Natalya Fyodorovna Simonova (Russian: Наталья Фёдоровна Симонова) is a fictional Russian programmer and a Bond girl. They first appeared in the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye, portrayed by Polish-Swedish actress, model, and singer Izabella Scorupco. Natalya was re-imagined for the 2010 video game GoldenEye 007, voiced by Kirsty Mitchell. The character was also featured in John Gardner’s accompanying novelization and the video game.
Biography
Natalya worked as a Level 2 programmer for the Severnaya Satellite Control Center guidance system. She was best friends with Anna Nishkov and had a friendship with Boris Grishenko, who was not very popular amongst his co-workers due to his arrogant and perverted personality. However, Natalya was more patient and saw him just as an annoying little brother.
The GoldenEye attack
However, unbeknownst to her and everyone else at the time, Boris had made a deal with Janus Crime Syndicate led by former MI6 spy Alec Trevelyan who sent agents General Ourumov (a treasonous member of the Russian army) and Xenia Onatopp (a deranged woman who enjoyed sexually crushing her victims to death) to steal a dangerous satellite weapon system named GoldenEye.
Natalya was in the kitchen making coffee, and Boris had slipped away “for a cigarette” when he was fleeing the scene in a hijacked Tiger Eurocopter before the two agents moved in for the attack. Natalya witnessed Xenia brutally shooting everybody there and tried to escape with no success. The sounds coming from the kitchen attracted Xenia’s attention and, assuming that person was hiding in the ventilation shaft, opened fire. Fortunately, Natalya had hidden in one of the cupboards. She then watched Ourumov and Xenia take the three keys that launch the weapon and use them to activate one of the weapon satellites Petya, with it’s location being Severnaya itself, before fleeing the scene and taking the keys with them.
Natalya was left all alone and barely survived the electromagnetic pulse that destroyed the whole center. She found Anna’s dead body and covered it with a coat out of respect. She found her way out by climbing on the control center satellite that had fallen through the ceiling during the center’s destruction. Trudging her way through the snowy night, she called out to Boris, whom she didn’t realize had already fled. She eventually found several sled dogs who survived the attack unscathed because they were far away from the center and traveled back to St. Petersburg.
Natalya was left all alone and barely survived the electromagnetic pulse that destroyed the whole center. She found Anna’s dead body and covered it with a coat out of respect. She found her way out by climbing on the control center satellite that had fallen through the ceiling during the center’s destruction. Trudging her way through the snowy night, she called out to Boris, whom she didn’t realize had already fled. She eventually found several sled dogs who survived the attack unscathed because they were far away from the center and traveled back to St. Petersburg.
Trapped by the Janus Syndicate and meeting James Bond
Arriving at St. Petersburg, Natalya finds a computer to contact Boris and send him a message about Ourumov’s attack. He tells her to meet him in a cathedral, but he betrayed her again by allowing her to be captured by Xenia. By this time Natalya was trapped in the stolen Tiger helicopter with MI6 agent James Bond who Janus had also captured. The helicopter had been set to fire missiles at itself, but Bond was able to eject the two. They are then arrested by the Russian government and transported to the Russian military archives, where the Minister of Defence, Dmitri Mishkin, interrogates them. Bond tells him that he is innocent and he is investigating a case involving the GoldenEye theft and that there is a traitor in the ranks. Natalya however remained silent. Bond then interrogated Natalya herself saying that she knew more that she was letting on and he could help her if she trusted him. With no other choice Natalya told Bond what she knew about the destruction of Sevenaya and Boris’ betrayal before Mishkin walked in. Bond and Mishkin then argued over the situation before Natalya silenced them both and revealed that Ourumov stole GoldenEye. Just after Mishkin set them free, Ourumov entered and Mishkin reprimanded him for his betrayal before he was brutally shot by the general, who then proceeded to blame Bond for it.
Train confrontation
Bond then fought his way through the guards with Natalya close behind, but she fell from a loose catwalk and into the waiting arms of Ourumov who took her to Trevelyan’s armored train. On board Natalya met Trevelyan who told her about his past friendship with Bond and then harassed her to which Natalya angrily gave him a hard slap calling him a Svinya (the Russian word for a Pig). Bond meanwhile had taken a Russian T-55 tank and intercepted the train. Trevelyan then placed Natalya in Ourumov’s hands before giving orders for the driver to ram the tank, but Bond derailed it by firing upon it. After Bond boarded the train and proceeded to shoot Trevelyan and Xenia who was also on board, Natalya was then brought in by Ourumov. Trevelyan gave Bond a choice to save her or continue with the mission. Bond then told them to go ahead and kill her as she meant nothing to him, much to Natalya’s astonishment. Trevelyan then gave the word for Ourumov to kill her but Bond ended up killing Ourumov instead. Trevelyan and Xenia fled and sealed Bond and Natalya in. Before they escaped in a helicopter, Trevelyan told Bond that he had set the train to self-destruct, giving them only three minutes to escape. While Bond was using his laser to cut a way out through the floor, Natalya hacked into Boris’ system to see where the location of where Trevelyan’s base was. Boris however saw what Natalya was trying to do and tried sabotaging her chances, but she managed to find out that the location was Cuba. Bond then grabbed Natalya and they barely escaped the train before it exploded.
