Daniel Craig straightens out some Bond 22 rumours

ComingSoon.net had a brief chat to Daniel Craig during the press junket for his latest film The Golden Compass, and snuck in a fews James Bond related questions...

omingSoon.net: How have you been coping with your post-Bond fame?
Craig: I run away. Having a sense of humor is really key. You have to have a sense of humor with these things and I've just tried to remain who I am. My life has changed. It's changed in the fact that I don't have the freedoms I did before, but I've also got a huge amount of other freedoms that have come along.

CS: How apprehensive were you to take Bond on originally?
Craig: Very resignated. I was against it, very much against it.

CS: What changed your mind?
Craig: The script and the fact that it seemed to me that I would be able to sort of dedicate and get involved with and make something of. I've always been a Bond fan. I've always wanted the films to be good. When it came along and I read the script I thought there was genuinely an opportunity to make a good movie with one of the most classic icon figures in movies.

CS: What sort of sensibilities does Marc Forster, a non-Brit, bring to the Bond franchise?
Craig: If you look at Marc Forster's current body of work, that in itself makes me very excited. If you look at "Monster's Ball", "Finding Neverland" and then "Kite Runner", which is just stunning, it's such a diverse look at the world, I'd want us to have that. Marc is very solid. That for me is crucially important because this movie needs to jump on from "Casino Royale" and take it somewhere else. Marc is totally inspired and is really just keen to get started.

CS: Is the next script based on Ian Fleming's work at all?
Craig: There's nothing left as far as I know.

CS: Have they decided not to adapt any of the John Gardner's novels?
Craig: I don't think they ever would, because they don't own them. |I don't know what the deal is with that. We're taking the original idea. The funny thing is if you read Fleming's (novels), which I try to plow through occasionally, there's an awful lot of story lines that have never been used because obviously the films are based on the books. There are still ideas that we can sort of pluck from.

CS: This new movie starts right after "Casino Royale" ends?
Craig: That's the plan.

CS: How difficult for you as an actor to develop the character because of his iconic status?
Craig: Not difficult at all really. Paul Haggis is involved. We've got someone who can take on story and take on a character and take them to a different place. It's always a struggle, but you've got to find themes, you've got to find reasons for doing it and you've got to put them all in the right place. The same rules apply.

CS: Will the writers' strike affect production on the next film?
Craig: We'd basically have to start now. The SAG strike starts in July. The writers' strike doesn't affect us because we have a script. As it stands at the moment, it doesn't affect us.

CS: I read somewhere you're going to inject a bit more humor into the next movie.
Craig: I was lying. I said, "Yes, it's going to be funny." I don't remember saying that, but if I did, I'm not going to shy away from the fact the occasionally there should be humor. I just don't like gags. I don't like written gags. That's not the way I've ever liked working and I don't think that's funny myself.

CS: "Casino Royale" marked a welcome return to the style and sensibilities of the earlier Bond movies, rather than the jokey more recent movies.
Craig: The idea of having jokes in Bond I don't think is completely wrong, but I think the jokes to need to come out tension. There needs to be moments of humor because we've all been sitting on the edge of our seat. I don't think you should write gags in Bond.

Thanks to `Pierce-Daniel` for the alert.

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