Hollywood’s three greatest-ever movie stars, according to Daniel Craig
When Daniel Craig was announced as the next James Bond all the way back in 2005, people were sceptical, questioning everything from his height to his age to the colour of his hair.
However, it didn’t take long for all the critics to eat a huge slice of humble pie. Over the next 16 years, Craig proved time and time again that he was exactly the right man to lead 007 into the 21st century. It wasn’t all perfect, looking at you, Quantum of Solace, but when it was good, it was great.
There is always a question asked whenever somebody stops being Bond: What are they going to do next? It’s safe to say that nobody expected Craig to take the direction he took. From leading the Knives Out series as Benoit Blanc to his outstanding performance in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer (a movie he’s said he never would have made if he were still Bond), there’s a serious case to be made that he’s had the best post-Bond career of all time. The most notable part is that he’s showing no signs of slowing down, so who knows what the future holds.
When somebody has had a career as varied and bold as Craig’s, people are naturally going to wonder about his influences. In an interview with Time Out, the blue-eyed star was asked about the performers he looked up to when he was first starting out. In his own words, it took a lot to capture his attention on a permanent basis.
“I was as fickle as I could possibly be,” he said, “It depended on the movie I’d just seen. Literally. If I came running out of a movie, I was that person for at least ten or 15 minutes; I was as fickle as that. I didn’t care as long as they were cool and good in that movie. I admire people like Paul Newman, the great modern movie actors such as Robert Redford and Steve McQueen. Those guys were not only great actors but movie stars as well.”
This interview was given in 2008, right at the start of Craig’s tenure as the world’s most beloved psychopath, so it’s interesting that he chose to highlight three men who very much fit the mould of James Bond’s favourite actors.
Newman, Redford, and McQueen were all handsome, rugged, and effortlessly cool, who would have given any superspy a run for their money in the aura department, so it’s interesting that Craig shouted them out. I’m not saying he was lying or anything, but I wonder how the public perception of Bond shaped what he did and didn’t say at the time.
McQueen passed away long before Craig ever made it to Hollywood. Despite his long career, Redford never crossed paths with the Briton either, and that just leaves Newman. Craig shared a set with the legendary actor and philanthropist in 2002’s Road to Perdition. The two men were at opposite ends of their careers: Craig was just starting out, while this would prove to be Newman’s final screen role prior to his death in 2008. The younger performer says he learned a lot from working alongside the legend.
Personally, I’d love to know what Craig’s answers to this question would be now. Have almost 20 years of accepting and challenging norms changed his perception of what makes a great actor? Only one way to find out.
