Daniel Craig

[BobbyD 2]

New Bond: Fans don’t think I’m right choice

Craig says he understands Internet chatter, but wishes he’d get a fair shake

"I do wish they’d reserve judgment,” actor Daniel Craig says of Internet criticism of his selection as the next James Bond.

 

NEW YORK - Daniel Craig, the new James Bond, wants critics to give him a chance.

 

“If I went onto the Internet and started looking at what some people were saying about me — which, sadly, I have done — it would drive me insane,” the British actor says in an interview in Entertainment Weekly magazine, on newsstands Friday.

 

“They hate me. They don’t think I’m right for the role. It’s as simple as that. They’re passionate about it, which I understand, but I do wish they’d reserve judgment.”

 

A group of James Bond fans have launched a Web site, www.craignotbond.com, to protest Craig replacing Pierce Brosnan in the 007 film franchise, and to boycott “Casino Royale,” slated for release Nov. 17.

 

The fair-haired Craig, whose screen credits include roles in “Munich” and “Layer Cake,” was tapped last October to play the secret-agent icon.

 

While filming “Casino Royale,” the 38-year-old actor was uneasy about uttering those famous words, “The name is Bond, James Bond.”

 

“People kept asking, ‘Have you done the line yet?”’ Craig tells the magazine.

 

“But honestly, I didn’t rehearse it at all. I didn’t practice it in the mirror every morning or anything like that. I didn’t want to even think about saying it because I didn’t want it to be this weight around my neck. I just wanted to get on with it and not blow it.”

 

Craig decided to take Bond in a new direction.

 

“I watched every single Bond movie three or four times, taking in everything I could about how the character had been portrayed in the past, then threw all that away once I started doing the role,” Craig says.

 

“There’s no point in making this movie unless it’s different. It’d be a waste of time unless we took Bond to a place he’d never been before.”

 

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Edited May 17, 2007 by BobbyD

[ollysmum 0]

Well he can shake my martini anyday!!!!

[Bavarian Cream 1]

Same here! I think he's quite sexy, and having seen most of his films prior to Bond for some reason, I have high hopes in him as 007.He's a really good actor.

[BobbyD 2]

Agreed, a great actor.

[soho2chelsea 3]

Your subtitle really sums it up for me about why I don't like him as Bond. In my mind, Bond should probably not be blond (although I'd make a concession for say, Jude Law), and should DEFINITELY not be a buttaface.

[BobbyD 2]

For Hoyaheel...

[BobbyD 2]

Bond Director Quits South African movie maker Roger Michell has walked away from the chance to take charge of his first James Bond film after talks with producers fell through. The Notting Hill director was slated to make his 007 debut with the tentatively titled Bond 22 - actor Daniel Craig's planned second film as the superspy. But "creative differences" have prompted the South African to give up on the project. His departure poses a problem for the Bond producers because they already have a release date for the next 007 film - May 2, 2008. Michell is most well-known for the Julia Roberts-Hugh Grant hit Notting Hill and the acclaimed Jane Austen adaptation Persuasion.

[BobbyD 2]

