With this week’s release of ‘Skyfall,’ Daniel Craig and the cast look back to the past and into the future of 007. By Kevin P. Sullivan Daniel Craig in “Skyfall” Photo: Sony/ Columbia Pictures
In his half-century of cinematic existence, James Bond has been cast and recast, refined, reinvented and rebooted. He’s been declared a “sexist, misogynist dinosaur” and gotten his heart broken, and he’s been dragged into the present, where he’s had to find a new perch somewhere between gritty and ridiculous, between being a stoic modern action hero and a deliberately outsized fantasy remnant of, as one unamused minister puts it in Skyfall , a long gone “golden age of espionage.” Skyfall is American Beauty director Sam Mendes ‘ first turn at the wheel of this venerable spy franchise, and he and screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan have managed what feels like the best possible thing that could have happened to Bond: They’ve made him fun again. When Daniel Craig was put in the lead role and the character was brought back to his beginnings in Casino Royale , it brought a vividly contemporary jolt to the character — this Bond wasn’t going to be off gathering information on al-Qaeda or anything, but his job was just as likely to involve messy killings as suave seductions, and the possibility of death and pain were much more real. It was a welcome revamp, if one that shifted the films into the orbit of the Bourne trilogy and risked stripping them of an essential element of Bond-ness. Chilly, rough-edged and not yet settled into his place at MI6, Craig’s Bond was a little busy with love and revenge to make quips. In Skyfall , Bond is literally reborn. During a mission-gone-wrong, he takes a hit that leaves everyone thinking he’s dead. It’s a misconception he’s happy to let stand while he takes a potentially permanent sabbatical involving beachside booze, sex and brooding over a vague sense of betrayal. He’s lured back by an attack on MI6 and on M ( Judi Dench ) masterminded by a computer genius named Silva (a terribly entertaining and menacingly flirtatious Javier Bardem). Bond ends his retirement because he knows he’s needed. And, oh, he is. Skyfall acknowledges that Bond isn’t a paragon of physical or martial arts perfection, or technologically savvy. In contrast to the newly minted agent he played in Casino Royale, he’s an old hand in this film, neither the fastest nor the youngest but still the best. Skyfall acknowledges our need for some humanity in Bond without overloading him with angst. The film fondly brings back familiar franchise elements, including an entertainingly young Q (a sly Ben Whishaw) and another character whose reveal is best left discovered, along with an exotically beautiful paramour named Sévérine (Bérénice Marlohe) who’s part victim and part femme fatale. Bond gets fewer silly gadgets these days, but he does have his awesomely fly car and a customized gun. And though he travels to such exotic locations as Shanghai, Macau and Istanbul, he also spends an unprecedented amount of time in his homeland, where he reintegrates himself with MI6, which is under political scrutiny, and returns to his native Scotland where a just-enough sliver of backstory is revealed. Skyfall makes explicit that Bond is a child of the United Kingdom. His only consistent relationship is with his country, even though that country is willing to sacrifice him for the greater good should it be necessary. It’s why, despite Bond’s dalliances with Sévérine and fellow field agent Eve (Naomie Harris), the film’s true Bond girl is M. The MI6 director’s complicated role as stern taskmaster and surrogate maternal figure gets played out as Silva, who shares a past with M, targets her and Bond tries to protect her. Like Bond, M is as much a concept as a character, but, beneath their bickering, Dench and Craig find a credible tenderness that suggests their is immense mutual affection behind the bone-dry sniping. Mendes isn’t an exceptional director of action, and many of the set pieces are lavish and forgettable. The car chases through crowded streets and pursuits across rooftops look a lot like other blockbuster sequences that recently graced screens. He’s better with character interactions and small touches: Bond straightening his cuffs after an improbable landing in a train; Bond watching a foe face a Komodo dragon and book-ending his adventure with unwilling dips in bodies of water. Working with the great cinematographer Roger Deakins, Mendes also presents some stunning sequences