“The idea of Bond’s name is so British, it was like, ‘Well, let’s just go with James Bond.'”–James Bond actor and writer Daniel Craig”If you look at the first five Bond movies, they were all based on real-life characters, real-world situations.
But the Bond films were never about the British people, about the people of this country, or about people of other countries.”–James Craig, The Writer and the Actor, to the BBC’s Andrew MarrIn his new book, The Writers of James Bond, Craig details the ways in which the character’s name has been changed, and reveals the true meaning of what makes James Bond tick.
Craig, who also writes the screenplay for the upcoming The Spy Who Loved Me, told Marr he is “still getting to grips” with the idea of making a film based on his character.
“It was really a question of, how can I capture the essence of James, but also keep it authentic and still be fun to watch,” Craig said.
“I’m trying to think of all the things I’ve been doing that James is like to do, and how I can make the best of it.”
Craig said he wanted to make a film that had a sense of authenticity and was not a rehash of the original films.
“There was a certain sense of nostalgia for the films, and there was a sense that they were very much a part of our culture and our history,” he said.
“The idea is, if you look back at the books, there were a lot of books about James Bond.
So if you take that away, then what you get is this idea that he’s this British man who’s been spying for a few years, and he’s always doing something he likes, but it’s never really clear who the agent is or what he’s up to.
So it was really fun to see how we could bring that all together.”
The book also reveals the differences between the original Bond films, as well as the influence of The Man With the Golden Gun, The Spy, and The Spyglass.
The former was based on the book of the same name, while the latter was a spoof of the first two films.
“There are a lot more scenes that don’t seem to be based on any particular source material,” Craig told Marrr.
“You’ll see scenes that are completely lifted from the novels, but you’ll also see things that were very different, because we’re going for a very different vibe.
So, you’ll see a lot in this book that wasn’t in the films.”
Read the full interview with Daniel Craig below: