He defined Ian Fleming’s classic and cool British spy James Bond on the big screen and as the secret agent’s franchise completes its golden jubilee this year, the original Bond Sean Connery says two Bond flicks old Daniel Craig is the perfect 007. “As James Bond completes his golden jubilee on the screen, I will define him not as a mere Casanova, who loves to kill but a suave and intelligent saviour of mankind, who has battled life in every aspect valiantly,” the 81-year-old says over telephone from California, adding, “Daniel Craig is the best James Bond I have witnessed — confident and reflexive.”
Ask him about his other successors and Sir Sean, who portrayed the suave spy in six installments says Roger Moore “was too stylised”. The octogenarian also talks about his success post Bond.
“Performing James Bond was certainly not my greatest histrionic challenge. But it established me surely as a star of merit and helped me to achieve a strong foothold in Hollywood. As Bond, I had to practice a lot of action, martial arts and swift movements to match the secret agent’s skills,” he says, while naming Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Thunder Ball his favourite Bond flick.
Prod him about his love scenes as Bond and he says, “Love scenes in Bond films were just meant to be.”
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Craig-is-the-best-Bond/Article1-741134.aspx
Comments
The best Bond is behind you !!
As for Craig. Yes, him in CR is the best Bond performance. Its three dimensional and exciting. With Connerys own perfromance in FRWL as the next best. Then Tim in TLD.
My humble opnion of course.
Like SUPERMAN,
We will Always think of CHRISTOPHER REEVE as SUPERMAN.
Everyone after that has to meet his standard.
As everyone knows, the Producers originally wanted Cary Grant.
As much as I acknowledge GRANT'S Excellence, especially in "North by Nortwest" (1959), with Eva Marie Saint, (MGM),
and perhaps EVEN THE VERY FIRST of this GENDRE....
"AIN'T NOTHING LIKE THE REAL THING"
CONNERY IS BOND.
But he is such an EXCEPTIONAL and Versatile ARTIST....
He did what he could.
Thanks Sir Sean for your EMMENSE CONTRIBUTION to this FILM NOIR.
YOU SET THE BAR LIMIT.
The others have to work at it.
I LIKE THEM ALL.
ALL 6 BOND ACTORS have been fabulously successful.
BOND.........ONLY BOND.
Wouldn't you love to see one scene when all 6 Bond Actors appear in the same film?
They all still LIVE.
The Very Definition of NOBILTY is STRENGTH and HUMILITY.
They learned this at the BATTLE OF ABERDEEN in 0078 against General Agricola of the Roman XIX (9th Legion).
ON THE CONTRARY.....
Sir Sean is a KNIGHT.
He will always say....
THE NEW GUY IS THE BEST BOND.
Remember the BOND Coat of Arms:
HMSS,
TWINE,
"ORBIS NON SUFFICIT"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bond-coat-of-arms_(semi-fictional).svg,
THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH.
Having said that, the first sentence that Connery supposedly said sounds incredibly awkward and leads me to believe that he never said it. It's the way that people write but not the way they speak. The only way I could believe he said it is if they were prepared remarks at some sort of presentation.
Don't mean to be cycnical but this sounds cobbled together, to coin a phrase.
TB was his best performence imo. It's AFTER Thunderball he's had enough.
Say it again that I do feel Mr Dalton was the best 007, only two releases but it brought a hard edged reality that audiences craved, more so after the often mundane exercises with Moore in the role
But Craig best Bond?, someone's had too many Vodka Martinis for sure
Awwww... someone doesn't like Craig. There there... I will make the boogie man go away.
Really. Even though this interview might not be real, it is insulting that you think someone might have had one too many vodka martini's if he or she likes Craig. I mean reee-heee-aaalll-llyyyy. Comon!
Regardless of whether Connery said this or not I find this more or less spot on.
Connery was once quoted as saying that playing the role of Bond wasn't as easy as some people made out. It took as much skill to play Bond as to play Shakespeare. Which is why some actors have struggled to nail it. Bond has to be cool, dangerous (without needing to pull daft faces) and confident (when he walks in to a casino you are only looking at him, not the decor). Connery nailed it.
I know I keep saying this, and I'm sorry, but really Dalton's jerky, troubled Bond while being a different and therefore welcome take on the character, wasn't really what the cinematic Bond was about. And even if it was he was never cool or dangerous (IMHO).
Craig gets it.
Craig does get it but Tim got it first.
Dalton was a solid Bond and a solid actor (a very good one indeed), but that funnily enough is the problem. He's an "actor" at heart. Connery, Moore, Lazenby, Brosnan and Craig all had a cockiness and a slightly arrogant manner about them, which they played up to on film (maybe not so much Moore but even he had a super-cool charm). You believed that they WERE partly like Bond in real life. I can't quite put my finger on it but there is just something a bit "actor-ly" about Dalton's manner. Funnily enough I think he was actually a lot more entertaining in films like Hot Fuzz. He seemed to be having a lot more fun in that film (I remember him saying in an audio commentary that he throughly enjoyed working on that film - epecially shooting a gun out of a police car window while travelling at high speed). I think that's the key, whether you're a "darker" Bond or a "lighter" Bond you need to look like you are having fun.
I've quoted this interview from Total Film so many times by the all-time great Sean Connery:
On other actors who have played Bond:
Timothy Dalton has Shakespearean training, but he underestimated the role. The character has to be graceful and move well and have a certain measure of charm as well as be dangerous. Pierce Brosnan’s a good actor. He’s added some new elements to it.
Part of me can believe he actually said this. Would anyone like to argue with the person who first brought the character to life in 1962?
I don't mean to sound Anti-Dalton. I DO like him (he's a FAR better actor than GL) and would agree that he's closer to Fleming but there is just that "something" he lacks onscreen IMO (at least at that time).
And I also agree that regardless of the type of part you're playing, playing it well is as difficult as any other. The things that you need - complexity, conviction, presence, originality, ability to hold an audience's interest and surprise them with your choices - pertains to ANY part regardless of genre or "seriousness".
I do love Dalton's Bond but agree that Craig gives an even more well-rounded performance. But both showed in their first film that you can take a character that had been around a long time and still make it fresh and interesting, and even more importantly, three dimensional. Dalton had a wonderful way of always showing the subtext which made his Bond much more of a thinking man, but some people took that as "too much" and would have prefered a more subtle approach. I like it but do see how some people find it theatrical.
The upcoming Bond 23 could let Craig leave his Bond mark on the series for good though many think he already has. This will be a proper 'Bond' film after all so let's so how he does. He'll in this sense be on an equal footing with Dalton. I hope Craig does bring the " thinking man" element back to the series as I've really missed it and feel it's much needed and if this is aided with a confrontation scene or other such ideas he could shine and be much better than Dalton was or dare I say even rival Connery.
Allthough I love Connery's films, especially the Terence Young ones (not much of a fan of the others) I can see Craig take over the top spot for me. We'll just have to see what B23 will be.