Daniel Craig’s favourite James Bond story: “It was my first one at the cinema”
When Daniel Craig was first asked to play the suave and mysterious James Bond, he had one condition for acceptance – a little less mystery and a little more substance. After the release of Casino Royale, we began to see an emotional core to the once impenetrable secret agent. Craig has since changed the very nature of the franchise, adding a layered and emotional strand to the infamous character that has modernised a slightly dated and obsolete genre. When Craig was asked about the inspiration behind this and the Bond film he loved most, he recalled one in particular and his most memorable first watch.
There have been many different British actors who have taken on the mammoth task of playing Mr Bond, showing their physical prowess when leaping from burning buildings, trekking through jungles and rescuing their love interests from high places. But miraculously, we never see them eat, sleep, recharge or rest in any way possible, somehow managing to conjure a limitless energy from absolutely nowhere, something that Craig noticed when revealing his favourite film from the earlier iterations of the franchise, Live and Let Die.
Live and Let Die, directed by Guy Hamilton in 1973, is one of the many Bond films with Roger Moore in the titular role, following the agent as he investigates the murder of a fellow agent in New Orleans, finding himself facing the wrath of Mr Big.
The film famously has a young Jane Seymour as the Bond girl of the film, who plays a psychic virgin who becomes infatuated with Mr Bond and, after sleeping with him, loses all her powers. I feel that this plot trope perfectly encapsulates the problematic nature of the earlier films, with no regard for their female characters and a constant crescendo of good old-fashioned toxic masculinity.
But when Craig was asked about his favourite Bond film, he said, “It’s probably Live and Let Die, because I read it first – it was my first one at the cinema and there were lots of differences. He goes to the quartermaster in the book and pulls out his gun and what are basically speed pills. And you think: ‘Oh, right, wow, OK: a gun and some speed pills, that’s a safe combination’. But it does sort of indicate that he’s twisted. There’s a kind of dark underbelly that we can’t show in the movies, but I want to be there”.
It seems as though the darker core that Craig wanted to add to his iteration of the character was present in the older movies, just hidden more discreetly because, as I said, there’s no way these men were fighting their way around town on no sleep or sustenance.
While the presence of Moore’s speed pills is a tiny part of the film, it’s impressive how Craig was able to draw out a new side to the series from such a small detail, noticing that this element of the franchise had always existed deep down, but just needed a fresh perspective on it. And it’s because of this seed of inspiration that Live and Let Die remains Craig’s favourite Bond film.
