NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� When Daniel Craig first got the gig, he felt like something had gone amiss. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got the wrong guy,鈥� he told the producers.
But Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson insisted. No, he was the one. He was James Bond.
Craig, then a rising performer but far from the expected choice, never had any ambitions to play James Bond. He had assumed he was being strung along as part of a massive casting machine, one of dozens of actors screen tested.
鈥淥nce I did find out, I was incredibly flattered and deeply confused,鈥� Craig recalled in an interview. 鈥淚 just felt like I wasn鈥檛 the right person.鈥�
Fifteen years and five films later, Craig鈥檚 tenure as 007 is coming to a close. 鈥淣o Time to Die,鈥� which opens in the U.S. on Friday after a 16-month delay due to the pandemic, is the last hurrah in Craig鈥檚 celebrated Bond era, a stewardship that saw Craig remake and emotionally deepen the once retrograde superspy 鈥� with more than $3 billion in box office along the way. Once derisively labeled 鈥淏lond Bond,鈥� Craig turned out to be a smash success.
鈥淚t paid off in spades,鈥� said Broccoli. 鈥淗e鈥檚 truly remarkable. He鈥檚 reinvented it for the 21st century. He explored the inner-life of Bond.鈥�
But would Craig have ever gone through with it had he known what he was in for?
鈥淚f I had known more, I don鈥檛 think I would have been able to do it. The less information I had back then, the better,鈥� said Craig, speaking by Zoom from New York. 鈥淭he rest of it, the weight of it, how huge it all really is 鈥� I didn鈥檛 know. I didn鈥檛 really understand.鈥�
He pauses. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 suppose I really understand it now, either,鈥� Craig added. 鈥淚 pretend to understand. That鈥檚 what getting older is all about. I pretend better than I did back then.鈥�
鈥淣o Time to Die,鈥� directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, is, with certainty, Craig鈥檚 final turn in the tux. But it鈥檚 also a culmination of where Craig has been driving Bond. His 007 is a character, not an icon, capable of grief and regret, and far from bulletproof. That evolution takes center stage in 鈥淣o Time to Die.鈥�
鈥淚 always just felt: How do these things affect him? Within a Bond world. Not in, like, a Hamlet way. But in a Bond world,鈥� says Craig, who won鈥檛 play Hamlet but Macbeth 鈥� a play about the perils of ambition 鈥� on Broadway next year.
鈥淣o Time to Die鈥� started off unsteadily with writer-director Danny Boyle departing over creative differences. Fukunaga stepped in and the script was completely rewritten. That the film was even happening in the first place was, to some, surprising. After the previous entry, 2015鈥檚 鈥淪pectre,鈥� Craig had suggested he鈥檇 rather slit his wrists than make another. The physical toll of the films and the time commitment 鈥� 鈥淚t鈥檚 a year,鈥� he says of each film 鈥� was wearing on him.
鈥淚鈥檝e often been criticized as moaning about it,鈥� said Craig, 53. 鈥淎fter 鈥楽pectre鈥� I went: I don鈥檛 think I can do this anymore. I got to a point where it was like: The risk feels too great. That phone call home where I phone up and say I鈥檓 injured, I鈥檓 in the hospital 鈥� it鈥檚 not a nice phone call to make, and it鈥檚 happened a lot over the years.鈥�
He chuckles. 鈥淚t happened on this as well, but there you go.鈥�
During filming in Jamaica, Craig slipped while running on a wet dock and badly injured his ankle. The filmmakers could hardly know then that temporarily losing their star would just be one of many headaches to come. Before the pandemic arrived, 鈥淣o Time to Die鈥� was slated to open in April 2020. Television ads ran. Craig hosted 鈥淪aturday Night Live.鈥� The film鈥檚 theme, by Billie Eilish, was released, and won a Grammy months before the film鈥檚 London premiere.
鈥淣o Time to Die鈥� arrives at a crucial juncture for the movie business. Lately, some ticket sales have been reaching pre-pandemic levels. Bond is poised not just to save the world one more time but also give movie theaters a lift while he鈥檚 at it. Sales in the U.K. over the weekend were on par with the opening for 2012鈥檚 鈥淪kyfall,鈥� which cleared $1.1 billion at the box office.
