The movies Daniel Craig wanted his James Bond to emulate
After 15 years, five films, several destroyed cars, hundreds of martinis, and one homoerotic scene for the ages, Daniel Craig bowed out as James Bond in dramatic fashion in 2021’s No Time to Die. That’s putting it lightly – he was blown to smithereens. That’s the most definitive ending a Bond has ever gotten.
Craig brought a sense of humanity to the character, a vulnerability and fragility that the previously unbreakable superspy had never displayed before. This newfound darkness provoked many questions when he first took on the role, including one which inspired the actor to reveal his desired direction for the character.
When speaking with David Sheff, the Knives Out star cited thrillers from the 1960s and ’70s as inspirations behind his Bond. “British spy movies like those with Michael Caine and the early Bonds like From Russia With Love,” he said. “They have a huge amount of style but are tense and taut and deal with emotion.” From Russia With Love, the second-ever Bond film, saw Sean Connery protecting a Soviet defector from the evil Spectre. As for the Caine movies, he could be referring to films like The Ipcress File and its sequels, which were seen as a gritty alternative to Bond during the ’60s.
Craig also spoke about wanting to bring complex emotions to the part, saying that he would have gone “insane” without them. This is in stark contrast to 007’s previous appearances, where he displayed the emotional intelligence of a flat-pack table. Craig most certainly succeeded in making Bond more relatable, especially in the highly personal and intimate Skyfall, which explored the troubled agent’s childhood and even took him back to his childhood home.
Another facet of Craig’s Bond that made him relatable was his shunning of the wacky gizmos that had previously been a staple of the franchise. Not many people know someone whose car has an ejector seat. If you do, then consider yourself lucky. The actor spoke about this aspect of his character, presenting a different hypothesis. “I’ve got nothing against gadgets, but these days we’re surrounded by them,” he said. “People aren’t that impressed with it anymore. It’s normal. Whereas with the earlier films, people were stunned to see the fantasy gadgets.”
As well as speaking about the films he wanted to emulate as Bond, Craig also mentioned the one character he didn’t want to replicate. “I had an Austin Powers alarm,” he admitted, in reference to when he was working on Casino Royale. “On set, I’d say, ‘That’s Austin Powers. We can’t do it’.” When asked what triggered his fear of Mike Myers, Craig cited the chase scene at the beginning of the film, which he wanted to make look as real as possible and not like a spoof. Hopefully, this means that there’s an early draft out there where Bond got a car wedged in between two walls and kept driving and reversing into them.
At the time of writing, the hunt for Craig’s successor is still ongoing. Names like Idris Elba, Josh O’Connor, Tom Hardy, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson continue to fly around, but for now, the world waits on tenterhooks to see who will join MI6 next. The series might be looking for a new Quartermaster, too, as Ben Whishaw recently revealed that he “doesn’t think” he’ll return as Q in any future instalments.
