Daniel Craig Thought Of Quitting His Role As 'James Bond' After 'Spectre'

Daniel Craig has been the most loved 'James Bond' character and has performed the role for 14 good years, the longest of all.

The actor's stint as the super English spy ended with "No Time to Die," which was released in 2021. The movie's turnout was quite impressive as there were more positive reviews than negative.

However, Craig had initially thought of leaving the franchise after the release of his penultimate movie "Spectre."

Acting as 'James Bond' was not an easy feat for Craig as the experience took a toll on him physically. At the time of the production and release of "Spectre," he announced his plans of resigning.

In a report by GQ, he talked about the arthritic feelings that come with age and detailed some of the injuries he got while performing, which involved lots of muscle tears and ruptures. The injuries required multiple surgeries and rehabilitation.

Recovering from the injuries did not bother the celeb; it was the thought of having to recover from the injuries again that bothered him.

He wondered if his act was worth the painful experience he had to go through, and he vowed not to do another 'James Bond' movie again. Craig said, 

"I didn’t feel...I felt physically really low. So the prospect of doing another movie was just like, it was off the cards. And that’s why it has been five years."

During his time as the fictional '007' agent, the British star mentioned in an interview with the movie producers that he stopped thinking and just acted. This made him forget several occurrences of his acting period.

His return to the screen with "No Time to Die" was very exciting for fans, but the star was challenged with understanding what happened and what he had achieved as the legendary 'James Bond.'

As The Blast previously reported, Craig did the majority of his stunts without assistance from stunt performers, which resulted in most of the earlier mentioned injuries he sustained.

"No Time to Die" was different; he avoided the dangerous stunts due to his wife's plea as she was not open to the idea of him performing his stunts.

Rachel Weisz, the actor's caring wife, feared for her husband's broken body, and she made him promise not to get involved in risky stunts. Craig agreed as he knew he would not be 'James Bond' forever.

It took a lot of convincing from the movie producers to bring him back after his vow not to return since "Spectre." However, he revealed that he felt different and satisfied with the finality of the story.

Craig never imagined himself getting the role of 'James Bond' as he compared himself to Pierce Brosnan and other famous actors who previously played the part.

The Blast shared that he revealed his story to the New York Times about the audition and landing the role. Craig said, "I was just amongst the mix – someone to dismiss."

Although, he hoped to land a bad guy role as he did not have high expectations of being as high-profile as he is now.

The Chester-born actor admitted that he got into acting to pay the bills rather than earning from waiting tables.  

Some fans initially did not totally accept landing the 'James Bond' role as critics compared Craig's not-so-good looks to the dashing Pierce Brosnan.

However, he eventually made quite the name for himself with his outstanding performances that seemed to have topped the previous stars.

In 2021, the 54-year-old spoke about who the next Bond character should be. He believed the role was suited for a man and not a woman.

The Blast reported that he objected, saying, "Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just a good as James Bond, but for a woman?"

Craig would not be the first to have a different opinion about the character being female. Barbara Broccoli, the franchise producer, said the same thing about two years ago.

She stated, "James Bond can be of any color, but he is male." She also believed the industry should create new characters that depicted strong female characters equal to the Bond character.

Broccoli also felt women were too interesting to be stuck in a male role. She said, "I'm not particularly interested in taking a male character and having a woman play it. I think women are far more interesting than that."