The publicity train for the new James Bond film "Spectre" has begun with Daniel Craig having begun the first long-lead interviews for the film ahead of its release. In a lengthy piece for Esquire, he reveals that director Sam Mendes will be all finished making the film (ie. locking it) next week. Craig says that after the billion dollar success of "Skyfall," everyone involved in the franchise wasn't quite sure what to do: "I think everyone was just daunted, understandably. Like, it's 'the biggest British movie of all time'. What does it f--king mean? Where do we go from there? How do you process that? It could have been an albatross around everyone's necks. It turned out not to be, but there was a massive amount of pressure at the beginning." Originally the plan was to do a more flamboyant and confident Bond, something more akin to the classic super spy films of previous actors in the role. The idea of delving into the character's origins though was something he thought too good to pass up: "I think I'd just got it into my head that flamboyance was the way forward and f--k it, nothing touched him. But as we got into the story and rooted out the connections, they were too good to leave alone. I feel like we've all done our absolute f--king best and that's a good feeling... It's Skyfall times 10." Craig went on to discuss the role of Bond and his treatment of women, and how ultimately his old school hero is kind of deliberately out of place and a bit sad: "He's very f--king lonely. There's a great sadness. He's f--king these beautiful women but then they leave and it's... sad. And as a man gets older it's not a good look. It might be a nice fantasy - that's debatable - but the reality, after a couple of months... Hopefully my Bond is not as sexist and misogynistic as [earlier incarnations]. The world has changed. I am certainly not that person. But he is, and so what does that mean? It means you cast great actresses and make the parts as good as you can for the women in the movies." Though Craig is contracted to one more Bond movie after "Spectre," he seems unsure if he'll be back in the role again and doesn't have the desire to return for even one more: "At this moment, no. I have a life and I've got to get on with it a bit. But we'll see... I don't know. I really don't know. Honestly. I'm not trying to be coy. At the moment I can't even conceive it." "Spectre" opens in cinemas in early November. |