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Christine, the spy who loved Ian Fleming, gets her own movie
The story of beautiful wartime spy Christine Granville, who was Ian Fleming’s lover and the inspiration for the James Bond character Vesper Lynd, is to be made into a major film.
Entitled Christine: War My Love, the big-budget movie is expected to begin filming in June with a ‘Hollywood A-lister’ in the title role.
The production team has yet to finalise who its star will be but Oscar-nominated Kate Winslet is one of the names said to be interested in the part.
Wartime heroine: Christine Granville was stabbed to death
Also in the running is French actress Eva Green, who won a Bafta for her portrayal of Vesper in Casino Royale, Daniel Craig’s debut as Fleming’s 007.
As reported in the Krakow Post the movie will tell the story of the Polish countess Krystyna Skarbek, who adopted the name Christine Granville for her wartime exploits with Britain’s Special Operations Executive.
Dubbed ‘Churchill’s favourite spy’, she was awarded the George Medal for her work against the Gestapo.
Her courageous actions, including a treacherous crossing into her native Poland from Hungary with the help of an Olympic skiing champion, helped saved countless lives.
After the war, she drifted into a series of affairs – including one with Fleming – before enrolling as a stewardess on a cruise ship where she met the man who was to murder her in 1952.
The film is now in pre-production and will be directed by Agnieszka Holland, whose credits include Total Eclipse, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Ms Holland said: ‘Krystyna was almost certainly the most remarkable female spy of the Second World War. She was intelligent, courageous, seductive and bewitchingly attractive and men were willing to sacrifice everything for her and go to any lengths to have and keep her.’
Skarbek’s cloak-and-dagger exploits saw daring raids into occupied Poland, with forays into Egypt and Syria. Parachuted into occupied France in 1944, she took on the persona ‘Pauline Armand’ to rally the Resistance.
After the war, Skarbek apparently found it difficult to settle. She took a job as a stewardess on a liner between Southampton and Australia, where she befriended the man who would later kill her.
Eva Green and Daniel Craig prepare to kiss in a scene from Casino Royale
An inadequate loner and obsessive, Dennis Muldowney turned into a pest, leading to a final confrontation at a hotel in Kensington. In a fit of rage, Muldowney brutally stabbed her to death. She was 44.
Muldowney was sentenced to death at the Old Bailey, declaring on the way to the gallows: ‘To kill is the final possession.’
James Bond casting director Debbie McWilliams, who chose Eva Green to play Vesper, is currently auditioning actresses for the title role. She said: ‘We are looking for a Hollywood A-lister to carry this wonderful story.’
