The stage of Daniel Craig as James Bond has been especially celebrated. Through it, the producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson orchestrated such a psychological approach to 007 as in their day they would try George Lazenby either Timothy Dalton, but in this case the public accompanied him until the end. So that No time to die He closed this phase to great applause, making things very difficult for a replacement that is still far from materializing. Craig has set the bar very high, which was difficult to predict in his day.
Craig debuted as the spy Her Majesty’s Service in Royal Casino. His director was Martin Campbellwho years before had also directed the debut of a new Bond: Pierce Brosnanin GoldenEye. Royal Casino It would conquer the audience and garner excellent reviews (some consider it among the best in the franchise), and that happened after it was difficult to opt for Craig. Campbell, interviewed by Express UK, has acknowledged that he had doubts about his signing. Nobody doubted that he was a great actor (he had already been seen in Road to Perdition either Layer Cake), but the physique sparked controversy.
“My only reluctance with Daniel… is that he is a superb actor, there is no doubt about that… The fact is that Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan were traditional Bonds: all handsome, all sexy, very attractive to women, etc.,” explains Campbell. “Daniel was obviously more hard and roughbut He wasn’t a traditional handsome guy.. I thought about it for a minute and beyond that, absolutely it was always him”. Campbell then recalls how at Craig’s audition there were seven other candidates. He doesn’t say names, but in the past he has already learned that Henry Cavill and Sam Heughan It was part of that test.
Cavill, in fact, had quite a few options to take over from Brosnan as James Bond. “The way they work with Bond, which is quite great, is that they decide the actor and you audition (in our case, there were eight people): It’s very democratic.”, Campbell jokes about the tight control of the saga that Broccoli and Wilson exercise. “You sit around a table, eight or nine people. It was me and the producers, the casting director, etc. And you go through the eight people and you raise your hand as you talk to each person, and in the end everyone has to be unanimous in their decision.”
Here’s how Craig was chosen to star Royal Casino in 2006. A signing that at the time, and perhaps echoing Campbell’s doubts, was highly criticized. “The response from the press was horrible and I felt very sorry for him, but in a funny way I think it almost encouraged him to do everything possible to prove that everyone was wrong,” he recalls about the matter Debbie McWilliams, casting director. “Throughout the movie there were things about how she couldn’t walk or talk, that she couldn’t run, that she couldn’t drive a car well…things that were totally and absolutely false.”
“And he put his head down, got on with his work and then the movie came out and everyone said ‘wow, I think we quite like it after all’”. And we liked him for quite a few more movies.
Do you want to be up to date with all the latest movie and series news? Sign up for our newsletter.
