One of the biggest — and perhaps most annoying — questions is, will Daniel Craig return to play 007 one more time? He’s said multiple times Spectre would be his last go in the iconic role, but he’s also vaguely kept hope alive. He uttered his latest stance on the topic during an interview at The New Yorker Fest in Manhattan (his first interview since Spectre), and it’s a pretty sound explanation of where he stands.
Birth.Movies.Death. reporter Phil Nobile Jr. attended the conversation and shot video of his statement. Craig can be seen saying:
When you’re asked 20 feet from the end of a marathon whether you’d do another marathon, the answer is simple. It’s like, “No, I won’t.” But the things I get to do on a Bond movie and what the type of work it is, there is no other job like it, there is no other job like, and if I were to stop doing it, just say, I would miss it terribly because you are working with — I maybe disparagingly said the movie industry’s getting a little bit of, you know, of the focus group thing and the whole thing. A Bond movie doesn’t work like that, it’s literally from the skin of your teeth you get it out and then it’s released less than six months later after you finish it. There’s no time for focus groups. There’s no time for that. You make the movie, it gets out. It’s one of the most thrilling things as an actor you can do.
When you consider the commitment involved in a multiple-film contract like James Bond and diverting the majority of your time and energy into this international mega-franchise, it can be daunting. Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson told reporters on the set of Spectre that Craig now has an “open-ended contract,” though executive producer Callum McDougall recently said he’s “absolutely” their “first choice.”
The first order of business, however, is finding a distribution home for Bond, as Spectre marked the end of EON's deal with Sony Pictures. A bidding war is expected to ensue, with Sony keen on continuing the partnership while folks like Warner Bros. would love to bring Bond into their fold. Once that's settled, the "Daniel Craig" question will likely be answered once and for all. Watch the actor's latest statements in the video below.
