Daniel Craig wordt de nieuwe James Bond

En we hebben dat uiteindelijk vandaag een officieel bericht gekregen van ‘the powers that be’, dat de volgende James Bond na veel speculatie uiteindelijk Daniel Craig zal worden (zie foto van Craig als Bond). Nog begin deze week was er een lek komende van Craig’s moeder, die waarschijnlijk niet kon zwijgen over de carrière sprong van haar zoon. Het is Yahoo die met het nieuws voor de dag komt:

Craig’s selection was revealed as he was whisked down the Thames River aboard a military boat to a news conference…”I’m speechless,” the star said, after posing for photos with producer Barbara Broccoli and director Martin Campbell.

The film’s producers tried to keep their decision secret, but Craig’s mother told the tabloid Sun newspaper she was “thrilled to bits.”

Wel, ze hebben genoeg tijd genomen om hun Bond te vinden voor Casino Royale (hier de teaser poster). Toch had ik de indruk dat de regisseur in zijn vorige commentaar liever iemand jonger wou hebben, tussen 28 en 32. Craig is er 37. Maar mijn vermoeden is dat Barbara Broccoli hier ook wel voor iets tussen zitten. Ik ben in ieder geval blij voor moeder Craig en verheug me om hem bezig te zien, ook al was hij niet meteen de eerste keuze van veel fans. Op diverse filmforums gingen veel stemmen op voor het behoud van Pierce Brosnan of voor zijn mogelijke contender Clive Owen. Zijn jullie tevreden over de uiteindelijke keuze? Laat het me weten. Oh, om geen verwarring te scheppen met de kale man op de foto. Neen, dit is niet de nieuwe Ernst Stavro Blofeld, maar wel de regisseur Martin Campbell (GoldenEye, The Mask of Zorro). Hieronder kunnen jullie trouwens nog een interessant interview lezen van LatinoReview.

Latino Review: I’ve read the novel and I wanted to ask you…
Martin Campbell: I bet there’s a scene in you want to talk about.
LR: What? The genitals being cutting off.
Martin Campbell: (Laughs) That’s going to be a tough one. I think I’ll do it in close up. (Laughs) I think there will a lot of woman that will love that scene. But what’s interesting about this is Bond when he’s starting out. He’s just got his 00’s stripes and he’s not the perfect Bond at all. I mean he makes mistakes, he’s a little raw, he’s a little arrogant, he’s a bit of a loose cannon, but by the end of the movie of course he becomes the perfect machine Bond that we know.
LR: Do you think the Bourne films have an affect or are going to affect the James Bond films?
Martin Campbell: I don’t think so. The truth about the Bourne films, which I love by the way and I think Matt Damon is fantastic in them, but that’s a man who is hunted by his past, someone who can’t remember his past, he’s always on the run and is a very serious kind of…he’s just focused on trying to find he’s past.