Afterwards they travelled to Cuba, where they were greeted by a friend of Bond’s named Jack Wade, who gave them a plane and warned them that Trevelyan knew they were coming. Later that night on a beach, Natalya questioned how Bond could simply just murder Trevelyan who had been his friend, but had now become his enemy. She disliked the brutish atmosphere she had encountered around her and Bond’s supposed profession callousness. Bond tells her that it was what kept him alive, but Natalya retorts that it was what kept him alone. They suddenly kiss and then make love with Natalya asking if Bond really meant what he said to Trevelyan on the train, but Bond replied he was only drawing attention away from her.
Attacking the base
Next morning Bond and Natalya flew to the place where Trevelyan’s base was, but a missile shot down their plane. They landed safely, but the impact knocked them both unconscious. As they were awakening, Xenia appeared, rappelling from a helicopter. She then attacked Bond, proceeding to use her deranged style of murder. Natalya attempted to intervene but Xenia headbutted her to the ground, telling her to wait for her turn. Bond then reconnected the rope that rappelled Xenia down to her safety harness and used her AK-74 rifle slung across her back to shoot the helicopter’s cockpit which killed the pilot and fatally damaged the craft. The helicopter then began to plummet towards the ground dragging the screaming Xenia with it and trapping her in the fork of a tree, which ironically crushed her to death. Natalya and Bond dived for cover as the helicopter exploded as it hit the ground. They then stared at Xenia’s dead corpse with Bond remarking “She always did enjoy a good squeeze.”
Meanwhile Trevelyan and Boris had placed the antenna in position and planned to wipe out London’s currency before setting off GoldenEye’s other satellite Mischa to erase every trace of the theft as well as every other bit of information that would destroy the economy. Natalya and Bond found the entrance to base that had been concealed under the Cuban ocean and narrowly avoided Trevelyan’s guards.
While Bond was attaching mines to some of the flammable tanks in the base. Natalya slipped into the mainframe control room and hacked into Boris’ system, changing the access codes for the satellite. She had just finished when the guards caught her and took her to Trevelyan who by this time had caught Bond as well. When she saw Boris, she furiously slapped him and proceeded to attack him some more before being restrained by the guards. Boris angrily told her to never do it again. Natalya then told him how disgusted she was by his betrayal and that more people would die because of his sick games. He raised a clenched fist to her face before being restrained by Trevelyan. He told him that Natalya had been in the mainframe so he should check the computer. Boris scoffed that Natalya was only a second level programmer and couldn’t possibly do anything. However he was proven wrong when the satellite had already been programmed for re-entry and would be burnt up somewhere over the Atlantic. In a rage, Boris told Trevelyan that Natalya had changed the access codes. Trevelyan then placed Bond at gunpoint to threaten her into fixing it. Natalya however gave the same answer that Bond had given on the train; “Go ahead shoot him, he means nothing to me.” Boris then said he could break her codes, but after a while he then screamed at Natalya to give him the codes whilst holding Bond’s explosive pen that detonated and disarmed with three clicks each. Bond seized his chance and knocked the pen amongst the canisters which had a devastating effect on the control room. The two escape by lift and Bond asked her if Boris could break her codes. Natalya responded that there was a possibility, so the transmitter on the antenna must be destroyed. After taking out another guard, Bond gave Natalya the guard’s gun for protection and told her to stay out of sight while he destroyed the transmitter. Boris meanwhile had succeeded in rebooting the system and proceeded to reprogram the satellite to it’s original chosen location.
While Bond was fighting Trevelyan and sabotaging the antenna, Natalya stowed aboard a helicopter that had been sent to collect Trevelyan from the site. She then held the pilot at gunpoint and watched as Bond dropped Trevelyan to the dish below. Meanwhile due to Bond’s sabotage of the antenna, the Mischa satellite went out of control and exploded in space much to Boris’ dismay. Natalya then ordered the pilot to pick up Bond from the antenna before it exploded and fell, crushing Trevelyan to death. Meanwhile Boris was frozen to death by exploding canisters of Liquid Nitrogen.
Final situation
The helicopter landed in a secluded spot, where Natalya and Bond shared an intimate moment. But they were interrupted by Wade and his men who had come to rescue them and makes arrangements to travel to Guantanamo. Natalya was reluctant at first as every vehicle and craft she had been on with Bond had always ended in disaster. But Bond carried her in his arms and told her nothing else could possibly go wrong.
Behind the scenes
Izabella said in an interview that she had enjoyed playing her character and admired her for her strength, bravery and willingness to help. She described her as a “very natural girl who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time”. She also requested that her character be known as a “Bond Woman” because the term “Bond Girl” sounded to her too demeaning.
The memorable outfit of the white La Perla bikini and patterned Ghost sarong was created by costume designer Lindy Hemming as a homage to Ursula Andress’ character Honey Ryder. Izabella kept it after filming and later donated it in November 2012 to the Child Diabetes Fund in Sweden for a charity auction. It is now in the Swedish 007 museum next to a signed picture of herself and Pierce Brosnan.
In an early draft of Tomorrow Never Dies, Wade asks about Natalya’s whereabouts, to which Bond replies that she married a hockey player. This references Izabella Scorupco’s marriage to Polish ice hockey player Mariusz Czerkawski.
