Longtime James Bond actor Daniel Craig admits that the decision to accept the iconic role was a scary one. Craig was first introduced as Ian Fleming's martini-swigging spy in 2006's Casino Royale before appearing in a further four movies. His fifth outing as the character in last year's No Time To Die proved to be Craig's final farewell to Bond, leaving casting once again open for a new take on the legendary secret agent.
Having played the character over the course of 15 years, Craig is currently the longest-serving James Bond actor, if not quite the most prolific. However, his tenure has also rather famously had its fair share of ups and downs. Whilst his second film Quantum of Solace proved to be an underwhelming follow-up for many, the critical and financial hit Skyfall has often been cited as the best Bond film of all time. And although Craig's devotion to playing Bond seemed in doubt around the time of Spectre's release, he has made it very clear that he was extremely satisfied with his interpretation's send-off in No Time To Die.
Now, Craig breaks his silence on what it was like to be offered the role of the world's most famous spy. Speaking in an interview on THR's Awards Chatter Podcast, Craig discusses his early love of acting from a young age, as well as his pre-Bond career working in films such as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Road to Perdition and Layer Cake. But once the inevitable subject of his casting for the rebooted spy franchise comes up, Craig outlines his initial apprehension at taking on the role:
I knew that it would flip it and that there would be no going back to who I was or what I was, either personally or professionally. And that was very, very, very scary. It felt like I was risking something — I didn’t know what that was, but I was risking something. But the decision I made, at the end of the day, was that if I didn’t do it, I would regret it. I had this joke with a friend that [if I passed on the role then] in 20 or 30 years’ time I’d be sitting at a bar in a corner going, ‘I could have been Bond, you know!’ And that’s not the person I wanted to be.
The actor additionally reveals how, when offered the role by producer Barbara Broccoli, he insisted that he couldn't agree to anything until he was given a script (which Craig admits was a ludicrous thing to do), which he wouldn't be provided with for another 6 months. At the time, Craig also had no idea what he could bring to the character that would be different, and feared that he would just end-up doing an impression of previous James Bond actors. Indeed, it appears that he wasn't particularly interested in the role initially and felt that, once he read the script, it would be "an easy no." But the strength of the screenplay proved otherwise. He additionally discloses how his Munich director Steven Spielberg also convinced him to take on the role after Craig secretly gave him a copy of Casino Royale's script to read.
Whilst these revelations may come as a surprise to some, Craig's trepidation in accepting one of the most recognised and beloved characters in film is completely understandable. He certainly would not have been the first actor to have declined playing James Bond over misgivings about what taking on the role might mean. With the franchise being one of the most globally successful film enterprises of all time, along with all the publicity that implies, it's hardly a decision that can be made lightly. But whilst many fans are still processing Craig's dramatic exit from the film series in No Time To Die, they are likely to be reassured by the fact that, five films later, Craig clearly doesn't regret his decision to say yes to Bond despite his initial skepticism.
Source: THR