PIERCE BROSNAN - "JAMES BOND SAVED MY LIFE!"
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NEW YORK - "Bond saved my life!" So said Pierce
Brosnan several years ago when he reflected on how
winning the role of Agent 007 saved him from financial
ruin and helped stabilise his life with his children
following the death of his wife Cassandra in 1992.
Perhaps that explains his lack of bitterness after the
Bond producers fired him with a curt, two-minute phone
call last year prior to announcing that Daniel Craig
was the new Bond. But the Irish heartthrob believes he
has moved on to a better place as an actor and found a
brilliant new lease on life.
"I'm feeling very free creatively," muses Brosnan.
"I've been searching for as a way to make my mark so
that people won't be wondering why I'm not playing
Bond instead! I'm anxious to reestablish my
credentials as an actor and there's a definite sense
of liberation when you're able to reinvent yourself.
It allows me to tell the Bond producers, "F--- You!,"
with the greatest of pleasure...So what can I say -
I'm having the time of my life!"
Having earned rave reviews and a Golden Glober
nomination earlier this year for his work as a twisted
assassin in THE MATADOR, the 52-year-old Brosnan is no
longer shaken and feeling creatively stirred by the
end of his Bond-age. Sitting down with Pierce Brosnan
in New York recently, Brosnan was all smiles and
anxious to expand upon his shifting career fortunes
and the good life in general. In the interview that
follows, Brosnan reflects on his time as Bond and how
his life was affected by playing the film icon.
Brosnan spends most of the year at his Malibu home
with his wife, Keely, and two young sons, Dylan and
Paris. They also have a home in Hawaii which they
often visit. Brosnan enjoys painting in his spare
time and feels that he's just beginning to escape from
years of psychological self-entrapment and serious
feelings of inadequacy.
In a life marked by enormous joy and heart-breaking
sorrow, his devotion to his children and his new wife
are in strong contrast to his own unhappy childhood.
Born in County Meath, Ireland, to carpenter Tom
Brosnan and his wife, May, Pierce's life was cast into
turmoil when his father walked out on the family and
his mother placed the then-3-year-old Pierce into the
care of his grandparents when she left to train as a
nurse in London. The solitary little boy then saw his
grandparents die one after the other only to be raised
by an aunt and an uncle, and finally a family friend.
At the age of 11, Pierce was put on a plane, clutching
a rosary in one hand and an aspirin bottle filed with
holy water in the other, to rejoin his now remarried
mother in London. The date of his arrival in London
was 12 August 1964, the very day that Bond creator Ian
Fleming died!
As the following interview reveasl, when Brosnan
finally got to play Bond, it came as something of a
Godsend for the actor. Brosnan was actually first
offered the Bond role in 1986, when he was the star of
the Remington Steele TV series. But tghe American NBC
television network, after initially having told him
that they were cancelling the series, decided to bring
it back for another year and refused to let Brosnan
break his contract. The Bond producers then signed
Timothy Dalton and four months later NBC wound up
cancelling the series anyway!
Brosnan's misfortune continued when his wife Cassie
was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1988 and would
eventually die in 1992. Brosnan was devastated by the
loss, and with his film career in ruins, was about to
take a lead role in a TV series when the Broccoli
family, having jettisoned the dour Timothy Dalton
after only two outings as 007, came back to Pierce and
handed him the role that was destined to be his. At
that point, the Bond franchise appeared moribund, but
Brosnan's suave yet determined take on the iconic role
wound up restoring Bond to glory and earning $1.5.
billion at the world-wide box-office.
PIERCE BROSNAN AS JAMES BOND (1995 - 2002)
GOLDENEYE [1995]
TOMORROW NEVER DIES [1997]
THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH [1999]
DIE ANOTHER DAY [2002]
THE INTERVIEW
Q: Pierce, how does it feel to no longer be Bond?
BROSNAN: It's very liberating. I've reached a point
now where I'm determined to find some interesting
roles and challenge myself. Like Julian in THE
MATADOR, who is a great character. I've never had a
better time as an actor than I had playing him. There
is also some sense of vindication in knowing that I've
given this character everything I've got and most
people seem pleased with the film. It's a good first
step away from Bond. And I have many more good roles
in my future. I'm convinced of that.
Q: Can you describe how becoming Bond turned your life
around completely?
