James Bond‘s Casino Royale director Martin Campbell has admitted he was reticent about casting actor Daniel Craig as the titular spy because of his rugged looks.
Campbell exclusively revealed to Express.co.uk that his reservations about casting the talented Craig revolved around his untraditional appearance compared to actors who had played the coveted role in the past. “My only reticence with Daniel… he was really a superb actor, there’s no doubt about that,” he explained. “It was the fact that with people like Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan was that they were all traditional looking Bonds. All handsome guys, all sexy, all very attractive to women, and so forth.”
“Daniel was obviously tougher and ruggeder, but he wasn’t a traditional handsome guy. So I just thought about that for a minute, and apart from that, absolutely it was always him,” Campbell added. Craig managed to beat a young Henry Cavill, who features a look more akin to that of the iconic predecessors in the role of James Bond, to star in Casino Royale.
Craig’s Bond films, which spanned over a decade, have been commercially successful for Eon productions and mostly well-received by critics. Campbell had previously helmed the Bond franchise’s Golden Eye, starring Pierce Brosnan, before he directed Casino Royale. The filmmaker went into detail about the casting process for 007.
“The way they work with Bond, and it’s pretty terrific is when they decide on the actor, and you audition – in our case, it was eight people – it’s very democratic. You sit around a table, eight or nine of you,” he said. “It was me and the producers, casting director, etc. And you go through the eight people, and you put your hand up as you talk through each person, and ultimately everybody has to be unanimous in their decision if you see what I mean.”
Christopher Nolan Was Reportedly In Talks to Direct the New Bond Movie Before the Strike
The Dark Knight trilogy and Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan was in talks to helm a new Bond movie before the SAG-AFTRA strike. According to a recent report, Nolan and Barbara Broccoli, the producer of the Bond franchise, had been talking during the Oppenheimer press tour and before the ongoing strike. Nolan’s insistence on acquiring complete creative control of the James Bond reboot has reportedly been a no-go for Broccoli, who is known to be hands-on in shepherding 007 from early production to the big screen.
All James Bond movies are available to stream on Prime Video.
Source: Express.co.uk
