DANIEL CRAIG AIMS FOR BEST JAMES BOND EVER IN “SKYFALL”
Daniel Craig leads the cast
of Columbia Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures' “Skyfall,” his third
film as James Bond 007. “Bond is actually remarkably difficult part to play,
because he says very little, and the moment you make him say too much, it’s not
Bond anymore,” says Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes.
Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures |
“He
operates on instinct a lot of the time. He has his own inner demons and he
doesn’t reveal them to other characters, and yet the audience needs to be aware
of them, especially in this particular movie,” Mendes adds. “In `Skyfall,' the
audience has got to see him, in a sense, fall apart and put himself back
together again, but none of the other characters see what’s really going on
behind the curtain. Daniel’s done that, I think, brilliantly.”
It
was Craig who invited his friend, Mendes, to direct “Skyfall.” “When we started
talking about it, I felt a connection with someone who had exactly the same
enthusiasm and respect for the Bond films that I did,” says Craig. “And, of
course, I deeply respect Sam as a director. I said to him, ‘This is going to be
a new experience for you – trust me, because I made two of them and it was a
very new experience for me. Nothing can quite prepare you.’”
“Daniel’s
one of the greatest actors that we’ve ever had,” says producer Barbara
Broccoli. “He has inhabited the role of Bond and he’s pushed it in directions
that one wouldn’t have thought possible. Starting with `Casino Royale' and
going into `Quantum of Solace,' and certainly in this film, he really reveals
Bond’s inner life in a way that we’ve never seen before, in a way that author
Ian Fleming does in the books, where you really feel as if you understand the
inner turmoil and complexity and conflicts. With this screenplay and with Sam,
we’ve unearthed a lot of the emotion connected to Bond’s own past and mined the
dramatic tension that stems from that.”
Broccoli
explains that “Skyfall” explores the relationship between Bond and M (Judi
Dench) – perhaps more than in any of the 22 previous films. “We wanted to
really mine the relationship between Bond and M, because it is the most
significant relationship he has in his life,” says the producer. “M is the only
person who represents authority to him. You have two extraordinary actors, and
we just thought - let’s go all the way. It’s worked extremely well. It’s a very
emotional story.”
“Their
relationship is based on mutual respect,” says Craig. “They both know that
every time the chips are down, one of them will have to make a sacrifice – it’s
difficult to have a touchy-feely relationship with someone under those
circumstances. But at the same time – and Sam was very keen on this – Bond’s
always had in the back of his mind that there’s a bit more. It’s something he
never shows, but the connection is there – and I get a kick out of that as an
actor, to play a life you can’t show.”
Bond
audiences expect that a Bond film will deliver plenty of action, and off
course, no actor had more stunts than Craig. Co-star Javier Bardem describes
watching Craig take on the role: “There is some physicality to the role that
you have to be prepared to do, but of course mine compared to Daniel’s was
nothing. And he does the action scenes so easily – From the outside, watching
him, I was thinking, ‘If I were you, I wouldn’t be doing that!’” Bardem laughs.
“I mean, I did a little bit, but nothing in comparison to with what Daniel
did.”
“Daniel’s
an extremely hard working actor, probably the hardest working actor I’ve ever
seen,” says producer Michael G. Wilson. “And it’s not only the mental preparation,
but the physical preparation. He works out like a demon, like a professional
athlete. He is really committed to the role, committed to being Bond.”
Broccoli
adds, “Daniel contributes a great deal to designing the action and the fights in
particular and he’s the one who really pulls it off, because he wants to do as
much of it as he possibly can. We were in Turkey for the train sequence and I
had my heart in my mouth the whole time; he and Ola Rapace were fighting on the
roof of a moving train and the moves that they were doing were just heart
stopping. Daniel’s the reason why the action works as well as it does because
he sells it, he’s up there and I think audiences know that.”
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