It was the role that launched her Hollywood career—but behind the polished glamour of Die Another Day, Rosamund Pike’s Bond debut came with a disturbing twist. Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar UK, the acclaimed actress revealed the uncomfortable truth behind her very first audition for the iconic spy franchise — and it wasn’t at all what she expected.
"In the Bond audition, I was asked to unzip and drop the dress I was wearing, to just stand there in underwear," Pike recalls. "And I thought, 'Well, no, I’ll be doing that if I get the part. I won’t be doing that now."' She was only 21.
Despite the unsettling request, Pike stood her ground — and still landed the role of Miranda Frost, the double-crossing MI6 agent who meets her match in Halle Berry’s Jinx. It was her first time in America, her first major press tour, and, as she puts it, "a magic-carpet ride."

But the experience left a mark. As Pike reveals in the interview, that moment was her first real glimpse of the entertainment industry's more ruthless side. A star was born — but not without cost.