The Bond identity: Daniel Craig spills the beans on all things 007

LONDON – Let’s be honest: Putting hotly debatable gender and sexual politics aside — or perhaps not — James Bond is inarguably the epitome of who most men would like to be.

He’s an ageless super-spy with the ability to drink copious amounts of alcohol, have sex with any woman he desires and the skill to take down the bad guys — by any means necessary. He fights midgets, giants and megalomaniacs using ridiculously cool gadgets and drives the most glorious cars. To be fair, it sounds like a lot of unbridled fun.

That is why when Daniel Craig, who makes his fourth appearance as Bond, said that he would rather slit his wrists than play 007 again, the Internet was aghast. Shocked. Horrified. Upset.

But context is necessary, particularly when you’re talking about something as traditional and long-standing a franchise as the 007 movies. The actor was talking just after the intensive filming schedule for Spectre had wrapped up. (Wouldn’t you be tired too, being asked such a question immediately after you’ve given your all to a project?)

Hence the “all I want to do is move on” speech. Of course, he also said: “For at least a year or two, I just don’t want to think about (doing another Bond film). I don’t know what the next step is. I’ve no idea. Not because I’m trying to be cagey. Who the f*** knows? At the moment, we’ve done it ... Every idea I’ve had for a Bond movie, I’ve stuck into this one. It’s gone in. The Bond bank is dry. If you’re asking me what would I do with another Bond movie? I haven’t a clue ...”

Never one to mince his words and genuinely friendly in person, we love the fact that Craig is the actor who brought James Bond to a 21st century audience, even if he wasn’t the traditionalists’ popular choice to play Ian Fleming’s suave and sexy superspy. Nine years since his debut in Casino Royale, Craig has changed everything we know about Bond by imbuing the franchise with new life.

In the process, he managed to fashion the most humane and delicious version of the character yet, inevitably earning himself indisputable heartthrob status. Craig has become a key part of the creative team – producing and even becoming involved in casting.

And that’s proof that despite what you have read, James Bond — his adaptation of Bond — means a great deal to Craig. Everyone has complimented on how he brought a real humanity to a seemingly indestructible character, but Craig shared that he just doesn’t know how to play Bond any other way. “When I watch a big movie, I love the ‘true’ sense of it. You believe the characters and I think you get so much more out of the film. That was the intention so I hope it comes across in the film,” he said.

“I get a big kick out of Bond movies. So I just kind of want to leave something to remember ... ”

Getting Bond right is extremely important to Craig. One feels he constantly adapts the superspy and puts 007 in “the real world”, something that can be seen in the refreshingly current plot for Spectre, which features Bond’s first encounter with the global criminal organisation named, erm, Spectre.

“I’m glad you saw that in the film,” he said with smile. “We didn’t self-consciously try and do that, but it just seemed too good a plot line to leave out, especially since Bond is old-school and the world has changed. Intelligence gathering is done in a very different way – it’s done electronically now, and he’s not that kind of guy. He does it in the field.”

He also shared that they tried to infuse both humanity and humour into this 24th instalment of the Bond franchise. “We allowed room for quite a lot of humour. But you know, you want the laughs to come out of reality. Otherwise it’s a comedy and that’s not what we’re making,” Craig explained. “So hopefully audiences are reacting to the things as we are in the film.”

So what is it like for Daniel Craig right now, after all this time of embodying the most iconic male character of all time on screen? Has he lost a little bit of himself in the process?

“I really genuinely try not to think about it at all, just so I can live as normal a life as possible,” he revealed. “I try to go to the shop to buy a pint of milk without looking over my shoulder, because otherwise, you know, life would be terrible.

“But it’s been extraordinary and it’s taken me to most incredible places that I never would have gone to; and I’ve met and worked with brilliant, brilliant people. You know, when I started shooting these movies, it was a huge eye-opener for me. I’d never been involved with anything like this and I’m in a very good place.”

The man of the moment may have felt the pressure coming off the 2012’s Skyfall, the highest-grossing 007 film in history, with US$1.1 billion (S$XX) in worldwide box office takings (“of course it was pressuring, but it was also one of those great challenges,” he said); but that might be nothing compared to Spectre looks set to do.

So far, the movie has broken the all-time box office records in nearly every market in which it has been released, including the United Kingdom: The BBC reported that it raked in more than US$80.4 million in all released territories this week.

With a reported one last film in his contract and the rumour mill going wild about the future of the Bond franchise, what does Craig make of M’s comment in Spectre, that spying “is a young’s man game”?

“Yes, I do think there’s room for younger men in spying,” he said with a laugh, before adding: “I don’t know. I mean, I’ll do it for as long as I can!”

Spectre opens in cinemas tomorrow.