Remaking 'James' ''Casino Royale'': Inside the big bet on the new 007. Daniel Craig is the new name on that License To Kill, and the latest Man Who Would Be Bond is resetting the spy franchise's clock. No pressure... by Benjamin Svetkey The jumbo jet parked on the runway is ready to be blown up.The fuel truck with the leaky gas tank — and a terrorist bomber behind the wheek — is idling in a nearby hangar. And the Aston Martin belonging to a certain secret agent has juts pulled up to the curb.In other words, everyone at this secluded airfield outside London, on this picture-perfect July afternoon, is waiting for the cameras to roll on what could be one of the most spectacularly explosive — not to mention spectacularly expensive — action sequences ever shot for a James Bond movie.Unfortunately, so is the guy in the hang glider, making swooping circles in the sky overhead, snapping as many photos as he can. ''The paparazzi are everywhere,'' sighs a weary Daniel Craig, taking a break as security guards chase after the winged intruder. ''We pulled two of them out of the bushes last night. They were in Prague when we were there. They were in Venice. They were on the beaches in the Bahamas. Everywhere Casino Royale has shot, they've been there.''Well, who can blame them? The press — and public — always get a little curious whenever someone new starts shaking James Bond's martinis. And this time around, there's certainly plenty to be curious about. After all, many moviegoers had never heard of Craig before October 2005, when it was announced that the 38-year-old blue-eyed Brit would follow Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan to become the sixth James Bond. Frankly, some wish they still hadn't heard of him: A group of hardcore purists have been so outraged by the casting of a fair-haired actor in a role they believe is strictly for brunets, they've gone so far as to launch an anti-Craig Internet campaign and threaten a boycott of the movie (yes, Mr. Blond, they expect you to dye!). But even those who don't care about hair color, who admire Craig's work in films like Layer Cake and Munich, may have questions about this 21st official installment of the seemingly eternal action series. Because the hair isn't the only thing different about this new 007. In fact, with Casino Royale, Bond is undergoing his boldest makeover since swaggering onto screens some 45 years ago in Dr.No.''I watched every single Bond movie three or four times, taking in everything I could about how the character had been portrayed in the past — then threw all that away once I started doing the role,'' Craig announces. ''There's no point in making this movie unless it's different. It'd be a waste of time unless we took Bond to a place he'd never been before.'' Of course, some things about Bond never change. In Casino Royale, he still carries a license to kill (although not so many lethal gadgets), takes orders from ''M'' (Judi Dench, the only familiar face returning from previous Bond movies), and invariably goes for the girl with the bodacious, um, accent (this time even getting his heart — among other body parts — broken by French actress Eva Green). Still, make no mistake, this is not your father's 007. In some ways, it's more like your grandfather's. ''We're going back to the character Ian Fleming originally conceived,'' says Barbara Broccoli, producer of the series along with Michael Wilson (Broccoli's half brother and stepson of the franchise's late cofounder Albert ''Cubby'' Broccoli). ''It's not a period piece or anything like that. It's set today, right now, and it's got all the action fans have come to expect from the movies. But we're getting back to the essence of Bond, to the Bond in Fleming's first 007 novel.''Actually, that original novel is hardly the most action-packed in Fleming's oeuvre — the drama essentially hinges on a high-stakes game of baccarat. And it has been (very loosely) adapted before, in 1954 as a live TV drama on Climax! (with a crew-cutted Barry Nelson playing American agent Jimmy Bond), and again in 1967 as a big-screen spoof (with Woody Allen as the diabolically nebbishy Dr. Noah). But now, with this $150 million-plus production, shot over six months at a half dozen locations around the globe, Casino Royale is finally becoming part of the official canon — and a hugely ambitious part at that. As if the previous 20 films never existed, this latest will push the reset button on the whole series, reintroducing Bond to audiences as if for the first time with the tale of his maiden mission as a double-0 agent. Darker and more violent (in one torture scene that actually does come from the novel, Bond's testicles are...oh, but let's not spoil the surprise), with a story line involving no hollowed-out volcanoes or henchmen with oversize orthodontia (only a terrorist financier named Le Chiffre, played by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, who Bond is sent to bankrupt at a high-stakes game of Texas Hold 'Em), Royale is a return to a more serious, realistic 007, what Broccoli calls ''classic Bond.''Obviously, it's an enormous gamble, especially since the franchise hasn't exactly been losing money lately (the last Bond movie, 2002's Die Another Day, grossed $432 million worldwide). But Broccoli and her brother, who used to be famously reluctant to tinker with the franchise's formula, are now convinced it's time to take a risk. Especially since they couldn't think of anything else to do. ''After the last film, we spent eight months trying to come up with a story, but just couldn't,'' says Wilson. ''The movies had become so fantastical — with invisible cars and stuff like that — there was just no way to continue in that same vein. There was nothing new left to do. So we decided to start all over with the story we've always wanted to tell — how Bond became Bond in the first place.''And they'll get right back to telling that story, just as soon as they chase the hang glider away.When I first got the part, people kept asking 'Have you done the line yet?''' Craig says, settling into a lawn chair on a patch of grass at the airfield. ''But, honestly, I didn't rehearse it at all. I didn't practice it in the mirror every morning or anything like that. I didn't want to even think about saying it because I didn't want it to be this weight around my neck. I just wanted to get on with it and not blow it.''The line he's referring to is just six little words — ''The name is Bond, James Bond'' — but there's hardly an actor in the English-speaking world who hasn't imagined uttering it just once. There was certainly no shortage of applicants lining up to say it in Casino Royale. Hugh Jackman has admitted wanting the part so badly he even started a rumor that he was up for the role, just to make sure his name was in the mix. Pierce Brosnan made it clear he wanted to continue playing Bond (although he didn't quite mesh with the whole reinvention theme), while Henry Cavill (Tristan & Isolde) and Goran Visnjic (ER) were among those who tested for the film. (Rumors about who would play the Bond girl, incidentally, were also rampant, with names like Charlize Theron and Thandie Newton being floated; ultimately Green was