There’s a freedom to being done with a film franchise. We’ve seen quite a few instances where actors are finished with a big franchise and decide to actually open up quite a bit about the behind-the-scenes goings-on. With “No Time to Die” in the wild for months now, Daniel Craig is finally coming clean about some of the funny, somewhat shocking stories about his time as James Bond.
Speaking on the Awards Chatter podcast, Daniel Craig talked a lot about the history of his time as 007 in the James Bond film series, including stories about getting Sam Mendes involved, as well as when he came up with the idea of killing the character.
Basically, Craig was at Hugh Jackman‘s Christmas party, got a little drunk (he acknowledges this is an annoying namedrop), and offered Mendes the job when they sat down for a chat. “I was definitely a little drunk, Sam turned up late and I hadn’t seen him for years, I hadn’t seen him since ‘Road To Perdition,'” he recalled. “Sam sat down and we were having a drink together and it just dawned on me, it was just like one of those [moments]. We were [already] having conversations about directors…and it just became glaringly obvious to me sitting opposite him. I thought, ‘Of course.’ And so I just basically went, ‘I’m probably not supposed to say this, but do you want to direct the next Bond movie?'”
Craig continued, “And he just did this thing, he kinda just looked at me [and squinted] and said, ‘Yes.’ And then I went, ‘I’m in shit now.’ I’m sure there is someone I have to talk to about that before I go offering directors jobs. It’s not my responsibility, but I was drunk!”
Craig said he called up Broccoli the next day to apologetically explain. “I phoned up Barbara the following moment thinking, ‘Oh god, here we go, I’m going to be in shit now. I said, ‘I think I offered Sam Mendes the directing job last night.”
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Barbara Broccoli‘s response? “Amazing, great.”
The actor also told an amusing anecdote about coming up with the James Bond death years in advance, in our own exclusive interview with Craig and “No Time To Die” filmmaker Cary Fukunaga. In fact, it was right after the world premiere of “Casino Royale,” in a limo with Barbara Broccoli after the film had played, was a hit, and everything seemed to be coming up roses.
“I was driving with Barbara [Broccoli] in the back of a limousine away from the Berlin premiere of “Casino Royale,” and we were in a good mood because things were going well. Somehow, the movie was successful. People were enjoying it and I thought, “Oh, I didn’t have enough time to talk to the producer.” And I’d had this plan in my head. And I just said to her, “How many movies do I have to make?” Because I didn’t know because I never look at the contract. She said, “Four.” I said, “O.K.” I said, “Can I kill him off at the end of the fourth one, please?” It wasn’t the fourth one, but it’s the fifth one. And she said, “Yes.” She said yes.”
Craig explains while being cheeky at the moment, he did have a vague plan for it all which was basically leaving the door closed for himself after it was over because it was such a big investment in years and also leaving space for the next generation to start fresh.
“And I had it there for a number of reasons,” he explained. “I wanted for many reasons. One, because I felt like it would be a good ending for me, personally, so I could move on. I could say, ‘O.K, I can’t go back to that. This is it.’ I was trying to protect my future in my head because I realized how much this was going to change my life when I was trying to grab some control and say, ‘O.K, right now I can move to a point and work to that point, then I’ll be good with this.'”
We still are dealing with the aftermath of “No Time to Die,” which is lobbying for awards season consideration. Then, once Broccoli and the rest of the Bond producers figure out who is the next 007, it’ll be interesting to see how the franchise decides to move forward.