of beauty in a film where you might not expect such a thing. A fight high atop a Shanghai skyscraper takes place in the dark against the neon advertising backdrop of a shifting jellyfish projected on the building’s glass skin and ends with Bond meeting the gaze of someone in the building across the way, hundreds of feet up. Silva’s high-tech lair is set on an island that’s home to an abandoned city, while MI6 retreats with all its sleek gear to a historical location deep in London. The old and the new, the past and the ever-accelerating present — despite the body count, it’s not death that Bond has to worry about, it’s remaining recognizable and relevant. Skyfall manages to balance both in an uncommonly entertaining fashion. Related: Check out Movieline’s extensive coverage of Skyfall and the 50th anniversary of James Bond here. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
In his half-century of cinematic existence, James Bond has been cast and recast, refined, reinvented and rebooted. He’s been declared a “sexist, misogynist dinosaur” and gotten his heart broken, and he’s been dragged into the present, where he’s had to find a new perch somewhere between gritty and ridiculous, between being a stoic modern action hero and a deliberately outsized fantasy remnant of, as one unamused minister puts it in Skyfall , a long gone “golden age of espionage.” Skyfall is American Beauty director Sam Mendes ‘ first turn at the wheel of this venerable spy franchise, and he and screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan have managed what feels like the best possible thing that could have happened to Bond: They’ve made him fun again. When Daniel Craig was put in the lead role and the character was brought back to his beginnings in Casino Royale , it brought a vividly contemporary jolt to the character — this Bond wasn’t going to be off gathering information on al-Qaeda or anything, but his job was just as likely to involve messy killings as suave seductions, and the possibility of death and pain were much more real. It was a welcome revamp, if one that shifted the films into the orbit of the Bourne trilogy and risked stripping them of an essential element of Bond-ness. Chilly, rough-edged and not yet settled into his place at MI6, Craig’s Bond was a little busy with love and revenge to make quips. In Skyfall , Bond is literally reborn. During a mission-gone-wrong, he takes a hit that leaves everyone thinking he’s dead. It’s a misconception he’s happy to let stand while he takes a potentially permanent sabbatical involving beachside booze, sex and brooding over a vague sense of betrayal. He’s lured back by an attack on MI6 and on M ( Judi Dench ) masterminded by a computer genius named Silva (a terribly entertaining and menacingly flirtatious Javier Bardem). Bond ends his retirement because he knows he’s needed. And, oh, he is. Skyfall acknowledges that Bond isn’t a paragon of physical or martial arts perfection, or technologically savvy. In contrast to the newly minted agent he played in Casino Royale, he’s an old hand in this film, neither the fastest nor the youngest but still the best. Skyfall acknowledges our need for some humanity in Bond without overloading him with angst. The film fondly brings back familiar franchise elements, including an entertainingly young Q (a sly Ben Whishaw) and another character whose reveal is best left discovered, along with an exotically beautiful paramour named Sévérine (Bérénice Marlohe) who’s part victim and part femme fatale. Bond gets fewer silly gadgets these days, but he does have his awesomely fly car and a customized gun. And though he travels to such exotic locations as Shanghai, Macau and Istanbul, he also spends an unprecedented amount of time in his homeland, where he reintegrates himself with MI6, which is under political scrutiny, and returns to his native Scotland where a just-enough sliver of backstory is revealed. Skyfall makes explicit that Bond is a child of the United Kingdom. His only consistent relationship is with his country, even though that country is willing to sacrifice him for the greater good should it be necessary. It’s why, despite Bond’s dalliances with Sévérine and fellow field agent Eve (Naomie Harris), the film’s true Bond girl is M. The MI6 director’s complicated role as stern taskmaster and surrogate maternal figure gets played out as Silva, who shares a past with M, targets her and Bond tries to protect her. Like Bond, M is as much a concept as a character, but, beneath their bickering, Dench