cast just after filming began last January.)But from the moment Broccoli saw Craig's 2004 turn as a dashing coke dealer in the English gangster flick Layer Cake, he jumped to the top of the short list. ''He's everything Bond should be,'' she gushes. ''He's sexy and charming and virile, but can also be dangerous.'' And he's young — the first actor to play Bond born in the post-Dr. No era — making him all the more attractive to Sony Pictures, the studio that picked up the franchise when it bought MGM in 2005 (along with the rights to Casino Royale, which MGM had acquired through a lengthy court battle that ended in 1999). ''We considered every actor in the world,'' says Sony chairman Amy Pascal, exaggerating only slightly. ''But after Barbara saw him in Layer Cake, Daniel became the front-runner. From then on, he was the one to beat.''Surprisingly, Broccoli and Wilson had no problem persuading Sony to let them tamper with their newly purchased property. ''When it comes to franchises, they know what they're doing,'' Pascal says. Even more surprising — positively shocking, in fact — is that Royale got its original green light while still at MGM, where creative tension with the Bond producers often created a Cold War-like chill, and where the old-fashioned time-tested Bond formula had kept the studio afloat for years. ''They obviously would have been happy to let it continue the way it had been going,'' Broccoli says, ''but they actually did sort of go along with our idea. We didn't have a finished script or an actor, but we were heading into preproduction when the sale to Sony happened.''It's impossible to say whether Craig would be playing Bond if MGM had stayed involved, but Barbara Broccoli wasn't the only one who noticed the actor in Layer Cake. Steven Spielberg was also impressed and cast him as an Israeli agent in last year's Munich. Well before then, Craig had been delivering notable turns (as Paul Newman's son in Road to Perdition, Gwyneth Paltrow's husband in Sylvia), even achieving a touch of fame in the gossip columns (as Kate Moss' boyfriend and, later, the chap who helped Sienna Miller get over Jude Law). But, as he soon discovered, nothing boosts your Q rating — or alters the course of your career — quite like getting fitted for James Bond's tuxedo.''I was in Baltimore shooting a movie when I got the call,'' Craig recalls. ''But it was a long progression, months and months, before getting to that moment. At one point, I did a screen test that lasted a whole day — I finally had to stop in the last half hour and tell Barbara enough is enough. And I had a debate with my friends. Some of them were disturbed by me taking the role, telling me I'd never be able to do anything else. What if I wanted to go off and do Gay Bikers on Acid — how would Sony feel about that? All of which were valid concerns. I mean, I'd love to go on to win Oscars and have my acting applauded by my peers. But I was being given a choice. A choice that might take me someplace I had never really thought about going, but that might not be such a bad place to go. So I asked myself, What else was I going to do? What else did I have planned for myself?''In truth, plan B was already in place. That movie Craig was shooting in Baltimore was The Visiting, a remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers with Nicole Kidman that'll open next year. In October, he'll also be seen on screen in Infamous, a Truman Capote biopic — yes, another one — in which he plays Kansas killer Perry Smith. But with the producers offering him a chance to remake the seminal cinematic action hero — dangling a script rewrite by Oscar winner Paul Haggis (Crash) and guidance by director Martin Campbell (who made the first Brosnan film, 1995's GoldenEye, and was brought back to relaunch 007 a second time) — it wasn't difficult to convince him he was the right man for the job (signing him for a multi-picture deal, in fact).''He's never really done an action movie before,'' says Campbell. ''He's used to a deeper sort of acting, but doing a movie like this one, it's acting in three-second bursts. So it took Daniel awhile to get used to it, to get the rhythm down. But he eventually got comfortable in the role.''Which isn't to say that everyone is happy. ''If I went onto the Internet and started looking at what some people were saying about me — which, sadly, I have done — it would drive me insane,'' Craig confesses. ''They hate me. They don't think I'm right for the role. It's as simple as that. They're passionate about it, which I understand, but I do wish they'd reserve judgment...''Something is bugging them over at craignotbond.com, that's for sure. The site's homepage urges surfers to ''Join the Boycott of Casino Royale'' and lists disgruntled fans' grievances over Craig's height (at 5'11'', they think he's too dinky), eye color (some want it brown), even rugged good looks (not suave enough, they complain). ''They're upset about the color of his hair — the fact that he's blond,'' observes Eva Green, who's obviously done some browsing of her own. ''Really, people can be such morons.''Enter the British tabloid press, all card-carrying members of SMERSH, judging by the way they piled on Craig. ''The Name's Bland...James Bland,'' is how London's Daily Mirror greeted the new 007. Reports that he couldn't drive the new Aston Martin, that his teeth got knocked out in a fight scene, that he was sunburned in the Bahamas, all made it into print — even though not one turned out to be fully accurate. ''I'm reluctant to talk about them because I don't want to give them any credence'' is all Craig will say about the stories. Others are less tight-lipped. ''The tabloids just come up with these stupid things,'' says Broccoli. ''Almost everything they've written about this movie has been wrong.''Of course, all new Bonds get whacked around at first (even Connery — a Scot! — took hits when he was cast as the ultimate Englishman), and Craig's hazing may turn out to have an upside. ''I actually think all that bad press will be good for Daniel,'' suggests Matthew Vaughn, his Layer Cake director. ''This way, people can be surprised by how great he'll be in the role. He can just blow everyone away with his performance. Which he will do.''As if he weren't under enough pressure. If nothing else, the snotty headlines and Internet fuming have been a reminder of just how deeply fans care about the character now in his care, particularly in England, where Bond is as much a cherished cultural institution as the Beatles and Spotted Dick. It's clearly a responsibility the actor has been thinking about while reinventing the beloved cinematic icon. ''There was an identity crisis in England after World War II, with the country figuring itself out, seeing the perceived power we once had dwindling away,'' Craig muses. ''And along comes this character who's very British and very charming but at the same time sort of says 'F--- you' to the whole world. I think the essence of the character is somewhere in there. I think that's what set this whole thing in motion all those years ago, and that keeps it going.''''The last thing I want,'' he's quick to add, ''is to be the one who destroys all that.''

