Before Daniel Craig became the detective with the weirdest accent ever in the Knives Out franchise, he played James Bond for fifteen years. While his debut as Agent 007 revolutionized the franchise and brought it to a whole new generation, his series of films were filled with both hits and misses.
Craig’s sophomore film Quantum of Solace faced several hurdles before making it to production. Plagued with a writer’s strike shortly before production began, Craig called the filming process a nightmare as the studio went ahead without a proper script. It shows as it is considered one of the weakest Bond films in the franchise.
Daniel Craig did not approve of Quantum of Solace being filmed without a script
When Daniel Craig replaced Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, the franchise was in a bit of a dry spell. Brosnan’s series of films, though popular, were a bit more on the campy side and the franchise was badly in need of an update. The post 9/11 treatment of Casino Royale was largely received positively, with its action and Craig’s performance being highlighted.
However, Craig’s sophomore appearance was not as fruitful. Marc Foster’s Quantum of Solace went into shoot at a tricky time as the film reportedly did not have a script. Paul Haggis, the co-writer of the film, joined the WGA strikes of 2007-200,8 and the film reportedly went into production before a final bound was written.
Many of the scenes were reportedly written by Daniel Craign himself as WGA rules allowed for actors to be involved in writing scenes. However, it still was not enough to save the film from disaster. He said to THR,
F*cking nightmare…We probably should never have gone and started production, but we did…there’s some amazing stunt sequences in that, and I’m still bearing the pins to prove it, so in that sense there’s a lot of great stuff in it, but it just didn’t quite work. The storytelling wasn’t there.
While the stunts and Craig’s performance itself were praised, Quantum of Solace was considered inferior from Casino Royale and earned less than its predecessor at the box office (via The Numbers).
Daniel Craig was offered James Bond, but he said he wanted to see a script first
Daniel Craig has not hidden his disdain for the immense amount of work that the James Bond franchise required of him. He often remarked how each film usually took two years of his life and it involved a lot of stunt work. The actor finally departed from the role in 2021 and the search has been on for his replacement for years.
Various actors have been speculated to be top contenders but no news has been out so far. Fans speculate that something might be on the horizon after producer Barbara Broccoli stepped down as producer of the franchise and gave control over to Amazon-MGM Studios. The Oscars too paid tribute to the franchise this week.
While the competition for the agent’s role is high, Daniel Craig spoke about the ease in which he was offered the role. He reportedly met Broccoli at a funeral, after which he was invited for tea at Eon Productions’ office. However, he reportedly turned it down because he was afraid he would be typecast after the role. He said,
I went to an office in Piccadilly at EON, sat down with them, and she basically offered me the job there and then…That’s why I turned it down — I mean, I said, ‘No.’ There wasn’t a script at the time, so again, my arrogance was unbelievable, but I just was like, ‘Well, until I see a script, I couldn’t possibly make a decision.’ And it was fear, exactly what you’re talking about, of that thing and many others, how it would flip my life.
Craig was reportedly up against 200 actors, some of which included Henry Cavill, Antony Starr, and more, whose audition tapes were recently leaked.
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