Famke Janssen is still well-known for appearing as a Bond girl in 1995’s Goldeneye. But looking back, the actress isn’t too fond of that role.
“I’m also, I suppose, object to that whole world of ‘Bond girl’ as a woman,” she told Moviefone. “It’s such a demeaning, silly title to give somebody. And it’s definitely something that, as a woman, I have to deal with. People constantly want to remind me or an audience that I was a model or that I was a superhero or that I was a Bond girl. Any of those titles keep coming up, even now as a person who has directed her own movie. It doesn’t happen with men as much. They seem to be luckier in that department. But I seem to have those things attached to my name regardless of what I do or how far away from it I am. But that’s okay.”
Janssen appears next in Taken 2, the sequel to the kidnapping thriller starring Liam Neeson. “I don’t think there was any trepidation [about doing the film],” she said. “I’m not that lucky to have that many choices in my life, and like any other normal person, strapped for money, and there are times when I need to go back to work. It’s just not that easy to get parts. I’m certainly not, and I don’t think most actors are, to be in any position to turn anything down.”
Despite Janssen’s protestations that work is hard to come by, she’s launching Bringing Up Bobby, which she wrote/directed/produced. “I’m trying to get my next movie off the ground and at the moment I’m shooting this thing for Netflix called Hemlock Grove,” she said. “And if that works out, as a set-up, then it would be ideal because it would be six months on for them and then six months off, and in those months I could pursue my dream of writing and directing and producing. So that would be great. And if that doesn’t work out and we don’t keep doing it, then I’ll try to find a job to support it.”
“It’s really difficult to make money in the independent film world, especially as a writer and director and producer. I think I’ll probably continue to pursue a career in the independent film world because I think my sensibility is more attuned to that world than big studio films, especially with what they’re making at the moment. I wouldn’t want to do a Twilight-type movie or a comic book adaptation. It’s just not my sensibility.”
Taken 2 hits theaters on Friday.
