The Big Picture
- Halle Berry’s role as Jinx in Die Another Day sparked discussions about a potential spinoff film featuring her character, but the project ultimately stalled and was abandoned.
- Jinx was not your typical “Bond girl” and was portrayed as an action-oriented peer to James Bond, rather than a helpless victim.
- After the spinoff film fell through, Halle Berry pivoted to starring in the 2004 movie Catwoman, but it was met with negative reception and was a commercial and critical failure.
As 2002 came to an end, Halle Berry was riding high. Months before, she became the first woman of color to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her powerhouse performance in Monster’s Ball. Her second appearance as Storm in X2: X-Men United was scheduled to debut the following May, and just ahead she’d be starring alongside Pierce Brosnan in his fourth outing as James Bond in Die Another Day. It was a busy and prolific time for the 36-year-old actress, so much so that her turn as Giacinta “Jinx” Johnson in the 20th Bond adventure would soon be generating discussion over the idea of a spinoff film featuring her character.
Though a James Bond spinoff was considered, no attempt to expand upon the franchise ever fully came to fruition. At the same time, the notion of a woman headlining a major action tent-pole, while not unheard of, wasn’t as common or deemed as bankable as it is today. But despite the possibility of giving the series its first standalone installment independent of its iconic hero, the project ultimately stalled and was abandoned. So what happened to the planned film that would’ve taken one of cinema’s most beloved franchises into new territory?
Who Is Jinx in ‘Die Another Day’?
First catching James Bond’s eye on the beaches of Havana, Cuba, Giacinta “Jinx” Johnson (Halle Berry) may strike one as an archetypal “Bond girl” at first sight. But appearances can be deceiving, and Jinx quickly proves to be the antithesis of the damsel in distress stereotype that characterized so many leading ladies in earlier Bond films. Much like The Spy Who Loved Me‘s Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) and Tomorrow Never Dies‘ Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), Halle Berry’s Jinx is in a league of women acting as Bond’s action-oriented peers rather than helpless victims. An NSA agent with many tricks up her sleeve, Jinx continually crosses paths with Bond as they pursue common targets in North Korean terrorist Zao (Rick Yune) and English entrepreneur Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), leading to some friendly competition and an ultimate partnership. Though she may not have featured in one of the more highly regarded Bond films, Jinx proved memorable enough for influential people at MGM to propose the idea of Berry reprising her role in a standalone film.
What Happened With the James Bond Spin-off Starring Jinx?
Though it divided fans and critics, Die Another Day was yet another hit for the James Bond franchise when it debuted in November 2002. Grossing $431 million at the global box office, it would hold the record as the series’ highest-grossing entry until the release of Casino Royale four years later. Piggybacking off the film’s success, MGM enlisted Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who penned The World Is Not Enough and would go on to co-write the films of Daniel Craig‘s tenure as Bond, to deliver a script featuring Jinx in a solo capacity. In an unusual yet inspired decision, director Stephen Frears, known for dramas and comedies like Dangerous Liaisons, High Fidelity, and Dirty Pretty Things, was tapped to helm what would’ve been his first large-scale action film.
With the wheels of pre-production in motion, MGM had a script in place and, per Radio Times, a budget of $80 million. While little is known about the proposed film’s storyline, Purvis and Wade’s screenplay is alleged to have been a Euro-centric adventure, and MGM hoped to fill the often lengthy period between Bond films by releasing it in 2004. It was also rumored that Halle Berry would be joined by Die Another Day‘s Damian Falco (Michael Madsen), the only other holdover from the 2002 film, and future Bond villain Javier Bardem was being considered for a lead role. But as promising as the spin-off film appeared to be throughout much of 2003, MGM officially pulled the plug on the project late in the year.
According to Entertainment Weekly, producer Barbara Broccoli cited “creative differences” as the reason for the film being abandoned. As reported by The Independent, Halle Berry elaborated further by saying, “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.” As Berry’s opportunity to headline a big-budget action film seemed to dwindle with misfortune, however, the actress set her sights on another high-concept project in hopes of filling that void.
Halle Berry’s ‘Catwoman’ Was a Major Flop
If 2002 was a year of career milestones for Halle Berry, then 2004 represented an unfortunate swing of the pendulum in the opposite direction. Pivoting away from her character in Die Another Day, the actress pursued another opportunity to headline a summer blockbuster when she stepped into the shoes of DC Comics’ iconic Catwoman. “Because I didn’t do Jinx, I thought, ‘This is a great chance for a woman of color to be a superhero,'” she later said of the decision. “Why wouldn’t I try this?” Though she landed the titular role in 2004’s Catwoman, the first big screen solo outing for the character, the film was met with a less than stellar reception. Grossing just $82 million worldwide against a $100 million budget, Catwoman was surely meant to kick off a franchise but was panned by critics and audiences alike.
In the cutthroat industry of Hollywood, where no one stays on top forever, Halle Berry suddenly found herself taken down a peg after major triumphs via accolades and box office clout. To make matters of the moment worse, Catwoman would be “awarded” multiple Razzies, including Worst Actress for Berry just three years after she’d taken home the Academy Award for Best Actress. Despite the negative publicity suddenly surrounding her, the actress was an impeccably good sport, taking the moment in stride and giving one of the most memorably self-effacing Razzie speeches in history. She’d later say of the film and her experience, “The story didn’t feel quite right. I remember having that argument: ‘Why can’t Catwoman save the world like Batman and Superman do?’ But I was just the actor for hire. I wasn’t the director. I had very little say over that.”
While dramatic ups and downs aren’t unusual for careers in entertainment, Berry’s swift transition from being a major Hollywood player to the subject of tabloid fodder was a jarring and unexpected one. But regardless of Catwoman‘s critical and commercial failure, the notion of a major studio financing a $100 million action film headlined by a woman of color was an admirable move at a time when such films were much more few and far between than they are today. And while it seems unlikely Berry will ever reprise her Bond role as Jinx, her prolific body of work has continually thrived in the years since that project’s ultimate demise.
Die Another Day is available to stream on Prime Video.
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