From the Sony / Russian side

[Germangirl]

Found this and haven`t read these inside stories in that way. Looks interesting.
Here´s an appetizer:

From the James Bond official blog

The Eve of Release
Posted: Tue, 07 Nov 2006 17:23:27 -0800
Well, we're nearly there. A week away from opening - it seems a lifetime ago that we were settling into Prague.

The Bond circus is now on the road - Daniel and the team are in the States as part of their publicity tour while back in London, everything is in being put in place for the World Premiere, fittingly, one of the biggest ever staged and attended by Her Majesty, The Queen.

It's a busy period and probably not the best point to catch up with the producers but then, there hasn't really been a good time for that in the last 12 months! So let's see how they are feeling on the eve of the film's release.

They seem remarkably calm but then this is a familiar position for them. However, there is an air of excitement about finally getting a chance to film this story. When, at last, they acquired the rights about six years ago they knew they had a chance to do something different, as Michael Wilson explains.

"It seemed like this was the great opportunity. The opportunity had been missed all the way along and we could finally make Casino Royale the way it should be".

There have indeed been some curious versions of the story before this but in returning to the novel, Ian Fleming's first about Bond, there was plenty to explore. As Barbara Broccoli told me, Fleming put something of himself into creating his character. Written in Jamaica as Fleming finally abandoned his bachelor life style, she can see echoes of this in his writing.

"There's a parallel between Fleming giving up a life that he was enjoying, being a sort of vagabond and a playboy in order to have a more stable life. And I think he was wrestling with that and so a lot of those demons came out in the character of Bond".

That means the film-makers have been able to take a different approach to this film which Michael Wilson is confident is right for this story.

"It's quite a different film. It goes back in tone to the Dr No, From Russia With Love films. It's quite different from the last few films we've made. And so, there's a possibility of alienating some people - the people who went maybe just for the action and the glamour, the girls and the gadgets. But we think that the audience is ready for a more gritty Bond and a more realistic Bond."

Barbara Broccoli is sure that even the most fervent fans will respond well. You'd expect any producer to say this, of course, but these two are more in touch with their audience than most producers so can be pretty confident of how their film will be received.

"I think the hardcore fans will love it. I think they're going to welcome the idea of going back to the real essence of Bond and the classic type of Bond story which isn't about saving the world on a huge scale. It's a lot more personal and I think people will respond to it. The world has changed a lot and I think one of the reasons why Bond has maintained this sort of success has been because the movies have changed with the times and it's a more serious world and we expect our heroes to fight the battles with better judgement, more responsibility and less frivolity".

You'll see from this why it was immediately clear to Michael and Barbara that the new film required a new Bond. Contrary to all other rumours, it really was a one horse race for them. Daniel Craig was the only one they ever really considered as a contender. Barbara is well aware that casting a new 007 always attracts discussion.

"There was a lot of controversy when Sean Connery was first decided upon because he was not what people were expecting and there's something really exciting about that. I think Daniel is the sort of actor who will always surprise people because he will find something that no one else could find in a role. He just absolutely got under the skin of the character and from the minute you see him on the screen in the role, you forget everyone who's come before, which is a pretty remarkable thing"

Well, from next week, you'll be able to judge for yourselves.

Until next time,
Yarborough
For lots of other related stories go to
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/casinoroyale/blog/

and try also Archive, there is even more.

And - not from that side, but nice and short:

The world is full of what ifs, what might have beens. Where would we be now if we'd been braver, more loyal to our dreams? Would we be richer? More famous? Happier? Daniel Craig is a fine modern example of how things can turn out for the best. After the uproarious success of the series Our Friends In The North, he was cast by the tabloids as tough northern totty. Stereotyping TV offers came flooding in, lifestyle magazines were constantly knocking at his door. At the very least, he was all set to be the next Jimmy Nail.

Instead, loathing this trivial publicity, he turned down the offers and walked away. With his eyes set on a more glittering prize, he honed his craft in a series of art-house and European productions, entering the mainstream only when a part demanded deep emotional exploration. And eventually, inevitably, his remarkable intensity saw him recognised at the highest levels. First Sam Mendes snapped him up to star alongside Tom Hanks and Paul Newman in Road To Perdition. Then it was the turn of Steven Spielberg. And then came James Bond. Craig's earlier, risky choice bore rich fruit, indeed.

[Anglophile]

YES, the Yarborough Blog! About time someone posted that here before the Sony CR site goes down - you never know!
Hey you could post another chapter each day, like a bedtime story...

[Laredo]

Who is Jimmy Nail ?

[Germangirl]

Hey you could post another chapter each day, like a bedtime story...

The Premiere
November 14, 2006
Hello, and indeed goodbye, from the post-premiere party in London's Berkeley Square.

A world premiere is always an event. If it is attended by the Queen that makes it more special and when it is the Bond film, everyone works to make it that little bit bigger. But I'm not quite sure where we are left to go for Bond 22 - this was as big a film event as any I've seen. Leicester Square is the home of London premieres but for the first time, all three cinemas around the square have been taken over for a simultaneous premiere, all in aid of the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund who are old friends of the Bond family. Each year, one film is selected for a Royal Film Performance attended by the Queen and this year, as it was for DIE ANOTHER DAY, it's us.

It's been a terrific way to finish what has been an extraordinary experience for us all. For months I've been telling you what a great Bond we have in Daniel Craig - now, as the reviews flood in, the world's media seem to agree.

But ultimately, it's not our opinion, nor the critics, that counts. Our job is done, yours is just beginning.

We hope you like it.

Thanks for coming on the ride with me.

Arriving in Venice
September 26, 2006
I was talking last time about our ebullient Executive Producer, Callum McDougall. Our other Executive Producer, Tony Waye, was considerably less cheerful in Lake Como, not because of his temperament, but because of what he was working on at that time.

He filled me in during a brief visit to the lakeside set before going back to Venice, our next stop. Tony ("Anthony" if you are reading the film credits) is a veteran of many Bond films going back 25 years to FOR YOUR EYES ONLY and as such, often gets some of the trickier jobs. You'll recall it was he who was doing the underwater unit work with Ivana Milicevic in the Bahamas. This new job sounds just as attractive in the abstract and even more complicated in reality. He is doing a helicopter shot of the SPIRIT 54, Bond's yacht, arriving in Venice. The route across the lagoon there is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world so getting the shot right has proved to be interesting.

As he explains it,

"The approach we needed was in one of the shipping lanes and because the yacht has a very deep keel, 2.2 metres, we had to have fairly deep water but we also needed a southeast wind and we needed the sun on an angle on the building. So you wanted the the best of all worlds."

Unfortunately what they got instead was Croatian customs problems and extremely severe weather. The yacht had been loaded onto a ship and travelled all the way from the Bahamas where it had featured in earlier scenes. It then got held up in Split for a couple of vital days while Tony and his crew stood by. When it finally arrived, they got an afternoon of shooting done before the weather socked in completely. But did they get the shot? If you've seen the trailer, you'll have had a glimpse of the answer.

This hasn't been Tony's only problem with this location. Venice is, of course, a beautiful city but a logistical nightmare for film-makers.

"Everything has to go by boat or you walk. So you've got to first of all train the crew how to get to their location each day. Very complicated. We've had maps drawn of how to get to the location. But I think they make things even more complicated."

Instead he has come up with a novel way of directing the crew.

"What I'm going to try and do is say - you walk out of the hotel, turn left. And you head for Prada and turn left at Prada and turn right at Gucci and left at Brioni because I think people will take more notice of the shops than they will of the street signs".

Well, even if we don't make it to the set, at least we'll be well dressed!