and Craig find a credible tenderness that suggests their is immense mutual affection behind the bone-dry sniping. Mendes isn’t an exceptional director of action, and many of the set pieces are lavish and forgettable. The car chases through crowded streets and pursuits across rooftops look a lot like other blockbuster sequences that recently graced screens. He’s better with character interactions and small touches: Bond straightening his cuffs after an improbable landing in a train; Bond watching a foe face a Komodo dragon and book-ending his adventure with unwilling dips in bodies of water. Working with the great cinematographer Roger Deakins, Mendes also presents some stunning sequences of beauty in a film where you might not expect such a thing. A fight high atop a Shanghai skyscraper takes place in the dark against the neon advertising backdrop of a shifting jellyfish projected on the building’s glass skin and ends with Bond meeting the gaze of someone in the building across the way, hundreds of feet up. Silva’s high-tech lair is set on an island that’s home to an abandoned city, while MI6 retreats with all its sleek gear to a historical location deep in London. The old and the new, the past and the ever-accelerating present — despite the body count, it’s not death that Bond has to worry about, it’s remaining recognizable and relevant. Skyfall manages to balance both in an uncommonly entertaining fashion. Related: Check out Movieline’s extensive coverage of Skyfall and the 50th anniversary of James Bond here. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
While the style may not be his own, the actor tells MTV News how important it is to the character. By Kevin P. Sullivan Daniel Craig in “Skyfall” Photo: MGM / Columbia
Speculation is mounting in the U.K. over who will take over the reins as 007 post- Daniel Craig . Bond girl Naomie Harris delivered a bit of a news flash, saying that the next 007 may be Idris Elba . If so, the star of The Wire and films Prometheus and Thor would become the first non-Caucasian James Bond in his eternal 50 years. Harris hinted that Elba met with Bond producer Barbara Broccoli about the possibility. Even if he is the eventual heir, he would have plenty of time to hone in on his 007 skills. Current Bond incarnate Daniel Craig has signed on for at least two more rounds as the virile British spy. “I didn’t realize that there was this talk and then I did a film with Idris and he said that he met Barbara Broccoli and that it does seem like there is a possibility in the future that there could very well be a black James Bond,” she told Huffington Post. “And I would have to vote for Idris because I just finished working with him and he’s a great guy.” Idris alluded to the role earlier this year, saying he wouldn’t want to be identified as the ‘black’ James Bond. “I don’t want to be the black James Bond. Sean Connery wasn’t the Scottish James Bond, and Daniel Craig wasn’t the blue-eyed James Bond, so if I played him, I don’t want to be called the black James Bond.” At 44, Daniel Craig said he doesn’t want to carry the 007 mantle beyond his years and said the time will come when he has to step out of the part. “I am not going to outstay my welcome. Someone else will have to have the chance to have a crack at this,” he said. The latest Bond pic Skyfall opens in early November in the U.S. [ Sources: Yahoo! Movies U.K. , Huffington Post ]
Daniel Craig may be on he heels of one of the most anticipated films of the Fall, but he’s already looking ahead of 007 for his next gig. Craig said he’s hoping to be a part of a follow-up installment to the English-language version of Stieg Larsson’s trilogy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , though at the moment there seems to be little movement for the second installment, The Girl Who Played with Fire . Craig starred along with Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard and Robin Wright in the English version of the film, which grossed over $232 million worldwide last year. “Of course I’ll embrace [the movie], especially if [David] Fincher does it,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I’m definitely going to work on him.” Fincher has a lot on his directing plate and has kept mum about a second round of the crime mystery. Danish-born director Niels Arden Oplev directed the original in 2009. “I’m definitely going to work on him,” said Craig. Skyfall is destined to be a worldwide blockbuster, but Craig said taking on indies can be a great change. “Sometimes shooting on a smaller scale, as long as things don’t blow out of proportion, is very liberating…But I wouldn’t like to self-consciously go out and look for some nice small project just to get a chance to prove my acting chops. It’s like, I think I’ve … done enough of that.” [ Source: Los Angeles Times ]
