Trevelyan's Mainframe / FILE: Simonova, Natalya Fyodorovna [Thirty years removed]

How very predictable of you, now choosing Miss Simonova’s file for review.

I’m starting to believe this organization gave you too much credit, old boy. Again, your codes check out and access shall be granted. The following is what we have in the database for your subject, twenty years removed from her GoldenEye appearance:

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Operative: Janus

File: Natalya Simonova (AKA Izabella Scorupco)

Report From: Disused Military Depot

Lat: 59.9311 N

Long: 30.3609 E

[ BEGIN TRANSMISSION ]

TREVELYAN:

Let us begin this transmission with some preliminary information on our subject, Natalya Fyodorovna Simonova (AKA Izabella Scorupco), former Level II programmer for the Russian Space Forces. Mission objective indicated as aiding in the programming of top-level missile guidance systems, mainly within but not limited to the Severnaya installation.

Born to Polish parents in 1970, it wouldn't be long until her parents would split and Izabella would choose to stay with her mother. In 1978, the two left for Sweden, out from underneath the Soviet umbrella, where at school age she would learn Swedish, French, and even some English. With her new founds skills, came new opportunities, as she began to grow into herself as a woman. As a teen in the mid 1980s, she would begin modeling full-time, traveling across Europe in doing so. Her big break would come when she landed the Italian cover of VOGUE Magazine (VOGUE Italia), in September of 1987.

Following her big cover, a brand new world would open up for her by way of film. At this same time, Swedish director Staffan Hildebrand was prepping to shoot his next feature film, a romance drama titled, INGEN KAN ÄLSKA SOM VI. Discovering Izabella through her VOGUE cover, he made the decision to cast the seventeen-year-old as his leading woman, Annelie. The film would be released in August 1988, marking Izabella Scorupco's film debut. She would go on to dabble more in Swedish film, television, and even pop music until she landed the part of a lifetime in late 1994...

Publicity still of Izabella Scorupco as Natalya Simonova in 1995's GOLDENEYE.

A handful of Swedish directors has suggested Izabella for the role of Natalya to EON Productions, but the real stroke of luck came when the Bond franchise's long-time casting director, Debbie McWilliams, was passed some of her film work via a Swedish casting director. Her connections made in Europe had paid off and she would become the next Bond Girl, helping to usher in a new era of James Bond.

"I think that's the difference between my character from the others [Bond Girls]. She doesn't have this immediate attraction to Bond. She actually wants to keep him away..." - Izabella Scorupco (via 007 Magazine, 1995)

This being a great point, as Bond has to slowly win Natalya's trust first. Betrayal is the main theme for many characters in GOLDENEYE. Unlike some Bond Girls prior, Natalya fits in her very own space within the story, regardless if Bond had ended up in her orbit, or not. Natalya is betrayed by her close friend and fellow programmer, Boris Grishenko. She is betrayed by her government and employer when the Head of Russian Space Division, Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov, turns up to steal the GoldenEye key and wipe out the Severnaya installation. Suddenly, it is then up to her to trust a British spy, an enemy of the state, or not... and if she is to trust him, does more betrayal await her? How far will they both together go to get even individually?

Well, with the burning up of Mischa and the dismantling of Petya, Simonova proved to be surprisingly resilient, having a hand in the death of Janus Operative Xenia Sergeyevna Onatopp and several other associates during the raid of the Cuban dish facility. \She even got the chance to give Boris a physical and mental slapping for good measure!

Natalya would again be featured as a main character (as well as playable) in Rare & Nintendo's GOLDENEYE tie-in game for the Nintendo 64 in 1997. Of course, GOLDENEYE would become a genre-defining first-person shooter, setting the standard for decades afterward. If only Natalya could've typed a little faster...

With this in mind, it is important to understand that Simonova remains a 'top priority' target of the Janus Syndicate.

