TimeOut London scored a really great exclusive interview with Daniel Craig this week ahead of the premiere of Spectre (which comes out next month). Is it just me or has Daniel become so much chattier this time around? For years now, Daniel has been a curmudgeon with the press, barely muttering two-word answers and sitting down for only a handful of in-depth interviews. But the advanced publicity for Spectre has found a new-and-improved Daniel, in that he really won’t shut up. Seriously, if you want to read the full TimeOut piece, go here. He talked and talked and talked. Of course he’s still a curmudgeon, but the piece goes on forever and you actually get to see his humor and how much he wants Spectre to succeed. And how much he really, really does not want to play James Bond ever again. Some highlights:
He wants Spectre to be a success: ‘God, hubris is a terrible thing in this business. I just pray the movie is going to be great.’
His Bond contract after Skyfall: ‘Well, I was contracted to do another one. That was all set up. But at the studio there was a real keenness to get it done as soon as possible. In fact, there was a conversation at one point that went: “Let’s film two movies back to back.” I just went: “You’re out of your f–king minds.” In the nicest possible way. They’re just too big.’
He has to care about how Bond looks: ‘It’s a drag. The best acting is when you’re not concerned about the surface. And Bond is the opposite of that. You have to be bothered about how you’re looking. It’s a struggle. I know that how Bond wears a suit and walks into a room is important. But as an actor I don’t want to give a f–k about what I look like! So I have to play with both things. In a way that works, as that’s Bond: he looks good and he doesn’t give a f–k what you think he looks like!’
Whether he’s showing off his body this time around: ‘Am I getting my kit off in this movie? Yes, I’ve been working out for six months. Of course I’m getting my kit off!’
The internet is evil: ‘I don’t go on the Internet any more. I think if you’re famous, the Internet is evil. I really think that. If you’re famous, it makes you paranoid. Or it makes you more paranoid than you already are. Because if you’re famous and you go on the Internet for half an hour, you realise people are talking about you. It doesn’t matter how strong you are, some of that will make you paranoid. I just don’t do it anymore. It’s the enemy of creativity.’
Bond’s relationship with women: ‘I think it’s okay for him – not to be misogynistic, that’s too strong a word – to find women a little difficult, shall we say? That’s a character thing. If you start judging him completely on that, I think you’re lost. And that comes with casting. What you do is, you do your best to make the parts for the women in the movie as strong and as interesting as possible. Otherwise, I’m like: forget it. Because that world, as far as I’m concerned, doesn’t exist any more. Characters like that exist. People do think like that, so there’s the conflict. Put that in a movie. Bond still wants to have sex. I still think he wants to f–k anything with a pulse. It’s about how the women change him. That, for me, is interesting.’
Doing another Bond movie: ‘Now? I’d rather break this glass and slash my wrists. No, not at the moment. Not at all. That’s fine. I’m over it at the moment. We’re done. All I want to do is move on…. At the moment, we’ve done it. I’m not in discussion with anybody about anything. If I did another Bond movie, it would only be for the money.’
Who should play Bond after him: ‘Look, I don’t give a f–k. Good luck to them! All I care about is that if I stop doing these things we’ve left it in a good place and people pick it up and make it better. Make it better, that’s all. Literally I’d say two things [to the next Bond]. Firstly, it’s your decision. Don’t listen to anybody else. Well, do listen to everybody, but you have to make the choice at the end of the day. It’s your bed to lie on. And don’t be sh-t! Don’t be sh-t. You’ve got to step up. People do not make movies like this any more. This is really rare now. So don’t be sh-t.’
Regarding the slashing-his-wrists stuff, as I’ve said before, I think after Skyfall, the studio wanted Daniel to make two more Bond films. Spectre took a lot out of him, and right now he and the studio are probably waiting to see how successful Spectre will be before they make any decisions about another film. As in, if Spectre is another massive success like Skyfall, they’re going to make Daniel do another film. I also kind of enjoy the fact that Daniel is basically saying that if he makes another one, it will just be for the money.
Photos courtesy of WENN, plus ‘Spectre’ posters.
Tell us how you really feel, Daniel!
Imagine if a woman said something like that about a role that made her,
And the execs would rather break a glass and slash their wrists than make history and cast a black [hot, suave, handsome, talented] man as Bond.
You’d think they’d get this, but it seems they don’t.
LOL, when he said “I’m over it at the moment” I was thinking “yeah, until the next moment when they back the money truck up”. But then he said it himself!
He sounds pissed off… I wonder what really happened and he doesn’t want to go on with Bond movies?
He doesn’t sound gracious for sure
But I agree with him about Internet
I know it must be terrible when you are a celebrity . I mean even us regular humans get hate sometimes from a comment alone and it sucks I can’t imagine the celebrity criticism they get daily. Actually I often say who in this world would want to be famous anymore lol I mean you must have hippo skin
How do you really feel?
