Rosamund Pike: 'Bond role was terrifying'

Rosamund Pike has admitted that she was scared when she was cast in a James Bond film at the age of 21.

The actress appeared opposite Pierce Brosnan in 2002's Die Another Day, soon after completing her university exams.

Pike told The Sunday Times: "I wish I'd got to be an observer for a bit longer, played small roles in big films, like James McAvoy - watch, learn, then suddenly emerge victorious.

"My dream of acting was playing lead roles in Shakespeare at the National, not Bond. It was just terrifying."

Of her career, she added: "I feel like the whole of my childhood was waiting until I was old enough to do this. That's when I was happy.

"School and Oxford pale into the background. I didn't care about anything but acting. Still, the only place I ever feel like I belong is on a film set or rehearsing a play.

"That's what home is to me - talking to the director of Barney's Version about intimacy, or to [Johnny English Reborn co-star] Rowan Atkinson about the precise inflection of a line. That is what I thrive on."

> Pike: 'Johnny English role not like Bond'