Change, though, is everywhere. In May, Amazon announced plans to acquire Bond’s home studio, MGM. With that came pledges that Bond films will always first be released in theaters.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been told that by MGM and Amazon and take them at their word,鈥� said Wilson. 鈥淭hroughout the history of Bond, we have seen our studio sold out from under us many times. For 60 years, we鈥檝e had countless different owners and we鈥檝e managed to stay making our films and keeping Bond going.鈥�
But Craig鈥檚 departure may test the franchise more than any previous 007 changing of the guard since Sean Connery exited. During his five films, Craig has shaped the overall series as much as he has the character, bringing in top-class filmmakers and raising the bar, overall.
鈥淚 asked them straight out. I said: Listen, the confidence I need to play this role 鈥� one of the most confident people in movie history, if not the most confident human being in movie history 鈥� I need to be able to take part,鈥� said Craig. 鈥淚 need to be able to know what鈥檚 going on, to have an opinion, to feel like I have a voice. They just said yes, we want you to be involved.鈥�
鈥淎 lot of money is spent on these movies,鈥� added Craig. 鈥淚f there鈥檚 going to be a lot of money spent on these movies, then we need to get the best. We need to get the best in the industry. That I feel most proud of.鈥�
Expect to hear endless rumors and speculation of a successor to Craig for the next year. (The Onion wryly reports Wallace Shawn is in the mix.) Broccoli and Wilson, though, say their current focus is on celebrating Craig鈥檚 swan song. They鈥檝e set no parameters except to say that Bond is foundationally a male character.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not like we鈥檙e trying to be evasive,鈥� said Broccoli. 鈥淲e鈥檙e genuinely not at a point yet where we want to start thinking about where it could go. So, I think it is a clean slate. We could go anywhere with the character.鈥�
Craig cares that the films remain relevant in the future. But he sounds almost gleeful that those concerns are no longer his.
鈥淭hankfully, it鈥檚 not up to me anymore,鈥� said Craig, smiling. 鈥淚 will admire from afar.鈥�
In the meantime, once-rigid power structures within the Bond world have been partly dismantled from the inside. In 鈥淣o Time to Die,鈥� Lea Seydoux returns as Madeleine Swann, the first time a Bond love interest 鈥� a so-called 鈥淏ond girl鈥� 鈥� has carried over between films. In the film, Swann and Bond鈥檚 relationship isn’t disposable. It’s central.
鈥淪he鈥檚 not stereotyped. She鈥檚 not a sexual object,鈥� said Seydoux. 鈥淒aniel, who鈥檚 a feminist, really wanted to have more interesting female characters.鈥�
鈥淚 want everybody on screen to mean something, to have weight,鈥� said Craig. 鈥淚鈥檝e loved some of the characters in the past movies and they have impact. But there鈥檚 a lot that鈥檚 quite forgettable because they were trained to be something or whatever. I just wanted everybody to be remembered, to deserve to be up there on the screen.鈥�
Lashana Lynch also makes Bond history in 鈥淣o Time to Die鈥� as the first female 007. (Bond has left the service in the film, freeing up his code name.) Lynch, a British Jamaican actor, was only really gripped by Bond when Craig took over in 2006’s 鈥淐asino Royale.”
鈥淔or me as a Black woman to be able to relate to this white man, that鈥檚 magic,鈥� said Lynch. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the power that Daniel Craig has brought to the franchise, but also the power of the creators behind making sure they鈥檙e keeping the fans on board and inviting new fans to join in the fun.鈥�
On a film set, the final shot in a day is nicknamed the martini. When it came time for Craig to film his last scene and wrap his 15 years as Bond, it was a rainy, cold late night on the backlot of Pinewood studios.
But everyone on the crew 鈥� the producers, heads of department and actors 鈥� gathered to witness the occasion. Broccoli noted the fittingness of the scene 鈥� Craig running away from camera, into the dark. As seen in a widely shared video clip, Craig was quite moved by the occasion as he spoke to the assembled crew. You might say he was shaken by the martini.
鈥淭he last day of filming is rarely a punch-in-the-air moment. It鈥檚 usually a hard slog at the end of the day. Everyone wants to go home,鈥� says Craig. 鈥淚 thought: 鈥極h s—. I have to make a speech.鈥欌��
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