Daniel Craig - `I do not want to get the rap for destroying the franchise`

Bond Daniel Craig was so unsure about whether he wanted to take one of the biggest roles in the movie industry that he waited a whole year to make up his mind - reports the Daily Record.

He feared his performance as James Bond in upcoming movie Casino Royale would spell the end of the multi-million film franchise.

But after deciding to step into 007's boots, Daniel was left stunned by the army of Bond fans who filled cyberspace with petitions calling for him to be axed from the role.

Yet if his past acting parts are anything to go by, not only will Daniel pull off the character's latest makeover, he'll also make the best Bond since Sean Connery.

Daniel, 38, admitted: "It's a big leap. It's a big commitment to make to something that I haven't really got a huge amount of ambition about doing, to tell you the truth of it.

"I never really wanted to do James Bond. Don't get me wrong, I want to make big movies and I want to make as much money as I possibly can.

"But there's not a tremendous emotional challenge and that would be the important thing, because that is what I would want.


"I want that to change but I don't know how ready they'd be to change. I don't know how much of a fight that would be to try and get that done, because you'd have to flip the whole thing on its head."

With a laugh, he added: "I think they want to. But it's a big machine and it makes lots of money, so why would you change something that's making a huge amount of money?"

Having accepted his fate as the world's most famous fictional secret agent, we should applaud him for wanting to create a Bond with an emotional depth not seen before from the 007 film franchise.

Currently filming Casino Royale in a variety of locations befitting the globe-trotting spy, including Prague and the Bahamas, he said he would give the thumbs up to past Bonds including Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan.

But he is only too aware that there has been less enthusiasm for the Bond outings starring George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton - and that anything but the best means Casino Royale will join the other also-rans.

Daniel said: "The thing is I think Timothy Dalton was great in the part but I think they tried to change it in the wrong direction and he got the rap for it.

"I think George Lazenby got the rap, too. I think On Her Majesty's Secret Service is one of the best movies, because he loses his wife in the movie.

"It's a dodgy place to be walking. I don't really want to get the rap for destroying that franchise. I mean, that wouldn't be a good place to be."

Thanks to `bond_fan` for the alert.

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