Posted on 10/14/2005 6:46:33 AM PDT by linkinpunk
Daniel Craig Unveiled As New James Bond
1 hour, 30 minutes ago
LONDON - Daniel Craig was introduced Friday as the first blond James Bond and only the second Englishman to star as Agent 007 in the movie series.
Craig's selection was revealed as he was whisked down the Thames River aboard a military boat to a news conference.
Craig replaces Pierce Brosnan in the role of the suave spy in "Casino Royale," due in theaters next year.
"I'm speechless," the star said, after posing for photos with producer Barbara Broccoli and director Martin Campbell.
"Daniel is a superb actor who has all the qualities needed to bring a contemporary edge to the role," Broccoli and Campbell said in a statement.
Producers announced last year that they were seeking a replacement for Brosnan, who has played Bond in the last four films.
Craig, 37, is the first blond actor to play agent 007. Relatively unknown outside Britain, he has had a busy career that includes roles in the landmark 1990s British TV drama "Our Friends in the North" and films including "The Mother," "Enduring Love" and "Layer Cake."
He played Paul Newman's sinister son in "Road to Perdition," was poet Ted Hughes opposite Gwyneth Paltrow's Sylvia Plath in "Sylvia" and appeared in this year's thriller "The Jacket" with Adrien Brody.
Craig is also the tabloids' dream Bond. He once dated headline-grabbing model Kate Moss and has been linked to Sienna Miller, his "Layer Cake" co-star and on-off fiancee of Jude Law.
Earlier this year, Craig praised 007 as "an iconographic figure in moviemaking."
"I think you'd have to be stupid not to consider something like that," he said, but added that he hadn't given the role "any serious thought."
The film's producers tried to keep their decision secret, but Craig's mother told the tabloid Sun newspaper she was "thrilled to bits."
Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, originally published in 1953, "Casino Royale" is one of the few Bond adventures not to feature the MI6 gadget-maker Q. It was previously filmed as a 1967 spoof starring Peter Sellers.
Before Friday, speculation about the new Bond also included British actors Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Gerard Butler and Ewan McGregor, Irishman Colin Farrell and Australians Hugh Jackman, Heath Ledger and Eric Bana.
Actor Daniel Craig is unveiled as the new James Bond 007, ahead of the forthcoming filming of the 21st installment in the series, 'Casino Royale', on board HMS President, on the River Thames in east London, Friday Oct. 14, 2005. Craig replaces Pierce Brosnan in the title role of the forthcoming film, 'Casino Royale,' due in theaters next year. (AP Photo/PA, Ian West)
He's no Sean Connery. Too bad.
I know Sean Connery (not really), and that's no Sean Connery....
Well as long as he can make anti-war, anti-American and anti-Bush speeches at over-procduced and self-indulgent awards ceremonies, Hollywood will love him.
Neither were any of the other Bonds. :-)
Bush screwed it up again..
Breaking? I heard this on the radio two days ago.
I'm a guy (as straight as it gets), but really, is this REALLY a James Bond type of look?
He looks like a Russian ballet dancer.
Is the new James Bond a metrosexual?
Connery, then Dalton. Closest to the original Flemming character.
Although Lazenby did a pretty good job.
Maybe he's like Rush, an ubersexual, LOL.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1500934/posts
Maybe so.
But Yahoo only got the story 1 hour and 30 minutes ago.
No. Even Roger Moore in his old age looks more Bond-like than this guy.
"Is the new James Bond a metrosexual?"
The movie bond always was. Flemming's bond was an angst ridden mid-level government functionary who neither knew nor cared what wine goes with the fish course.
Iconographic indeed!
Ian Fleming said a few times that David Niven was his ideal Bond, even before any of the books were filmed. Niven was Bond to Fleming. This guy was good in Layer Cake, let's wait and see.
Yahoo is always on top of the news, isn't it? :-)
Uh-Oh! Looks a bit metrosexual. Is that the new "edge" they're looking for?
Leni
I demand that the House of Lords reject this nominee. He has no experience in international spying. How do we know he isn't going to turn into another Roger Moore.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.