[Germangirl]

These seem interesting and maybe new to some of you. There is more here:

[url]ohttp://danielcraig.2bb.ru/viewtopic.php?id=135&p=1[/url]

2007-01-09 23:40:41
• Автор: Betina
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The actor brings a toughness and edge long absent from the Bond franchise
Daniel Craig was mercilessly criticized when he was announced as the new James Bond. A lot of the criticism was personal and nasty. Well it's time for the naysayers and doubters to eat crow, because Daniel Craig is astonishing in Casino Royale. He brings a toughness and physical presence that's been long absent from the Bond franchise. I think this is the toughest and most dangerous Bond we've seen since the Sean Connery days. Casino Royale is an origin story, the re-launch of James Bond. It's obvious they found the right guy for the job.
This was my second interview with Daniel Craig. He's really animated, very funny and engaging. The personal nature of the Bond criticism really affected him. He gave it his all and was beaming from the results. Casino Royale is a great film, and even though Craig didn't want to gloat, you could see he felt vindicated. Craig's star continues to rise with "The Visiting" and The Golden Compass, both with Nicole Kidman, coming next year.
You were really crucified in the press and online when you were cast. How did that affect you?
Daniel Craig: It happened. People's passionate belief in this and what they feel, how connected they feel with Bond, that's fine. The fact is there was nothing I could do. It did affect me. It affected me for a couple of days, but I got into myself and said, "We have to make this brilliant, the best it can be, or the best I can make it". And that strengthened my resolve. Throw the computer away and don't look on the internet. That's the best thing to do.
Where would you like to see Bond going with his character? What are you going to add to the role?
Daniel Craig: I don't think he's kind of rounded yet. I don't think he's finished. I think he's got more lessons to learn, that for me is where we take it. I'd like to see him get into situations we might not have possibly imagined him in. That's going to be the difficult thing, trying to find situations and scenarios that maybe take us out. In June of this year when I finished this movie, the last thing on earth I wanted was to make a Bond movie. I now feel more pumped up about taking this on somewhere. It's going to be very interesting.
You have a lot of physical action in this film and look very fit. How did you prepare for the action?
Daniel Craig: I've always kept fit. I quit smoking, which was actually the best thing...
Did you stop drinking?
Daniel Craig: No, God almighty no, I wouldn't have gotten through a week. That was Saturday night. I kept fit. I got into the gym. I started running, started bicycling, I pumped weights. It was twofold the reason really, I wanted to look like he was physically capable. I wanted him to look as fit as possible. I knew that to do the stunts I wanted to do; I had to be physically fit to do them. I don't think I would have survived. I was getting injuries all the time, everybody was, and the stunt guys were getting injuries. You have the painkillers, you have the physiotherapy, then they pat me on the backside and say "C'mon, get on with it".
Was it your decision to do as many stunts as possible?
Daniel Craig: Not mine alone, it has to be safe. Gary Powell, the stunt coordinator, tested me out as we went along. He said, "I think you can do this". I nodded and said, "Okay, I'll have a go".
Did you ever say no to a stunt?
Daniel Craig: No, I don't think I did.
How are your balls doing these days? That torture scene is pretty hard to watch. Did you actually get hurt?
Daniel Craig: (laughs) The honest truth is that it was one of the simplest scenes to shoot. It was on the page. It was a great scene in the book and had been adapted so well. Basically a chair is set-up up, I sat in the chair, it has a fiberglass bottom to it and I'm ensconced in that. It did crack. I hit the ceiling and left. (laughs) Martin [Campbell, the director] and I talked about it a lot. We've got to make it real. It's got to be a scene that gets guys squirming and that was the first thing. And then I said to myself that I don't want him to lose. Even though it's all over, and it appears to be, Vesper's getting tortured. There's nothing he can do, so the only thing that can happen is to still beat this guy. I have no idea what that feels like and I never want to find out, but the assumption is the more you get hit, the less it's going to hurt.
Were you self-conscious being naked?
Daniel Craig: Absolutely...(laughs) have you seen my other movies? Self-conscious doesn't really come into it. No.
How many films are you signed for?
Daniel Craig: I'm signed for three films. Now I actually feel we're ready to do another one. What we've set up in this one, we set up this idea that there is an organization out there, maybe there's one person who's responsible. The fact is now he has to go and get them. Obviously there's an element of revenge involved. Hopefully all those things will make it as rich an experience as this one.
How do you feel being a sex symbol?
Daniel Craig: As far as I'm concerned, the sexiness, the sex symbol, it's not a consideration. I didn't go out to play sexy in this film. It's nice...I don't know, I'm embarrassed, I don't know what to say...
Bond is a sexual creature...
Daniel Craig: The important thing in the movie is to see what that's about. He's a driven guy. He likes tasting things, that's the best way to put it. If he can, he will. Given the opportunity, yes, that's part of his character, that's the risk he takes, combined with the way he enjoys life.
This role will stick with you forever, your obituary will say James Bond...
Daniel Craig: Jesus Christ! (lots of laughing) Of course, but it's a very good problem to have. It's not bad. I say that with gusto now, but it's why I did this. I'm very proud of this movie. I'm very proud of what we achieved. It was a lot of pressure to get it right. I think we have, and the Bond aspect of it was all in place anyway. I've got some other things to do in life.
You have two incredible scenes, reaction shots really, that I think defines you as James Bond. Without revealing spoilers, the last shot of you and Mr. White is incredible. Was that your idea or the director's?
Daniel Craig: People ask me about that line. I didn't rehearse it. The first time I said it was on the set. We did it a few times, that wasn't the only take. There was a discussion. He hits Mr. White from the other end of the garden. He's Bond, I don't want a handgun, I want an assault rifle. I want a silenced assault rifle. I want to have that look at the end, which is he means business. I didn't consciously try and be anything. That's not how I approach things. I don't visualize. I just think, what does this feel like? Does this feel good? It's up to Martin to shout cut at the appropriate time.
As a follow-up, the reaction shots from the casino scene, there's no dialogue. How do you shoot that?
Daniel Craig: I can't tell you how complicated that was. We rehearsed everyone on the tables so everyone knew what they were doing. We had like five packs of cards, all in the right order. They were all coded, so we start the game at any point we want, and the cards are going down in exactly the right order. I just went, now let's play poker. Mads [Mikkelsen] and I, he's fantastic a great actor, it was like sparring. It was great fun to do, just to get that dynamic going between the two of them, just looking at each other, it was a fight. We never have a physical fight in the movie. That was our physical fight. The card game, Martin and the editor, getting that together, making that believable. Not everybody knows about cards in the audience, but getting that together, that's poker. That's really what it is, pushing those chips, bringing up the tension of it. It's a whole bunch of people that made it happen.
Die Another Day went clearly over the top. Casino Royale goes completely in the opposite direction. Was that a consideration?
Daniel Craig: Being over the top, Christ sakes, Mads weeps blood. But it's done great, it's kind of a beautiful Bond moment. It's done with a dab. I want it to be as stylish as it possibly can. What I ever wanted to maintain is that you can do anything, if it's in the plot. If it's right and if it feels good, then you can get on, because we are in a fantasy world. That's the fact, this isn't real life.
Bond has some emotional moments in the film. How did you walk the line between being vulnerable and being tough?
Daniel Craig: What did you think? (laughs) You have to answer that question. I tried to walk the line very carefully. To not make it emotional would have screwed everything that had gone on before. It's a Bond movie. I was keen on the idea, this is James Bond, he is somebody, but it's how he is in that situation that's interesting. Its how closed off he is that's interesting. The fact that he's alone at that point, if somebody walked up, he'd dry his eyes and walk away. But the fact is he's alone and we catch a private moment. It fitted. That seemed to be the right thing to do. There were other takes that maybe were a little less emotional, but we played around it.
Did playing an intelligence agent in Munich help you at all to play Bond?
Daniel Craig: No, it's a different deal. There are things about guys who are in the army. They're very particular, they have to be. Bond is kind of like the exaggeration of these things, down to the cufflinks. But it's a particular thing because there has to be a sense of order to these things. Then he can react to it. With that character, there was a sense of that. I promise you I wasn't trying to do something similar. Spielberg would sometimes play the Bond theme.
Have you spoken to Pierce Brosnan?
Daniel Craig: I spoke to Pierce. He's been great. He's been very supportive.
So he didn't curse you out?
Daniel Craig: (laughs) No, he's been great. He said, "You have to go for it".
Getting back to all the criticism, the movie is great. Would you like to tell the doubters to fuck off?
Daniel Craig: No, that's not the way I am. That doesn't interest me in the slightest. I set out to make a good movie. That was never an issue. I stand by that, I've got better things to do.
What's your drink of choice?
Daniel Craig: Depends on how drunk I want to get. I love vodka martinis. I know it's a cliché. I love them, but they have to good. They mix very good vodka martinis in this town, as I've found out.
Are you ready for the fame that comes with being Bond?