BROSNAN: I owe a huge debt to Bond. The fact is, James
Bond saved my life. No one can possibly imagne the
shock of losing someone you've been living with for 17
years. It was truly staggering and I was very afraid
of what would happen. I remember looking around my
house thinking, "How the hell am I going to be able to
keep going? I wasn't playing leads in films anymore
and so the money I was making wasn't enough to keep my
Malibu estate going and look after my children
properly. I thought, "I'll have to sell. I'll just
have to go back to doing a weekly TV series and forget
about ever becoming a movie star.
Q: Were you feeling hopeless at that point?
BROSNAN: I never gave up hope, but I think not being
able to continue working in films at the point in my
life would have been a huge blow to me. Working in TV
would have meant not being able to spend very much
time with the children, and I had vowed to Cassie to
take good care of them.
So Bond came in the nick of time and my whole life
suddenly turned around, and that's when I knew I'd
really made it. It was almost like it was fated that
I would get a second chance at Bond and when it did it
came at the best possible time.
Q: In 1986, your were famously prevented by an
American TV network (NBC) from taking the Bond role
while you were under contract to do Remington Steele,
only to see the series cancelled a few months later.
What was it like waiting until 1994 to finally land
the part that should have been yours before?
BROSNAN: I was grateful the way the role finally came
back to me, but of course, I wouldn't have wished what
happened to me (not being able to get out of his TV
contract) on anyone.
In any event, I still believe that I wouldn't have
made such a good Bond in the eighties. Bond is a man
who is in his 40s, a man with a past. He's seasoned, a
man who has loved and lost. And he's somewhat of a
solitary figure. Bond needs a bit of toughness, a few
edges, and I didn't have those life scars that perhaps
I needed.
An actor is not just an empty vessel - you need to
experience life to be able to bring greater bearing
and depth to your work I wasn't ready for it. As
painful as it was then, I wasn't ready. I felt secure
this time--if you can ever feel secure with a role
like Bond. I didn't expect to end up a widower at 38,
and I didn't expect Bond to come around in my
life-time at all. And in some ways not being Bond any
longer is alright because I certainly didn't want
people to watch me getting old and see my waist
getting bigger and my hair thinning.
Q: Cassie was furious that your contract with TV
series Remington Steele prevented you from starring in
007 back in 1986, wasn't she?
BROSNAN: Yes, she was very disappointed. She took it
harder than I did, because you want the best for your
partner in life. But it just didn't happen. Timothy
Dalton was signed the next day.
And I became the guy who coulda been, shoulda been,
might have been Bond. So for eight years, from 86 to
94, before I was given the Bond role in GoldenEye,
wherever I went, people would say, 'You would have
made a great James Bond! Weren't you going to be James
Bond?' Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It was like unfinished
business in my life. I felt a kind of ugly numbness
when it all fell apart, and it was a very painful
experience.
Q: Following her death, you buried your despair in
your work, making lmovies like The Lawnmower Man, Live
Wire, Night Watch, Love Affair, Don't Talk to
Strangers, The Broken Chain, Death Train and
Entangled. What pulled you out of that slump?
BROSNAN: I would have to say it was Robin Williams
with whom I starred in the 1993 comedy Mrs. Doubtfire.
He and Sally Field rekindled my zest for acting. Then
Bond reappeared, and this time it was meant to be, and
GoldenEye proved a huge success.
Q: You have your own private history as a James Bond
fan, don't you?
BROSNAN: Bond has been a carefully woven thread
through the tapestry of my life. When I was 11 years
old, I went to see Goldfinger in London after my
parents had moved there and to this day I can still
recall how I felt when I saw the dead naked lady
painted in gold and Oddjob, the man who decapitated
people by sending his steel hat flying through the
air.
And then of course there was Sean Connery, whose
performance is indelible in the history of the cinema.
He created a mystique about James Bond and every boy
grew up with this image of this sophisticated,
charming, and dangerous man who always got the most
beautiful women in bed. It’s the ultimate male
phantasy of who we imagine ourselves to be.
Q: How would you define your legacy as Bond?
BROSNAN: Over the years I’ve created my own style and
left my mark on Bond. I've tried to give more depth
to his character and not simply focus on the macho
exterior. I wanted Bond to be a broader, more complex
personality that adds a few layers to what people
already might think of him.
