "I'm really proud of the film. I think he's a great director. What I hated was the feeling that I was being objectified," she explained to The Guardian.
Léa has been a part of not only the James Bond franchise but was also in a Mission: Impossible film. This would make her the only actress in history to be a part of two major spy-genre franchises. She played Dr. Madeleine Swann in Spectre and No Time To Die. In Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, she played a major role as contract killer Sabine Moreau who kills IMF agent Trevor Hanaway.
Léa has delivered amazing performances in all her movies. She was managed to impress the audience as well as critiques but she has confessed that she cannot watch her own performances. "It was terrible to see myself," she told Vanity Fair. When she first watched her performance it felt like watching herself trying to embody the character, she explained. She even cried the first time she watched herself. "Now I can see, I think, I'm able to see the character and not myself," she said.
In an interview with Esquire, she revealed that she went to summer camps in the US. "It was in Maryland, not far from Washington, D.C," she said. "I went there for a long time, six years." It was not easy for her to pick up the language she says but what was more difficult for her was the food. "In France, you're not used to having ketchup in the morning or potatoes or things like that," she stated.
Léa revealed that she wanted to play the role of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movie trilogy. James Bond co-star Daniel Craig plays Mikael Blomkvist in the film. The role did not go to her, ultimately, and was played by Rooney Mara. "I got upset, but I don't think I'd be able to do anything to get that part. It was totally against my nature. I worked hard, but Lisbeth was almost anorexic. I wasn't like that," she stated.
Léa decided to calm her nerves before auditioning for the iconic role of a Bond Girl in the famous James Bond film franchise. No one can fault her for being nervous. She showed up early to the audition and decided to grab a beer while she waited. But she got a bit tipsy and ended up messing up her lines. "It was a very bad idea," she admitted to Cinema Blend. She asked the casting directors if she could come back and redo her lines the next day. And she managed to nail it and land the role of Dr. Madeleine Swann.
Léa Seydoux has been in a relationship with André Meyer since 2015. In 2016, they revealed they were expecting their first child together. On 18 January 2017, she gave birth to a son, Georges "I want him to be better than me, a better human being. I want him to be more intelligent, I want him to be more cultured. I want him to feel free," she said.
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