Daniel Craig reflected on his more than 30-year career during a conversation at the BFI in London on Monday night, including his time as James Bond. Though he said he “loved every second” of playing 007, he admitted that the level of fame was “emotionally difficult” not only for him but for his family.
When asked by film critic Mark Kermode if he enjoyed playing Bond, Craig replied: “I did. I loved every second of it. I mean, some of it was tough and weird and strange and emotionally kind of difficult for everybody, including my family. The fame is weird.”
Pre-Bond, Craig was known for his role in Steven Spielberg‘s Oscar-nominated “Munich” (2005) and had supporting turns in films like “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” (2001) and Sam Mendes’ “Road to Perdition” (2002). But Bond changed everything.
“I was working and had a little bit of fame and it bought me, you know, a drink at the bar. But I could still go anywhere,” Craig said, adding that his hesitation about celebrity “couldn’t be the reason not to” take the part, which he played from 2006 to 2021.
Of being directed by Spielberg in “Munich,” which recounts the Mossad assassinations following the massacre during the 1972 Olympics, Craig said the experience was “terrifying.”
“I think, rather brilliantly, he doesn’t give you an awful lot,” he said of the director. “He arrives the day before shooting and he leaves the night of. It’s something from ‘Jaws,’ I think it’s some tradition he had. So you don’t see him.”
Craig recalled the first scene that was filmed for “Munich,” which was a complicated tracking shot in a car. The camera “came along the street, along the bonnet of the car, came to me and then around the back of the car and then kind of traveled away. And that was his first shot,” he said.
“It was like, ‘I’ve arrived, OK?’ And you’re just like, ‘Oh my God!'” Craig said with a laugh. “But what are you going to do? Shit or get off the pot. I mean, you’ve just gotta do it.”
Craig has been making the press rounds promoting his new film, “Queer,” directed by Luca Guadagnino. Earlier on Monday, his performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination for best performance by a male actor in a motion picture, drama. Of the honor, he said: “I try and be cool about it but I can’t, it’s amazing.”
Next up for Craig is reprising the role of Detective Benoit Blanc in Rian Johnson’s third “Knives Out” film, “Wake Up Dead Man.”
Asked about the future of the franchise, Craig said if Johnson “keeps writing them like that, then yes, I will play it,” adding that “it’s much easier on the limbs” than portraying Bond.
“Queer” is in U.S. theaters now via A24 and will release in the U.K. on Dec. 13 via Mubi.
English (US) ·