a Bond film." He later claimed this was not criticism of either politician, but rather an example of how a politician relies on performance instead of a genuine policy to win power. "Sarkozy, is just a better actor than [his presidential opponent] Ségolène Royal—that's all," he explained. Amalric and Forster reconceived the character, who was supposed to have a "special skill" in the script, to someone who uses pure animal instinct when fighting Bond in the climax. Bruno Ganz was also considered for the part, but Forster decided Amalric gave the character a 'pitiful' quality. Giancarlo Giannini as René Mathis, Bond's ally who was mistakenly believed to be a traitor in Casino Royale. Having been acquitted, he chooses to help Bond again in his quest to find out who betrayed him. Gemma Arterton as MI6 agent Strawberry Fields, who works at the British consulate in Bolivia. Fields, who is merely an office worker as described by M, takes herself seriously and tries to overpower Bond when the pair meet. She is later seduced by Bond, infiltrates Greene's fund raiser party with him and ends up paying the ultimate price. Forster found Arterton a witty actress and selected her from a reported 1,500 candidates. One of the casting directors asked her to audition for the role, having seen her portray Rosaline in Love's Labour's Lost at the Globe Theatre. Arterton said Fields was "not so frolicsome" as other Bond girls, but is instead "fresh and young, not ... a femme fatale". Arterton described Fields as a homage to the 1960s Bond girls, comparing her red wig to that of Diana Rigg, who played Tracy Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Rigg, alongside Honor Blackman, is one of her favourite Bond girls. Arterton had to film her character's death scene first day on the set, where she was completely covered head to toe in non-toxic black paint. The character's full name, which is a reference to the Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever", is never actually uttered on screen; when she introduces herself to Bond, she says "Mr Bond, my name is Fields, I'm from the Consulate.". Robert A. Caplen suggests that this is a conscious effort to portray a woman 'whose character attributes are neither undermined nor compromised' by her name, even though her name may have sexual overtones reminiscent of earlier Bond girls. In August 2018, Arterton wrote a short