After having played James Bond on screen for a long time, Daniel Craig is more than ever ready to move on. Starring in the film “Queer”, by Luca Guadagnino, scheduled to hit theaters at the start of 2025, the British actor looked back on the era during which he played the most famous secret agent. And it seems that he will not miss this time.
James Bond, intense physical preparation
Facing Josh O’Connor in Variety magazine’s “Actors on Actors” interview series, Daniel Craig spoke candidly about the difficulties encountered during the filming of the “James Bond” saga.
“I was going to the gym a lot before I even started playing James Bond,” he explains. “But in my thirties, I abused my body, more than I probably should have. When I got the role of James Bond in ‘Casino Royale,’ I said to myself: I have to be in great shape, and I did everything I could to do it, but by the end of the film, I had been training for so long that I had to stop.”
The start of a vicious circle for the actor: “And then, another film in the saga arrives, and you tell yourself that you have to start doing sport again. I had to break this circle, so I started to train constantly, without taking long breaks.” Even if it means putting your body in danger and exhausting yourself psychologically as well as physically.
The psychological impact of James Bond
This is not the first time that Daniel Craig has spoken about the impact of the “James Bond” saga on his body and his mental health. In an interview given to the Sunday Times in early December, the actor said: “At the start of James Bond, I thought I had to do something else at the same time, but I didn’t do it. I was becoming a star, whatever that means, and people wanted me in their films. Most actors are unemployed for large periods of the year, so they accept job offers.
And to clarify: “It took me six months after a shoot to recover emotionally. I always thought that life should come before work, but with this role, it was the opposite, and it exhausted me. “.