Daniel Craig: I don't know. I don't know how you prepare yourself for that. I've never been in this game for that, I've never gone looking for it. I've not tried to physically avoid it, but I've been more interested in the work. There are some very pleasant things, but also some negative things that go along with it. It's sort of juggling those things. Privacy is important. Anybody who doesn't think that, they're crap. But I know I'm going to lose some of that and that's something I'll have to deal with.
What's your favorite Bond film?
Daniel Craig: "Dr. No" and "From Russia With Love", they're great, just the best. They're two of my favorite movies. Sean Connery being physical, scary, complicated, bad, all those things about that character. It's a great character, it's something that he created that's lasted this long. Those two are very special.
What does Bond do to your schedule? For a decade you'll have one every other year. Is there time in between to do other stuff?
Daniel Craig: I don't think we'll start shooting until the end of next year. So next year is clear. Why, you got something? My agent is outside. (laughs)
What if Scorsese or Spielberg calls you for a role? Will they wait for you? Or does Bond take precedence?
Daniel Craig: Nothing is stopping me from doing anything. I haven't got a golden handcuff. I'm under contract, but I'm not under exclusive contract.
What do you do in your spare time?
Daniel Craig: Very little, I like fishing, I like painting; I like painting fish. (laughs) I get away. I try to go somewhere. There are a couple of places, which I won't tell you about, that are very private and very nice. I don't see family from one month to the next, so I have to go back and reconnect and make sure they still like me. Do those sorts of things.
Your next film, "The Visiting", is that a remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers?
Daniel Craig: It's based on that.
What else do you have lined up?
Daniel Craig: I'm in the middle of shooting The Golden Compass.
You play Lord Azrael? In the first book he doesn't have much to do...
Daniel Craig: Thank God (laughs)
In the third book, you're going to come back where he has more to do?
Daniel Craig: I hope it does. The third book, he has more things to do. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Casino Royale is in theaters this Friday and is rated 'PG-13' for intense sequences of violent action, a scene of torture, sexual content and nudity.
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3 2007-01-10 00:43:05
• Автор: Betina
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Сегодня 02:36:27
The new blond Bond isn't shaken by the role
Daniel Craig talks with ‘Today’ show host Katie Couric about filling the famous film spy's shoes
Updated: 10:59 p.m. ET Dec. 1, 2005
For many fans of the James Bond franchise, the news that British actor Daniel Craig had been cast as the new James Bond 007 came as a surprise. After all, who is this guy? “Today” show host Katie Couric sat down with Craig on the set of his latest movie.
He's suave, debonair, impeccably dressed, he always gets the girl and he's licensed to kill. He's been known to have X-ray vision. He can crack any safe, pick any lock, and he can leap tall buildings in a single bound. No, he's not superman — he's 007. And now he's Craig, Daniel Craig.
37-year-old Craig isn't a complete unknown. He's appeared with big-name stars like Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie. But despite his lengthy resume, he's not exactly a household name.
For the past six weeks, he's been an Englishman in D.C., shooting an upcoming movie, “The Visiting,” which is loosely based on the sci-fi classic “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
Katie Couric: A lot of Americans don't know all that much about you. So, I thought I'd ask you a few questions — kind of a little bio.
Daniel Craig: All right.
Couric: Yeah. All right. Where were you born?
Craig: I was born in Chester, which is north-northwest of England.
Couric: You've been acting for a long time. So far, what is the favorite — your favorite movie, in terms of what you've been in?
Craig: That's a tough one. Because I've got a few. I mean, I've got a list of them that I've enjoyed.
Couric: Not “Tomb Raider?” You wouldn't say that was your personal favorite?
Craig: Thanks. Thanks, so much. [Laughter] This is going so well. [Laughter]
Couric: What is your favorite thing to do when you have a day off?
Craig: Nothing.
Couric: Nothing?
Craig: Mmm-hmmm.
Couric: What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Craig: Wow. God — these questions.
Couric: I know, I'm sorry.
Craig: Vanilla.
Couric: Really?
Craig: Uh-huh.
Couric: Oh, come on. What's your second favorite?
Craig: Pistachio.
Couric: Okay. That's a little more interesting, frankly. How did the whole Bond thing unfold? There was so much mystery and intrigue around who would be the next Bond. Can you give me a little bit of the back story?
Craig: There's none, really. I mean, it's a simple situation where I was approached to — sort of, do it, and — I thought about it for a long time, and they thought about it. And lo and behold, here we are.
Couric: Is it a bit nerve-racking? I mean, I know you've been asked, ad nauseum, about stepping into the shoes of — of those who have gone before you. But is it nerve-racking to play a role that was done so —
Craig: Do you want the truth?
Couric: Yeah.
Craig: I'm trying not to think about it.
Couric: Really?
Craig: Yeah.
Couric: So, I guess the answer would be “yes.”
Craig: Well, I'm just trying to approach it like anything else I've done. And just — I mean, the thing to do is just not get it wrong.
Couric: Are you excited though?
Craig: I am very incredibly excited. Yes. Yes. I mean, I just — but I just want to get on with it. Just get on with the job.
And the job at hand is wrapping up “The Visiting,” with his co-star Nicole Kidman.
Couric: Tell me about the character you play.
Craig: Well, I'm a doctor, here in D.C. And, me and Nicole are sort of — best friends. And the proverbial … hits the fan, basically. And the world gets turned upside down. We're trying to find out whether there's some way around this horrible problem that everybody seems to be having. By being snatched by aliens.
Couric: Is it fun to work on such an “out-there” script?
Craig: It is. There's a kind of sinister undertone. It's been great filming in the capital because it gives it a real kind of — political edge, which was one of the reasons I loved this script.
For Nicole Kidman, it was the chance to get physical that attracted her to the film.
Nicole Kidman: This is the most action I've ever done in a film.
Couric: Really?
Kidman: It's about the way in which, you know, society gets infiltrated by — what you call “aliens.” We've been running through the streets and jumping things, jumping turnstiles in the train station, down in the subways.
Couric: Are you having fun with that?
Kidman: I am. I — yeah. It's different for me.
Couric: How do you like working with the new Bond?
Kidman: He's gonna be a wonderful James Bond. I think people will be really glad to see him in that role. He's perfect for it.
Couric: What's sort of interesting, though is — he's not your quintessential “pretty boy.” You know, he's a little more rugged, a little ruddier — he's blond. You know, it's so funny because — usually, women are kind of dissected this way, not — not male actors.
Kidman: Gosh, I know.
Couric: But — I wonder if, do you sort of feel for him?
Kidman: I didn't realize there was so much interest in —
Couric: There is. I think a little ...
Kidman: Yeah. But I sort of walk around with my head in the clouds most of the time, and don't realize that most things are that —
Couric: Interesting?
Kidman: No. [Laughs]
Daniel Craig's next leading lady will be the new Bond girl, a role for which several actresses are rumored to be in the running, including Angelina Jolie, Jessica Alba and Sienna Miller.
But whoever his sidekick, Daniel Craig knows that when it comes to filling the shoes of the world's most well-known secret agent, it's either sink or swim.
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4 2007-Seven's deadly sins
The new Bond is licensed to kill and built for battle - but, as Daniel Craig explains to Stuart Jeffries, it's important he bleeds like the rest of us
Friday November 17, 2006
The Guardian
The sixth James Bond is struggling with a banana milkshake as I enter the interview suite. He bends down to take a sip and nearly skewers himself with the straw. "Oooh, I nearly put my eye out," says Daniel Craig, giggling. This, given that Craig's ripped pecs are currently the most public symbol of British masculinity, is hardly propitious.
Later in the interview, Craig explains that he insisted on doing as much stunt work as possible in Casino Royale , the 21st Bond adventure. But if Craig can't drink a milkshake without risking serious injury, how could he be trusted to take part in one of the most stunt-heavy 007 movies in the franchise's 44-year history? What were the insurance people thinking?
Craig, though, is no ordinary 007. He's a Guardian-reading Bond. "It's my paper," he says. "That's why I was so thrilled to get a good review. I was glowing when I read that. I read it twice." He proves to be word-perfect on long chunks from Peter Bradshaw's review.
But a 38-year-old Guardian-reading thesp outfoxed by straw-wielding cold drinks is not, for some critics, the kind of guy who should have been given a licence to kill. When Craig was outed as Pierce Brosnan's successor in October 2005, the blogosphere went into meltdown. He was too small (5ft 11in), too blond (Fleming's Bond was dark-haired), too actorly (early CV: National Youth theatre, Guildhall School of Music and Drama; a big break on telly's Our Friends in the North in 1996. He even appeared - please God, no - in Angels in America at the National Theatre). One group went so far as to set up a website called craignotbond.com ("site temporarily disabled", the address now reveals).
Craig admits he is not a natural Bond. "As an actor, it was somewhere else, it was nothing to do with me," he says of the film franchise. But now, as spokesman for that franchise, he is obliged to say otherwise: "Even the worst Bond movies, there's something to love about them. Certainly Dr No and From Russia with Love are two of my favourite movies. I do feel close to it as we all feel close to it."
Following the cyberspace mauling, the tabloids put a contract out on Craig. One headline read: "The name's Bland. James Bland." The Daily Star described how "superwimp Daniel Craig" couldn't drive 007's classic Aston Martin DB5 because he was used to automatic transmissions, using the headline "Bond's licence to squeal: 007 wuss Dan can't even change gears". Then there was the story that he got two teeth knocked out in his first filmed fisticuffs on set ("I actually just lost a crown"). Other stories suggested he didn't like playing cards, hated guns and got queasy in the film's speedboat sequences. Craig hotly denies these stories, insisting that he is perfectly able to use a gearstick. So there.
