Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, which stars Eva Green, premiered yesterday. Aref Omar lists some of the French actress’ works
1. KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (2005)
Director Ridley Scott cast Green in this epic historical drama after seeing her performance in her 2003 film debut, The Dreamers. Set during the Crusades, she plays Sibylla of Jerusalem. Green performed six screen tests and was hired only a week before principal photography began. In the 190-minute Director’s Cut, most of her scenes were thankfully restored and critics praised her performance and her character’s complex subplot.
2. CASINO ROYALE (2006)
Green’s big break came in this reboot of the James Bond franchise with Daniel Craig as Agent 007. She was initially reluctant to take on the role but things changed after she read the script and realised that her character was much deeper than the usual Bond girl.
Entertainment Weekly called her the fourth best Bond girl of all time, while IGN named her the best femme fatale for her portrayal of Vesper Lynd. Green also won a Bafta in the Rising Star category.
3. FRANKLYN (2008)
This science-fantasy romp about parallel realities sees the actress playing tormented artist Emilia, who Green compared to real-life figures Sophie Calle and Tracey Emin, and the mysterious Sally, who she described as “full of life with a big sense of humour.”
The film follows four people in London, who are attempting to cope with various crises in their lives. Initially, Ewan McGregor was set to star alongside Green but had to drop out after breaking his leg in a biking accident.
4. PERFECT SENSE (2011)
McGregor finally stars with Green in this sci-fi drama shot around Glasgow, Mexico City and Kenya. The film tells the love story of an epidemiologist (Green) and her chef neighbour (McGregor) who have to contend with a global epidemic that causes humankind to lose their sensory perceptions one by one.
5. DARK SHADOWS (2012)
Green was a riot as vengeful immortal witch Angelique in this horror comedy based on the 1960s gothic TV soap opera of the same name. Apparently Anne Hathaway, Lindsay Lohan and Jennifer Lawrence had also auditioned for the role of the sexy vixen.
Green wasn’t too fond of the sex fight sequence, where she wore a harness that spun her through the air, since she has a fear of heights. She has described her manic role as a mix of Bette Davis and Janis Joplin.
6. 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (2014)
Luckily for the producers of this epic fantasy war film, Green agreed to play Artemisia, since she was the only actress they could imagine portraying the twisted badass warrior. It also fulfilled her long-held acting dream of playing an action hero on film. Green, who underwent rigorous training for the physical role, has said that the training “was extremely liberating and empowering.” She received critical praise for her portrayal.
7. WHITE BIRD IN A BLIZZARD (2014)
Set in 1988, this French-American drama thriller sees the life of a teenage girl, played by Shailene Woodley, thrown into chaos after her mother (Green) disappears. In real life, Green is only 12 years older than Woodley.
8. THE SALVATION (2014)
This Danish western follows Mads Mikkelsen as a settler who avenges the death of his family, only to unleash the fury of a notorious gang leader. Green plays the mysterious victimised and widowed sister-in-law of the villainous gang leader. Both Green and Mikkelsen starred in Casino Royale, where he played the Bond villain Le Chiffre.
9. SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR (2014)
The busy actress worked back to back for 300: Rise Of An Empire and this neo-noir action crime film, both of which are sequels and based on the comic books by Frank Miller. A long list of actresses, including Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johansson, were considered to play the titular femme fatale role of Ava Lord before Green was cast.
In it, Green and Marton Csokas play a married couple. They were also a married couple in Kingdom Of Heaven, as queen and king of Jerusalem. In real life, the two were in a relationship from 2005 to 2009.
10. PENNY DREADFUL (2014)
Green leads the cast of this horror drama TV series, which ended this year after three seasons. She plays the enigmatic Vanessa Ives, a quietly driven heroine who battles relentlessly powerful entities from the underworld in 19th century Britain.
Besides Green, the show features three other actors who appeared in James Bond films: Timothy Dalton played Bond in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence To Kill (1989), Rory Kinnear played Tanner in Quantum Of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015), and Helen McCrory played Clair Dowar in Skyfall.
Series writer and creator John Logan co-wrote the screenplays for Skyfall and Spectre, while executive producer Sam Mendes directed the two Bond films.