The Daniel Craig era has only just ended, but fans are already looking back on his legacy as James Bond, as is the man himself. The actor’s five-film arc offered the greatest and deepest sense of continuity we’d ever seen from the long-running franchise, with the shadows of Casino Royale still looming over No Time to Die.
It was a refreshing approach to a character that had largely embarked on a series of standalone and unconnected adventures, with the leading man growing more comfortable in the role each time out. That’s not to say he wasn’t without his detractors, with campaigns and petitions being launched protesting Eon’s decision to award him one of cinema’s most coveted roles back in 2005.
In an appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden, Craig explained how he dealt with the criticism, before using it to inform and enhance his performance as 007.
“Lots of people were not happy about me playing Bond, when I first got the role. And I thought, ‘Well I have to approach it from what I know what to do with it. I’m just an actor, I just have to dig into him, and find out what he’s about’. He felt so complicated and, you know, had lots of problems.”
Craig dug deeper into what makes James Bond tick than any of his predecessors by far, delivering the most grounded and relatable iteration of the iconinc secret agent we’ve seen yet. The bar has been set very high for whoever comes next, but at least they’ll be starting with a completely clean slate.
