Daniel Craig on 'Skyfall' and 'Tattoo' in new interview

As part of his press tour to promote his latest film "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo", Daniel Craig sat down with The Guardian newspaper to talk about the movie and his current work on the upcoming James Bond adventure "Skyfall".

He ends the interview talking about the tumultuous MGM financial debacle and almost having to call it a day with 007: "There was that long hiatus where Bond maybe wasn't happening," Craig recalls. "I'd got it into my head that if it went another two years on top of the two-year gap we'd already had, then they should probably find someone else. And I should think about getting on with things."

Fortunately, MGM came out the other side, and Skyfall was announced earlier this year with Sam Mendes, who worked with Craig on Road to Perdition, as director. "Who knows what the result's going to be?" Craig shrugs. "I think it will be fairly spectacular. I get paid a lot of money to do something I love to do, and whatever it is – the way I was brought up, or whatever – I feel if you're getting paid you should put the work in. Maybe I'm stupid and everyone's looking at me and saying: 'Chill out, take the money and run.' I can't do that. I feel the more we put into it, the more we'll get out. How best can we spend all this money? You don't just take it and go, 'Yay! See ya!' I want millions of people to watch the movie. So why not make it good?"

Evidently, he is still sore from the frustrating experience of making Quantum of Solace. "We were hamstrung by the writers' strike. We had half a script and lots of pressure. We suffered because of a lack of preparation. That doesn't necessarily mean that Skyfall is going to be better – I don't want to jinx it – but I can say we've worked solidly on this script for two years. Sam's involvement has brought in people like Ralph [Fiennes] and Javier [Bardem]. He's a very visual director, and I think audiences want something visually beautiful in a Bond movie. Also, we got rid of a lot of the old characters in Casino Royale, the ones that had been set in stone. That's just the way it happened, and I think now we can start reintroducing them." It was revealed last month that Ben Whishaw will play Q, while there is speculation that Moneypenny will return in the near future.

"Before we started, Sam and I sat down together and rubbed our hands and said, 'Right – what shall we do?' We watched the films, we read the books again, just to find what makes a great Bond movie. And I think we've managed to put in all the wit we love about the series, and all the kind of …" He stops short. "Look, I'm really very excited about it." Then he admonishes himself ("Shut up!") and offers me some advice on how to wrap up the article. "Just write, 'He waffled on for fucking hours …'" And now I have.

Click here to read the entire interview on Guardian.co.uk

Thanks to `Jon` for the alert.

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