[BobbyD 2]

Standing by her [leading] manJames Bond has a defender: a Bond Girl.Daniel Craig has come under attack from fans of the 007 franchise, who feel that Craig was miscast as the secret agent; more than 20,000 fans have signed a petition, threatening to boycott the latest Bond flick, “Casino Royale.” “I am happy that people speak badly about Daniel because they are going to be so surprised,” actress Caterina Murino told the London Sun. “Daniel is playing James Bond like a real actor, not just playful, like always. When Daniel kills somebody, he’s a real killer. When he kissed me, it was so sexy and so real.”Earlier this year, Craig’s father also defended the casting against those who claimed that the actor wasn’t macho enough to play Bond. “Is he a wimp? No, I wouldn’t like to call him that to his face,” Tim Wroughton-Craig said. “As for the idea he doesn’t like guns — when he was younger he would play with a toy gun like any other boy.”

[BobbyD 2]

Craig Bonds With 'Compass' RoleJoins former co-stars Green and Kidman Daniel Craig seems to just be franchise-crazy these days.The newest James Bond, who makes his first 007 appearance in this fall's "Casino Royale," has signed on for a key role in New Line's "The Golden Compass," the first part in what the studio hopes will be a big budget trilogy.In Chris Weitz's adaptation of the first part of Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" franchise, newcomer Dakota Blue Richards will play heroine Lyra Belacqua, a plucky young orphan who embarks on a fantastical, mystical and spiritual journey that involves helpful daemons, armor-clad polar bears and a peculiar Dust that may hold the secrets of the universe. Nicole Kidman is already in place as Mrs. Coulter, one of Lyra's main adversaries.According to Variety, Craig will play the key role of Lyra's uncle Lord Asriel, a ruthless adventurer whose epic motives really don't become clear until later in the series.Other actors linked to the part have included Jason Isaacs and Paul Bettany."The Golden Compass" will reunite Craig with Eva Green, who plays Vesper Lynd in "Casino Royale." In "Compass," Green will appear as helpful witch Serafina Pekkala.Craig will also be reteaming with Kidman, with whom he stars in 2007's "The Visiting."It's also worth noting that in the London National Theatre production of "His Dark Materials," the part of Lord Asriel was played by former Bond Timothy Dalton.Production on "The Golden Compass" will begin in London in September. New Line has slated the $150-million franchise pic for a Nov. 16, 2007 release date.

