Olga Kurylenko, 33, has already notched up an appearance alongside Daniel Craig in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace and boasts a starring role in Terrence Malick's To the Wonder. Now, the Ukrainian-born former-model plays Julia, a mysterious survivor, opposite Tom Cruise in the sci-fi film Oblivion.
What drew you to Oblivion?
Even though we’ve seen post-apocalyptic films before, it was a very different story. It’s hard to come up with something new, and this was original. I was pleasantly surprised – finally, an original, interesting story. And, of course, I liked my character. There was romance involved. And I thought it was very beautifully described. It was, in a way, rather innocent. And, of course, the possibility of working with Tom Cruise was appealing.
What sort of stunts did you do?
I rode a motorbike with Tom. I didn’t drive it. I had to sit on the back. And we rode for miles in Iceland.
We shot in this place where it’s just black sand. It’s like a black desert. Iceland is very green but that place was just flat, black sand. It’s astonishing – quite beautiful. And there are no roads. It’s weird when you can drive in any direction – just a big flat space.