Earlier this month Craig gave an interview to GQ, in which he complained that the adverse criticism was like being bullied. Isn't the moral that you've got to get a thicker skin? "I don't know if I am quite tough," concedes Craig. "The bad reviews get to me, believe me." Fortunately for him, Casino Royale is, overwhelmingly, getting very good reviews. It must be nice, I suggest, that he can wave two fingers to the tabloid muggers and the blogging naysayers. "If that was the way I felt, it would suggest that at the time when I got criticism that I was wanting to enter into a dialogue about it. But there was nothing to say at the time except, 'Go see the movie.'"
Doesn't taking on the role of James Bond risk Craig's career? Only Timothy Dalton of previous Bonds has come with a comparable acting pedigree, and Craig's filmography is more noteworthy: he was impressive in Road to Perdition, Spielberg's Munich, as Ted Hughes in Sylvia and as an unpleasantly violent drug dealer in Layer Cake. (Yes, he was also in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and in the feeble adaptation of Ian McEwan's Enduring Love. And, true, his performance in Infamous - the other film about Truman Capote to be released this year - was sadly overlooked, but let's not spoil the story.)
Surely he needed Bond like a cigarette burn in his tux? Craig agrees: "When I got the call, it really was left-field. Honoured though I was, I wasn't deeply enthusiastic. I met Barbara and Michael [Broccoli and Wilson, the film's producers] who are lovely people and they were trying to take it in a different direction." The aim was to rebrand Bond: they wanted to create a new 007 with interesting psychological flaws to enable him to compete with troubled modern icons such as Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne.
Broccoli and Wilson wanted to start the Bond story from scratch with a new adaptation of Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale (1953). They would make him voguishly vulnerable, hint that he was an orphan and give him a proper love affair rather than the usual tropical rumpy-pumpy. Fingers crossed, the result (to be directed by Goldeneye's Martin Campbell) would obliterate the memory of the misfiring swinging 1960s comedy version.
Craig didn't bite. "For me, at that stage, it was promises, promises. Unfortunately, they didn't have a script and I can't say yes without a script." So he turned down the role: "I walked away from it because I thought this is taking up too much of my life. I was thinking about it too much." He went off to play an avenging killer in Spielberg's movie Munich. But he couldn't get Bond out of his head. "I said to Steven, 'Bond isn't this kind of film.' He said, 'If the script's right and if the deal's right, do the job.'"
Then last year, Craig received the final script. "Paul Haggis [writer of the Oscar-winning Crash and Million Dollar Baby] had sprinkled his magic dust on it. I was honestly wanting to dislike it. It would have been an easy decision. I could have said, 'That's very nice. Good luck with it.' But it was too much. I sweated when I read the script. I thought, this is a great story, probably because it adhered to the book quite closely, and I just thought, 'You've got to be really silly not to have a think about this.'
"I made pro and con lists. Every time the pros outdid the cons." What were the cons? "The cons were like: you're going to get typecast. Which is a high-class problem to have." Other cons? "You might not be able to do other stuff, to which I replied, 'Who says?'" Around this time, he happened to be sitting at the Baftas at the same table as Pierce Brosnan. "He said, 'Go for it. It's a ride.'" Brosnan was a good precedent: he had managed to star in some good non-007 films during his 007 tenure, notably The Tailor of Panama and the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair.
How did the script sucker you? "He makes mistakes. He's vulnerable and falls in love. He's everything Bond isn't supposed to be. It appealed to me - showing him screwing up, bleeding and getting hurt - because that's the kind of actor I am, but also it works dramatically. If he's just action, action, action, and then he falls in love, the reaction's gonna be, like, 'Ah, bullshit.' I wanted that progression and the script gave me that."
Were you not put off by Bond's unedifying sexual politics? "He might be chauvinistic occasionally, but the women he likes are strong, intelligent and are equal to him." In this, Bond has changed. I remind him of Sean Connery's dismissal of Shirley Eaton in Goldfinger (1964): "Run along dear, man talk." "Yeah, and then he slaps her arse!" There's no possibility of your Bond doing that? "Well, if there was a possibility - and I kind of think, 'Why not?' - he should get a slap back. And I think those things are good to play with and don't be afraid of it. And you've got M as this gorgeous matriarchal figure [played by Judi Dench], who's the only person he cares about in the world. With Judi as M in the film, you have to have respect for women.
"I also wanted the love story to be convincing. In a sense, it's the story of two equals. That we got Eva Green to do it [play his love interest] was really important. They spar with each other, but they are both vulnerable, which is something you don't expect of Bond." Green plays Vesper Lynd, a Treasury functionary who accompanies him to a poker game in Montenegro in which he must play a man with a bleeding eye called Le Chiffre, who has more than a hint of Austin Powers' nemesis Dr Evil. He must win to bankrupt Le Chiffre, who is the banker of choice for global terrorists, and who himself needs to win because he's come up a bit short with the terrorists' money and they'll kill him if he doesn't cough up. Or something. The plot is unutterable guff. But then, we'd have been disappointed if it wasn't.
"I'm not trying to kid anybody here: it's a Bond movie - it's not Ingmar Bergman, for Christ's sake. That's not to say anything against Martin's direction. But it needed to have some emotional content to it. So we started filming and nobody stopped me delivering that. So I felt I must be doing something right."
It must have been difficult to make Bond a credible hero, given that he's been satirised wonderfully three times by Mike Myers. "We had the Austin Powers alarm on set," replies Craig. "We had to. If something's been parodied as much as that, there's a reason for it."
Hence the dearth of gadgets in the film, which may upset Bond purists. "I love the fact that Roger Moore drives a Lotus into the water and it becomes a submarine. It's a great movie moment. But that wasn't our plan and it wasn't our remit."
One thing Craig does do is remove his shirt, often, to disclose a ripped torso on which he spent a great deal of gym time. For all Roger Moore's other achievements, when he took off his safari jacket he never elicited the cry: "Give me a piece of that!" With Craig, it is otherwise. "I wanted to be like, if Bond takes his shirt off, the audience thinks, 'Oh he can do those things, those mad stunts and violent scenes.'"
Costume designer Lindy Hemming has said that because of Craig's more muscular physique, Bond's evening suit is a new shape. By which, presumably she means it is more commodious in the chest. Surely, though, it is at least ungallant for James Bond to have a bigger bust than his leading lady. And surely it is symptomatic of something or other (the mores of post-feminism; the commodification of homoerotic allure; the inflated vital statistics deemed necessary for the plausible spy in the new millennium) that not only are Bond's boobs bigger than ever, but his body is fetished more than hitherto and that he is deployed mostly naked more than anyone else in the film. Even the hotsy-totsy women keep their kits on. Straight men will be yearning for more airtime to be devoted to his leading lady's body for the next Bond film in two years' time. Only then will we find out if Bond, made cynical by his experiences with the diverting Vesper Lynd and her disappointing cleavage in Casino Royale, will become incapable of love and more like the 007 of old - a boyish sex pest with the emotional maturity of a breeze block.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Were the parameters of your rippedness set out in the script? "No! I just had to get fit." Craig stopped smoking and took on Simon Waterson (of Commando Workout notoriety) as a personal trainer. Isn't it time he got in touch with his feminine side? "I'm never going to worry about that."
A cappuccino arrives and Craig manfully sees it off without mishap. As he sips, I furtively survey Craig's assets. He's wearing a cardigan and a tie, and it is hard to tell if he could still bench his own body weight. He retains smouldering, steely-blue eyes that have captivated, among others, Kate Moss and Sienna Miller. That said, I find it hard, despite Craig's charm and suave demeanour, not to detect something of the Wilfrid Brambell (the man who played Albert Steptoe) in his jutting lower jaw.
Do you feel like the saviour of British masculinity which, in American popular culture (notably The Simpsons), is regularly trashed for plummeting into irremediable effeteness? "You know as well as I do that that's not the case. We just tend to keep it hidden. I'm not going to get into a thing comparing British and American masculinity. It's cold here. We keep our clothes on." There's nothing effete about Casino Royale's Bond, who is more violent than his predecessors. "Look. He's a killer. He's a trained, serious and dangerous killer, and maybe things evolved as we made the film. I was kind of tested out by the stunt team. When they saw I was up for doing it we could push those films in a different direction."
How long will you stay as Bond? "I'm contracted to make two more. I don't know beyond that." He's pleased that he has been able to take on other roles: currently, he's filming the first screen adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. In The Golden Compass he plays Lord Asriel. It must be hard to focus on that with all this Bond hoopla? "That's very true." Craig says he will check the opening weekend box office figures, hoping that Casino Royale's reviews are good indicators of ticket sales. But you get a sense of how conflicted Craig remains about the role when he injects a note of worry about his future: "The more success this film may have, the more restricting that may become for my career." A beat. "But it's not a bad problem to have. When I was at the Guildhall, we'd go to these meetings with Equity accountants and they'd say 90% of you aren't going to work. I've been very lucky."
