Today, the film No Time to Die is released, in which Daniel Craig returned to the role of 007 for the last time. In the 15 years that the actor has been the face of Bond, he has become a symbol of modern masculinity. And it would be so interesting to talk about it with him. If, of course, masculinity meant anything to Craig.
Relaxation. Calm. Equilibrium. Serenity. What other definitions are there for the state that the person in the chair across from me seems to be in? Give them all, and they will all fit to characterize his look, posture, timbre of his voice and tone.
I just made my way through the crowd in Soho to go up to the hotel terrace where I have an appointment with Daniel Craig. I was riding in a crowded subway car, then in a crowded elevator… And now the hubbub, and the noise of London, and the conversations of strangers, and the very anxiety of our life have receded — in the face of my interlocutor, his relaxation, his serenity, his confidence, his disposition me, a complete stranger…
Yes, and who came here with a mercenary purpose — to find out more about him. Although he assures that this goal is hardly achievable: he does not know how to talk about himself at all — he does not find anything exceptional in the events of his life, he would like to, but there is nothing to tell …
Craig and his colleague wife Rachel Weisz — the most closed acting couple? Yes, just an ordinary couple. Is his Hollywood career atypical? Is it? Is his flat refusal to continue playing James Bond after No Time To Die exotic? No, it’s natural.
Daniel Craig doesn’t seem to agree with any of the common opinions about himself. The more interesting to know his own. But he, however, is not inclined to talk about himself. And then I have to use a potent remedy.
Psychologies: Look, it’s pretty brave to have a baby at 50…
Daniel Craig: Boldly? Euphemism for «stupid»? Does a 50-year-old dad with a baby bandage on his chest look stupid? And some women would not agree with you: when they saw me with a stroller on the street or at the airport with a baby in their arms, they were very sympathetic, saying: “Welcome to the club!”
And in my experience, being a father at 50 is mostly enjoyable.
I have a feeling that when my eldest daughter Ella was born and grew up, she is now 27, I didn’t feel it, didn’t feel it … I was 23, everything is ahead, I lived … future joys, future extraordinary life. And the child was real, Ella was already the greatest value, but in this value there was no magic, magic, only love and responsibility.
But now I feel magic: that the baby was born, that she is mine and surprisingly similar to me. That she will remain after me. So I will continue — in the features of her children, in what I will teach her, and she — my grandchildren. Now every day — and I want to spend every day with her, and I almost succeed — I deal with magic. It’s a completely different feeling of fatherhood. Not like when you were young.
Having a small child, you probably somehow perceive your own age and, excuse me, aging differently?
I would say with enthusiasm. I have a new look at Henry, although I have known him since the age of five (Henry is the son of Craig’s wife Rachel Weisz and director Darren Aronofsky. — ed.). He is entering a difficult period of teenage years, and I see how his priorities change, his interests change, what the focus of his attention shifts to. It is not at all a fact that I would have taken all this seriously if my youngest daughter had not been born.
They say that by having children in adulthood, you can prolong youth. But neither Rachel nor I had such an idea. We feel good together: we love to cook, discuss roles and give each other advice. In this sense, our marriage is largely intellectual … But we, fortunately, are not the case of an acting family when life turns into a constant rehearsal, which happens in our environment, by the way, quite often.
We just wanted to have a common child — a sign of connection, which is more than decisions and desires, which is forever. A child for us is a kind of synonym for unconditionality, inviolability. Age, by and large, has nothing to do with it.
Is the decision to no longer play 007 due to age?
Of course. I’m getting old. And the action is no longer easy. After all, being a Bond … is, in a sense, monasticism. Five months of hard training. All the time of preparation and filming — not a sip of beer, the food is verified by nutritionists, sleep — at nine in the evening, get up at five in the morning. And again training. But most importantly…
Listen! 5 movies and 15 years of living with them is enough, no? You should not linger at any stage when you feel that it is coming to an end. And I always feel. Bond is over for me as an actor. And you know… I even like to give way while driving. And in a career … Well, really, you need to give way to those who are younger. Someone else probably wants to play Bond. And he can play it. And if I leave, then he can.
Didn’t you want to play Bond? As a Brit and an actor, did you have a dream to play 007 — a symbol of «Britishness» and modern masculinity?
To do this, you need to have ambition. And I never had them. Such a character trait as competitiveness is almost at zero for me. I did so much sports in my childhood and youth that I spent all the competitiveness allotted to me.
Classmates at the theater school just scared me: they ran as fast as they could to look for an agent, fought for roles, and quite tough. And I have never been interested in who else my agent does, where my colleagues play, what their fees are.
As soon as you plunge into it, you begin to doubt yourself, compare yourself with someone else, wonder why you don’t have what the other has… Someone else’s grass is always greener, and it destroys you.
But suddenly it also stimulates?
Me — no. I noticed as a child that I win in those games that I am fond of, in which I don’t care if I lose or win. Bond was indifferent to me. When I was offered this role, I was even confused. Long thought. He wrote out on a piece of paper on the right all the “for”, on the left all the “against”.