The Bond movies are HUGE productions. I can see how it would take a lot out of a person. There’s a ton of money on the line, you have massive action sequences to choreograph, not to mention a lot of cooks in that kitchen (the studio, the Broccoli’s, the director). And aren’t the shoots notoriously grueling?
He was a man in his mid-thirties with a decade and a half in the movie industry who willingly signed on to the worlds longest running big budget franchise. He was no 18 year old Kristen Stewart signing onto a potential book-to-film flop. If Kristen regardless get no passes, this ungreatful ass should get a sound a flogging in the town square. Shut your funny looking face, Danny. You knew it would be hard work, and you knew you would have to suck it up and sell the brand. Thats what the $30 million is for, jerk.
YES!! and he is not good looking enough IMO to be James Bond- he is sexy but hard and James Bond is supposed to be sexy and smooth and sophisticated- kind of like Jude Law
Well, we know how Naya feels on the subject…
He’s allowed to not be excited about going back again. It’s not like we didn’t already know that Craig is a grump. He wasn’t even insulting anyone or anything, just extremely not excited to go back into another months long shoot in every corner of the globe.
If you’re going to call someone ungrateful, it’s best if you know how to spell it.
Worst Bond ever! So ready for you to be gone. Was really disappointed that you came back after Skyfall. I still watch Bond movies but more for the franchise than for the actor. My favorite Bond is still Connery. I think he nailed the character and he didn’t moan about how he had to worry about how he looked.
He can’t even crack a proper natural smile. Go Away Daniel Craig! GO AWAY!
So what? The pampered star of the film has no business saying things like this. There are thousands of starving actors who would have killed for half this opportunity, he won the lottery with this gig and has the nerve to give quotes like this? Bring on the Elba.
Little bridge burner here. He speaks colorfully as I have been accused of as well. Slitting his wrists, I believe, is just his way of saying hell to the no with a little more dramatic edge for impact. I think if you had a face to face convo with him, it wouldn’t be much different. Just like when ask who should play the next Bond, he replies “I don’t give f*ck”……I truly think that’s his way of saying who cares…..well played Daniel…
He sounds like an overly dramatic emo teenager. Well hopefully they move on to someone else since apparently it’s all too much for him. Also, hopefully he invested his Bond money well because they are the only big movies he’s put out that he has had success in and I highly doubt he’s going to find such success after.
I hate when actors diss the role that made them super rich and super famous. It’s obnoxious and he’s a drama queen.
He’s not even “dissing” the James Bond role. But Bond is one of the few roles anymore that he *can’t* be unanimously uncritical, because the role itself is drenched in such misogynistic undertones. And overtones. Yes, he’s a grumpy drama queen, but that’s why I actually enjoy reading his interviews. I’d way rather grumpy than overly polished and boring.
Maybe it’s the Anglophile in me but I love his humour. This was four days after filming. Spectre’s a hit, he gets a year off, and he will be back. He’s clearly not serious!
The money comment made me laugh. No kidding you do it for the money! I also love that their are people out there who still think actors make Marvel and other comic book movies because they love the material. LOL! Maybe two of them feel like that. The rest are there for the check. Unless you’re 12, you must understand this!
+1. Made me laugh, too. Not surprised at an actor being dramatic, either. And who isn’t sick of a long project four days after wrap?
Appreciate that he didn’t blow off ‘the woman question’ when it comes to the Bond character… like that he thought about it, like his conclusions.
I thought funny too. Or his best Daniel I-can-now-do-humour Craig attempt at getting them to let him out of his contract and not force him to do another one.
I remember watching a Jonathan Ross show when he had first been cast as Bond. He was top bill and last guest and had to follow Russell Brand, who, love him or hate him, had been a) hilarious and b) value for money.
Poor Daniel went on, clearly utterly uncomfortable with all the 007 attention and dreading the whole chat show experience. The first thing he said was, “I might as well apologise now. I’m going to be the world’s most boring guest, especially trying to follow Russell.”
I’m not known for my sympathy towards celebs, but I really did feel for him.
Exactly. I thought he sounded good humored in the interview. I don’t get where people are thinking he’s being a ass.
Suppose my bias is showing but I agree. He sounds like me after a few stressful days on the job.
I enjoy Bond for what it is. I wish it wasn’t analysed to death. It’s an entertaining spy caper. That is all. I’ll defend all part of it.
Of course if they throw in eggsy, I might have to stalk the set for the duration of the shoot.
Spy capers can be great without peddling stupid sexist cliches. By your logic, nobody should ever challenge movie depictions of minorities because “entertaining” to some poor soul somewhere.
