For the better part of fifteen years, Daniel Craig really only gave interviews to promote James Bond. He was a good Bond, although I thought Craig was poorly served by the writers and directors during his tenure as 007. But Bond took a lot out of him, and so Daniel Craig sort of became known as a permanent grump, always wishing he had one foot out the door of the franchise. Now that he’s three years past his last Bond film, he’s getting the best reviews of his life in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer. He’ll probably get an Oscar nomination for it. And so we’re getting a different version of Daniel Craig – more grown up, wiser, less of a grump. He recently chatted with the Times about sex scenes, 007 and more. Since it was a British paper, there was A LOT about Bond. Some highlights:
His advice to himself as a young man was “Don’t get bitter.” “And look. I can be jealous. To this day I think, ‘Oh, why has he got that part?’ But you have to own failure because you can’t control what other people think. You just have to hope and get on with it because, clearly, I could not have planned for my life. This just happened — and it is still happening? F***ing amazing!’”
‘Queer’ has a lot of messy sex: “Yes, because sex is messy…There are terrible sex scenes and I’ve probably been in a few. So it was important not to be coy.”
‘Queer’ has nothing to do with James Bond: “I couldn’t have done this while doing Bond.” Why not? “It would look reactionary, like I was showing my range. Early on with Bond I thought I had to do other work, but I didn’t. I was becoming a star, whatever that means, and people wanted me in their films. Incredible. Most actors are out of work for large chunks so you take your job offers — but they left me empty. Then, bottom line, I got paid. I was so exhausted at the end of a Bond it would take me six months to recover emotionally. I always had the attitude that life must come first and, when work came first for a while, it strung me out.”
He’s 56 years old with a 6-year-old daughter Grace: “I live a busy life and so does my wife. We have children. I think how work will impact my life. [Craig has a grown-up daughter from a previous relationship, while Weisz has a teenage son with the director Darren Aronofsky.]”
Whether Bond producers controlled his image: “No, but the last thing I’d want is to screw with the brand. That’s shooting yourself in the foot. Again, people would ask, ‘What conversation are you trying to raise?’ I don’t have the energy.”
Whether he cares about his replacement as 007: “But of course I care! I keep saying I don’t, because people ask me all the time and I’m an ornery, grumpy old man, so I say I don’t give a sh-t. But I care about it deeply — deeply. I care what the franchise does, because I love Barbara [Broccoli] and Michael [G Wilson, the producers]. But it’s not my decision or problem. I wish them luck.”
Art is important: “I know what people think of actors — ‘Oh, silly people.’ Yet I’m proud of what I do and it’s important that people do what I do.” In what way? “Because it is being eroded,” he says. He mentions Dahomey, this year’s documentary about art returned from France to Benin. “It makes you think what our culture means and, without it, we are nothing. Any government that takes funding away from our cultural life is stripping us, so if I play a very small part in creating some culture, then I’m incredibly proud. Look, I grew up with subsidised theatre. Some was brilliant, some was sh-t. But it flooded money into this country and enriched it. Also, my family didn’t have any money. My mother was a teacher. It was pitiful the wage she was on. I don’t look at my upbringing as harsh — just normal. But I went to drama school on a full ride. That doesn’t exist any more. Who can afford to go to drama school now?”
Male vulnerability: “Male vulnerability is really interesting because, as tough as men appear to be, they’re all vulnerable. We all hide – from our kids, spouses, colleagues. The armour of masculinity is there for a reason and what is that reason? I’m always exploring it.”
Whether he cares if he gets his first Oscar nomination: “Of course! Don’t be stupid, I’d be over the moon to get a nomination.” This is refreshing — few admit that awards matter. “Well, it’s scary. Awards go the way of the wind, but I cannot say, ‘I don’t give a sh-t!’ Still, years ago I learnt how arbitrary this is. It was soul-destroying, rejection after rejection. Because you think, ‘Can I act?’ But there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s a coin toss in many ways, so you have to let it go. And it’s all gravy for me now.”
The thing about drama school is interesting – I remember this was a larger conversation more than a decade ago, when British people started wondering where all of the working-class actors had gone and why every British actor under the age of 35 was a posh private-school graduate. Are there really no more drama school scholarships for working class actors?? As for all of the Bond talk… three years and the producers still haven’t found the new Bond. They won’t ask for Daniel’s blessing, but sure, he does care who takes over. Anyway, I hope he and Rachel Weisz are happy. Sexiest couple, ISTG.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