That doesn’t mean I tried to soften him up and have
him weeping whenever he kills someone - that would be
absurd. But there are some moments in my Bond films
where I'm in pain, angry, and morose. I've wanted
the audience to be able to penetrate that icy and
suave outer self and see something of the darker
interior of the man.
Q: Did you enjoy being James Bond?
BROSNAN: Yes. He was a childhood phantasy of mine
and once you wear the crown of Bond it's not something
you take on lightly. Bond is a larger-than-life
creation, he's a cultural icon, and you treat that
with respect. There are hundreds of millions of Bond
lovers around the world and I do take the role very
seriously because having loved Bond myself, I wanted
to make sure that I never cheated the public and
betrayed what's vital about Bond.
Q: Do you think that Sean Connery's portrayal of Bond
set an impossibly high standard for every other actor
who's since taken up the role?
BROSNAN: There's some truth to that, of course. Sean
Connery is an icon himself, and I never dreamed of
approaching Bond in the same way that Connery did
because you can't compete with a legend.
Not against Connery, and not against Connery's Bond.
I thought very hard about who Bond is, and how I would
give him an identity all my own that would be faithful
to the Ian Fleming vision and satisfying to audiences
who wanted a new kind of Bond.
Q: Why do you think the Bond films have been so
successful?
BROSNAN: Charisma. I always had the image of Bond as
this extraordinarily self-assured and daring man.
It’s a powerful fantasy and that’s probably why the
series has been so successful. Sean Connery gave Bond
his manhood, and it's been up to all the other Bonds
to somehow follow his lead.
Bond is still a valid reference to male identity...Men
are the hunter-gatherers of the world and women are
far better-suited to raising children because of the
way nature has worked out its plan. Nothing can
change that.
Q: When you were starting out as an actor, did you
ever imagine yourself in the shoes of James Bond?
BROSNAN: Many times! As I've explained, my love affair
with Bond began when I was quite young, and was later
reinforced when Cassie (Brosnan's late wife, Cassandra
Harris - ED) became the Bond girl (in 1981's FOR YOUR
EYES ONLY - ED), playing Countess Lisl opposite Roger
Moore.
But during my early years as an actor, Bond was never
a serious desire, since I had my sights set on other
aspects of the work. But when Cassie was in FOR YOUR
EYES ONLY it became a joke. I would do my own
impersonations of James Bond. Just for fun. Just
driving her home from work, or going out, or talking
about her experience on it.
Q: Does this mean you will forever associate 007 with
your late wife?
BROSNAN: I guess so. I don't know where we go after
death, but Cassie's spirit's with me through all of
this. It makes you want to get it right. For her
memory, and for the kids too.
Q: Did you feel sexually frustrated as Bond?
BROSNAN: (Laughs) I just hope Daniel Craig at least
gets to see an exposed nipple or two. They need to
ramp up the sex and give the poor devil his manhood
back.
I thought we were on the right track with Lee Tamahori
and the last Bond, but unfortunately the producers
weren't willing to go to the next level, at least not
with me.
Q: Is it true that you were told you were fired as
Bond in a brief phone call?
BROSNAN: Yes. It was a rather brief and brutal
conversation. I certainly didn't get the sense that
the producers were sad at parting ways with me.
The truth is that they don't know what they want to do
anymore and that's why they keep reworking the script
and postponing the start date of the next Bond.
That's also why they never did a Bond spin-off with
Halle Berry and her character when they had a chance.
But as soon as I got off the phone there was a huge
sense of relief. It meant that I was moving on with
my career and my life and I was like every other actor
searching for good roles.
Q: Did you have a love-hate thing going with Bond?
BROSNAN: I loved the mythology behind Bond and the
expectation and aura of the character, but I was never
completely comfortable in the tuxedo. There was so
much more we could have done with the character and
the Bond films but the producers were locked into a
formula and were always afraid to break away from the
gadgets and explosions.
I was pushing to reinvent Bond as a more modern and
compelling character and give him many different
layers. For me, Sean Connery's Bond was always the
defining portrait, and in films like FROM RUSSIA WITH
LOVE there was none of this obsession with special
effects. I wanted to take Bond back to that more
basic setting where his character came through much
more, but the producers wanted none of that.