Picking back up after about four years away from the silver screen, Izabella Scorupco found herself in quite a pickle as Helena Kurcewiczówna in the 1999 Polish historical drama film, WITH FIRE AND SWORD. Helena finds herself in between the love of a Polish knight and a Cossack Ataman during the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648. The film would go to be a financial success, despite being the most expensive Polish film ever made at the time of its filming.

Data here shows that just a year later, Miss Simonova would assume the role of Monique Aubertine in the American action-thriller, VERTICAL LIMIT, directed by none other than GOLDENEYE’s very own, Martin Campbell. Scorupco would deliver a notable performance in the film, working well together Campbell once again.

Speaking of which, we have a file on him as well, if you’re at all interested in the future…

Found here.

The next entry, dated 2002, where Scorupco would become Alex Jensen alongside a star-studded cast of Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey, and Gerard Butler in the post-apocalyptic action fantasy film titled REIGN OF FIRE. According our sources, the film was set in England in the year 2020, with the reawakening of dragons threatening human existence. REIGN OF FIRE would go on to be nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, and by the Festival de Cine de Sitges for Best Visual Effects and Best Film Awards.

Our mainframe then suggests that by the year 2004, Izabella would shift her focus onto the horror genre, starring in EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING, as a character named Sarah. Though noted here, it seems this film ended up being a financial and critical failure.

Between 2005 and 2018, Izabella has made several more appearances in Swedish, American, and Polish films and television. This includes starring in a 2005 episode of J.J. Abram's spy action thriller television series, ALIAS. Also, she'd land another leading role as Rebecka Martinsson in Leif Lindblom's 2007 thriller SOLSTORM (based on the novel Sun Storm by Swedish writer, Åsa Larsson).

Production still of Izabella Scorupco as Margareta (and Alva Bratt as Lollo) in BARRACUDA QUEENS, set to release in 2025.

Renewed for a second season, BARRACUDA QUEENS will mark Izabella's most recent work to date, starring as Margareta Milikvist. Netflix's Swedish drama series follows five young women who live lavish lifestyles supported by planning and conducting risky heists, with the coming season set for a global release this month (June 2025).

Beyond that, there seems to be several side notes worth mentioning here.

Intels states that in earlier drafts of the TOMORROW NEVER DIES script, Jack Wade asks James Bond about he and Natalya's relationship in discussion, to which Bond was to explain that she ended up marrying a hockey player. This would be in reference to Izabella's real-life marriage to Polish professional ice hockey player, Mariusz Czerkawski from 1996 to 1998.

Also, users of IMDb rank Natalya Simonova the 6th Best Bond Girl overall, quoting her strength and significance in GOLDENEYE. Natalya almost always ranks rather highly in lists across the internet, unless speaking of her video game counterpart, which tends to be voted one of the most annoying in all of gaming history!

Perhaps, most interestingly, following her role in GOLDENEYE, Izabella was also screen-tested for the role of Elena in THE MASK OF ZORRO, according to Martin Campbell's audio commentary for that film, but the filmmakers choose to cast Catherine Zeta-Jones instead. It is rumoured that she turned down a lead roles in 1997's L.A. CONFIDENTIAL as well.

In 2011, Izabella revisited her singing career, duetting with Swedish musician Peter Jöback, in his single "Jag Har Dig Nu". She would later star in Jöback's short film titled, LA VIE, L'AMOUR, LE MORT. Her solo record, IZA (released in 1991) was certified gold that very same year.

Lastly, our mainframe marks down two children, a girl, Julia (September 1997) and a boy, Jacob (July 2003).

As a successful actress, model, singer, and female icon, Izabella has been able to become an equally successful wife and mother. The information provided here should suffice for any apprehension techniques, with additional information to be accessed directly through me personally, if deemed absolutely necessary.

That’s it for our subject’s file, old boy. To put it mildly, it seems Natalya Simonova has successfully assimilated into a life well away from us boys with toys...

and stop pestering me about strawberries.

-TREVELYAN

 [ END TRANSMISSION ]

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