ABOVE: Olga in Bond flick Quantum of Solace

Olga is speaking from experience. Born in Berdyansk, Ukraine, she was raised by her mother, Marina, and grandmother, Raisa, in the small four-room flat they often shared with their extended family. “People say I was starving. I didn’t eat caviar but I wasn’t starving. We mainly ate cabbage and potatoes.” This modest start fostered a steely determination to succeed. “I’m a feminist and never wanted to depend on anyone or stick to a certain kind of life because I have no choice. I would have died.” Gesturing to the people in the photos, Olga asks, “Do you think they think about culture? About music and art? They don’t. They think about bread and what they’re going to feed their kids. And I didn’t want to have to think about that.”

Olga’s feminist side seems at odds with some of her role choices. She’s undeniably sexy. And early appearances reflect it; she bared all in her debut film, 2005’s French indie psychodrama L’Annulaire, and again in 2007’s action flick Hitman. Since then, she’s turned down these types of roles, preferring to stay out of the spotlight rather than compromise. “I’m not against playing a sexy role again but it is good to juggle and change. People kept telling me, ‘You’re going to get stuck in this Bond girl thing’, and I was like, ‘Really? Well I guess I will try not to.’ So far I think I’m happy with my role choices, but that doesn’t mean that tomorrow I’m not going f*ck it all up.”

If her next role is anything to go by, there’s little chance of that happening. Having shaken off the Bond tag with her captivating performance in To The Wonder, she’s entering blockbuster territory again. Beating off competition from Noomi Rapace, Brit Marling and Olivia Wilde, Olga won the lead role of Julia in this year’s sci-fi thriller Oblivion, opposite Tom Cruise. The experiences on the two films couldn’t be more different. “In Oblivion, you become a character once you step on set, whereas with Terry’s film, you’re constantly a character. I was afraid to read or watch other films because I didn’t want to go elsewhere [in my mind].”

A small role in last year’s Seven Psychopaths gave Olga a taste for comedy so next up she wants to do a rom-com. How does she feel about her Seven Psychopaths co-star, Sam Rockwell, describing her as “one of the boys”? “That’s a compliment,” she says. “Boys are cooler. If they have a competition and someone is better than them, they’ll respect and accept it. I don’t have that many girlfriends because it takes a particular…” she trails off. “Type of person to be friends with you?” I offer. “Yeah. I’m not friends with people from the industry; my friends are from when I was nobody, they’re not friends because I did a Bond film.”

Interview: Olga Kurylenko