Daniel Craig completes his 15-year, five-film run as James Bond in the highly-anticipated No Time to Die, with the actor admitting why he returned for one final movie.
There had been much speculation about whether or not Craig, 53, was finished as 007 after 2015′s Spectre, which he shot for six months in an agonizing shoot that included him tearing his meniscus while filming.
The actor admitted in a wide-ranging interview with <a style="font-weight: bold;" class="class" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" website Film that there was one story thread from his first Bond film, 2006′s Casino Royale, that coaxed him to return for one last time as the iconic secret agent.
Daniel is back: Daniel Craig completes his 15-year, five-film run as James Bond in the highly-anticipated No Time to Die, with the actor admitting why he returned for one final movie
One last time: The actor admitted in a wide-ranging interview with Total Film that there was one story thread from his first Bond film, 2006′s Casino Royale, that coaxed him to return for one last time as the iconic secret agent
‘I thought I probably was physically not capable of doing another. For me, it was very cut and dried that I wasn’t coming back,’ Craig said plainly.
Producer Barbara Broccoli added that Craig was, ‘so exhausted after that film,’ adding they knew the actor needed a break.
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Nearly two years passed before Broccoli and her half-brother Michael Wilson, who run Eon Productions together, approached Craig about doing one more Bond movie, when Craig recalled a story thread from Casino Royale that he wanted to complete.
Not physically capable: ‘I thought I probably was physically not capable of doing another. For me, it was very cut and dried that I wasn’t coming back,’ Craig said plainly
‘We started talking about it and I went, “There might be a story we need to finish here – something we started in Casino (Royale),”‘ Craig said.
‘”Something to do with Vesper, and Spectre, and something that was connected, in a way.” It started to formulate. And I thought, “Here we go,”‘ Craig added.
The Vesper he’s referring to is Vesper Lynd, a character from Casino Royale played by Eva Green, who Bond fell in love with before it was revealed that she had been playing him the whole time.
Story: ‘We started talking about it and I went, “There might be a story we need to finish here – something we started in Casino (Royale),”‘ Craig said
Vesper: The Vesper he’s referring to is Vesper Lynd, a character from Casino Royale played by Eva Green, who Bond fell in love with before it was revealed that she had been playing him the whole time
It was revealed in 2015′s Spectre that Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) set up Vesper’s death as Blofeld called himself the ‘author’ of all Bond’s pain.
Wilson admitted Craig’s five-movie arc feels like, ‘a little mini-series’ in the midst of the entire James Bond franchise, which Wilson agrees with.
‘This film feels like a good bookend to Casino, because his emotional evolution gets to a place where we’ve never seen Bond before. So that’s pretty exciting,’ Wilson said.
Bookend: ‘This film feels like a good bookend to Casino, because his emotional evolution gets to a place where we’ve never seen Bond before. So that’s pretty exciting,’ Wilson said
Craig added, ‘On Casino he loses the love of his life, and then the shutters come down. On Quantum, the flawed movie that it is, it’s about revenge. And Skyfall is about M. It’s about loss. They’re big themes. And I think, “Yeah! Why not have big themes?”‘
When asked what the theme of No Time To Die is, Craig added, ‘Love and family. Because what’s bigger than that?’
He added that, ‘Bond’s “family” being Moneypenny and Q and M. And then Lashana [Lynch] comes in, and she’s like a distant cousin who you’re not sure about.’
No Time to Die is slated to hit theaters on October 8.
Theme: Craig added, ‘On Casino he loses the love of his life, and then the shutters come down. On Quantum, the flawed movie that it is, it’s about revenge. And Skyfall is about M. It’s about loss. They’re big themes. And I think, “Yeah! Why not have big themes?”‘
