The origin of Paloma's best line in No Time To Die makes Ana de Armas' character, Paloma, even better. The young rookie CIA agent who acts as Bond's contact in Cuba absolutely steals the show for the roughly 10 minutes of screen time she is allotted. Arguably one of Paloma's best lines, which significantly contributes to her coy charm, is the assertion that she has only had three weeks of training leading up to the mission. The true allure of this line then comes in how naturally effective she is at assisting Bond by grappling with Spectre goons and even apprehending the target herself–not to mention later implying she might have been slightly underselling her experience.
To add to the appeal, de Armas revealed Paloma's line was a joke between herself and director Cary Joji Fukunaga. Due to COVID-19 related delays, the actor actually was only given three weeks to prepare for her many action and combat sequences. De Armas repeatedly voiced her concerns to Fukunaga that she wouldn't be able to pull off the action scenes convincingly. After numerous reminders to the director that she'd only had three weeks of training, Fukunaga decided to add the line to the movie.
The origin of this line makes it even more perfect by adding a level of authenticity to de Armas' character. It showcases how genuinely impressive it is that Paloma can steal the show so effectively with such little experience. The line's origin also contributes to how at odds Paloma is with other aspects of the film in a way that feels fresh and helped elevate her to an immediate fan favorite. The idea that Paloma really had just three weeks of training before linking up with Bond seemed somewhat questionable at first. The ease with which she dispatches the Spectre muscle and apprehends the target certainly seems to suggest an experienced field agent on par with Bond himself. However, when one takes into account that de Armas only had three weeks of training in real life and was still able to deliver a highly convincing array of action and combat sequences, it suddenly becomes an instance of art imitating life, and character and actor overlapping. It's significantly more difficult to say that Paloma having such limited training is unrealistic when de Armas essentially did the same thing in real life.
The real origin of de Armas' best No Time To Die line also speaks to why her character stands out so much from the rest of the film. Much of Daniel Craig's final Bond installment is a story of age, experience, and conclusion. Most of the characters are ones that audiences are already long familiar with, and even the new ones like Nomi (Lashana Lynch) are obviously veterans of the spy world. Paloma brings a sense of slight naivete that contrasts the rest of the film and highlights her youthful energy and relative inexperience. De Armas' character ends up feeling genuinely fresh and new to this world because she quite literally is. While the rest of No Time To Die ends the Craig era, de Armas' Paloma feels like the beginning of something new.
The three weeks of training line was already one of Paloma's best in No Time To Die, but with the added realization that it stems from Ana de Armas' authentic experience, it becomes truly meaningful. The line's origins really serve to highlight the factors that made de Armas' character such a standout and immediate favorite. In light of this realization regarding the actor's performance in No Time To Die, here's to hoping that the franchise can bring back Ana de Armas for Bond 26.