[Bavarian Cream 1]

Hmmm...I can kinda picture Craig as Lord Asriel. A beefy Lord Asriel, but oh well.Man, I do hope they don't fuck this up. It is such a great story.

[cydonia 0]

Hmmm...I can kinda picture Craig as Lord Asriel. A beefy Lord Asriel, but oh well.Man, I do hope they don't fuck this up. It is such a great story.

Yeah, I didn't visualize Asriel has being so beefy and stocky. I think Craig could pull it off.

[Sissi 0]

I, for one, am looking forward to the new James Bond with Daniel Craig! Really, we've gone through quite a few successful James Bond, and I think it will be a good change. I was sad that Pierce Brosnan was not renewed, but am quite happy with this one! He is easy on the eyes, that is for sure!

[BobbyD 2]

Craig the Poker ExpertActor Daniel Craig has become a poker expert during the filming of gambling scenes in forthcoming James Bond movie Casino Royale. Craig enjoyed learning how to play cards so much, he's taken to poker in his spare time as well. He says, "We all had to learn the game and to look convincing playing it. And let's just say there were some extra-curricular sessions that went on off-set that were all down to the cast and crew. I think some were playing for their week's wages!"

[BobbyD 2]

Actor Daniel Craig finds 007 role tough, but cool

 

Life is tough, even for James Bond. Just ask actor Daniel Craig, who for the first time dons the British spy's tuxedo for fall film, "Casino Royale."

 

Ask him what is the coolest thing about making the 21st movie in the fabled film series that spans more than 40 years and five Bonds, and he responds: "Finishing probably."

 

For the film, which opens November 17, he was beat up, blown up and hung on wires on the back of a fuel tanker by director Martin Campbell's ("Die Another Day") special effects wizards.

 

Craig trained five days-a-week to get into shape, but he couldn't bulk-up too much or he wouldn't fit 007's tux. "You just look like a doorman," he said in a recent interview.

 

But perhaps the most emasculating thing about playing one of the movies' most macho of men is this: in "Casino Royale," James Bond is awkward -- a rookie agent -- at first. What's more, he gets dumped by a "Bond girl."

 

Yet Craig swears 007 regains his cool by the end.

 

"Casino Royale," is based on author Ian Fleming's first novel, penned in 1953, about the British spy with a license to kill, and while the movie's makers stuck close to the original storyline, they re-set the film in modern times.

 

"We have an opening sequence that is filmed in black and white, which is not to say this is old. It is just to say, 'go with us on this one. This is from the beginning,"' Craig said.

 

On his first mission for Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond must stop a Frenchman, Le Chiffre, from funding the world's terrorists. (In the novel, Le Chiffre is a Soviet agent).

 

BILLION DOLLAR BOND

 

Bond confronts Le Chiffre at the high stakes gambling tables at Casino Royale. British Treasury agent, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), delivers the cash to fund Bond's game and, of course, action, adventure and a little bit of loving ensue.

 

Another take on Fleming's yarn, 1967's "Casino Royale," was a comedic spoof of the Bond genre, so Craig's film becomes the first "Casino Royale" of the type the film icon's fans have come to love.

 

Since the first movie, 1962's "Dr. No," the series has sold $3.6 billion in tickets at U.S. and Canadian theaters, adjusted for inflation. Worldwide, the last four Bond films alone have grossed nearly $1.5 billion unadjusted, according to boxofficemojo.com

 

That's a tremendous box office record to maintain, and if an actor screws up the job, he is unceremoniously ousted. Just ask George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton -- two previous Bonds.

 

"It's huge," said Craig about taking the role. "Of course there's concern, I'm only human. I want to get it right."

 

Craig, 38, may be unknown to U.S. fans, but he is no stranger to acting or to the limelight. The British actor trained at England's National Youth Theater and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

 

He has appeared in movies and on television for nearly 15 years, most recently in Steven Spielberg's "Munich."

 

Bond producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli liked him enough to sign him for an untitled, 22nd Bond flick set for release in 2008.

