No Time to Die star and soon-to-be-former James Bond actor Daniel Craig has shed some new light on those controversial comments he made about the role several years ago. Craig, who debuted as 007 in Casino Royale in 2006, ends his run as the character with the release of No Time to Die. It is the 25th installment of the James Bond movie series and the fifth movie for Craig.
Back in 2015, Daniel Craig had just wrapped filming on his fourth Bond movie, Spectre, when he was doing a round of interviews to promote the sequel. It had been a particularly rough shoot for the actor, who had even broken his leg during production. Needless to say, he may not have been in the best mindset when he told Time Out magazine he’d rather “slash my wrists” than do another James Bond movie at that time.
Ever since Daniel Craig signed on for No Time to Die, many fans have often referred back to that remark, questioning why the actor would do another movie after saying something like that. Recently, a video from the set of Craig saying that he “loved every second” of playing the role through all five movies had many people pointing back to that 2015 interview once again. In a new interview with Radio Times, Craig said he regrets saying what he did, as it made him sound “ungrateful.” In reality, the actor was feeling burnt out after a rough shoot and didn’t intend for the comment to be taken so seriously.
“To be completely honest, I was thinking, ‘I don’t know if I can do another one of these.’ I finished filming Spectre with a broken leg. To your point about being in my fifties now, I thought, ‘Do I have this in me? Do I want to go through all of this?’ I needed a break. A little more skill in the answer might have been better. I was joking but it came across as ungrateful.”
There wasn’t any illwill toward Daniel Craig from the James Bond team. Producer Barbara Broccoli defended the actor by taking the blame for the situation, stating that they shouldn’t have asked Craig to do press too soon after the production. The producer said, “That was our fault. It had been a long shoot. He’d had an injury. And then we said, ‘Why don’t you just do a week of press at the end of the shoot?'”
The future of James Bond is unclear after No Time to Die, but Daniel Craig has also shared his thoughts on if the character should be gender-swapped. He also told Radio Times that he’d rather see “a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman.” This point may be demonstrated in No Time to Die, in which Lashana Lynch is rumored to become the next 007 after Craig’s James Bond retires. In any case, it’s the end of the road for Craig.
No Time to Die will release in UK theaters on the 30th of September, followed by a US release on Oct. 8. Daniel Craig’s comments come from Radio Times.