‘Spectre’ Director Thought Daniel Craig As James Bond Was A ‘Terrible Idea’ [Video]
The Spectre lead hero Daniel Craig has been playing James Bond for nearly 10 years now and Craig’s position as Agent 007 is certainly accepted by most people by now, but it wasn’t always that way. There were those that thought the Spectre star lacked the character, or perhaps the finesse, that made for a great James Bond, but others, like Spectre director Sam Mendes, who felt Daniel Craig was simply too dedicated to his own style to do the role justice.
“I had cast Daniel Craig in this film I made in Chicago called Road To Perdition about 15 years ago, and it was his first big American film. The role of Bond came up four or five years later and I was called by Entertainment Weekly, a showbiz publication, and they said ‘your old friend and collaborator Daniel Craig has been suggested as Bond, what do you think?’ and I said ‘terrible idea – he shouldn’t do it’. For me at the time I thought Bond had become the opposite of what Daniel is – a slightly disengaged, urbane jokey eyebrow-raising, you know, a pastiche in a way, and I felt Daniel’s reality and his passion and honesty as an actor would not work.”
The Spectre director meant no disrespect to Craig. Quite the opposite, Mendes felt that Daniel too talented to waste his time stepping into a role that, at the time, had devolved into a high-tech action hero character. Time has proven that James Bond is still so much more and it would have to be to have held Daniel Craig’s attention for a decade and to draw in the one-time skeptic, Sam Mendes.
Now, the 24th James Bond adventure is about to hit theaters with one of the most intriguing stories yet. Even the synopsis for Spectre boasts a mystery to draw in even the casual fan.
“A cryptic message from the past sends James Bond on a rogue mission to Mexico City and eventually Rome, where he meets Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci), the beautiful and forbidden widow of an infamous criminal. Bond infiltrates a secret meeting and uncovers the existence of the sinister organisation known as SPECTRE.”
“Meanwhile back in London, Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), the new head of the Centre for National Security, questions Bond’s actions and challenges the relevance of MI6, led by M (Ralph Fiennes). Bond covertly enlists Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Q (Ben Whishaw) to help him seek out Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), the daughter of his old nemesis Mr White (Jesper Christensen), who may hold the clue to untangling the web of SPECTRE. As the daughter of an assassin, she understands Bond in a way most others cannot.”
“As Bond ventures towards the heart of SPECTRE, he learns of a chilling connection between himself and the enemy he seeks, played by Christoph Waltz.”
Spectre, starring Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, and Ralph Fiennes will see a November 6 theatrical release.
[Featured image: Daniel Craig courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment/Spectre]