He’s always packin’ the niftiest of gadgetry and he’s reinvented himself throughout the generations, remaining forever in his prime, but one en vogue technology James Bond is not considering is 3-D. Producers of the 50 year-old franchise say they have no interest in making a Bond film a three-dimensional format despite the rise of the medium – and its box office prowess – since the last Bond film, Quantum of Solace debuted back in 2008. Avatar re-ushered in 3-D in a massive way to audiences back in 2009, grossing over $2 billion that year in the U.S. alone, while Summer-season ’12 release Marvel’s The Avengers scored well into the 10-figure gross mark. And Ang Lee’s ventured into 3-D with his anticipated Life of Pi due out in late November. [ Related: INTERVIEW: 007 Scion And Skyfall Producer Barbara Broccoli On Growing Up Bond ] Read More at: http://movieline.com/2012/10/09/barbara-broccoli-james-bond-007-interview-skyfall-daniel-craig/#utm_source=copypaste&utm_campaign=referral “3-D is fantastic for the right material, but we’re not sure Bond is the right way to go,” said Skyfall producer Barbara Broccoli in a recent interview with A.P. “With our movies, there’s a lot of challenges to 3-D, particularly when you’ve got a lot of action and a lot of quick cutting.” Broccoli added, “It has to be right for our story. Unless you can do something as well as [ Avatar ], it’s probably not worth looking at.” Broccoli and her half-brother Michael G. Wilson have spearheaded the last seven Bond films. Wilson added that some have poked around at the idea of converting some of the old Bond films into 3-D, perhaps taking a cue from Disney animated classics in recent years, but he called the suggestions “more of a novelty.” One piece of visual stimulation Skyfall is embracing is IMAX. The film will be released there a day early on November 8th in North America. So, Bond has mostly adapted to the times. Should the 3-D prove to be more than a medium-term fancy, seeing Daniel Craig as 007 flying, falling, shooting and in your face with millions of adoring cross-generational fans may yet happen. Craig has signed on for two more Bond films, which will be the 24th and 25th installments. Neither is planned as a 3-D pic, but said Broccoli: “Who knows? We’ll see if things change in the future.” [ Source: A.P. ]
In Casino Royale , Daniel Craig made a memorable impression as the sexy 007, wearing a snug swimming suit. But Craig had to work it to attain that physique and it’s not something he maintains between James Bond stints. But he didn’t have a hard time getting back to top-notch form. Speaking with a bit of tongue-in-cheek at a Skyfall press day over the weekend in New York, Craig told Access Hollywood. “It’s just quite a ball, quite frankly. I mean, [I’ve] just got to do it.” Craig said a doctor told him that his routine was the same as playing a football [soccer] match every day with little rest. “You’re playing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then taking Sunday off.’ Normally, football players would come Saturday or Sunday and take three days off at least,” Daniel said. “So I was sort of constantly sort of bashed up. So keeping in shape — it was just so I moved — at all.” In Skyfall , Craig switches a swim suit for a simple towel in one scene, and said producers gave him the heads up so he could get ready for his close-up. “I kind of have to work towards that. Luckily, we kind of plan those out beforehand, so I can kind of work to make sure I’m kind of in as good of shape as I can be for those scenes,” he noted. Aside from physical prowess, Craig gave his views on Bond who he sees as a spy in the traditional sense. In the latest version of the James Bond series, the character, Q, makes a return, played by Ben Whishaw. “What I love [about the film is] the story sort of brings in this idea of sort of the old world and the new world of espionage, and the government officials in the movies were talking about cutting corners and saying, ‘Well, we’ll send in drones and we can spy on people with satellites. We don’t actually need to have people in the field.’ Bond’s obviously opposed to that,” said Craig. “He thinks you’ve got to be there, you’ve got experience it, you’ve got to look people in the eye. So, with bringing Q back in, who’s sort of that new school and Bond, who’s of the old school – that clash – hopefully it’s going to be a quite exciting journey to go on with those two.” Skyfall opens in the U.S. beginning November 8th. It debuts in theaters October 23rd in the U.K. [ Source: Access Hollywood ]
