James Bond is a staple of the film world, with a new film making fans very excited. The latest movie, No Time to Die, is yet to come out after COVID-19 forced it to be postponed. This will be Daniel Craig’s last outing as Bond – but how did he land the role in the first place?
How did Daniel Craig become 007?
As with many actors, James Bond was a character Daniel Craig watched as a child.
Speaking about this at a press event in Jamaica, as chronicled by The Irish Independent, he said, when asked what he loved about the franchise: “I think consistency and the movies have been an event.
“I mean, I think, for myself, I remember going to see them as kids, they were a moment.
“The new Bond coming out was just incredibly exciting and we’ve just tried, during my tenure, we’ve just tried to continue that tradition of making movies that stand out and are different from the other movies out there.”
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Unlike some of the other James Bonds, however, his journey to the role was far less dramatic than some other Bonds.
Like many other actors, such as Superman’s Henry Cavill, Rupert Friend and Sam Worthington, Craig auditioned for the role, and won it, being named the new 007 in 2005.
However, initially, there were some concerns about him being the choice, given he is far shorter and blonder than the Bonds before him.
Craig stands at five foot and 10 inches, compared to his six-foot-plus comrades who have played the role, and is a strawberry blonde, despite Ian Fleming always describing the character as tall, dark and handsome.
However, Craig won fans’ hearts eventually, possibly when his character emerged from the blue waters of the sea in just some tight trunks.
Speaking of making the films in an interview with GQ, he said what his most important mantra was on set.
He said: “Stop f**king thinking and just f**king act. It’s almost that.
“Because so many things are going on in your head. I mean, if you start thinking…that’s it.
“You’ve got to sort of forget. You’ve got to leave your ego.”
However, with American TV shows, it’s not over until it’s over, and Brosnan had to wait out a full 60 days to make sure no other network would pick up Remington Steele.
He spoke of this further in his GQ interview, saying: “You know, when it happened and it didn’t happen and then it happened and it didn’t happen, you know, it always came in and out of my life with great trauma.
“In 1986, Remington got cancelled, they offered me the movie James Bond, and then I couldn’t get out of the contract, and they played it out until the sixtieth day.
“They had sixty days in which to resell the show, and I was assured that everything was going to be just fine, but it wasn’t.
“And on the sixtieth day as I was walking out to the beach with a bottle of Cristal Champagne to my late wife, the phone rang and I thought, “Hmm, better answer it.”
“It was Fred Specktor, my agent, saying, ‘The deal’s fallen through. It’s not gonna happen.’”
It turned out when the network decided to pick up the show again at the last minute, Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, the producer who owned the Bond franchise, said he would only keep Brosnan in contract if the show only had six episodes.
Sadly, the network decided it wanted to renew for a whole series of 22 episodes, meaning Broccoli cut Brosnan loose.
Brosnan added: “It’s all going according to plan: I’ve come to America, beautiful hit show, respected show, it gets cancelled, and now I go off and become an international movie star.
“This is just the way it should go. But it wasn’t meant to be. So in those awful heartbeat moments, you just think ahead. And you get on with work.”