The moment you realize it’s 2005 and he used to be a no name dramatic indie actor

I I you know James Bond means a great

deal to many many people also has always

meant a great deal to me and I sort of

feel quite an attachment to it and

it came down to the fact that we're

doing Casino Royale. We're starting

again. The cassita the movie is that we

can begin again. We can start to

understand this character and as an

actor that's too big a challenge. It's

and you know he's one of the biggest

icons in cinema and you just the

challenge really just the challenge to

say come on let's have a go. Let's see

what we can do with it.

Welcome, Martini. Chicken or stir? Do I

look like I give a damn?

So, that was the line. The line from the

script for Casino Royale that convinced

the very skeptical, very prestige film

focused Daniel Craig to entertain the

role of a lifetime as the one, the only

Bond,

James Bond.

It was that subversive sentiment

prominent throughout Casino Royale's

screenplay which showed Craig that after

40 years of making these movies, the

Broccoli family and productions were

choosing to break from tradition, wipe

the slate clean, go back to the root of

the character found in the first ever

written Bond story by Ian Fleming and

try something new. But I'm not here to

talk about how the Bond franchise got to

Casino Royale. How the original 1953

novel was bought and sold and adapted

across half a century of uncertainty.

Yes, Mr. Bond, isn't it?

Uh, yes. If you'll be good enough to

sign things,

it's a fascinating saga, but one that's

been told and been told better than I

can tell it.

Oh, you're a legend, old boy. God sense

Jimmy Bond, they call you. I knew you

right away.

I didn't know I had that much of a

reputation.

What I want to talk about today is how

the Bond franchise got to Daniel Craig.

Why him? Who was he? And what kind of

mark was he making for himself as an

actor up until that point that got him

picked over a short list of heavyweights

for what was already for decades one of

the premier film franchises in history?

And well to answer that of course we

have to start at the beginning.

There's a young man English prince of

Wales school. I'd like you to have a

look at him.

I'll get back to you professor soon as I

have some.

Do that.

What you're watching is the 1992 John G.

Hamilton film The Power of One set in

the 1930s and later the 1940s under

apartheid in South Africa and the first

shots of any feature film to bear

witness to what was at the time a

23-year-old

Daniel Craig straight out of

conservatory in London.

Can you do this?

He played Sergeant Boa and for a feature

film debut the role was significant.

I owe you something you little bastard.

It was villainous, savage, downright

hatable.

I'm not finished with you,

or the mgo.

And while this wasn't exactly testament

towards Craig's ability to later play

Bond in terms of character,

I'll take you in when you're dead.

There is actually some decent

hand-to-hand combat in this movie. So, a

little spark of something recognizable

perhaps there. Anyway, Boad does, by the

way, get his comeuppants.

It was four years later though in 1996

when Craig really broke out and started

to get seen via the BBC limited series

Our Friends in the North.

The show also starred Mark Strong and

Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston.

medium, pathetic, all excellent. And

this was also where casting director

Debbie McWills, who had been working

with the Bond franchise since the days

of Roger Moore, first discovered Craig,

acutely aware that for such a massive

role, sure, you'll always have to

consider the big big names. But if

you're looking for someone who will

surprise you, you have to journey off

the beaten path.

There you go. Meal fru

day slice for you. Hot chocolate coming

up.

Reflecting back, Mc Williams described

Craig like this. She said, "He's lit

from within. Whatever scene he's in, on

stage or on screen, he's completely

captivating. A character actor in the

body of a movie star.

[Music]

They needed someone fresh. Casino Royale

being the origin of Bon's double status.

Someone young but not too young. A

little unrefined but mature enough to be

able to pass as a veteran considerably.

But they needed something else too.

Skill.

An actor who could internalize

everything but remain expressive. Casino

Royale is arguably the darkest and most

formative Bond story Fleming ever wrote.

A love story, a love lost story,

culminating in the famously cold final

line,

"Job's done. The [ __ ] is dead."

Classically trained, these were the

skills Craig had and had been honing.

Not an overly commercial actor. More

indie leanings, artsy films, films like

Love is the Devil in 1998. And who might

you be

sharing the screen with Derek Jacabe? A

proclivity for a type of film that

simultaneously diversified his training

while also raised doubts for Mc Williams

and Barbara Broccley and the other

producers that Craig would even say yes

to such a major franchise.

However, there was still another phase

to Craig's early career that perhaps

provided some hope. His move onto the

international stage.

Laura Croft, I don't believe it.

