Former James Bond director says he was sceptical of Daniel Craig playing 007

Former James Bond director Martin Campbell has said he was sceptical of Daniel Craig playing the role of 007.

Campbell directed 2006’s Casino Royale, which was Craig’s first film in the role after taking over from Pierce Brosnan.

Speaking to The Express, Campbell explained why he was a little hesitant to cast the actor in the legendary role, largely owing to his physical differences from previous Bonds.

“My only reticence with Daniel… he was really a superb actor, there’s no doubt about that… it was the fact that with people like Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan was that they were all traditional looking Bonds,” Campbell said. “All handsome guys, all sexy, all very attractive to women and so forth.

“Daniel was obviously tougher and ruggeder, but he wasn’t a traditional handsome guy,” he added. “So I just thought about that for a minute and apart from that, absolutely it was always him.”

Looking forwards, Christopher Nolan is reportedly in talks to direct the next two James Bond movies.

According to sources at World Of Reel, Bond producer Barbara Broccoli is “zeroing in” on Nolan, but talks have been delayed by the Hollywood strikes and the director’s promotional commitments to Oppenheimer.

During an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast earlier this year, Nolan said it would be “an amazing privilege” to direct a James Bond film.

“The influence of those movies in my filmography is embarrassingly apparent,” he explained. “It would be an amazing privilege to do one. At the same time, when you take on a character like that you’re working with a particular set of constraints.”

He added: “It has to be the right moment in your creative life where you can express what you want to express and really burrow into something within the appropriate constraints because you would never want to take on something like that and do it wrong.”

Craig ended his run as Bond in 2021’s No Time To Die, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga. A number of stars have been rumoured as Craig’s successor, including Aaron Taylor Johnson, Regé-Jean Page and Damson Idris.

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