Halle Berry had an extremely busy and productive 2002. A few months prior, she made history as the first female person of color to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, thanks to her outstanding performance in Monster’s Ball. Soon after, she was cast alongside Pierce Brosnan in his fourth James Bond movie, Die Another Day. The 57-year-old actress enjoyed a successful period during which her role as Giacinta ‘Jinx’ Johnson in the twentieth Bond adventure was causing talk about the possibility of a spinoff film starring her.
The history of James Bond films will never forget her breathtaking arrival in that iconic orange bikini. But what made Jinx special was that she could make her own standalone movie that could interest audiences all over the world. The actress was ecstatic to carry on Jinx’s adventures away from James Bond. Sadly, though, the spin-off film was never able to take off. Berry thought that perhaps the planned feature was “ahead of its time”.
Bringing the Hidden Light to Halle Berry’s The Jinx Spinoff Film
Talks for a spinoff centered around Halle Berry’s Jinx started way back in 2002, when the fourth and last James Bond movie, Die Another Day, starred Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent.
Berry was the first female Bond agent to be approached for a spin-off movie. She revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that there was talk about carrying on Jinx’s adventures outside of James Bond. However, she also claimed that it would not be as well-known as Brosnan’s James Bond films.
“I’ve been talking to the writers about it, and they had a great idea for who she is and where she comes from, and I think it won’t be like Bond. I think we’ll have elements of that humor Bond has. But it won’t be as tongue-in-cheek.”
However, the spin-off movie was never able to gain traction. Berry believed the planned feature was too far ahead of its time. She shared the following with Variety
“It was very disappointing. It was ahead of its time. Nobody was ready to sink that kind of money into a Black female action star. They just weren’t sure of its value. That’s where we were then.”
Rather, she chose to play Catwoman because she believed it would be a risk that could pay off and alter the roles that are available to Black actors:
“People said to me, ‘You can’t do that. You’ve just won the Oscar’. Because I didn’t do Jinx, I thought, ‘This is a great chance for a woman of color to be a superhero. Why wouldn’t I try this?’”
The James Bond franchise celebrated its 40th anniversary with Die Another Day. Although the movie received mixed reviews, it was the highest-grossing James Bond film to that point.
Also read: Many Fans May Have Missed One Mistake From Halle Berry’s Debut in James Bond Franchise
Die Another Day: Halle Berry on Being a Bond Girl
Halle Berry discussed how she initially got the Bond girl role in an interview with Vanity Fair. The actress claimed that without an audition, she was already considered to be Pierce Brosnan‘s co-star by producer Barbara Broccoli.
The film held significance as it marked Brosnan’s last role as the renowned 007 actor. However, Berry felt that Die Another Day was just as special because Jinx was “different”. Furthermore, she took the role for precisely that reason. She told Vanity Fair:
“I was really excited about Bond because that’s a franchise that’s iconic. It’s a part of film history, really, so to be a part of that franchise was very meaningful to me. And this version of a Bond woman was very different than any Bond woman I had seen before.”
Berry accepted the role from Broccoli for many reasons, one of which was to become a part of the illustrious “history” of James Bond.
“I was really excited about Bond because that’s a franchise that’s iconic. It’s a part of film history, really, so to be a part of that franchise was very meaningful to me…”
The idea of a female-led spy film was a ground-breaking concept that could have foreshadowed the rise of strong female characters in the genre. Nevertheless, we can not help but wonder what might have happened to Jinx and how that might have affected upcoming James Bond productions.
Die Another Day is streaming on Max.