Where as Bond I think has a lot of elements. He has a sense of humor, he’s a great womanizer, he’s very attractive, he’s a great poker player or card player, he’s a gambler. He’s all of those things plus he’s deadly. So he has all those elements, now that’s something Bourne doesn’t have.
LR: Yeah but he (Bourne) is deadly.
Martin Campbell: (Laughs) Yeah he is deadly. That’s precisely what he is. But that’s all he is in the sense of…a hunted man…
LR: Like in this new Bond (film) and in the book Casino Royale, there are no gadgets.
Martin Campbell: No there is no gadgets.
LR: And Bourne doesn’t use gadgets.
Martin Campbell: No he doesn’t, what he uses is his head. And you’re probably right about Bourne and Bond to a certain extent. But Bond will make mistakes these guys aren’t perfect when they start off.
LR: Is the film going to be more of an adult prospect type of film?
Martin Campbell: No it will be a PG 13. The way the violence is done and everything else there is no point in doing Bond if it was going to be anything more than a PG 13 because its not…I don’t the audience is…I think the major audience for Bond that has to be added is kids. I think kids have to go and see it.
LR: Now you’re going in a different direction with this new Bond, no smoking, no gadgets. What direction do you want to go with this Bond?
Martin Campbell: Connery never smoked, did he?
LR: In Dr. No he did.
Martin Campbell: In Dr No, that’s true. He certainly won’t smoke in this film because I think it would be irresponsible. I think kids see this stuff and then they go to the toilet to have a quick cigarette. I think morally that’s wrong regardless if the character smokes or not. I mean in the book he smokes 70 a day, it’s amazing. And he drinks quiet heavily too. The book is so old fashioned but it’s very interesting and again the violence I’ve got to be careful of because of the kids who are going to want to see this movie.
LR: Do you think you can duplicate the success of Pierce Brosnan with Daniel Craig?
Martin Campbell: Well I hope so. The truth is that I think with the style of movie that Pierce, he’s last one for example (Die Another Day) I think with the gadgets, the invincible car the huge sort of ice palaces, the kind of water skiing off or should I say snow boarding…I mean I just thought it got preposterous and then finally the 747 going down in a massive amount flames that goes on forever. I think they got to a point where you couldn’t go any more than that. It was getting to ridiculous.
LR: Why is Daniel Craig the best choice to play Bond?
Martin Campbell: Because first of all he’s a terrific actor, and I think it’s on Casino Royale were Fleming always said he looked like Hoagy Carmichael, which is a very interesting and he is a very interesting looking guy and I think he has all the attributes to make a much grittier and tougher Bond.
LR: How close is the film going to mirror the book?
Martin Campbell: The second half of the book is very close. The first half isn’t and when you read you’ll understand why. It’s because it’s set in the Cold War and the organizations the Russian secret service they have a man in France who they send money to in order to disrupt the union, its very much about the Cold War. It was written in 1953 so obviously that’s changed because there is no Cold War. But the rest is going to be pretty much intac
t, The whole game takes place; Le Chiffre is the bad guy, your genital whacking scene that all remains, so the last two thirds of the movie will be like the book. And then Bond will fall in love with Vesper Lynd as he does in the book. This is the last book that they are filming because they have done all of them.
LR: How much leeway do you have in this film? And how much involvement is the Broccoli family in it?
Martin Campbell: Well they’re (Broccoli) great actually. I did GoldenEye and they pretty much gave me my head on that we all incorporated on the script, we all liked the script. This time we definitely wanted to go back to more realistic Bond. More like From Russia with Love, more kind of creditable if you will and that’s the directive and that’s why we’ve cast Daniel Craig. I think it definitely needs a change in direction.
LR: There were a lot of rumours on who was going to play Bond and what not. Who actually was in contention for the role?
Martin Campbell: We had that very young chap named Henry Cavill who was really good but I think at the end he was too young, he’s 22. But Henry believe me he is going to be a big talent, very good looking, very strong physically and a good actor but he’s too young for this Bond basically that was it. When he gets a little more acting experience under his belt he’ll be terrific.
LR: Was he the only on in the running for the role?
Martin Campbell: He was the only serious one in the running, yeah.
LR: Cause there were rumors of Hugh Jackman turning down the role and Eric Bana and so on.
Martin Campbell: Well Hugh Jackman and Eric Bana were never approached. Those were just all rumours.
LR: So was Clive Owen ever approached?
Martin Campbell: No he was never approached, I mean the press talks about but I don’t remember ever having a conversation about Clive Owen or the other names you mentioned.
LR: Now the novel there is now Moneypenny or Q, will they still be in the film.
Martin Campbell: Well there’s no Moneypenny or Q in this film.
LR: Will M be a female or Male?
Martin Campbell: I’m not telling you. (Laughs)

In een interview met BBC Five Live werd Dame Judy Dench gevraagd of ze terug keert als baas M. Volgens Dench zelf is het zeer waarschijnlijk dat ze terugkeert. Dench’s M werd in 1995 geïntroduceerd als de nieuwe baas van James Bond in GoldenEye. Iets wat de filmmakers nog wel moeten oplossen is het probleem hoe de jonge James Bond dezelfde baas zal hebben. Karakters die in ieder geval niet terugkeren in Casino Royale zijn Q en Miss Moneypenny.