Penélope Cruz, an enormously talented actress and rather fetching to boot, is reportedly to star opposite Daniel Craig in Bond 24. Along with the news last week that Sam Mendes will most likely return for the follow up to Skyfall, Bond 24 is shaping up quite nicely. Penélope Cruz hits 40 next year, which is, for once, suitable for Daniel Craig’s 45. Let’s hope she’s not a nuclear scientist or something.

Bond Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson tried to get Penélope Cruz several times before, but schedules never lined up. She’s an excellent choice for a character intended to hold her own against Daniel Craig’s big blonde beefy baby Bond, so perhaps Sam Mendes will try to make Penélope Cruz as strong a female figure as Judi Dench was in Skyfall.

Bond 24 is now due to begin filming in the summer of 2014. Although the original release date was set at a tentative “sometime in 2014”, that may have just been Eon being silly. We’d like to think that spring or autumn 2015 might be a more realistic release date for Bond 24, but knowing Bond’s history with release dates (mostly thanks to the now-defunct MGM) it could honestly be 2016.

Penélope Cruz has been slowing down her career of late. The only big budget films she’s chosen to do in the last few years has been Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (ugh) and Sex And The City 2 (double ugh). She’s currently in cinemas in the distinctly poor I’m So Excited, but hopefully being the oldest Bond girl to date (bar Judi Dench, naturally) will showcase her excellent acting abilities once more.

Expect to see the Bond 24 news trickling in! How do you feel about Penélope Cruz as a Bond girl? What are your favourite Cruz roles?