 

Craig said he talked to Pierce Brosnan, who played the super spy in the four most recent Bond Flicks, "quite a few times."

 

"Pierce said 'go for it,"' Craig said. "So I did."

[Cutielb99 0]

"I never dreamed I'd kiss James Bond. Now that I've done it, I say I hope I'm just the first of many."

 

– Actor Toby Jones, about sharing an intimate moment with new 007 Daniel Craig in their upcoming film Infamous

[Cutielb99 0]

Daniel Craig Opens Up About His Love Life

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2006 01:45PM EST

People.com

 

Daniel Craig, who will play James Bond in the upcoming Casino Royale, has been linked to Kate Moss and Sienna Miller – but now he's happily dating "a beautiful American producer" named Satsuki Mitchell, he says in a new interview.

 

"We're together, and she's been experiencing this whole situation with me," Craig, 38, tells Parade in its upcoming issue. "That's incredibly important." Mitchell has worked on movies including the 2005 Adrien Brody drama The Jacket and 2004's Godsend with Robert DeNiro.

 

Craig credits their happiness to hard work. "Any relationship needs a little love and care at least once a day," he says. "I don't want to get soppy about it, but you've got the put the time in. it doesn't matter who you are, you've got to keep putting it in."

 

The British-born actor also talks about the pressures involved in taking on the role of the world's most famous spy. "Maybe I'm not the prettiest Bond that's ever been, and maybe I'm not the suavest," he says. "All I can say is there are millions of fans, and I don't want to let them down. I've worked my butt off for this movie. I'm not going to foul it up."

 

Though he's appeared in some 30 movies, including Sylvia and Munich, it is Casino Royale, in theaters Nov. 17, that promises to make Craig a household name. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

 

"I got a lot of work quite young, but nothing that you'd call success," he says. "The experiences I've gained made me a happier person. If I had been successful when I was younger, I would have blown it."

[BobbyD 2]

007 Ambitions

 

MOVE over, James Bond, Morgan Freeman is gunning for your job. "I've always wanted to play a secret agent. I think I'd be good at it," the Oscar winner told Page Six. Asked if he'd consider co-starring with that pillar of acting talent, Paris Hilton, Freeman paused for several moments, then said he couldn't rule it out. "Never say never. I've learned to never, never, never say never," quipped the actor, who's in town to promote the online CharityFolks.com auction benefiting the Grenada Relief Fund.

[BobbyD 2]

James Bond To Drive a Ford?

 

 

The Ford Motor Company will unveil its all-new Ford Mondeo in the upcoming James Bond movie Casino Royale, as part of a product placement deal with Sony/MGM. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Reports said that although James Bond will still drive an Aston Martin in most of the film, he'll be seen at the beginning of the film driving the Mondeo to his hotel in the Bahamas. In a statement, Martin Smith, design chief for Ford of Europe, disclosed that since the car won't roll off the assembly line until the second quarter of next year, "we had to create a one-off, drivable model based around a design studio property" in Cologne, Germany, then transport it in secrecy to the Bahamas, where it was filmed, and then returned in secrecy to Cologne. Ford of Europe Vice President Stephen Odell added, "It is particularly exciting for us to have this appearance by Ford's all-new flagship model in the same film that introduces a new James Bond [Daniel Craig]."

[Cutielb99 0]

CRAIG'S LIST

 

His name is Bond. His mission: groceries. New 007 Daniel Craig makes it his not so top-secret mission to pick up some essentials at Tesco in the U.K. recently.

 

[Avalon 0]

23 October 2006

007 ROLE OFFERED TO EWAN

By Robert Stansfield

 

DANIEL Craig landed the James Bond role only after Ewan McGregor turned it down, says the director of new 007 movie Casino Royale.

 

Martin Campbell admitted Star Wars favourite Ewan was their first choice - but snubbed the offer because he feared becoming typecast.

 

He said Ewan was approached early in the hunt to replace Pierce Brosnan as 007. He added: "I think he got another job or decided he didn't want it."

 

Campbell also said he "wasn't totally convinced" Craig, 38, would match up to previous Bonds. The admission is the latest in a series of setbacks.

 

He was labelled "too soft" by fans following reports he is scared of heights and he was injured in his first fight scene.

 

Craig was also humiliated by claims he could not cope with gears in Bond's Aston Martin and needed an automatic.

