Cary Fukunaga, co-writer and director of No Time To Die, revealed that there are a few key reasons why he loves Daniel Craig's version of James Bond. Before taking the reigns for the upcoming Bond film, Fukunaga was well known for his work on Beasts of No Nation, True Detective, and Maniac. Fukunaga, who replaced Danny Boyle for No Time To Die, is also the first American to ever direct a Bond movie.
No Time To Die marks Daniel Craig's fifth and final outing as 007 after a successful, if somewhat uneven, stretch of films. While Casino Royale and Skyfall are widely considered two of the best films of the entire Bond franchise, Quantum of Solace and Spectre are seen by many to have missed the mark. Although the quality of the films may vary, Craig's Bond films – particularly Casino Royale – saw the franchise evolve from the more classy and suave Pierce Brosnan era to one that was decidedly grittier and more in line with the violent and kinetic Jason Bourne films.
In a new interview with THR, Fukunaga reveals that this new grittiness that came with Casino Royale is exactly what Fukunaga loves about Daniel Craig's version of Bond. While Craig was perhaps at his most blunt and brutal in his first outing, these qualities have persisted throughout his run of films, making his version of Bond feel more real and dangerous than past iterations of the character. Part of this is, of course, in the writing of the character, but much of it also comes down to Craig's own unique screen presence as Bond. Check out Fukunaga's statement below:
"…I think what’s great about Daniel Craig’s run is just how much more raw and brutal and brooding he is. I much prefer that Bond than the one-eyebrow-up version.”
The "one-eyebrow-up" version of Bond Fukunaga is referring to is perhaps best exemplified by Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan's respective takes on the character. While there is much to love about many of the Moore and Brosnan Bond entries, both iterations feature a cleaner, less serious version of Bond that always has a clever quip at the ready after easily dispatching a bad guy. To many fans, a clever, quipping Bond is exactly what Bond should be, but after several decades of this same take on the character, Craig was a welcome change to 007.
While Craig's four Bond films have all featured the more "raw and brutal and brooding" version of the character that Fukunaga describes, there has been a noticeable effort, particularly in Spectre, to bring some of the clever suaveness of previous films into the Craig era. With the popularity of the gritty Jason Bourne-style action film waning and the John Wick era of action filmmaking taking hold, the Bond films have a unique opportunity to make Craig's final outing as the character truly unique and different from his previous entries. With Fukunaga's love of a more brutal and raw version of Bond, it will be interesting to see if No Time To Die pivots away from the cleanliness of Spectre and back into gritty Casino Royale territory or if audiences will get a version of Bond that is entirely different.
Source: THR
