Daniel Craig was ‘under siege’ to play James Bond
Daniel Craig used to “lock himself in and close the curtains” after landing the role of James Bond, as he struggled to cope with the fame attached to the iconic part.
The 53- year- old actor is to portray the suave spy for a final time in forthcoming film No Time To Die, but he has recalled how he felt “physically and mentally under siege” when he first got the part of 007.
Craig, who made his Bond debut in the 2006 movie Casino Royale, said: “My personal life was affected by being that famous all of a sudden. I used to lock myself in and close the curtains, I was in cloud cuckoo land. I was physically and mentally under siege. I didn’t like the newfound level of fame. It was Hugh Jackman who helped me to come to terms with it and appreciate it.”
After producer Barbara Broccoli had offered Craig the part, he wasted no time getting into character. The Knives Out actor set about getting drunk on martinis, Bond’s beverage of choice.
“It was my first bit of exercise. I had a hangover for three days.” But Craig nearly didn’t have that hangover.
The star admitted he was prepared to pass up the chance to be Bond. Speaking in Apple TV+ documentary Being James Bond, he added: “As far as I was concerned I was already more successful than I would ever be as an actor. I did not have a cool persona. Pierce had done
Remington Steele, Roger Moore had done The Saint. They had done these parts where people had gone, ‘That’s James Bond’.”
He added: “I had done weird arty movies. It was a harder sell. And I didn’t really want to do it, because I thought I wouldn’t know what to do with it. I was going to get the script, read it, and say, ‘Thanks but no’. But little did I know, it was
Casino Royale. The story was solid, the script was solid.”
After Casino Royale, Craig starred as Bond in the 2008 movie Quantum of Solace, 2012’s Skyfall, and 2015’ s Spectre.