EXCLUSIVE: ‘I said they had to kill him off in the end’: Daniel Craig reveals he was originally told he’d have to star in four Bond movies – before THAT No Time To Die ending
- WARNING: Contains spoilers for No Time To Die
Daniel Craig has revealed that he was originally told he’d have to star in four James Bond films by boss Barbara Broccoli, leading him to ask if the character could be ‘killed off.’
The actor, who made his fifth and final appearance as 007 in No Time To Die last year, confessed it was ‘a lot’ being told he’d have to make such a commitment to the part, setting the stage for the agent’s surprise death many years later.
Speaking on the Awards Chatter podcast, Daniel said that he felt Bond was ‘happy and fulfilled’ when he finally met his maker, while detailing the moment he became’ choked up’ during his final day of filming.
Revelation: Daniel Craig has revealed that he was originally told he’d have to star in four James Bond films by boss Barbara Broccoli, leading him to ask if the character could be ‘killed off’
Daniel explained that after his first Bond outing in Casino Royale in 2006 he had asked Broccoli how many he had to make.
He said: ‘I was sitting in the back of a black Mercedes driving away from the Berlin premiere of Casino Royale with Barbara Broccoli in the back – just me and her – everything was good, the movie was doing great, it was like ‘we’d done it, it was time for a bit of celebration’.
‘I said ‘how many of these movies do I have to make?’ And she was like ‘four’. And I was like ‘oh, really? That’s a lot?’
Open: The actor confessed it was ‘a lot’ being told he’d have to make such a commitment to the part, setting the stage for the agent’s surprise death many years later
‘I said ”OK, if I make four can I kill him off at the end?” And she paused, and she just went ”yes”.
‘I had a sort of plan in my head, I don’t know what the plan was, that if we got it right and if we got it to a place, then they needed to re-set.
‘And to properly re-set you need to get rid of one idea of it and start another idea of it. And I just felt like ‘get rid of my version and someone else can start, and they can start their version’.
‘But it also meant that what I could do is there could be some sort of arc, emotional arc, that I could aim for, and that something he does or has to do means he has to end and that he can’t be around any more.
‘And that was a really, really difficult story to figure out, but I knew that if we got it right then it would be the ultimate sacrifice, but the ultimate sacrifice for a good reason.’
Speaking out: Daniel explained that after his first Bond outing in Casino Royale in 2006 he had asked Broccoli how many he had to make
In No Time To Die, Craig’s Bond is tackling baddie Safin and calls in a missile strike from HMS Dragon to destroy Safin’s factory where he has technology to kill millions of people.
Bond is eventually killed in the blast, mere seconds after learning that he is the father of love interest Dr. Madeleine Swann’s daughter Mathilde.
Discussing his character’s eventual ending, Daniel said: ‘He didn’t commit suicide, there was no choice, and basing it around a love story and a family love story seemed to me to be the obvious thing.
‘I and Cary (director Cary Joji Fukunaga) and Phoebe (Waller-Bridge, screenwriter) all had a lot to do with the end. We wrote it. I scribbled stuff down on paper what I thought it was. Phoebe scribbled her magic over it. It came together.
‘We just had to get the right reasons. And the right reasons were ones where there was a diabolical villain who did something diabolical that there was no going back from, and the only thing that he could do to keep the people he loved alive was to sacrifice himself.
‘And it felt right. And he went out a happy man. He was fulfilled.
Moving: Speaking on the Awards Chatter podcast, Daniel said that he felt Bond was ‘happy and fulfilled’ when he finally met his maker
‘He could never really be with anybody because he couldn’t because he was an assassin. He was always a target and in some ways he got rid of the bad guy, the real bad guy that we had from the first movie, because Safin was in the first movie.
‘We got rid of him and Madeleine could go on, and his daughter could go on. I felt very satisfied with it.’
Craig also said that after the final day of filming he became far more emotional than on any of the other Bond films.
He continued: ‘That last day on a movie set is always a fairly anti-climactic thing. You go ”bye, see you, lovely working with you, see you again soon”.
‘I did the last scene. All of the crew, all of the office staff had stayed and I didn’t know they had. So suddenly there was two or three hundred people standing around.
‘And it was very difficult not to get emotional. It wasn’t about the fact that it was over. It was about the people who were standing around me were the reason that I went to work every day.
Emotional: Craig also said that after the final day of filming he became far more emotional than on any of the other Bond films
‘And I realised that at that point that that was the reason. I just looked around, I went ‘I come to work for you guys’.
‘And it never felt more collective. I never felt more like part of a family on a set at that point than I had ever done in my career, and I realised how much I was going to miss that.
‘There will always be moments like that on movie making, but on a Bond movie it’s particularly special, and particularly on No Time To Die, where the collective effort was so great.
‘At that moment, I realised how much it mattered to me. It was release. You never know. To stop and realise what it all meant, it was difficult not to choke up and be emotional about it.’
No Time To Die received positive reviews from critics, with review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes saying the film ‘concludes Daniel Craig’s franchise tenure in satisfying style’.
Meanwhile, the battle to replace Daniel as 007 is ‘wide open’, according to MGM boss Pamela Abdy.
Important: He said: ‘There will always be moments like that on movie making, but on a Bond movie it’s particularly special’
Pamela, who serves as MGM’s President of Motion Pictures, has revealed that the studio has had ‘preliminary conversations’ with 007 producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson about who will replace Daniel – who bowed out as Bond in the recent flick No Time To Die.
‘It’s wide open. We’ve had very early preliminary conversations with Barbara and Michael, but we wanted Daniel to have his last hurrah,’ she told The Hollywood Reporter.
Idris Elba has been tipped as a potential 007 but it was recently reported that the Luther star was in ‘early’ talks to play a Bond villain.
A source told The Sun newspaper: ‘Idris has had informal talks with the studio and he has been told there is a role in the next Bond film for him, if he wants it.
‘He won’t be the title character, but they do recognize the amount of pull and respect he commands, and they want to work with him on a completely original character for the next installment.
‘It is still very early days for the conversations but, so far, it looks like it would be the role of a villain.’
Bridgerton’s Regé-Jean Page and Lashana Lynch, who played a major role in last Bond movie, might also take on the iconic mantle.
Praised: Daniel has earned much acclaim for his performance as Bond, despite sparking controversy when he was originally cast in the role (pictured in Casino Royale)
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