(Ironically, in CASINO ROYALE, the Bond producers are
in fact reducing the reliance on gadgets and making
Bond a more hands-on agent again!)
Q: How does your wife Keely feel about your not doing
the Bond films anymore?
BROSNAN: She tells me that she's much happier to see
me doing something which challenges me and she knows
that I felt very encumbered and limited by the Bond
role.
Q: Before you started playing Bond, what was your
image of the character?
BROSNAN: It was Sean Connery! I've always been a huge
fan of Sean Connery's - and I still love watching his
Bond films. One of the most thrilling moments for me
was when I first met him. It was years ago, in
Tangiers I think, and he was the ultimate Bond for me.
He just exuded that whole image so effortlessly and
was very impressive in the role and just as impressive
in person.
Q: Do you think that making a break with Bond while
you can still play other leading man roles might
actually be a blessing in disguise?
BROSNAN: A blessing would be nice, but first I have
to start believing in myself more. I've always had
this horrible tendency to doubt myself in the most
massive sense. Maybe it's a function of the old black
Irish melancholy, but I'm often a victim of my own
preposterous dark moods.
There's this self-pitying side to my personality that
has always gotten in the way of my being able to enjoy
whatever success I've had.
Q: It's strange to hear you say that since you're one
of the most popular actors in the world whose films
have earned nearly two billions dollars at the
box-office....
BROSNAN: Of course, but up until very recentlly I've
never been able to get rid of the nagging doubts
inside my head. I've spent a very long time indulging
in self-loathing and it's been a painful process to
overcome those feelings to the point where I'm even
able to discuss those things.
Q: Do you associate these negative feelings with your
difficult childhood?
BROSNAN: It's hard to know exactly why, because you
hate to blame your childhood for everything and whine
about not feeling loved, but it probably begins with
that. It plants the seed of doubt in your head and
you spend the rest of your life wondering whether
you're good enough, smart enough, and capable enough
to deal with what life throws at you.
It was one of those situations where you grow up
without a father, and for a certain period, without
even a mother, and it's hard, it's bloody hard. I knew
I didn't have a father and I certainly missed having a
father. I was very aware of it. And I knew I had to
make the best of the situation. I suppose it made me
a bit of a loner because you have to take care of
yourself. You have to be your own parent. You have
to act as if you have everything sewn up, that you're
cool, but you're not really, you're just acting....
Q: When you first moved to England, didn't kids beat
you up because you were Irish?
BROSNAN: They certainly tried to and at the beginning
they almost got away with it. But then you fight
back. Of course, I am not big into violence. I find
it so unnecessary in the real world so instead of
fighting I went to making people laugh, talking my way
out of situations. And I tried to fit in. I tried
losing my accentl, developing another skin - because I
was ashamed of the way I sounded. And I wanted to
belong and that comes with a certain pain and anger
and frustration. And then when I found acting that
was the greatest relief because it meant that I could
be anything. When I found a compnay of actors and the
life of acting it was the first time in my life that I
felt I had a family. I was no longer alone.
Q: Given your unhappy childhood, is this one factor
why you enjoy your own family life so much?
BROSNAN: It's certainly true that I have given my
children as much love as possible to make up for my
own lack of nurturing, the sense of belonging I don't
have. Being a father is the best thing I have done in
my life.
Q: What are some of your best memories of London?
BROSNAN: Probably the period when I was starting out
as an actor and doing theatre. I felt my life was in
front of me and everything felt exciting and
promising. When I was doing theatre in London, I hung
out with a group in Bradford where there is a large
Indian community, and we would eat in these little
restaurants that served amazing curries. Chicken Tikka
was also one of my favourites. I always wanted to
learn how to cook Indian food myself but Keely is such
a great cook I've never bothered.
Q: When you first came over to Los Angeles and began
working in Hollywood, did you ever go through a wild
period?
BROSNAN: (Laughs) I suppose there were a few
temptations but I've never been an excessive person.
I've had the good luck to have two incredible women in
my life and that was always immensely more satisfying
to make a good home and have a great woman to come to
rather than to do the typical actor predator thing. I
was never interested in that. It leaves you feeling
empty.
Q: Do you find it sad that so many Hollywood couples
can't seem to keep their relationships or marriages
going?
