Daniel Craig brings humor, dedication to superspy role

Daniel Craig breezes into the room and slides into a chair with the efficiency of movement a cat could admire.

Dressed in an impeccable suit and tie, Craig looks every bit the suave Secret Agent 007 he plays in the new movie "Quantum of Solace."

Except for that arm sling draped over his right shoulder.

"Shoulder reconstruction," he explains. "I think that it's an old injury, but making two Bond movies in the past three years probably didn't do it any good."

We're in a posh suite at Chicago's new Trump Tower. Five journalists sit at the table with Craig, and they ask questions like, "How come we never see James Bond walking around in a sling?"

Craig responds instantly, "That would be kind of boring, wouldn't it? To see Bond walking around with plaster on his foot?"

He has a sense of humor, this Bond. And he really seems to like talking about his new movie, as opposed to many actors who fake it during their praise of their projects at hand.

"I'd love to do another one of these films," Craig says. "But who knows what will happen after this? I'm genuinely excited about this film. This, together with 'Casino Royale,' stand up as two separate movies, but also stand up as really good movies back to back. They finish a story off. Now we have a blank page. We can do whatever we want."

"Quantum" ties up the loose ends left in the final shot of "Casino Royale." (See the adjacent review of "Quantum.") The new film continues the Bond franchise's return to its more serious 1960s roots, but avoids the tired catchphrases and conventions of past thrillers.

"I think we've also nodded to the older movies much more in this movie than the more recent movies have," Craig says. "It's more stylistic. We've chosen locations that give it an older feel. The next movie, maybe Q will come back into it. Maybe Moneypenny will come back. I'll say a few of the things that used to be said. But for the moment, this is the deal, and we'll have to see."

About 36 months ago, Craig's acting career consisted of a few independent movies and a plum role as Paul Newman's bad, bad son in the gangster-era drama "Road to Perdition," filmed right here in metropolitan Chicago. When rumors eked out that this blondish Brit had the inside track on replacing departing 007 Pierce Brosnan, fan sites went berserk.

How could Craig be Bond? He's not tall, dark or classically handsome. He's physically not the character described in Ian Fleming's 12 007 novels and eight short stories.

So how did Blondie get to play Great Britain's ultimate movie superhero?

Let's ask the man who knows: Michael Wilson, the franchise's producer/writer and partner with producer Barbara Broccoli, daughter of the late Cubby Broccoli who brought Fleming's literary character to the silver screen in 1962 with "Dr. No."

Why Craig, Mr. Wilson?

"Besides being the greatest actor of his generation, and being very physical, and having tremendous sex appeal, I can't think of another good reason," Wilson says.

Translation: Wilson really likes this guy.

Wilson tempers his hyperbole with what sounds like genuine appreciation.

"He's a wonderful person," Wilson says. "He is absolutely dedicated to what he does. Single-mindedly so. He's the type of actor who works all day, then goes to the gym at night, then has a very light dinner and goes to bed at 9 p.m. to be prepared. He'll rehearse on his days off just to make sure he gets it right. That's tremendous dedication and belief in what he's doing."

That's a complete change from the late 1960s, when anointed 007 star George Lazenby argued with everyone on the set, refused to comply with directions and rode off on a horse in the middle of a scene, leaving the cast and crew without a star to complete the day's schedule.

Craig did much more than apply himself during his first Bond thriller, "Casino Royale," two years ago. His commanding presence and killer demeanor returned the increasingly ridiculous 007 films to the blunter dramatic realism of the Sean Connery vehicles from the early '60s.

It appears that Craig was the perfect actor to play Bond, I volunteer.

"He certainly has turned out to be," Wilson says.

Just how much input was Craig allowed to have on his character while making "Quantum of Solace"?

"As much as I wanted," Craig says. "Whether they listened or not was another matter. We were given not an awful lot of time to work with. Marc (Forster, the director) and I sat down and hammered out a sense of what we felt the movie should be. The action scenes sort of take care of themselves."

"Quantum" is bigger, brawnier and faster than "Casino Royale," and features more stunts. Craig especially likes doing the stunts.

"Yeah, I do, if I can do them," he says. "They don't let me do everything, for obvious reasons."

Craig is probably the most physically honed actor to pick up the license to kill. (Anyone who saw him rising out of the water in swim trunks during "Casino Royale" knows this.)

How does he do it?

"It's as boring as it can get," he replies. "I wish there was an easy route. I just get into the gym as quickly as I can before shooting. This time around I was more cardiovascular fit than I was before. It's a pain in the (buttocks). - I hate it.

"But there are two things (about working out). One is the narcissism attached to it. I think the character is like that. He likes being fit. The other thing is that I want to do as many of those stunts as I can. And the only way I can do that is to keep as fit as I possibly can because if I do get an injury, I'll recover quicker."

Craig stops for a moment, as if digesting the sound of his own words.

"This sounds like I think about it all the time," he adds. "It's more like go to the gym, rehearse, work, go to the gym, rehearse, work."

It really does sound as boring as it can get.

A reporter asks Craig if James Bond and Jason Bourne, star of the action-packed spy trilogy, got into a fight, what might happen?

"James Bond would win," Craig responds without missing a beat. "That's the answer. I know where you're going. I'll let you write the rest of it. Just as long as at the end James Bond wins."

The reporter presses the issue, posing a hypothetical situation where Bourne and Bond meet and ...

Craig politely answers with a note of finality: "He would still win."

In 2004, I interviewed Craig when he starred in a gangster movie called "Layer Cake." He told me how he would play James Bond if he ever got the chance - as a flawed character who bleeds, shows fear and has doubts about his actions.

I ask Craig if his on-screen Bond has turned out to be the same Bond he wanted to portray those four years ago.

"I'm a small way there," Craig says.

A Sony official comes into the hotel room to take Craig away.

I fire off a final question: "What's your favorite drink?"

"Vodka martini," the actor says. He adds a parting shot.

"Don't be stupid."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=249947">007 fans can't take 'Solace' in implausible, stunt-stuffed sequel <span class="date">[11/13/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=250018">Where does he get all those wonderful clothes? <span class="date">[11/13/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>