BOOM November 2015 | Page 26

C OVER STORY ‘Rather slash my wrists’ than shoot another 007 movie’ Daniel Craig I f you want to know how James Bond – sorry, I mean Daniel Craig – starts the day, I can tell you. Two double espressos with honey. Plus poached eggs on toast. With another double espresso to follow. So basically: caffeine, more caffeine and some more caffeine, with honey to soften the blow. Craig needs all the help he can get when we meet the 47-year-old finished an epic eight-month shoot for ‘Spectre’, which saw him hopping back and forth between Pinewood Studios near London and Mexico City, Morocco, the Austrian Alps and Rome. It’s the British actor’s fourth outing as Bond, and his second with the director Sam Mendes after the success of ‘Skyfall’ – which in 2012 took over $1,000 million globally. He thinks – thinks – ‘Spectre’ is going to be a stylish, classic Bond movie, and Craig is not an actor who talks bullshit. He’s blunt. He’s thoughtful. He’s wary of being precious. But he’s also nervous. At one point a look of horror passes over his blue eyes. ‘God, hubris is a terrible thing in this business,’ he says, checking his enthusiasm. ‘I just pray the movie is going to be great.’ So, no pressure, then. Another double espresso, please… So you’ve just finished eight months of filming ‘Spectre’. Did it all end with a bang or a whimper? ‘It’s always a whimper. I wish movies ended and we all high-fived each other and said, “Yeah! We did good work!” But they tend to peter out. We filmed in Morocco for the week before the very end and that felt like the real end of the film. We went out there and blew shit up! We did stuff that felt like a Bond movie. It felt like a good way to finish.’ What do you most want to do when you finish such a long shoot? ‘Literally, just have a holiday. It’s fair enough, no? I just want to switch my brain off. What usually happens is it’s 6am on a Sunday and I’m bolt upright in bed thinking that I’ve got to go to work. It’s about switching that feeling off, turning the alarm off and going to sleep. I drink a lot more too. I’ve started this week. Just relaxing.’ Did you always plan to play Bond for a fourth time? It's been ten years now. ‘Well, I was contracted to do another one. That was all set up. But at the studio there was a real keenness to get it done as soon as possible. In fact, there was a conversation at one point that went: “Let’s film two movies back to back.” I just went: “You’re out of your fucking minds.” In the nicest possible way. They’re just too big.’ You described ‘Skyfall’ as ‘Bond with bells on’. So how would you describe this new Bond movie, ‘Spectre’? Same bells, different tune? ‘There you go, that’s perfect! The complicated answer, 26 | BOOM