C OVER STORY
‘Rather slash my wrists’
than shoot another 007
movie’
Daniel Craig
I
f you want to know how James Bond – sorry, I mean
Daniel Craig – starts the day, I can tell you. Two double
espressos with honey. Plus poached eggs on toast.
With another double espresso to follow. So basically:
caffeine, more caffeine and some more caffeine, with
honey to soften the blow. Craig needs all the help he
can get when we meet the 47-year-old finished an epic
eight-month shoot for ‘Spectre’, which saw him hopping
back and forth between Pinewood Studios near London
and Mexico City, Morocco, the Austrian Alps and Rome.
It’s the British
actor’s fourth
outing
as
Bond, and his
second with
the director
Sam Mendes
after the success of ‘Skyfall’ – which
in 2012 took
over $1,000
million globally. He thinks
– thinks –
‘Spectre’ is
going to be
a
stylish,
classic Bond
movie, and
Craig is not
an actor who
talks bullshit.
He’s
blunt.
He’s thoughtful. He’s wary of being precious. But he’s also nervous.
At one point a look of horror passes over his blue eyes.
‘God, hubris is a terrible thing in this business,’ he says,
checking his enthusiasm. ‘I just pray the movie is going to be great.’ So, no pressure, then. Another double
espresso, please…
So you’ve just finished eight months of filming
‘Spectre’. Did it all end with a bang or a whimper?
‘It’s always a whimper. I wish movies ended and we
all high-fived each other and said, “Yeah! We did good
work!” But they tend to peter out. We filmed in Morocco
for the week before the very end and that felt like the
real end of the film. We went out there and blew shit up!
We did stuff that felt like a Bond movie. It felt like a good
way to finish.’
What do you most want to do when you finish such
a long shoot?
‘Literally, just have a holiday. It’s fair enough, no? I just
want to switch my brain off. What usually happens is it’s
6am on a Sunday and I’m bolt
upright in bed
thinking that I’ve
got to go to work.
It’s about switching that feeling
off, turning the
alarm off and
going to sleep. I
drink a lot more
too. I’ve started
this week. Just
relaxing.’
Did
you
always plan to
play Bond for a
fourth time? It's
been ten years
now.
‘Well, I was contracted to do another one. That
was all set up.
But at the studio
there was a real keenness to get it done as soon as possible. In fact, there was a conversation at one point that
went: “Let’s film two movies back to back.” I just went:
“You’re out of your fucking minds.” In the nicest possible
way. They’re just too big.’
You described ‘Skyfall’ as ‘Bond with bells on’.
So how would you describe this new Bond movie,
‘Spectre’? Same bells, different tune?
‘There you go, that’s perfect! The complicated answer,
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