I'm not going to lie, this is kind of

just an excuse to talk about 2001's Tomb

Raider. This was almost certainly the

first thing I ever saw Craig do, whether

I realized it at the time or not.

And out of the demon's ass. Now,

what's great here is the way Craig's

character, Alex West,

hey, Lara,

walks that tight rope of technically

being a baddie.

Tourist visa.

No, I'm working.

Or one might just say a very egotistical

person.

Wow. while still remaining likable and

totally redeemable.

Get them out of here.

You just hurry.

All qualities, frankly, integral to at

least his version of 007.

Take the next one.

There isn't enough room for me anymore.

You go.

Oh, yeah. And uh you know what else was

integral?

[Music]

Anyway, in the more prestige Hollywood

space, Craig was also getting noticed.

He played a part in Spielberg's Munich

in '05.

I don't know about the rest of you, but

I'm not celebrating. I'm goddamn

rejoicing.

But even a few years before that, he

filled the sizable role in Road to

Predition as Connor Rooney. Who is it?

Sharing the screen with the likes of Tom

Hanks, Paul Newman.

You all right? Today is fine. also

helmed by Sam Menddees, who would go on

to direct some of the more notable of

the Craig era Bond films. And while Road

to Predition was even less Bondesque

than say something like Tomb Raider, it

did show off one of the more interesting

third-dimensional qualities that I see

in Craig's Bond.

Try again.

That subtle but visible deflation of ego

when he loses or is no longer in control

of a situation.

Try again.

Again, Bond may act stoic, but it's all

about that internalization going on

underneath that gives his version of the

character life that lights him from

within.

And then there was layer cake.

Everyone likes to walk through a door

marked private, therefore have a good

reason to be affluent.

Yeah. The movie most people sensibly

assume was effectively Craig's audition

tape for James Bond. And maybe, sure, to

an extent, and we'll see why that tracks

in a second.

Let me state my position.

But Mc Williams and Broccoli had their

eyes on Craig for quite a while, and

neither has personally attributed their

interest in him to this movie. I

mean, I [ __ ] hate guns.

Not in the way critics and fans have

done. As a matter of fact, while Our

Friends in the North might have put

Craig on Nick Williams radar for Bond,

Barbara Broccley has stated very frankly

what movie it was that personally put

him in her mind for the role. And it's

an odd one. 1998's Elizabeth with Kate

Blanchett. Specifically, this random

scene of Craig and Priest Garb walking

down a hallway. But hey, when you've

been living and breathing Bond literally

your entire life, you know what to look

out for. and you know when you found it.

Anyway, all that said, Layer Cake still

remains the pre-bonded Eric Craig film I

recommend to anybody above all others.

It's dope as heck, directed by Matthew

Vaughn, who produced the best of Guy

Richie's movies, which should tell you a

lot. A very British crime film, and just

a ton of fun.

It doesn't work like that.

Don't keep [ __ ] saying that to me.

And yes, in it, Craig is undoubtedly

very, very Bondlike. The way he swaggers

into a building, fixes his shirt cuffs,

the way he actually uses his real accent

for once in his career.

Do you know where I live?

No. Well, [ __ ] off then.

And all that brings us back to Casino

Royale. As I said, when producers

finally reached out to Craig, they were

skeptical he'd say yes, which is fair.

He was skeptical they were actually

considering him. Craig didn't believe

Bond was right for him, but that was the

Bond of the past. He read the novel in a

day, took the meeting, read the script,

and realized it was an opportunity to do

something that had never been done

before.

Soon after, September 2005, they shot

some screen tests to convince the

studio.

I'm the money.

Every penny of it,

rehearsing several fulllength scenes.

I'm the money.

every penny of it.

And a month later in October, Daniel

Craig is escorted by Royal Marines by

boat to a media press launch. And Eon

Productions officially announces him as

the sixth actor to play the role of

James Bond, after which for months he

would be judged and prejudged on his

looks and on his ability to do this

character right.

And in short, well,

he did and he would continue to do

longer than anyone else before him had.

Well, I understand double O's have a

very short life expectancy.

Daniel Craig, what can I say?

You're the man.

You know that's not half bad.

I'm going to have to think of a name for

that.

And hey, speaking of Daniel Craig and

Layer Cake, if you need even more of an

incentive to check out the movie, I

actually made a quick essay on it a

while back looking at one of my favorite

scenes from the movie and how it came

about as a result of an actually

positive case of studio interference.

That video unfortunately got copyright

claimed. I think even blocked in a bunch

of countries. I took it down, never

managed to get it back up onto YouTube,

but you can go watch it right now

exclusively

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