Director Sam Mendes and screenwriters, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan have done a very wily thing for James Bond’s 50th anniversary: They’ve given 007 a midlife crisis. The trauma takes root during the white-knuckle opening of Skyfall , the best film so far of Daniel Craig ‘s run as Ian Fleming’s suave super spy and one of the best of the Bond franchise. After chasing his quarry by motorcycle over the rooftops of Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar and piloting an earth mover over a speeding train to keep his target from escaping, a wounded Bond loses the battle, and, it appears, his life. But since the movie has only just started, there’s not much doubt that he will back after the eerie-but-dreamy titles sequence set to Adele’s lush theme song . ‘ When he appears on screen again, Bond’s in paradise and presumed dead in the U.K. His wounds have healed, except for the big psychic gash that has him drinking shots while balancing a riled scorpion on his wrist for sport. Alas, even paradise has CNN and, soon, Bond is learning from Wolf Blitzer that MI6’s headquarters have been bombed and it’s time for him to return to the service of his country. Except it’s not as easy as that. After Mike Myers strip-mined the Bond franchise for his Austin Powers parodies, the Bond writers take a cue from The Spy Who Shagged Me and explore the idea: what would happen if James Bond lost his mojo? Although Craig’s chiseled body does not exactly cooperate with the plotline, he does the best acting of his career playing a supremely confident man grappling with the onset of doubt: doubt in himself, doubt in his work and doubt in his superiors, who with the exception of M (played once again with stately grit by Judi Dench), seem to be of the mind that 007 has passed his sell by date. But, shaky as his trigger hand may be, 007 is not going down without a fight. There’s a wonderful scene in the National Gallery in London where Bond meets the new Q, who turns out to be an insouciant young whippersnapper played by the excellent Ben Whishaw. As man and boy genius stare at J.M.W. Turner’s painting The Fighting Téméraire’ tugged to her last Berth to be broken up, Q sets the tone by describing the image as a “grand old warship being ignominiously hauled away to scrap.” He then boasts that he can accomplish more while working his laptop at home “in my pajamas.” Guys like Bond, he implies, are only still around because “Every now and then a trigger has to be pulled.” “Or not pulled,” 007 replies before going in for the kill. “It’s hard to know when you’re in your pajamas.” Craig’s searing, stoic performance is beautifully complemented by Javier Bardem’s flamboyant turn as Silva, a former MI6 operative and computer genius who has stolen the list of every NATO agent embedded in enemy camps across the globe and is slowly blowing their covers. Bardem vaults into the pantheon of Bond villains by playing Silva as a bleach-blonde, computer savvy Anton Chigurh, who appears to have a thing for Bond. Even more remarkable, when Silva reveals this attraction to his bound former colleague by caressing his chest, 007 coolly alludes that it wouldn’t be the first time he’s gotten it on with a guy. Silva has a different kind of hard-on for M, who turns out to be the reason he has hatched his evil plan, which, like the rest of the movie, is more plausible and human-scale than a lot of the world-domination hoo-ha that has taken place in previous Bond films. “Think on your sins,” is the warning message that Silva repeatedly sends M, and when he eventually recounts the blood-curdling turn of events that led him to turn his back on his country, it’s difficult not to have some empathy for him. Skyfall has most of the familiar ingredients of Bond film — beautiful women, sleek cars — the Aston Martin DB5 makes a cameo appearance that will be talked about for a long time — memorable villains and intense action scenes. And yet, the movie is also full of surprises, small and pivotal. You won’t find me spilling any of them though. Not unless martinis are involved. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
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