Daniel Craig talks about his life in the eyes of the public as James Bond, the success of Casino Royale, and a few tidbits about the upcoming Bond 22

Craig On Bond (2)
24th November 2007

During a promotional tour for his latest movie "The Golden Compass", Daniel Craig appeared on the Jonathan Ross show on BBC1 on Friday 23rd November 2007. Inevitably, talk turned to his successful debut outing as James Bond in "Casino Royale", and the forthcoming 22nd adventure...

Craig was asked why he was initially reluctant to take on the Bond role. "I kinda walked away from it at first because I couldn't wrap my head around it, and I didn't see myself doing it - simple as that. Just as an actor, I hadn't envisaged myself playing the role. I genuinely thought they were having a bit of a giggle when they offered it. It wasn't on my radar at all. I knew that once I decided I was going to do it we had to do something different, and I wasn't going to get involved unless we did something like that - Casino Royale. And now we have the chance to push that on a bit [with Bond 22]." As with all his predecessors, the image of James Bond can hang heavy and impact day to day life like no other movie role. Craig was asked if his routine has changed since this time last year. "Yes. I can't go to the pub anymore, for very long anyway - I can go in and grab a couple of pints then run out. People tend to use their mobile phones on me alot, they carefully bring them around and take a quick picture."

In an interview with The Times earlier in the week, Craig explained that he was accepting of his new status, but there were limits. "You know, if I'm up for it, fine. I have to keep hold of my sense of humour, because you can lose it very quickly and you start retreating into yourself; then you can’t go anywhere unless you are with armed guards, and the whole thing becomes ridiculous. So you have to smile about these things. But I tell you, trying to take pictures of me when I’m having a piss is not welcome and never will be. And yes, that’s happened."

One of the stand-out features of Casino Royale was the 'back to basics' approach with the stunt work. Craig said he had fun working on the action sequences, but "they are very carefully planned and - literally - today [Thursday 22nd November] I started rehearsals for the next Bond film which we start shooting in January. So we have a month of rehearsals now to try and get the action sequences as carefully choreographed as possible so when we get there a) we don't get hurt and b) we make it look right."

When asked about how the crane sequences were shot and the challenges he faced, Craig said "It was pretty high up, I had to get over that. I didn't do the really high stuff, but we had a crane rigged on top of a platform on top of a building ... it was high!" "I did have to breath deeply. But I thought if they were confident enough to let me [do the stunts] then I should do them because it's my face and I think people can tell." Craig was (expectedly) tight-lipped about the upcoming Bond 22, and when asked if the film had a title yet he said, "it's called Bond 22 at the moment, we haven't got a title. I can't tell you if we did anyway!". When pressed if it would hearken back to any of the previous titles, Craig smiled and said "err, no, it won't". Recently, Craig signed a contract for four more 007 outings following Casino Royale, which would take him up to Bond 25.

In a brief segment edited out of the transmitted show, Craig was asked how long he planned on staying in the role. "Until they tell me to stop", he said. "I want to get the next one right and we'll go from there. I'm free to do what I want but I've got no plans to stop"

Craig also talked about his appearance in Casino Royale in a press interview this week, and how he was shaping up for his next outing as 007. "Arrghh! I was big for the last one, and it wasn’t a mistake, it was a definite statement. This guy, when he takes his shirt off, should look like he could kill someone", Craig told The Times. "After it finished, I stopped training. I got drunk for three months! No, I didn’t, but certainly relaxed for three months and ate what I wanted, and then it’s hell because as soon as you get back in the gym, you have to work all that off, and it takes much longer than it does to put it on. Last time I did a lot of weights to bulk up because I had to do it quickly. This time I’m going to do more boxing and more running. I need to be physically strong for Bond and, as much as I looked in great shape, I got a lot of injuries, probably due to the fact that I wasn’t doing enough running and jumping, which is what I needed to do in the film. I won’t look physically much different, but I won’t be as ‘no neck’ as I was last time."