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[Chaotician]

This is an interview Carey Lowell did with Cinefantastique magazine in July 1989 -

BOND'S GIRL

Carey Lowell puts a new spin on the kiss-kiss and bang-bang.

By Mark A. Altman.

When Sean Connery first introduced himself to the world in 1962 as James Bond, Carey Lowell could barely say , "Mommy, Daddy," let alone "Dr. No." Now, almost three decades later the sultry 27 year-old is making her big-budget debut alongside Timothy Dalton's James Bond in LICENCE TO KILL.

"DR. NO was the first one I ever saw," said Lowell, who portrays CIA pilot Pam Bouvier in the new film. "I saw it on television and I just loved the suaveness juxtaposed with all the danger."

Lowell admits to not being a Bond aficionado but when she got the role in LICENCE TO KILL she quickly farniliarized herself with Bond lore. "I rented LIVE AND LET DIE and some others," she said. "I had already seen the more recent ones-THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, A VIEW TO A KILL, and OCTOPUSSY - when I was older."

One film that she was particularly interested in seeing was THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, Dalton's debut in the role of 007. "When I found out I had the part, I rented it," she recalled. "I thought it was refreshing after Roger Moore because Timothy brought a new humanity to Bond - this is a real person who could have been. Roger was a bit more stylized; he was more of a cartoon character because he was playing Bond as somebody who could always skate through these dangerous spots unscathed."

Lowell believes the series' new and more realistic direction should prove popular with audiences who were tiring of the far-fetched plotlines of the Moore vehicles. "The situations now are more probable than somebody who wanted to blow up the earth or wants to stimulate the San Andreas fault and destroy Silicon valley," she said. "It's more realistic and that's more appealing because the suspension of disbelief doesn't have to be so broad. I think audiences want to go to the movies to be entertained, but they also want to be entertained by a realistic point of view."

Surprisingly, Lowell never bothered to read any of the Fleming novels. "In a way, the books didn't really affect my character," she said. "The way Fleming wrote his women was not necessarily the person I was playing." The sexism which typified Fleming's work and the early Bond films is less discernible in the later movies which have featured stronger woman characters, she noted, including her own portrayal of Pam Bouvier in LICENCE TO KILL.

"I was delighted that my role was someone who was very capable, confident, and competitive with Bond, and also on the side of the law," said Lowell. "It was a very welcome change for me. I think that when women go to see the film they don't want to see someone who is just looking beautiful and hanging around, being a pain in the neck."

Of all the Bond women, Honor Blackman's Pussy Galore, stands out as Lowell's favourite. Unlike Fleming's novel in which Pussy was a lesbian, Blackman's portrayal was of a strong, self-sufficient, heterosexual woman. "She was more masculine in her way, even though she was very beautiful," remembered Lowell. "That was why she probably wasn't so susceptible to Bond's charm and I don't have to be gay."

Lowell's acting career began in sixth grade when she played and elf in the irish musical "Ballad of Brian Michael." It was only later, after having done some modelling, when she was offered a small part in Harold Ramis' CLUB PARADISE, that she realized she wanted to become an actress.

Her acting credits prior to LICENCE TO KILL include the Albert Pyun actioners for Cannon, DOWNTWISTED and DANGEROUSLY CLOSE, and one of the last films to be greenlighted by former Columbia topper David Puttnam, ME AND HIM. The film, shelved by the studio, starred Griffin Dunne as a man whose penis talked to him. The experience wasn't a good one for Lowell, who complained about the film's director, Doris Doerrie. "She was not true to the script," said Lowell. "I didn't get any sort of direction from her. She was more interested in camera moves."

With the hope that LICENCE TO KILL will help increase her visibility as an actress in much the same way that LIVE AND LET DIE launched Jane Seymour, Lowell harbors the ambition to someday work with such noted directors as John Boorman, Peter Weir and Gillian Armstrong. As for Woody Allen, she said, "That would be heaven."

"I'm just amazed by the following for the Bond films," she said. "I don't think I comprehended how much attention this film would get. It's a little overwhelming. It's very exciting as well to be in the company of the people who came before me-Sean Connery and the women. I had somebody the other day ask me how does it feel to know you're going to be in book indexes one day?

"It feels pretty good," said Lowell.