After five films in which he starred as Ian Fleming’s secret agent 007, the actor is saying bon voyage to the character with the release of « No Time to Die. » Does he care who carries on with the role?
Daniel Craig’s body of work is impressive. There’s his signature role, James Bond, and more than 40 other movies over a three-decade career on screen. But for the 53-year-old British actor, what matters most is what comes next. « I don’t really look back, » he said. « I don’t really kind of spend my time looking over the movies I’ve done, or even watching them. » One film, though, has stayed with him: 2004’s « Road to Perdition, » made before Bond. Craig and Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz watched a scene together, when Craig and Paul Newman went toe-to-toe, in what proved to be Newman’s last appearance in a feature film: Craig said, « I look back on it now, and I just go, ‘My goodness me, that was a moment when things changed for me.’ Not about my status or my recognition. Something within me went, ‘I am allowed to sit at this table.' » Nineteen years later, his seat is secure, and then some. Just before the pandemic, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City celebrated Craig’s career with a retrospective of his work, including the films « The Mother, » « Enduring Love, » « Munich, » « The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, » and « Knives Out, » in addition to « Casino Royale » and « Skyfall. » Mankiewicz asked, « As an artist, what does that feel like? » « I’m a little bit bemused, to tell you the truth, » Craig replied, « because it felt, it genuinely feels like I started doing this yesterday. » Craig’s mother, an art teacher, encouraged her son to follow his dream of becoming an actor. He started on the stage, but from an early age, he was drawn to the big screen: « I still feel these are slightly sacred places. I can never help myself. There’s sort of, if I have a church, this is it. As a kid, you walked into a space and they were gonna turn the lights out, and something magic was gonna happen. » Over 30 years Craig has demonstrated his range. He can be sensitive, as artist Francis Bacon’s lover in « Love Is the Devil »; and both ruthless and charming in « Layer Cake, » the clever English crime drama that alerted producers he was capable of something much bigger.