Naya: get the grip. This is Bond. Full of every trope there is.
If you don’t enjoy it, you have free will to ignore. Bond has never made a cultural contribution to anything beyond entertainment nor does it try.
To ascribe deeper motives to this shallow puddle is pointless. It’s a formula that has worked for it and much copied for decades.
It is what it is.
ETA: who is talking about challenging movies that mistreat minorities? Where did I detour to a discussion about minorities? Which minorities are being mistreated? Are you sure this comment was for me or perhaps another thread altogether?
Christoph Waltz! Love the poster and can’t wait for Spectre!
Love the honesty. He’s a straight shooter which seems rare among today’s actors.
I’d rather fall into hyperbolic melodrama than see Craig as bond again. Fair enough?
I’d rather jump into that melodramatic vortex with you InTak than see him as Bond again. Fair as f-ck!
Oooh, I think I love Daniel Craig. This quotes are gold!
“In a way that works, as that’s Bond: he looks good and he doesn’t give a f–k what you think he looks like!”
” I think if you’re famous, the Internet is evil. I really think that. If you’re famous, it makes you paranoid. Or it makes you more paranoid than you already are.”
And I completely understand him being ready to get out. Spending a decade as a Bond, with all the corporate discipline and shilling that it entails it is too much for anyone.
He’s a little ungrateful eh? I only liked his first Bond movie, so there Daniel!
I would love to see Fassbender or Damien Lewis or even Clive Owen.
I don’t think he is criticizing the movies. In fact, I think he is complimenting them, and wanting to know that if the sage is continued, it is continued in a quality, not cheesy, vein. He is just tired and doesn’t want to do another, not regretting the ones he has done.
I agree!! That’s how I read it too.
This is the second time he’s says his Bond – you know, the one who flat out raped an woman who’d been a sex slave since childhood – is not misogynistic.
I didn’t know about that. I haven’t seen all the movies. That’s horrible. I always thought the fact that when Bond sleeps with a woman, she almost always gets killed had misogynistic overtones, as if she had to be punished for being sexual. But maybe that’s in my head.
I love that he is honest but my god this guy is such a drama queen! He must have been hyped up on something during this interview lol…He would be too insufferable for my tastes but I can see how some women would be charmed by that quality. Dude needs to calm down a bit.
I thought he had signed for 2 other Bond movies?!
What is getting your kit off?
I’m not a huge Bond fan, but I thought he was a sexy Bond. I think Skyfall was the only Bond movie I’ve ever seen that I didn’t fall asleep or want to fall asleep in.
get nakid
Egad the man can talk!
Wow. Daniel Craig can say so much terrible stuff, and get away with it. He always has something negative to say, and it feels like almost everyone agrees and empathize with him.
If any female actress made this comment about slashing their wrists, they would be blasted by the media and comment sections of how insensitive they are towards depression and suicide.
Good grief, it’s called wry humor. Maybe a British thing that not’s coming across in translation?
I am not British and I thought it was very funny. But I am not American either. Americans don’t understand sarcasm, that is what it is.
It took me a long way to stop using sarcasm in the US because it just made me look stupid every time. Nobody understood it and thought I was being serious.
In the first picture, doing the purse-y mouth, he’s starting to look like Vladimir Putin.
I kept saying this for last year. He looks like Putin.
Not the face, but his whole body language as Bond is 100% Putin. They must be trained by the same body language experts.
I’ve always thought visually he looks Russian.
@LAK . somebody said in the previous post thread that he looks like a Polish plumber. I guess it is about the same thing. Poor Craig. ))
You know what’s funny about that? I have a friend who says Putin reminds him of a Bond villain from the 70’s – 80’s! I can definitely see it. Especially the Putin/Mini submarine photo! But yes, Craig does look Putin-esque as Bond! Lol!
It’s obvious: he took the role originally with misgivings knowing it was an opportunity of a lifetime. Figured he’d never last this long and that Skyfall would be respectable place to leave it after QoS wasn’t so strong… only it was so popular he had to do this one with the threat of another.
And the reason he’s usually so quiet re: interviews is because if he wasn’t, exactly what he said in this one would have come out earlier.
This time he’s hoping enough is enough. I do think they should let him go now though, he clearly wants to let it go. When he played 007 escorting the Queen at the Olympics I thought it had gone far enough, tbh.
Lol. He’s so crotchety! Maybe he needs to take some fiber!
I’m definitely watching Spectre though. Honestly, my first real intro to Bond was the Daniel Craig version (I just never watched the other ones) and I really do like them. I like the idea of Pierce Brosnan as Bond, but… the movies are so cheesy. Don’t shoot me!
I adore daniel craig
I adore. I. Love. Daniel Çrag