Daniel Craig's early efforts on stage.
Daily Post (Liverpool, England); 10/18/2005
Byline: Ron Quemby
THE drama teacher who set the new James Bond on his way to acting stardom yesterday recalled his first eye-catching efforts on stage.
The young Daniel Craig made his mark at Hilbre High School, Newton, Wirral, in roles including the Undertaker in Oliver, Proctor in Arthur Miller's The Crucible - and, to the extreme amusement of his audience, one of the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella.
He also played locally in a production of Alan Bleasdale's No More Sitting on the Old School Bench, performed by the Heswall Woolgatherers, an amateur dramatic society.
His school drama teacher and mentor at the time, Hilary Green, said: "From the very first we knew we had something special. His good looks, voice, personality, and an indefinable something, combined to make him riveting on stage."
Hilary guided Daniel's acting for three years at the Wirral comprehensive, and was recently rewarded with his gift of a programme from one of his recent London performances. The dedication reads: "Thanks for setting me on the way, love Daniel."
The teacher, of Barnston, has now retired and this year became a published author with her first novel We'll Meet Again - coincidentally about female special agents working behind enemy lines in the Second World War.
But she still vividly remembers the first time Daniel turned up to an audition for a musical with a friend, not intending to take part. She and music teacher Philidda Milne - together with special needs teacher Brenda Davies who helped out with productions - persuaded him to have a go.
Hilary immediately spotted the potential of his commanding voice and his ability to assume a character, and gave him a part. "Daniel was a natural on the stage, and he showed it in his first role in Oliver," she said. "From then on I made sure we gave him every opportunity to develop. We worked together closely for three years, and he tried quite a few different things. He was always remarkably mature for his years, and he had a real edge.
"It was a sign of his acting talent that he was prepared to have a go at anything. He was good as Moon in Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound, and I made sure he got a part in the Bleasdale play being put on by the Woolgatherers.
"At school he excelled as Proctor in The Crucible, a highly serious role, but he could also be quite funny. As one of the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella, he reduced the audience and cast to helpless laughter. It brought the production to a standstill for a while. It was his natural sense of inflection and timing that made his performance so effective."
Richard Kelly, who played the other Ugly Sister, remembers that he and Daniel had a "real scream" choosing from a selection of five different outfits each for the parts. "Daniel was great in the show, playing it for laughs," he said. "One night he took a water pistol and trained it on the orchestra."
Daniel's mother, Carol Blond, of Hoylake, who first took her son to see a play at the age of five, revealed that his performance as an Ugly Sister at Hilbre High was not the first time he had played the role. "He also was an Ugly Sister at the age of eight at his primary school on Market Street, Hoylake," she said.
She added that he always wanted to be an actor right from the beginning. "He was theatre-orientated and I often took him to see plays at Chester Gateway and Liverpool Everyman. Daniel was always a natural mimic - I remember he enjoyed watching James Bond films as a child."
Chester-born Daniel was also musically inclined. Music teacher Mrs Milne remembers him playing guitar. "He was a nice, affable boy who never sought any glory," she said. "He had a good voice and a definite presence. We knew he was special - a good face, good bone structure and he could play lots of parts."
Daniel touched the lives of one family in Newton by his thoughtfulness. When his former schoolfriend and army medic Tim Stormes died in an accident, five years after they had gone their separate ways at the age of 16, the actor impressed Tim's mother by turning up out of the blue on the day of the funeral and putting a note through the door.
Jacqueline Stormes, aged 69, of Newton, said: "We thought it was a wonderful gesture. We still don't know to this day how Daniel found out about the funeral. We heard something being put through the door and then my daughter Samantha looked out of the window and saw him walking away.
"Daniel and Tim had been great friends, both members of Hoylake Rugby Club. I remember his rich deep voice, very melodic and smooth. It will really fit James Bond." Tim's sister Samantha, aged 35, said: "He had a voice as smooth as chocolate, and eyes like ice.
I remember he and Tim used to work in a restaurant in Hoylake doing the washing up to earn some cash."
Daniel's parents Tim, formerly a theatre stagehand and now a recruitment boss in Chester, and art teacher Carol split when he was young. His mother moved with him from Frodsham, where she and Tim briefly ran the Ring O' Bells pub, to the Wirral.
His dad revealed that Daniel is mad-keen on rugby, and would probably have carried on playing if he had not gone into acting.
2007-03-09 16:47:07
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Вчера 14:42:00
Interview with Daniel Craig: The Icing Atop the "Layer Cake"
by Peter Sobczynski
In American, Daniel Craig is probably most familiar to the mass audience for playing opposite Tom Hanks and Paul Newman in “Road to Perdition” (where he played the psycho son of the latter) and opposite Angelina Jolie’s short-shorts in “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.” Frequenters of art-houses may recall him more fondly from his two collaborations with British filmmaker Roger Michell, “The Mother” and “Enduring Love, “ two of the more intriguing and unsettling films to appear last year. Actually, he is probably best-known on these shores for a role that he hasn’t played–until a couple of weeks ago, he was rumored to be one of the strongest candidates to replace Pierce Brosnan in the role of James Bond (though recent developments now suggest that Brosnan will return to the role after all.)
Already a top-tier actor in his native England, Craig looks to increase his Stateside profile with the quirky new crime drama “Layer Cake.” In the film, he plays an unnamed drug dealer who has amassed enough money to allow him to quietly retire from the business and lead a life of leisure. Inevitably, these plans quickly fly out the window when a request for one final favor leads to a series of out-of-control events that demonstrate that a criminal is a criminal–no matter how plush his surroundings–and that if you are successful in making money for people, they will be less than eager to see you go.
Although it may sound on the surface like “Layer Cake” is similar to the recent Guy Ritchie crime films “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” (not surprising since Matthew Vaughn, the future “X3" helmer making his directorial debut here, started out as a producer of, among others, Ritchie’s films), this film has more of a serious impact to it and much of that is due to the strong work by Craig. There are bits of weirdness and silliness throughout but Craig holds it together with a performance that allows us to sympathize and understand a theoretically unlikable character without ever minimizing his dark side.
Recently, Craig sat down to discuss “Layer Cake,” his experiences in Hollywood and, eventually, the strange circumstances of inadvertently turning into the Man Who Would Be Bond.
What was it that got you interested in acting in the first place?
Dressing up and showing off! We lived in Liverpool and my mother had friends in the theater scene there and my sister and I spent a lot of time at the theater. I got the bug and it was as simple as that. I’d see the plays or I would be in the lighting box backstage and I knew that was what I wanted to do. Things have changed as I have gotten older but the same things still apply–dressing up, showing off and the attention-seeking are still there. I love it. I think it is a great art form–it is a populist art form that I do believe can actually change things and generate discussion and debate. I remember that we had a cinema around the corner from me and I would sit there and watch movies. One particular movie was “Blade Runner” and even though I had no idea what was happening, I watched it and I knew that I wanted to make movies. It wasn’t about doing films or television or plays–I wanted to do movies and that one struck me the first time that I saw it.
Your previous films, “The Mother” and “Enduring Love,” were both fairly heavy dramas while “Layer Cake”–though not exactly a laugh-a-minute goof–has a much lighter tone to it despite the subject matter. Were you consciously trying to find something a little lighter to do after those earlier films?
It was the writing. I took a look at it and thought that it would be a departure and then I met Matthew Vaughn, who has produced a lot of movies but is best-known for “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch.” Matthew does have an eye for making money and looks at how to create a profit with what he creates. It was interesting to talk to him because I, outside of Hollywood, had never really had those kinds of conversations regarding a movie. Usually, getting the movie made is a struggle from Day One and getting it into a theater is a sort of triumph. Matthew doesn’t think like that–he thinks on a grander scale of releasing it and making some money and then releasing it again and making some more money. In a way, it was a good learning program to become involved in because he is very skilled at that. Mostly, though, it was because it was a great script. It was an intelligent, bright script-more so than any other crime thing that I have seen.
One of the interesting things about your character is that we learn so little about him and his history throughout the story–while most of the other characters have fancy nicknames and elaborate backstories, the name of your character is never said once throughout the course of the entire film. For you, what, if any, are the challenges of playing a character about whom so little is known or explained throughout the course of the film?
