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In an interview, Daniel Craig revealed the emotional toll of being part of the five instalments of James Bond films, followed by Luca Guadagnino’s Queer.
Daniel Craig was part of James Bond films from 2006 to 2021. (Photo Credit: X)
Daniel Craig, popular for his role as Spy 007 in the James Bond films, recently appeared in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer. The critics praised his performance in the movie. Now, in an interview, he revealed why he couldn’t have played the character while working on the Bond series. However, the completely different role had a significant take on his emotions.
In a conversation with the UK’s Sunday Times, Daniel Crag clarified why he couldn’t have taken on the role in Queer while working on James Bond movies. He explained, “I couldn’t have done this while doing Bond,” adding, “It would look reactionary like I was showing my range.” For those unaware, Queer is based on William S. Burroughs’s 1985 semi-autobiographical novella of the same name. Craig appears in the role of an American expat, William Lee, who becomes infatuated with a discharged U.S. Navy serviceman named Eugene Allerton (played by Drew Starkey) in the 2024 movie.
Craig further elaborated on the emotional toll of his long collaboration with the James Bond films. He shared, “Early on with Bond, I thought I had to do other work, but I didn’t. I was becoming a star, whatever that means, and people wanted me in their films. Incredible. Most actors are out of work for large chunks, so you take your job offers — but they left me empty. Then, bottom line, I got paid. I was so exhausted at the end of a Bond that it would take me six months to recover emotionally. I always had the attitude that life must come first, and when work came first for a while, it strung me out.”
Craig, who gained immense international fame by playing the on-screen secret agent James Bond in multiple ventures of the film series, including Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), and No Time to Die (2021), expressed a sense of relief in his latest role. His stint in the movies portraying the same character over the years made a strong statement on masculinity.
He continued, “It’s just not a conversation I wanted. I had it all the way through Bond anyway. Could there be this Bond? That Bond? So anything that is going to inflame that conversation? No — life’s too short.” This explained how his latest role was a sense of relief from the stereotyped version of himself being made in his mind due to his longest collaboration with Bond movies.
Besides Craig, Queer stars Daniel Craig, Omar Apollo, Jason Schwartzman, Lesley Manville, Henry Zaga, Ronia Ava, Colin Bates and many others.
