Is Daniel Craig Grumpy? Or Just Honest?
By David Pegram
Kevin Fallon, at The Daily Beast, had strong words regarding “grumpy” Daniel Craig’s apparent return as James Bond, 007. Fallon states that Craig has spent years “griping” about playing Bond and that the idea of him taking on the role again is a “terrible” one:
"In a surprise twist too annoying for even the most subpar of the franchise’s installments, Daniel Craig, who once said he would “rather slash my wrists” than slip back into his 007 suit, will reportedly return to play James Bond for the fifth time"
Fallon’s issue, it seems, is that Craig’s decision to return is a slap in the face of other actors who
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are in line for the part, particularly Tom Hiddleston. But one feels like saying to Fallon, as Moneypenny did to Bond in Skyfall: “You should do your homework.” Craig isn’t grumpy about playing Bond — exhausted, at times, yes, but not grumpy. Maybe what he is grumpy about is conducting interviews. And it’s no wonder, considering how easily his words in print have been twisted.
Let’s take the overreaction to his “slash my wrists” comment as a perfect example. In that now infamous Time Out interview with Dave Calhoun, this was the exchange:
"Can you imagine doing another Bond movie?‘Now? I’d rather break this glass and slash my wrists. No, not at the moment. Not at all. That’s fine. I’m over it at the moment. We’re done. All I want to do is move on.’"
Craig was being clear: Now? Not at the moment. And when saying, “I’m over it…All I want to do is
move on,” he is alluding to the filming just completed on Spectre. Brad Pitt once said something similar about acting: “My happiest moment is the day they call ‘wrap,’ and I’m free. I’m not looking back.”
Craig clarified his comments on Today with Matt Lauer, but the clarification has always fallen on deaf ears:
Anyone familiar with Craig and his interviews knows that he is prone to saying to reporters whatever is on his mind at any given moment, a trait that can make his comments easily misconstrued. And he’s aware of this. In a 2012 interview with Erik Hedergaard in Rolling Stone, Craig said, “Look, I’m James Bond. If I say anything specific, I’ll have to talk about it for the next ten years.”
Furthermore, Craig’s sense of humor can be difficult to gauge — and occasionally a bit tone deaf. He can be vulgar one moment, tongue-in-cheek the next, all in an attempt to bring himself down a few notches. In 2008, Craig told Richard Grant, “I’m always trying to self-mock. I’m always trying to put it down, or laugh it off, and you’ve got to be careful because false humility is not a great trait.”
Three years later, in an interview with Stephen Rodrick for Men’s Journal, Craig further admitted, “I hear myself talk sometimes, and I just want to shoot myself in the face.”
More recently, Craig has been quite open to the possibility of returning to Bond. There were no gripes when, this past October, he said, “There is no other job like it (playing Bond)…if I were to stop doing it, I would miss it terribly.”
One has to wonder how the mountains of evidence, regarding Craig’s comments to Time Out, as well as his attitude toward playing Bond, have eluded Fallon. But for added measure, here is more of “grumpy” Daniel Craig:
And here:
If Craig has a pitch perfect sense of humor about one thing, it’s about James Bond. As it should be. We welcome him back for Bond 25…and beyond, if possible.