Daniel Craig covers the new issue of Esquire UK, as part of some advanced promotion for Spectre. The film isn’t due in theaters until November 6th, which makes me happy because I kind of think too many films are vying for the Christmas box office when it’s pretty clear that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is going to blow everyone off the map. Anyway, I really enjoyed this interview – Daniel Craig can be a moody, morose dude, but he was talkative and interesting in this piece. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
The James Bond franchise was struggling when Daniel took over: “I’m a huge Bond fan. I love James Bond movies, and I love all the old gags and everything that goes along with that. No disrespect to what happened before but this is completely different. It’s got weight and meaning. Because I don’t know another way to do it.”
Whether he’ll do one more Bond film: “I don’t know. I really don’t know. Honestly. I’m not trying to be coy. At the moment I can’t even conceive it.”
Whether he’d like to do another one: “At this moment, no. I have a life and I’ve got to get on with it a bit. But we’ll see.”
He’s not James Bond: “I’m not James Bond. I’m not particularly brave, I’m not particularly cool-headed. I have the fantasy that I would be good in a certain type of situation, like all of us, and I put those hopes into [playing] him. There are bits when he doesn’t know what the f–k he’s doing, and I like that.”
James Bond is lonely: “He’s very f–king lonely. There’s a great sadness. He’s f–king these beautiful women but then they leave and it’s… sad. And as a man gets older it’s not a good look. It might be a nice fantasy – that’s debatable – but the reality, after a couple of months…”
Daniel’s Bond isn’t as bad as the other ones: “Hopefully, my Bond is not as sexist and misogynistic as [earlier incarnations]. The world has changed. I am certainly not that person. But he is, and so what does that mean? It means you cast great actresses and make the parts as good as you can for the women in the movies.”
He’s not worried about typecasting anymore: “I relaxed. It was like, ‘F–k it. I’m James Bond, for f–k’s sake. So I’ll do James Bond.’ The fact of it is, it’s not a bad position to be in. I used to get asked all the time, ‘Don’t you worry that you’re going to get typecast?’ ‘And?’ I mean, talk about a high-class problem.”
In his spare time: “We’ve got a place in the country, in New York. There’s a lot to do there. I read, I photograph things really badly. Maybe one-in-a-thousand comes out. I’m working that ratio down.” He has an office in the house. “I try to get there once a day, surf the internet for half an hour.” He laughs. “Phew! Knackering.”
On being a rich & famous movie star now: “It threw me for a loop. It really shook me up and made me look at the world in a very different way. It confused the hell out of me. Fame and fortune, for want of a better expression, is f–king scary. I couldn’t find a lot of fun in it.”
His attitude about Hollywood: “Let’s celebrate this. It’s good fun. And of all the industries that make lots of money in the world, yes, the movie industry is a bit crooked and there are some sharks and not very nice people, but it’s a fairly open book: you come and see it, we make money. It’s not, ‘Come and see it and we’ll fleece you somehow and sell your house.’ We’re not bankers. It’s entertainment. I think there are worse professions to be involved with.”
It’s a really long piece and Daniel and the writer go into a longer conversation about the Ian Fleming canon and what makes Bond tick and all of that. There was some new information there, especially since I didn’t know much of the backstory of Bond’s relationship with the Oberhauser family. Christoph Waltz is playing “the bad guy,” Franz Oberhauser, and Franz and James Bond grew up as brothers. As for these highlights… he seems to be at peace with who is, at long last. Like, he owns the fact that he’s James Bond and he’s a rich and successful actor. I like what he says about Hollywood too, that even with the bad stuff in the industry, it’s not like they’re trying to rob people blind.
Here’s the new Spectre poster. Is this cheeseball or cool? I can’t tell. The skull reminds me of Day of the Dead stuff.
Photos courtesy of Esquire UK, ‘Skyfall’.
Probably I’m in the minority, but I really like old school James Bond. Were they sexist ? Yes but they were also fun and light hearted, all those women whisepring “OOoh James !” to Roger Moore, it was absurd and nearly cartoonish, now it’ too violent too dark for me to enjoy it. But people like it.
i guess he is also referring to stuff like this:
“James Bond Hitting Women ”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJWfObq2cFk
it was fitting to Sean Connery as he himself said slaping a woman in the face was ok.
Eww….that’s why I’m glad I didn’t watch any of the films beyond Pierce Brosnan.
Also the scripting of female characters as well as calling them Bond Girls (seriously wtf!?) And the double entendre naming of female characters like Pussy Galore, Honey Rider, Kissy Suzuki, Holy Goodhead, Strawberry Fields and my personal favorite (NOT) Octopussy.
Ronda I made the mistake of reading the comments under that vid. And now I need a silkwood shower or two.
I read a comment on Reddit (I think) stating that Daniel Craig reminded the commenter of a grumpy baby and now that’s all I can see when looking at him.
He looks good on the poster.
He reminds me of a Mr. Potato Head…….check out the header pic……some serious shades of Mr. Potato Head going on there. Anyone else see it?
He looks like an old shoe to me …
Ha! i do see it!
Yes! Except this Mr. Potato Head doesn’t have his eyes popped in yet.
he certainly has a special look. i dont find it totally sexy but i like that he is not the run of the mill pretty boy.
THIS!! He has a Steve McQueen thing going on. I actually (am in the minority, I know!) adore him as Bond.
I don’t see “baby” when I look at him since I think babies, even grumpy ones, are pretty cute. To me he has an alien-like quality about him. I don’t see the attraction at all.
Although I’ll say that I like how he seems to have a decent and mature perspective on what he does. It’s a refreshing change after the Shia story I just read.
Daniel – I love you as Bond and you are my second favourite Bond after Brosnan.
But come on – the women are still being naked, sexy and there to be seen and slept with by Bond.
Granted Eva Green’s role was one of the best of the Bond girls but the others no so much.
Yes both him and Brosnan are my favorites. I don’t get why Brosnan got so much heat for playing Bond, I always thought he would be great even back in the days of Remington Steele
Brosnan was great but unfortunately he was given some really inferior material after Goldeneye. I think that’s why he gets flack. Craig is far and away my favorite, Casino Royale is the only Bond film I own.
True. Even the amazing Vesper Lynd was some kind of eye candy just for the sake of it.
Eh I’m not even sure about Eva Green’s character, remember that scene where he creeps into the shower with her without her permission after like meeting her once? That was horrifically creepy.
Yeah. Bond is not hitting women now and objectifying them as literally as he used to, but they are still little more than eye candy.
Sexist? Yes. But with a bit of a difference. The “Bond Girls” always had jobs; always had intelligence; and more than a few of them were Bond’s equals in the spy game.
equals? were they also ALWAYS caught in EVERY movie? i hope they were better than him.
@Lilacflowers, who wrote: “Sexist? Yes. But with a bit of a difference. The “Bond Girls” always had jobs; always had intelligence; and more than a few of them were Bond’s equals in the spy game.”
LOL! Yes, but nearly every one of them were ‘tamed’ and ‘converted’ after sex with “Mr. Bond, James Bond!” (as cooed by the redheaded Spector vixen in “Thunderball” 1965 … who was ‘tamed’ yet still determined to kill him).
As opposed to women in other films who are portrayed as helpless ninnies who can’t do anything without a man’s help or are just there as the dutiful wife/girlfriend.
The supposedly kick-ass women in action films are just sexists stereotypes as well. Notice that they have to look pretty and sexy even when they’re in pain. They just switched the submissive fetish for the dominating one.
I still think Bond is sexist. Women are mostly there for titillation. Now and again they’ll do something but it’s just lip service so they can say he’s not sexist anymore. I was flicking channels the other night when Skyfall was on and caught a minute or two of it. It’s the scene where Bérénice Marlohe’s character reveals she was forced into sex slavery as a child. Then two minutes later, he breaks into her room while she’s in the shower and climbs in with her. Of course she has sex with him, because he’s Bond and nobody says no to him. How is that not sexist?
I totally agree – and he shoots her at the end as well (the scene where the baddie puts a glass on her head and the baddie and Bond take turns shooting the glass off her head). Disgusting.
Can we please move on from this whole franchise? It’s all cartoonist at this point. It’sthe same hype every year.
And how many interviews is Daniel going to give telling us he’s not really interesting?
I grew up reading the Bond books. Still love all things Bond. It’s entertainment, I don’t take it that seriously.
I prefer the others Bond’s….
Day of the dead? Well they shot scenes in Mexico, in the historical center and there was a parade of the day of the dead.
I like what he says about typecasting and particularly about Hollywood. There’s some really nasty stuff going on there, obviously, but we’re still just talking about popcorn movies. There are bigger industries out there f*cking you in much worse ways.
I like Daniel, always have and I loved this interview. Pierce is my husband’s favourite Bond although he thinks the movies themselves are dross.
Is he high? His Bond is a hundred times more misogynistic than previous Bonds. I don’t remember any previous Bond raping a woman who’s been kept prisoner as a sex slave since childhood (that scene where he sneaks onto her boat and breaks into her bathroom while she’s in the shower, strips naked, and jumps on her – at this point they’ve had ONE brief conversation and at no point did she express any romantic interest in him. He literally just strips and jumps on a random person. Although she does go along with the sex rather than pushing him away, the fact she’s a sex slave who’s been imprisoned since childhood and he’s her only hope for rescue severely damages her ability to give consent!) then participating in a sadistic game to torture the same woman to death, despite knowing full well the British Military are on their way and he could easily have saved her life just by stalling for two minutes.
Not to mention the extreme antagonism towards a woman landing the job of M (explicitly calling her “a bitch”) when Bond and M always had a very good relationship when there was a man in the job!
Personally I’d rather have Bond being condescending to some bikini bunny than child sex slave raping Bond who calls his boss a bitch because he can’t handle a female boss!
omg but “boring” is the word that comes to mind.