Daniel Craig Shares What He Is Most Proud Of In The 15 Years He's Played James Bond
'No Time To Die' marks Daniel Craig's fifth and final time playing the character.
By Diandra Nunis — 23 Nov 2021, 03:06 PM
No Time To Die will finally be releasing in cinemas nationwide this week on 25 November
The 25th Bond feature marks Daniel Craig's fifth and final outing as the iconic 007 agent, James Bond. Craig has held the role since 2006's Casino Royale.
No Time To Die is directed by Cary Fukunaga from a screenplay he co-wrote with Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The film also stars Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Rory Kinnear, Ralph Fiennes, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen, Ana de Armas, David Dencik, and Dali Benssalah.
In a virtual roundtable interview, Daniel Craig shared with us his experience playing Bond for the last time in No Time To Die
Firstly, if you're thinking there's a possibility that Craig might come back again to play the character, he's ruled it out completely. "I've done five movies. I've had an amazing, amazing experience, but it's time to move on."
While he may have hung up his boots in playing Bond, he says that he would never consider retiring as an actor. "I don't know what that would look like."
So what is it that Daniel Craig is most proud of in his entire 15 years playing Bond?
The whole thing is his answer. Looking back, he says that there are so many things he's proud of... and we couldn't agree more. From the stunts he's done, the work he's put in, and the decision-making throughout the movies, Craig has changed the way we know the character and has certainly made it his own.
However, he adds, if he had to pick one thing that he's most proud of, it is how the production team has kept the stories interlinked. "I feel like the five films work as one narrative thread through the pictures, and I hope it makes the movies more engrossing," he says.
In previous Bond movies, the plots don't rely on story continuity even though they had recurring characters played by the same actor.
No Time To Die takes off five years after the events of Spectre.
Director Cary Fukunaga admitted that Craig is his favourite Bond and agreed that Craig has set the bar really high for the next guy but believes the character will never lose its appeal
He acknowledged that Craig has brought a certain complexity and humanity to the character in the last four films. So with No Time To Die, he thought it would be very exciting to bring Bond back to reality and make him a human being that we can all aspire to be.
"I think what makes Bond such an attractive character is how much of an outsider he is. How he operates to the beat of his own drum. How he rails against authority and how his experiences, whatever that may be prior to becoming a double-O agent, inform his decision as a double-O agent. That stems back to how Ian Fleming wrote the character after his experiences at World War 2. So that DNA of the character can never change."
Fukunaga added that the appeal for Bond will still be there over time even with changes made because the character "has evolved with the times and is a character that is in constant development" so it'll always be renewed in some way.
While it may not be the last Bond movie (or so we hope), No Time To Die concludes Daniel Craig's Bond legacy. Catch it in cinemas nationwide this 25 November.