It didn’t bother me at all. As long as we set it up well enough in the beginning–this is who I am and this is what I do–we don’t need the rest. Bad movies do this–the first two scenes will have the characters repeating their names to each other over and over so that we in the audience know who they are. You have to do that sometimes in a movie when you have a complicated plot but in this film, we have a complicated plot but most of that is irrelevant and it doesn’t matter.
This guy rang true to me. We know them or we at least see them in the street every day and we don’t notice them because they don’t want to be noticed. At the beginning of the film, he says that he deals in a commodity–in this case, it is cocaine but it could be anything as long as it makes money. That is why we have the Michael Gambon character, who is “legitimate”–he is probably friends with politicians and members of the royal family and owns skyscrapers–but he would deal in anything and probably deals in things far worse than cocaine and it doesn’t make a difference to him because it is about making money. These people keep their noses clean and that is why they are so good at making money–because they are quiet about making money.
Do you prefer having something beyond the script to look at when creating your character–such as the original book in the case of “Layer Cake” or biographical information when you are playing a real-life person–or do you prefer to stick simply to the material in the script itself?
It is the script. If you don’t have a script that is ready to go on the first day of shooting, you are fucked. If you are trying to rewrite the film while you are shooting it, in my experience, it just doesn’t fucking work and it ruins the movie because no one has a fucking idea of what to do. You have to have a script sitting there that you are ready to shoot. You can change things but there is this myth about improvisation that it is a spontaneous thing where you can do anything as long as you know your character. You can only improvise if you have a good script because the story has to be there. That is what I look for–when I am giving a script and people say, “Oh, we are going to do this and this,” I get nervous and ask “Well, when are you going to do this?” There have been times when I have been rewriting scenes on the day of shooting and I am not a fucking writer.
In working with Matthew Vaughn, who is making his directorial debut after serving for years as a producer, I was curious about the process of working with a filmmaker coming from that particular background. When an actor becomes a director, for example, the focus of the film is usually on performance, a writer’s is on the script and a cinematographer’s tends to be on the visual style. Therefore, what is it like to work with a producer-turned-director?
When that happens, I think that is kind of wrong. I’d be more interested is seeing a movie directed by an actor that concentrated on the visuals, though I don’t think that has ever happened. Matthew strikes me as someone like that. On the surface, he looks like a money-making machine who makes films that are highly popular and highly stylized and filled with wonderful cliches but he is also a fantastic storyteller. I saw the film for the first time in a while and I had forgotten how well he can spin a yarn. That is a surprise because you wouldn’t think that he would be able to tell a story like that and put it on the screen. The great thing about his experience with producing is that he has been able to get a great team of people together that he trusts to do their jobs. For a director, that is important because you have to trust those people.
A couple of years ago, you came to America to do a couple of expensive, high-profile Hollywood blockbuster projects, “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” and “Road to Perdition.” Under normal circumstances, one might have expected a British actor coming off of those projects to stay in the States and work on equally high-profile films for the next several years. Instead, you immediately returned to England and did the lower-profile likes of “Sylvia,” “The Mother,” “Enduring Love” and “Layer Cake.” Was this decision just a coincidence or a conscious decision relating to your experiences of working in the American film industry?
Kind of. The “Tomb Raider” thing was . . .I don’t regret for a second doing it but it just wasn’t an experience that was that satisfying. I was lucky enough then to go off the next year and do “Road to Perdition,” which cost the same amount of money as “Tomb Raider” but had much more to it–there are only so many ways that you can look surprised at crap blowing up. The truth of it is that after “Road to Perdition,” I got a lot of good reviews and I could have come over and done a lot of auditions but I just didn’t think that was good enough for me. I was proud of what I did in that movie but there were things that I wanted to do back home–films where I would play leads and have to work my fucking ass off to play them. I loved “Road to Perdition” but that was me playing a small part in a bigger movie and I wanted to play larger parts.
I wanted to ask you about the two films that you did with Roger Michell, “The Mother” and “Enduring Love.” With both of those films, I don’t think that I quite liked them when I first saw them–I admired the performances and thought they were well-made but there was something about each of them that I wasn’t quite sure that I was getting that kept me from fully embracing them. However, as time passed, I found that they were growing larger in my mind and I was thinking about them more than a lot of films that I immediately liked. Now, I think that they are both pretty extraordinary works. Obviously, since both of those screenplays were not simple cookie-cutter scripts designed to pull in mass audiences and sell toys, you must have responded to them on a more instantaneous level in order to see their worth and agree to act in them. In those two cases, what was it that struck you about those scripts and roles that made you believe that you could play them?
“The Mother” was the first one. It was a Hanif Kaureshi screenplay and though I am probably kidding myself about it now, I was scared shitless about the script and what it required of me. I didn’t even want to think about it, to tell the truth. I spoke to Roger on the phone and said, “I don’t know if I want to do this. I don’t like these people” and he said, “That is why we are making it.” Roger is an incredibly charming guy and he knows his stuff, it is as simple as that. He got me involved in making the movie and I love the fact that it is shocking. I love the fact that audiences sometimes say “That movie made me sick!”while others go on a roll with it and saw the dark side. Mainly, the film is about broken families and how they hardly talk to each other–that is the crux of the movie. It is really complicated with this film about an older woman whose husband dies and she has an affair where everything ends horribly.
When you hear a one-line description of the film, it sounds like the kind of thing that could be done as a sweet-tempered drama or as a silly farce and one of the things that is striking about it is how seriously and realistically everything and everyone is treated–even the mother is less of a sweet and angelic person and more self-centered than many might have expected.
It isn’t a simple story that tells you where your sympathies should lie. You look at the daughter and she is sort of acting like a brat and you would think that the mother would be sweet, but what she does in the film is horrible. She knowingly fucks her daughter’s boyfriend and convinces herself that it is okay. The problem then is trying to sell the film. With a lot of the films that I have done, you can’t really trailer them because there isn’t really a sound-bite in them that explains everything. Invariably, I see the trailers and I am dismayed because they throw people a different spin and try to make it seem like a thriller. One part of me is pissed off at that and another part is actually kind of proud of the fact that I make movies that get sent off to the people who make trailers and they can’t.
With “Enduring Love,” it was very simple. We were a week from finishing shooting on “The Mother” and Roger came up to me and asked if I had read the novel. I said I had and that it was a great book and he said, “Don’t read it again. We’re writing the script as we speak–are you in?” and I said yes. I wanted to work with him again straightaway and there was never an argument about it. I knew the story and when Rhys Ifans and Samantha Morton got involved, I knew that no matter how it turned out, it would be a good thing to do. That is the kind of security that you have–that you know you will get something out of it.
There are a couple of projects that you have coming up that I wanted to ask about. The first is the Truman Capote film from Douglas McGrath in which you play Perry Smith, one of the killers that Capote chronicled in “In Cold Blood.” Considering how well-known that story is, both from the book and the 1967 film, how much of a challenge for you was it to take on that role?
The film is actually about two different subjects. It is about whether or not artists only have one piece of art in them. Sandra Bullock plays Harper Lee, who was Capote’s best friend and who wrote “To Kill a Mockingbird” while Capote wrote “In Cold Blood” and some would say that was it for those two. There is that debate and there is also the story of Truman’s relationship with Perry Smith while the latter was waiting to be executed and the question of how close they got.
The other film you have scheduled, which is supposed to go into production later this summer, is the 1972 Munich Olympics movie begin directed by Steven Spielberg. Can you shed any light on what you are doing in that one?
I can’t. Believe me, I would love to because I am very excited about it but it is still being prepared.
Finally, I have to ask–mostly because I will be slapped by editors if I don’t–about the speculation that you were in the running to be the next James Bond, which I believe has finally died down now that it seems that Pierce Brosnan actually will return. Now that it is over, what was it like to go through this enormous media storm–one devoted entirely to a film that hasn’t yet been made and a role that you haven’t played?
I genuinely believe, and this is just my opinion, that my name was put out there because they wanted to create debate over who should be the next James Bond and my name was on that list. I was here in America filming, so I was getting it all second-hand–it did hit Texas eventually, but by then the shitstorm had finally begun to die down.
ohttp://danielcraig.2bb.ru/viewtopic.php?id=135&p=1

