Over the decades 007 has been equipped with an amazing array of secret weapons – and now a new one has been added to his arsenal ... stacked heels.

Actress Gemma Arterton, the secret agent’s love interest in the new Quantum Of Solace movie, has told how producers had to give Bond star Daniel Craig a lift when she put on her high heels.

But the 22-year-old says Craig, known to be prickly about the subject of his height, took the news ‘with good humour’.

Elevated: Even with a little help, Daniel Craig, second from right, is still only just taller than Gemma Arterton, far right, pictured with co-stars Mathieu Amalric and Olga Kurylenko

Arterton, who is 5ft 7in, said: ‘Daniel is 5ft 10in but when they put me in heels, I was taller than him and it didn’t look good on screen.

‘The whole point of Bond is that he is masculine and hunky and he has to be taller than his girlfriend.

'Daniel had to wear shoes with a lift in them and stacked heels for a few scenes, but he took it very well. He thought it was funny.’

Arterton, who is now filming the £50million adventure film Prince Of Persia in Morocco with Jake Gyllenhaal, added: ‘Daniel is the sexiest Bond ever.

'He didn’t have to wear the special shoes during the whole film, just for the scenes where they wanted me in stilettos.

Standing tall: The other actors to play James Bond have all been over 6ft

'I teased him about it and he took it in good humour.’

Craig, 40, was stung by criticism about his height and looks when he won his debut Bond role in Casino Royale in 2005.

He refused to comment on his height, quipping to one interviewer: ‘Let’s just say I am somewhere between 5ft and 6ft.’

Some fans had complained he was blond, short and not up to playing Ian Fleming’s tall, dark, handsome hero – but Craig had the last laugh when Casino Royale took nearly £300million at the box office, making it the most successful Bond film ever.

Brunette Arterton landed the role as MI6 operative Agent Fields in the new movie just six months after graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

The daughter of a welder from Gravesend, Kent, she beat 1,500 other hopefuls to be chosen as the Bond girl.

Craig in the upcoming Bond movie, Quantum of Solace

Yet she remains undaunted about her role. ‘People will always compare you to past Bond girls.

'I was in a bit of a dream, a daze, when I filmed my love scene with Bond.

'I felt like a giggly girl because he’s such a man.’

That scene was one in which Bond did not have to worry about his height.

Arterton was covered by a sheet as Craig kissed her bare back on a bed.

He is not alone in having to resort to stacked heels.

Other well-known figures who have used them include 5ft 10in Mick Jagger, whose girlfriend L’Wren Scott is 6ft 4in; French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is 5ft 5in and whose wife Carla Bruni is 5ft 9in; and Tom Cruise, who is 2in shorter than his 5ft 9in wife Katie Holmes.