Monica Bellucci wants to be called a 'Bond lady'.

The 50-year-old actress - who has been cast opposite Daniel Craig, 46, in the latest James Bond movie 'Spectre' - believes women will be thrilled the female lead has gone to an older actress but insists the youthful term 'Bond girl' is no longer applicable to her character.

She said: ''My first thought was, 'How can I be a Bond girl at 50?'. After my audition, [director] Sam Mendes told me that, for the first time in history, he wanted a woman of a similar age to the actor playing Bond.

''I told Sam he would be a hero among women for casting me in Spectre. Compared to the Bond girls that have gone before me I am so much more mature, I'd prefer to be called a Bond woman, or perhaps a Bond lady.''

The raven-haired beauty - who split from actor Vincent Cassel in August 2013 after 14 years of marriage - is now rumoured to be dating businessmen Telman Ismailov and claims that all older women need to feel sexy is inner confidence.

She explained to The Mail on Sunday newspaper's Event magazine: ''Many 50-year-old women feel invisible to men but it doesn't have to be that way. It's worth remembering what you project outside comes from inside.

''True sexiness is in the mind, the imagination, not in the age of the body.

''It doesn't surprise me that men in their 20s and 30s are often looking for a much older woman.''