Angelina Jolie, the actress known for playing Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider duology was also given a chance to play the coveted title of “Bond Girl” back in 2006.

During the early 2000s, the role of James Bond went up for grabs with Casino Royale.

The role of Bond however went to Daniel Craig, who was somewhat younger at the time, the character of Bond Girl stayed a mystery until Eva Green took over.

According to reports, Angelina Jolie rejected the role because she wanted to be Bond herself instead of a sidekick.
Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale (2006).

Angelina Jolie Refused To Be A Simple “Bond Girl”

Back in 2006 when the search for a new James Bond was underway, the search for a Bond Girl was also in progress.

After selecting Daniel Craig as the new face of the 007 Agent, the producers of the franchise started looking for a heroine that could tag along with the agent.
Angelina Jolie at the premiere of Eternals (2021).
Numerous actresses were considered for the role and a personal invitation was sent to Angelina Jolie wherein she could directly skip the auditions and be hired for the role.

The Maleficent actress rejected the role and claimed that she did not want to become a simple “Bond Girl”.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, here is what the Girl, Interrupted actress had to say about the Bond Girl role.

“It started with a call from Amy [Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures].

She asked if I wanted to play a Bond girl. I said, ‘No, I’m not comfortable with that, but I would like to play Bond.’

Although the call ended, Angelina Jolie got a follow-up call sometime later where the movie Salt was pitched to her.

Although she never played James Bond, Angelina Jolie got a female equivalent with her character of Evelyn Salt in Salt (2010).

Angelina Jolie Faced Problems While Creating Salt
Angelina Jolie in Salt
Much like the James Bond franchise, Salt was also supposed to be a male-oriented movie.

The role was originally offered to Tom Cruise who refused since it was too similar to his role in the Mission: Impossible franchise.

The role later went on to Angelina Jolie who created a female-oriented movie that quickly became famous.

This wasn’t done without challenges presented to the heroine, as Jolie revealed that turning it into a female-oriented movie was one of the best decisions ever made.
“You think it would be easy [to change],” she shared.

“You just flip the character from Edwin to Edwina. But it was a lot trickier than we thought.

For example, the male character had a child. And he knows he’ll be in danger much of the time. And we realized that, as a woman, if you knew your life was at such risk, you’d never have a child.”
The Eternals actress continued,
“The physicality had to change, too,” she explained.

“I’m smaller than everybody, so how do I go up against a bunch of men without looking silly? How do I fight? We made her meaner than a guy, and dirty.

She uses the walls, the fact that she’s lighter and can throw herself around. It’s the Chihuahua up against the big dogs.”

Salt received a generally positive reception from the people while Eva Green was picked up as the Bond Girl for the 2006 movie Casino Royale.