BROSNAN: I think it's sad all over that people find
it difficult to find their life partner or can't get
along with the one they've presumably fallen in love
with and want to build a life together. I've been
incredibly lucky in some ways in my life in finding
two magnificent loves. Of course, I spent many years
in between my two marriages wandering around and
occasionally feeling a bit sorry for myself that I
wasn't going to find that kind of happiness again.
Then, out of the blue, I saw Keely standing poolside
and that was it. Love at first sight. Amazing!
Q: How is it raising your children Dylan and Paris? Is
it fun watching them get older now?
BROSNAN: It's marvelous. Once you get past the diaper
stage and the sleepless nights phase, everything is
much easier. There's so much joy in watching your
kids tear around the house in some kind of mad frenzy
you have no idea! (Laughs)
I've also learnt a lot from being a father in the past
when I was workiing on my first set of children, so
now I know the mistakes to avoid, when to be tough,
and when not to indulge them. Not that I'm a parental
genius, but it just feels a lot easier now.
Q: You didn't have a very easy childhood or a stable
home life. Was that why you have always been so
devoted to your children?
BROSNAN: Yes. I remember intense loneliness in my own
childhood and I missed having a father. So you grow
up with those wounds in your soul and it never leaves
you. There's always that rip in your soul and you
make it a point to give your own children everything
you have. Everything.
I'm happy with the knowledge that I've been the best
father I could be, even when I had to work a lot and
not be around for several months at a time. I would
always make a point to stay in touch and then spend
months at the house.
So if anyone asked me what I'm most proud of in my
life, I would never talk about my career, I would
always talk about my family. You can't call yourself
a good man if you can't look after your wife and
children and give them a happy life.
_____________________
DANIEL CRAIG - "I'M NOT LETTING BOND CONSUME ME!"
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NEW YORK - Daniel Craig is trying hard to stay cool
amid the approaching frenzy that is about to greet the
release of CASINO ROYALE, the new Bond film. After a
year of suffering the sectarian sniping of 007
worshippers around the world who have united behind
some vague form of Bondian fundamentalism, Craig has
maintained his faith in his own vision of "classic"
Bond, a return to a rather more cruel and cold-blooded
version of the Ian Fleming icon.
"I knew going into this that I would be taking a lot
of flak," observes Craig. "Bond is part of the
mythology of modern culture and suddenly you have to
prove that you're worthy, that you're not going to
damage the brand. But that's the challenge, that's
why in the end I wanted the role. If you're going to
take on Bond you've got to be able to enjoy the ride
and not let it consume you. You've got to get on with
it and think a bit like Bond. You've got to be a bit
ruthless in how you go about it and not be distracted
by the process. Ultimately, I would love to be seen as
someone who brought something special to the legacy
that began with Sean Connery."
Judging by his equanimity in the face of heavy
expectation, Craig is not about to let himself get
overly shaken or stirred by the high stakes involved
in sustaining and retrofitting the Bond franchise. In
fact, he relishes the huge wager that's been placed on
him. The last Bond film - 2002's DIE ANOTHER DAY -
grossed well over a half billion dollars in its
combined theatrical release and DVD sales. That's the
kind of gamble Barbara Broccoli (who carries on in the
footsteps of her late father, Albert) took when she
jettisoned Pierce Brosnan (who had rescued Bond after
Timothy Dalton nearly destroyed the marque) in favour
of the blonde, blue-eyed Craig (and, not incidentally,
saved somewhere in the neighbourhood of $30 million in
salary!).
The 38-year-old Craig comes to Bond fresh off
critically-acclaimed turns in the SYLVIA (as the
reprehensible Ted Hughes opposite Gwyneth Paltrow's
neurotic Plath), LAYER CAKE (where he played a doomed
drug dealer) and MUNICH (the most convincing and
bloody-minded member of an Israeli hit squad). No one
doubts his acting credentials, and there's also the
advantage that comes from Craig's Lothario-like
reputation after having enjoyed highly publicised
liaisons with Kate Moss and Sienna Miller, the latter
relationship having famously destroyed his friendship
with Miller's ex, Jude Law. It's the type of
predatory public persona that is ideally suited to
Bond who is, after all, the ultimate male sex symbol.
And Craig is expected to fill not only 007's shoes,
but his trousers as well.
"He's everything Bond should be," said Barbara
Broccoli in a recent interview. "He's sexy and
charming and virile, but can also be dangerous...Women
are drawn to Daniel."