 

McGregor said last year that playing Bond might have been fun, but he was worried about the long-term nature of the role.

[plick 1]

23 October 2006

007 ROLE OFFERED TO EWAN

By Robert Stansfield

 

DANIEL Craig landed the James Bond role only after Ewan McGregor turned it down, says the director of new 007 movie Casino Royale.

 

Martin Campbell admitted Star Wars favourite Ewan was their first choice - but snubbed the offer because he feared becoming typecast.

 

He said Ewan was approached early in the hunt to replace Pierce Brosnan as 007. He added: "I think he got another job or decided he didn't want it."

 

Campbell also said he "wasn't totally convinced" Craig, 38, would match up to previous Bonds. The admission is the latest in a series of setbacks.

Why the hell would the director say something like that before his movie even opens? He must really hate Daniel Craig.

 

In a way, even though I like Daniel Craig, I hope Casino Royale tanks so he can get past all of this crap and go back to his career. Although anyone that has seen him in Layer Cake shouldn't be concerned about his ability to play Bond in my opinion.

Edited October 23, 2006 by plick

[cydonia 0]

Although anyone that has seen him in Layer Cake shouldn't be concerned about his ability to play Bond in my opinion.

I agree. Craig is better than the material and I look forward to seeing him in something other than Bond. He was fabulous in Layer Cake.

[BobbyD 2]

Craig's Skin Not As Thick As Bond's

 

 

Daniel Craig has responded in distinctly un-James-Bondish terms to Internet critics who have slammed the decision to cast him in the role of 007 in the upcoming (Nov. 17) Casino Royale. In an interview with GQ magazine, Craig admitted that he continues to be stung by the criticism. "Some of the stuff that's been said is as close to a playground taunt as you are going to get," he said, "'You've got big ears!' F***ing hell!" He added: "But [if] you ask anyone who has been bullied, they know it hurts. It is not right. There is a part of me that would love to turn it around and shove it up their arse."

[BobbyD 2]

'Brilliant' Bond seduces critics

 

Choosing Daniel Craig as the new James Bond upset some fans

 

Casino Royale clips

 

Daniel Craig's performance as James Bond has been hailed as "terrific" and "simply brilliant" in early reviews of his 007 debut in Casino Royale.

The first verdicts on Craig - who was a controversial choice to play the spy - have been gushing.

 

The Daily Mirror said he was seen "oozing the kind of edgy menace that recalls Sean Connery at his best".

 

And the Daily Telegraph wrote that he "steps with full assuredness into Sean Connery's old handmade shoes".

 

Connery, who appeared in seven Bond films, was recently voted the best 007 of all time.

 

The actor has promised a tougher and grittier 007

 

But when Craig was picked to replace Pierce Brosnan last year, a small band of disapproving fans called for a boycott of Casino Royale.

 

In the new film, Bond makes a break from the super-slick, stereotyped spy of the past, the UK newspaper critics said - but all declared the end result a triumph.

 

"It's Bond, but not as we've known it," according to the Telegraph.

 

"The guns and action are there... the girls are certainly there... but the clonking double entendres of the old days are gone - in their place is a much more teasing, smartly written prospect."

 

'Unpredictable and vulnerable'

 

Daniel Craig had a face "like an Easter Island statue" and makes "a terrific debut", it added.

 

"He manages to exude not only danger and unpredictability and wit - but also, and this is a first, some vulnerability."

 

Daniel Craig has earned comparisons with Sean Connery

 

The Times declared: "Craig is up there with the best - he combines Sean Connery's athleticism and cocksure swagger with Timothy Dalton's thrilling undercurrent of stone-cold cruelty."

 

Craig's impressive physique makes him "a far more plausible Bond than many of his predecessors", it added. "But his main asset quickly becomes evident. He can act."

 

The action was "edgy", the paper said, with stunts that were more physical and violence that was more raw.

 

The Mirror said the James Bond rule book had been "well and truly torn up" for the 21st official film.

 

'More human'

 

"From the start you can tell this isn't your average Bond film," its critic wrote, adding that it was "easily the best film since GoldenEye".

 

Based on Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale begins with a brutal black-and-white fight scene in a bare bathroom.

 

Since Craig was chosen, the actor and film-makers have promised a more human and gritty character.

 

Casino Royale reaches cinemas on 17 November.