Rosamund Pike Refused to Strip During Her James Bond ‘Die Another Day’ Audition

Rosamund Pike’s first audition could have gone very differently. In an interview on Amazon’s Audible Sessions, the actress revealed that during her audition for the 2002 James Bond flick Die Another Day, she was asked to take off her dress and strip down to her underwear. Pike, however, refused to take her clothes off, saying that she didn’t want to land her first role that way.

“My first audition was for a Bond film and I remember them saying I was to drop my dress and appear in my underwear,” said Pike. “On the day, I don’t know how I got the resolve and strength of mind, but I just thought if they’re gonna see me in my underwear, they better give me the job. So, I thought, ‘There’s no way I’m going to take off a dress in the audition for this tape to be sent around Los Angeles and to be judged on that.’”

Pike said that she arrived to the audition in her grandmother’s gown, but a costume designer immediately asked her to change into something more Bond woman-appropriate. The costume designer offered her a more revealing outfit, which Pike remembers as nothing more than “three pieces of string” tied together. “I realized I was in a completely different world and way out of my depth,” Pike said. “So, I put on this shimmering sheath, or whatever the order of the day was, but I didn’t drop it.”

This negative experience could have easily turned Pike off acting, but it didn’t. She landed the role of undercover MI6 agent Miranda Frost in Die Another Day, and her career exploded from there. After completing the Bond film, Pike went on to star in Pride & Prejudice, Jack Reacher, and An Education, and in 2015, she received a Best Actress Oscar nom for her amazing work in Gone Girl.

Where to Stream Die Another Day