How Steven Spielberg convinced Daniel Craig to play James Bond: “You bastard”
As the highest-grossing director in cinema history, the only one to boast a $10 billion filmography, and someone who made a career out of changing the face of the industry, it’s barely conceivable that anyone would turn down Steven Spielberg when he voiced his interest in making a movie.
However, not only did it happen, but it happened twice, and on the same franchise, no less. After Jaws became cinema’s biggest-ever hit and ushered in the blockbuster era, Spielberg reached out to Cubby Broccoli to put himself forward to helm a James Bond flick, only to be told no.
Undeterred, he tried again after Close Encounters of the Third Kind made a killing and earned him his first Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Director’, only to be rejected for a second time. In fairness, it all worked out in the end when Spielberg used his adoration of 007 to inspire Raiders of the Lost Ark, giving him a globetrotting adventure saga of his own.
Along similar lines, given how well-received his five-film tenure as the character became, it’s scarcely believable that Daniel Craig was subjected to widespread backlash when he was first announced as Bond. He deliberated over the decision for a while, though, unsure of whether or not he wanted to dedicate so much of his life and career to a role that’s constantly under intense scrutiny.
During that time, Spielberg and Craig worked together on Munich, and if the latter thought he’d be able to escape the buzz surrounding his potential hiring, he was dead wrong. As co-star Eric Bana explained to GQ, “Steven and I were getting in his ear, like, ‘Dude, you have to play James Bond.'”
The pair were shooting a scene “right at the point where Daniel had to make a decision about whether he was going to play Bond or not,” and Spielberg seized the perfect opportunity to twist the actor’s arm and convince him that it was in his best interests to sign on the dotted line.
“Steven got a Bluetooth speaker out, and on ‘Action!’, he played the Bond theme during the take,” Bana revealed. “We climbed the fence to the James Bond theme, came through the bushes, and we were running down the road while the music was playing. Then he yelled, ‘Cut!’ and Daniel was like, ‘You bastard! What are you doing?’ It was so much. It was a good challenge trying to keep a straight face.”
With that in mind, maybe it’s not a coincidence that principal photography on Munich wrapped in October 2005, the very same month Craig was unveiled as the new 007 at a splashy press conference. He was sitting on the fence, but Spielberg might have been the one who pushed him over it.