[Anglophile]

Wow GG, thanks for digging these up! I love those old stories from his school days, and what everyone is saying about him. He must have been a great guy even then.

Especially loved this one: "He had a voice as smooth as chocolate, and eyes like ice."

[Tigertash]

Thanks for that

[livetwice]

Hey you could post another chapter each day, like a bedtime story...

Please I like to read one DC bedtime story per day..
thank you for finding this, very interesting!

[Germangirl]

Here´s one tha is totally new to me and very Danielish

The Reluctant Man of War
ELIZABETH GRICE
The Daily Telegraph
December 28, 2000
Actor Daniel Craig talks to Elizabeth Grice about Waugh, TV conflict and the problems of playing it posh

A funny thing happened on the way to Pinewood Studios. Stuck in traffic on a half-demolished section of suburbia, I noticed a man up a 12ft ladder slowly wielding a pasting brush. A flap of wet poster flopped over his hand. As he worked and the traffic stalled, the face of the man I was crawling along the A40 to see emerged on the billboard - the wide, lumpy, brooding features of Daniel Craig. Even from that distance you could see that this man has eyes of ice.
Craig is about to freeze our television screens as Guy Crouchback, the tortured hero of Evelyn Waugh's war trilogy, "Sword of Honour." You may remember him as Geordie Peacock, the hapless musician in the television saga "Our Friends in the North," or as Ray the schizophrenic in the film "Some Voices" or for his performance in William Boyd's First World War drama, "The Trench."
Or again, you may not. Craig, 32, is one of those idiosyncratic, slow-burn actors who don't appear to be going anywhere until the evidence racks up, role by role. A face and voice that have been taking shape somewhere else and now come looming out of the mist, logical and solid, like the soldier on the billboard.
There is a great deal of time to contemplate the phenomenon of Daniel Craig - his solid body of work, his solid body - while I am marooned in a dressing room at Pinewood at the mercy of his production schedule. He is cavorting with Angelina Jolie, the Lara Croft heroine, in Hollywood's adaptation of the video game Tomb Raider, so it is understandable that I am left to inspect the crumbs on the carpet and to wonder who last used the bathroom.
After about an hour and a half, there is a doomcrack knock at the door and Craig bursts in, full of apologies. He extends a damp hand. His hair is wet and spiky and he is wearing a blue towelling dressing gown with a hood. His see-through eyes are transfixing. He has to return to the set immediately, he blusters. "Maybe I'll get 10 minutes later. If anything changes, I'll send word." In a cloud of droplets, he is gone.
Word does not come. Craig reappears in person half an hour later, still looking as though he has just got out of the shower, still breathless and apologetic. He's finding this action-movie stuff "mindblowing" - worlds away from anything he has done before, from Guy Crouchback, from soldierly reticence and understatement.
"The big sets take 10 minutes to reset every time you do a take. You have to do them over and over and over again. You have to keep yourself sane."
I tell him about the man on the ladder, pasting his features on to a billboard the size of a double bed. Thousands of other men with long brushes are doing the same in locations all over the country. His giant face will confront him on the road home to the Wirral, reminding him he's on the cusp, as they say in the business, of something big. He's not impressed. "Weird, isn't it?" But not nearly so weird, he suggests, as rushing in and out of a dressing room in towels, talking about yourself and then having to read it in a newspaper. He reads stuff about himself "really quickly," shivers with distaste, and then throws it away.
Craig gives a snuffly, genuine sort of chuckle. It's a pity he can't relax with a cigarette and a drink and stop wondering whether he's going to sound like an actorly brat. At one point, he catches himself using the phrase "emotionally vulnerable" and withdraws it with a shudder.
He says he jibbed at playing Guy Crouchback, "because I'd never really played posh before. I didn't know if I could do it justice. If I could bring a reality to this person without putting on a silly accent." So although he talks "commarndo" instead of "commando" and "barth" instead of "bath", this is no plum-eating role of the Brideshead type.
Craig was brought up on Merseyside. His mother is a teacher, so he supposes that must make him middle class. Although there is hardly any trace of Liverpool in his voice, he doesn't trust himself as a posho. "I'm not scared of it, but Evelyn Waugh was very particular about his class system. That's what he lived for. The joke was that he was middle class himself, aspiring to be upper class. When I read that, I thought: well, that's quite cool; that's OK."
Although he has done his bit to project the madness of war (with his friend William Boyd in "The Trench," now in "Sword of Honour"), Craig sounds fed up with the British obsession with reliving this century's two great bloodbaths. "I wish we'd get over it," he says. "I really do. We do seem to fight it every night on television."
The story of Crouchback's gradually corroding ideals suits Craig's sceptical cast of mind rather well. With great delicacy and remarkably few words, he portrays an Englishman's search for honour through joining a just war against the forces of evil. "But there's no honour in war or death. His ideals are completely compromised, shattered by the end."
Craig hates to be thought too studious. He didn't want to put an accent on "because it would be a study of something" and he doesn't think much of my tidy suggestion that his character is redeemed at the end. "I don't care if there's no redemption," he says. "That's not why I do something, to make him look good at the end."
Compliments make him prickly and are best left unsaid. There's a typical Waugh scene early on where Crouchback's wayward ex-wife (Megan Dodds) accuses him of trying to seduce her only because in the eyes of the Roman Catholic church they are still married and she is the one woman with whom he can have conscience-free sex. Craig's wounded response is almost entirely done with his facial muscles. It is powerful stuff.
"God, I don't know, really," he says, running his hands despairingly through his hair as if he's just heard bad news. "I don't think about making something powerful. I'm just trying to get at the reality of it - if there is a reality."
Craig left school at 16 and came to London to join the National Youth Theatre. Acting was all he ever wanted to do, from the age of six, but romanticise his story at your peril. He had a happy childhood: it wasn't teenage rebellion; he wasn't driven. "My parents just wanted me to be happy, like parents do. It was no big deal. It wasn't: Oh my God, he's going to become an actor."
He responds irritably to imagined cliches. "Driven at 17? Some 17-year-olds may be driven but I certainly wasn't. I was just like everybody else, living day to day, getting on with it."
Until he got into drama school, he worked in restaurant kitchens and slept on friends' floors. He's never had a career plan, just a series of small lucky breaks leading to bigger lucky breaks, leading to the sudden realisation, after "Our Friends," that he had the power to say no to things. "And that's what you've got to do. You've got to hang on and wait."
Basic questions about his background and family life are treated like hand grenades. "I can't particularly trust myself about what I'll say so I don't say much. There's no reason for my mother or my father [long separated] to be involved in any way." So the details remain sketchy: a failure at school; an early marriage; the birth of a daughter, now eight, who lives with his ex-wife in west London; a German girlfriend - actress Heike Makatsch; a rented flat; a certain hopelessness with money. "The money I was making at 22 disappeared - and it's still disappearing. The more you have, the more you spend. I have no idea where it goes."
He wishes his education had been deeper but must realise it no longer matters. "I can't really write and that bothers me. I didn't acquire that essay thing. I just cannot sit down and write even half a page."
At school, he approached Shakespeare as if reading a foreign language, with fear and loathing, and prefers not to think about acting it. "I would probably, deep down inside, egowise, love to do it. But with Shakespeare, you've got to leave your ego at the door and that's sort of scary."
He's so distrustful of the normal credentials and trappings of actorliness ("poncing around on stage" as the people he grew up with called it) that you wonder if this isn't an act in itself. But accuse him of not caring and it all falls away. "I'm not at all scathing really," he says, "because I love it. It's my life. Maybe it's too much of my life, but that's the way it is. I just love doing it." Why couldn't he say that before?
Источник: Bluematia

[Anesidora]

Thanks Germangirl, it is new to me ...