Another notable Craig supporter is Nicole Kidman, who
shot THE VISITING with him last Autumn just after the
news broke that Craig was now Bond. "I think Daniel
will just smoke in it," she says. "He is such an
accomplished actor. Stephen Daldry (who directed
Kidman in The Hours and Craig on the London stage)
once told me, 'Daniel is the best actor in England,
and if you get a chance to work with him, do it.' "
Craig's sense of self was formed in Chester, where he
grew up in the pub owned by his father Tim, a former
merchant marine, and his mother, Carol, an art
instructor. Legend has it that young Daniel first
displayed his skills as a future entertainer by making
faces and otherwise taunting the regular clientele at
the family business. Someone once asked him what he
was going to do when he grew up and without breaking
stride, Daniel, according to his father, declared, "Be
an actor!"
Following his parents' divorce when was only 4, he
moved with his mother to Liverpool where he made his
stage debut at the age of 6 in a primary school
production of "Oliver!"
As a teenager, Craig displayed scant interest in
academics, dropping out of high school at 16 to move
to London where he could focus on his acting career.
“I was always going to move to London,” he recalled.
“I always wanted to be an actor. I had the arrogance
to believe I couldn’t be anything else.”
He wound up at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
in London alongside aspiring actors like Ewan McGregor
and Joseph Fiennes.As a struggling actor he waited on
tables and became one of the rootless types he ended
up playing. The need to survive made him unscrupulous,
he confessed: “You have to live off people’s floors
and rent property and you end up doing runners (taking
off without paying back rent - ED).”
He worked regularly on British TV in his twenties, and
achieved fame at age 30 when he played a strip club
boss in a highly popular mini-series, "Our Friends in
the North." That led to various British film roles and
eventually he caught the attention of Hollywood
casting directors.
But beyond his film work, Craig has also caught the
public imagination for his rollercoaster love life.
Craig has a 13-year-old daughter from his 1992
marriage to the actress Fiona Loudon in 1992 when they
were both 24. It lasted nearly four years.
More recently, he had a seven-year relationship with
the German-born actress Heike Makatsch, who played
Alan Rickman’s secretary in the film "Love Actually."
She was said to be “devastated” to discover last year
that he was seeing the model Kate Moss, who recently
spent a month in a rehab clinic for cocaine addiction.
His affair with Moss made him a favourite target of
the tabloids, as did his brief summer fling with
Sienna Miller, leading to the end of his friendship
with Jude Law, who was engaged to Miller prior to her
affair with Craig. (Law and Miller would go on to
reconcile and separate again- ED).
Now that Craig has been anointed the new Bond, the
British and world press at large will certainly be
giving the Lothario-like Craig plenty of attention in
coming years.
DANIEL CRAIG AS JAMES BOND (2006 - ?)
CASINO ROYALE [2006]
THE INTERVIEW
Q: So what's it feel like taking up the tuxedo and
playing 007?
CRAIG: It's a great honour, a tremendous
responsibility, but it's also a huge adventure. James
Bond is so tricky, he's such an iconic figure, and I
want to get as much out of this role as I can. This
kind of role doesn't come along very often, but I'm
trying not to be intimidated by it. I want to treat it
as a serious acting job and go from there. We had an
incredible script, and the public can judge whether we
made a great film or not. But as soon as read the
(Paul) Haggis scrfipt, I knew that I wanted to be
Bond. It's a huge challenge, and I think life is about
challenges.
It's actually quite odd that all this has happened to
me. I never really wanted to do James Bond. I want to
make big movies and have an interesting career. The
trouble is this, and someone said this to me; it kind
of goes: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore,
Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Danny Craig? It sounds
odd to me. I really don't want to get the rap for
destroying that franchise. But I think I can pull it
off.
Q: Were you at all worried before taking the role
about the dangers of getting too heavily identified
with the Bond role, something which always haunted the
first Bond, Sean Connery, for example?
CRAIG: Of course it's a concern, but I think I've
already established myself in serious character parts
and so I think I can still do other work alongside
Bond. And I also think that I can make Bond a more
complex character. It's more interesting to add layers
to a character like that and I always want to find the
twist in people.
I didn't take this job for the money. I though it was
a brilliant opportunity that I wanted to pursue. But
I'll continue to do smaller-budget European movies if
I'm offered those kinds of roles.
Sure with Hollywood movies there's the opportunity to
earn more money and fame, but I've never pursued that.
I just look at what the screenplay offers and what I
think I can do with the role. That's what drives me.
It's never been my goal in life to be filthy rich.
Q: Your selection as Bond as caught a lot of observers
off guard. Did you ever dare to dream that you would
get the role?
CRAIG: The producers had spoken to me a few times
this summer but I never thought I had the inside
track. Then they came back to me with the offer and I
just jumped at it. I used to play Bond in the
playground when I was a kid. I would be lying if I
said it wasn't an appealing prospect to step into
Bond's shoes. I think I can do a very good job with
the role, although I don't want to be too confident. I
don't want to turn out to be another George Lazenby
and kill the franchise! (Laughs)
Q: What makes Bond such an icon?
CRAIG: It's his spirit, his independence...There was
an identity crisis in England after World War II, with
the country figuring itself out, seeing the perceived
power we once had dwindling away. And along comes this
character who's very British and very charming but at
the same time sort of says 'F -- - you' to the whole
world. I think the essence of the character is
somewhere in there. I think that's what set this whole
thing in motion all those years ago, and that keeps it
going.
Q: Did you enjoy practicing the fabled line, My name
is Bond, James Bond?
CRAIG: When I first got the part, people kept asking
'Have you done the line yet? But, honestly, I didn't
rehearse it at all. I didn't practice it in the mirror
every morning or anything like that. I didn't want to
even think about saying it because I didn't want it to
be this weight around my neck. I just wanted to get on
with it and not blow it
Q: Have you always been a big fan of the Bond films?
Who was the best Bond and which are your favourite
Bond movies?
CRAIG: I'm a massive fan of the Bond films and I've
seen them all, time and again. Overall I feel that
Sean Connery defined the role and he's my favourite
Bond. I particularly like From Russia with Love
because it’s with Robert Shaw. He plays the bad guy in
it, and he’s blond, and the film is very visceral,
very real. But when I went to the cinema for the first
time it was Roger Moore’s To Live and Let Die, which
was a fantastic movie.
If I had to choose the best Bond film of all time, I'd
have to say that it's Goldinger. You have this classic
clash between good and evil, between Bond and
Goldfinger, and of course a great character in Oddjob.
Q: Who do you think is the best Bond girl ever?
CRAIG: My top Bond girl so far was Diana Rigg in 'On
Her Majesty’s Secret Service.'
Q: Is there as much a risk in playing Bond as there
is in the Bond producers hiring you to play him?
CRAIG: The risk cuts both ways, I'll agree with that.
Some of my friends were disturbed by me taking the
role, telling me I'd never be able to do anything
else. What if I wanted to go off and do Gay Bikers on
Acid — how would Sony (the studio behind Bond - ED)
feel about that?...So there are going to be
limitations and opportunites.
Yes, it may take away some of my ambition as an actor,
and directors may think twice about employing me. But
it also gives me benefit. When a director may want to
do a smaller film that has trouble getting financing,
I might be able to make up that deficit on the
strength of my being Bond.
Q: Do you feel a lot of pressure?
CRAIG: I'm not living or dying with the whole (Bond)
thing. I know who I am, and what my life is about, and
I'm going to be a happy man regardless. I like to
enjoy myself, live quietly, and have a good time.
I've never been one of those suffering, artistic
types.
I'm also not going to let all the attention that comes
with being Bond from letting me live the way I always
have, going to the same pubs, and spending time with
my friends. I just hope that the media won't disturb
the people close to me. I can deal with it, but I
don't want it be a burden to the people I care about.
Q: How did you get involved in acting?
CRAIG: It was something I loved doing from the very
beginning, from childhood. I was always going to move
to London. I always wanted to be an actor. I had the
arrogance to believe I couldn’t be anything else.
I lover dressing up and showing off! We lived in
Liverpool and my mother had friends in the theater
scene there and my sister and I spent a lot of time at
the theater. I got the bug and it was as simple as
that. I’d see the plays or I would be in the lighting
box backstage and I knew that was what I wanted to do.
I've always loved acting, and I come from an artistic
family in some respects. It's a great outlet...Acting
has always been an adrenalin rush for me and it makes
you hungry for other kinds of challenges.