“Pros” were, of course, fees, “against” — that this role will be imprinted on me forever, and from now on they will offer only the same hard-working action heroes. And I will never walk down the street unnoticed by a crowd of paparazzi … And as an actor, I’m more Poirot than Bond. Have you seen Knives Out? Not bad, right? My Benoit Blanc is a pompous detective, a self-satisfied genius, a shrewd fool. And funny, poignant. This is exactly my role…
But there is something about Bond… James Bond is a product of the post-war depression. The world in World War II faced the unthinkable — with millions of victims, with the Holocaust. Which philosopher formulated this question: is art possible after Auschwitz? Beauty after Auschwitz?
The world has fallen into a depressive confusion. Bond — a way out of depression
He acts to improve the world. And it seems to be telling the entire establishment: I will work for you, but on my own terms. Bond in his early days, defending the empire and the queen… basically, the leftist dude. Although he does the job, he has no superiors, he does not recognize leaders deep down.
Me too. I have influencers like my favorite theater teacher, the great director Declan Donnellan. He once gave us perhaps the best piece of advice a teacher can give a student: “Never be discouraged by professional failures. Because you can expect even greater failures ”…
But what finally convinced me was Barbara (Barbara Broccoli, producer of the Bond cycle. — Ed.). The woman who devoted her life to her father’s cause continued the Albert Broccoli franchise and even increased its scale. Barbara convinced me that Bond would be new.
You don’t have the machismo of Bond at all…
Why, Bond is different. He became more realistic and sensitive. He is an action hero who loses, loses, fails and mourns. Well, really, this is no longer the Bond of the great Sean Connery, who told one of his girls: “Listen, baby. Listen when a man speaks,” or slapped the other on the bottom.
Wouldn’t you like to play that Bond, the Bond of traditional masculinity?
Play — oh yes. I’m an actor! But slap that Bond woman today, he’d get hit back. And that’s good, that’s right. I really do not appreciate all this … cock. I never take part in men’s competitions, who is cooler. Even in words. And I think gender equality is a win for men. And the male right to go on maternity leave is not only a female, but also a male conquest. I like that the world of male dominance is a thing of the past. I’m just against any domination.
It turns out that you are also a «left dude» …
Well, of course, I’m from Liverpool, from the North, from the educated middle class. My mother was a teacher of drawing and art. I grew up on English television in the late 70s — early 80s — when Ken Loach, the future genius of social cinema, was making serials. And in these serials there was our English life, but passed through humor, bitter, northern English. How can I be right?
But seriously… I became a producer on 007: Spectrum. And I really wanted to do the script myself. We worked with him for two years. I had a hell of a lot of ideas — Bond had to go into reality and become a realist. Fortunately, there were people who wrote down my ideas, and then said: “Danny, you can’t be serious about all this.”
One of the writers at some point called out: “I ask you to stop clowning outside the circus!” And it’s true. There is nothing to make of a character who has a “license to kill”, the hero of Bergman films, which I was clearly inclined to … But this is also very important in general — to have people around you who limit you. And that’s why I respect leftist ideas — in our world they limit the dominance of the traditional, accepted, fixed.
What will you do now, after Bond?
DK: I will eat. Raise a daughter. Relax. Drink. The sequel to Knives Out is coming soon, it’s just great. And there is one more Russian novel, satire and philosophy at the same time. It’s called The Master and Margarita…
And what, will you play Woland?
D.K.: No. I hope for Azazello, the merry devil.
Craig’s Chosen Ones
Fiona Loudon
The first wife of the actor was his colleague — Scot Fiona Loudon, known mainly as a theater actress. When Craig and Loudon got married, both were 22 years old. The marriage did not last long — about two years. Their daughter Ella, who also chose an acting career, inherited her love for the stage from her mother. From the mother, and her political predilections — both of them are staunch supporters of Scottish sovereignty.
Heike Macacs
The actor had a stable relationship with a star from Germany, actress and singer Heike Makacs. They lasted more than 7 years, all this time the couple actually lived between two countries — Germany and Great Britain. Heike spoke almost no accent in English, and Daniel fell in love with German punk and especially the group Die Toten Hosen, which literally means «Dead Pants». But despite this, in 2004 they broke up.
Satsuki Mitchell
In 2005, on the set of the thriller The Jacket, Craig met producer Satsuki Mitchell, a half-American, half-Japanese woman 10 years younger than himself. They were engaged, bought a house, planned a life together and even children…
But at some point, the relationship cracked. And I remembered how their romance at the very beginning was overshadowed by talking first about Craig’s one love interest (it was model Kate Moss), and then the second one (actress Sienna Miller). The engagement was broken off.
Rachel Weisz
He has known Rachel Weisz for many years. They went to the same acting classes and the same parties. Then they met at the studios, then with friends, and even at the Oscars — Rachel then had a stable relationship with director Darren Aronofsky.
In 2010, they played spouses in the thriller Dream House. And a year later, Craig and Weiss were legally married in the presence of only four guests, among whom were then 16-year-old Ella, Craig’s daughter, and 5-year-old Henry, son of Weiss.