I love the part where he says he is upset because he cannot write. I still find it hard to believe, because he expresses himself very well; maybe he is just very demanding with himself.

[Germangirl]

Hey you could post another chapter each day, like a bedtime story...

Please I like to read one DC bedtime story per day..
thank you for finding this, very interesting!

Here are some tidbits from the sony side, in case you don´t wanna read through all.

About poker
One thing I've learnt, however, is don't play poker with actors. They are professionals when it comes to the poker face. After all, it's their job.

Producer Michael Wilson agrees.
"Actors seem to do quite well in the professional poker tournaments so I suppose they do have an advantage over the rest of us".

And that applies to Daniel in particular. He had less time to practice than the others because of his other training commitments but as Michael says, the others learnt to be wary of his skill.

"I've played a couple of times with Daniel and he ended up with all the chips".

M. Wilson was referred to, in an interview as being extremely good with cards. So what makes this Daniel?

About Martin Campbell
"Martin's still got the enthusiasm and the drive, working five and six day weeks and preparing for the next day, he's in sometimes at five in the morning, looking over the set, preparing a shot list. He has plenty of drive and it really tells."

Eva Green agreed.

"Martin's a character. He's very present, full of energy, very warm. He's like a child actually. You know for him everything is new and exciting and it's quite contagious, you know, you're always quite alive."

Daniel Craig has been working with him since before Christmas.

"I knew he was good before we started the job. But I think his energy is inspiring."

Both Daniel and Martin attacked every day as if it were the first day of shooting and Daniel found this as vital for the quieter days as it was for the big action moments.

"Martin's energy is just infectious and you need that because the fight sequences are energetic but you also need it in quieter scenes like the Casino because it's very complicated stuff."

About Eva
Eva's another example of the interesting casting choices that have been made on this film. As I was saying the other day, the producers were actively involved in this as Eva makes clear.

"Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson really helped me with the character. They talked me through the story, which is quite complicated on the first reading, there's a lot of sub-text and they were very much involved in the design of the costumes, of Vesper's look, and I've never seen producers like that before, it's so unusual and great."

We'll learn more about both Eva and Vesper down the line but before we go, what's her take on our new James Bond?

"It's amazing because Daniel is so hypnotic, magnetic, and he's a gentleman, he's strong but he's not mannered, and you know he's very rough and rugged and is quite attractive I think, quite dangerous."

On the construction side
Bond will have to chase his villain, Mollaka, across this site and it won't surprise you to learn, there'll be a certain amount of damage to the location as he does so. Again, the emphasis here, as stunt co-ordinator, Gary Powell reminds me, is on doing it for real.

"People have been sort of swamped over recent years with CGI stuff and I think they are actually getting bored of it now. So to go back to the route of actually doing it for real is definitely more satisfying, and hopefully for the public too who will be more satisfied knowing they are actually seeing real people taking real chances."

He's working with another Bond veteran, Visual Effects Co-ordinator, Chris Corbould, who feels just as strongly about this.

"I am passionate about my art, you know. I will fight tooth and nail to do it for real. I mean obviously if there is a danger element or a cost element , those are probably the only two reasons that I will back off and admit defeat, but no, we're trying to do a lot for real on this. If it's possible to do it for real it's probably the best way to do it."

Having a new Bond who is as committed to this approach as they are has certainly helped them achieve their aims. But they are also fortunate in the casting of Mollaka who is played by free-runner, Sebastien Foucan; as physically able a performer as any I have ever seen. Let me see if I can track him down for you.

On Judi Dench
Taking us back to the beginnings of their relationship, CASINO ROYALE, as it does in so many other areas of Bond's life, establishes a pattern that is played out across the subsequent stories. Judi's done a lot more work with Daniel Craig since we last spoke in Prague and her appreciation of him as an actor has only increased. But, and this is always important for Judi who loves to laugh, the main thing is, they can have fun together.

"He's got a great sense of humour and that's always really the first clue working with somebody I think. There's a kind of self deprecation about him that's very attractive and when you have a sense of humour in somebody it makes working much easier"

She has worked with so many well known leading men and is impressed with this one.

"He's got a wonderful presence, very attractive and strong and he has relaxed wonderfully. I'm sure he has got anxiety but he doesn't show it, he's very relaxed."

On Action
Call sheet #1 Monday January 30th - and we're off again. Sebastian Foucan, who plays one of our villains, Mollaka (more on him another day), is hammered by Daniel through the Nambutu embassy set on stage 11. Director Martin Campbell is taking the cast and crew right into the thick of it. Although it is good to start with a bang, as Daniel Craig has already realised, it is all in a day's work:

"It just helps everybody, focuses everybody's mind. It is a big sequence but actually it's not by far the biggest so we're kind of breaking in gently, I think."

And watching Daniel, the training is paying off - this is a much more aggressive looking Bond we're seeing already. Physically confident and easy with the work. Comparisons are being made with the early Bond films but I think we're seeing something new in the Bond canon. And Martin Campbell agrees:

"He's pretty terrific you know, he looks fantastic, he's worked up, he's muscled up and he's got a short haircut, he actually reminds me of Steve McQueen at the moment, that can't be a bad thing"

[sharmaine]

Thanks GG - lots to read and absorb here.

Daniel and Tim had been great friends, both members of Hoylake Rugby Club. I remember his rich deep voice, very melodic and smooth. It will really fit James Bond." Tim's sister Samantha, aged 35, said: "He had a voice as smooth as chocolate, and eyes like ice.

Love the last sentence - so absolutely true - I imagine she had a crush on you too.

[Germangirl]

...and some tidbits from the magazine scans on the DtD home page for those, who don´t have the time to read through it all.

Chris Corbould – Special effects on working with Daniel Craig.

Oh, I can´t say enough good things about him, beams C. Daniel is a real special effects and stunt department dream. He thrives on it and he´s a real pleasure to work with. Our biggest thing is the safety element and Daniel was very up for being in amongst the action – more so than any actor I´ve ever worked with. He was absolutely obsessed with it and he wanted his face in there. I´m a great believer in that, for me that´s value for money with the actors on screen, as long as its safe. And we did a lot of stuff.

Gary Powell on the action and DC

…so you want an actor who is going to take that physical side of it on and not get precious about taking a knock or getting a cut or scrapes. And Daniel was just so up for it, I must say. For a shoot as physically demanding and complex as CR one might suspect, that Craig was given good six month rehearsals and fight training – after all- that´s what they did ion the Matrix. At a push we might imagine that he crammed it all in during 3 month, but the truth is sobering.
We actually got him quite late, because he was finishing another film. We got him about two weeks before filming started, so he was straight in at the deep end doing rehearsals for the embassy sequence.
He was 110% committed to it. He came in prepared to work hard and his mind was in the right place. His attitude was fantastic which is good for us, because we worked with him long and hard and we did put him through some pain. He was a very good pupil. Actors can be difficult at time, especially when you are asking for their time at the weekend. Whereas Daniels attitude was that he would do whatever it took to get it nailed. He was there whenever we needed him.

…in the fight on the stairwell, he is banging up against the wall and down the stairs and he did take the odd knock and a bruise, but he never complained, never moaned. He just got in with it and smiled as he gave 110%.

Did he improve?
Oh yes, by the end, when we shoed him a fight he was like “Great” and was straight into it right away. On the next one we can take him a step further, I´m sure of that.

[Cyanaurora]

Did he improve?
Oh yes, by the end, when we shoed him a fight he was like “Great” and was straight into it right away. On the next one we can take him a step further, I´m sure of that.

Further How much further can he go? Actually bleeding? He got a black eye last time. They can't damage Daniel!

[livetwice]

Germangirl, thanks !!! A lot to read and to fight with my dictionary BUT SO INTERESTING ... [/img]