Q: Bond has a fairly adventurous sense of life. Do
you share that?
CRAIG: Yes. You need to throw yourself at life and
take risks. I would advise anybody that whatever they
do, just go at one point during the year and take a
ride on a rollercoaster or do something that’s just a
bit out there and get a rush of blood because it wakes
you up.
It also makes you realise that you are mortal and that
life must be enjoyed. There are crazy people who jump
out of planes 20 times a day, and it’s because they’re
looking for a drug. And adrenalin is a drug, but you
have to be careful with it. But you simply must go and
enjoy life
Q: You've always tended towards complex roles. Is
that your nature?
CRAIG: I don't think I'm personally that hard to
figure out, but I like to play characters that are
tormented or twisted in some way. I want to feel the
kind of edge that those kinds of people have. I hate
playing safe, complacent characters. I love exploring
the subtle complexities in a role because ultimately
that's why we're attacted to people like that.
Q: What is it that you find particularly enticing
about Bond as an actor?
CRAIG: There's a certain cruel bravado to Bond that I
love. That part of the character was very powerful and
compelling and although a lot of people may still like
the fantasy element and the gadgets, we wanted to give
Bond back to that more basic level of brute force and
intensity. You've got to believe that this guy is
capable of killing in a way where the fantasy element
doesn't overwhelm things to the point where the
killing doesn't seem real or compelling. In all the
Bonds there is always this balance between the realism
and the fantasy aspect of it all. I saw "Casino
Royale" as a film which gets back to the harsher side
of Bond.
Q: How did you get prepared physically for the role?
CRAIG: I thought if we do this we have to do it
properly and I got a personal trainer who was with me
all the time when we will were filming in Baltimore.
Q: How long did you work with the trainer?
CRAIG: About fiver months. Three months before the
start of shooting. A lot of weights. I wanted to bulk
up quickly and so we did. I had a lot of high protein
diets and that sort of thing. By the time we got to
the Bahamas, we kind of peaked and that’s where you
see me walking out of the water and that sort of
thing. That was the peak of it, but we then kind of
balanced it out, because I had to do a lot of cardio
vascular.
Q: Why did you want to look that big?
CRAIG: I wanted to look like he could kill somebody.
I’m an actor, so I’m not worried about the
psychological aspect of appearing a bit menacing, but
I wanted to look physically big.
Q: A lot of controversy surrounded the fact that
Pierce Brosnan was ultimately fired from the role.
Have you met him since you became Bond?
CRAIG: I met Pierce about a year ago. He was very
nice, very happy for me. He said go for it. Make the
role my own and don't pay any attention to what other
people say. I also needed to talk to Pierce, because I
couldn’t look him in the eye if I hadn’t had a
conversation with him and he was incredibly gracious.
He’s a lovely, lovely man.
Q: Were you involved with casting of Eva as the Bond
girl?
CRAIG: Yes, we screened a lot and I was allowed to sit
in. I don’t know if they listened but I did talk about
Eva being cast. Eva just has and does have a mystery
about her and that was what was needed. She has
something going on and those are key elements in a
movie.
Q: Is this film still in a fantasy land or is it more
realistic?
Q: Is there still a fantasy element to Casino Royale
that is part of the whole Bond mythology?
CRAIG: Sure. It’s still a fantasy. If you create this
world – it has to be mythical. It has to be a made up
world. Our world has changed and we are in a
different situation. The bad guys in the movie are not
politically or religiously affiliated. They represent
themselves individually and a network of people who
are trying to destabilize the world’s economy so they
can take as much as they can.
We've created a fantasy world and Bond is this lone
character just trying to get to the truth, and the
truth being who is responsible for this. Even in the
first frame, the world needs saving and in the last
frame, the world is saved. It’s a root we know. If you
look at the earlier Bonds of this size, they have very
old epic stories – the truth is what needs to be
found. We’re giving the world hope.The world still
needs saving at the end of this movie – and that to me
is more the truth than killing the bad guy and that’s
it, it’s over.
Q: What does playing Bond mean to you?
CRAIG: I looked upon Bond as an acting challenge and
not as a Holy mission. It's all about convincing
audiences about the man himself. Bond is a raw
character, violent, and unforgiving in his own way.
He's a lone warrior. That's where the mystique lies,
that's what you have to create.
