The DANIEL CRAIG Appreciation thread - Discuss His Life, His Career, His Bond Films

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  • Posts: 6,601
    Its taken directly from the paper, so no link


    Dominic Maxwell (new Chief Theatre Critic) article in today’s issue of the Times UK.

    The neon lights are bright on Broadway

    With takings up and a raft of treats either already on or on their way, things are looking good for the Great White Way
    Daniel Craig strides on stage, looking splendid in a Seventies suit and raincoat. I’m as delighted as anyone by this, but the crowd’s reaction still takes me by surprise. It’s a year since I’d been on Broadway, and I’d forgotten how star entrances get rounds of applause here. And even though The New York Times’s chief theatre critic last year called for the end of routine standing ovations, my five days in town suggest they remain the rule, not the exception.

    Pavlovian showbiz responses make some sense, I suppose, when it’s Orlando Bloom’s self-consciously rugged Romeo motorbiking his way on stage in a new (and, sadly, uninvolving) production of Romeo and Juliet. The bike then freewheels rather feebly into the wings as Romeo makes his first exit, highlighting the lack of revs elsewhere in David Leveaux’s production. However, applause for Craig’s entrance is way out of whack with his role in Harold Pinter’s love-triangle masterpiece Betrayal, which is all about adultery in Kilburn.

    Not that this is some arthouse event at one of the not-for-profit theatres that are New York’s closest equivalent to our subsidised sector. Betrayal, which also stars Craig’s offstage wife Rachel Weisz as his on stage wife and Rafe Spall as his best friend (and her lover), has already taken more than $10 million (£6.3 million) for its 14-week run, an astonishing amount for a non-musical. And I suppose when you are paying anything up to $423 (£266) for a seat, you can react to the sudden appearance of James Bond a few feet in front of you any way you please.

    I paid $150 (£94) for a seat at the back of the stalls in the first week of preview. And although Mike Mike Nichols’s production still has more previews to go, for the most part it looked in grand shape to me. In the first, Craig-free scene, Weisz has a wonderful moment when she abandons her apparent poise by gulping at Spall’s pint while he pops to the bar. The final scene – which, owing to the backward chronology of the play, is also the start of the affair – has a moment of guileless joy as all three collapse laughing on a bed together. For a moment I thought that it was a genuine moment of corpsing.

    We are used to Craig, as Bond, suggesting all sorts of internal life to a clenched, determined man. It turns out to be a transferable talent: he is pretty much the perfect performer of Pinter. He brings out the vulnerability of his pugilistic cuckold, Robert, in a way I’ve never seen any actor manage. I didn’t applaud Craig’s entrance, but at the curtain call I cheered.
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    Thanks for posting this review @4EverBonded, I believe it's the first actual review I read from a newspaper critic. What I would give to see this play!
  • ShardlakeShardlake Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 4,043
    I think Bond has made some people forget what a tremendous actor Craig can be, when it seems Dench & Bardem were taking the plaudits for SF I still walked away from the film thinking Daniel stole the film, he did in both CR and QOS but in Bond 23 he was magnificent.
  • Posts: 6,601
    Sandy, the opening is only on the 27th. Before that no reviews, but this is from UK, so maybe that makes the difference.

    Shardlake, its true. But I think, its his way of being AND acting - not showy, that often puts others in the limelight.
  • ShardlakeShardlake Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
    edited October 2013 Posts: 4,043
    Germanlady wrote:
    Sandy, the opening is only on the 27th. Before that no reviews, but this is from UK, so maybe that makes the difference.

    Shardlake, its true. But I think, its his way of being AND acting - not showy, that often puts others in the limelight.

    I think you are right on that one, he's most generous as an actor, Rooney Mara's extraordinary performance in GWTDT would not have been as good without an actor of his caliber.

    Fincher said he knew he was in a safe place when he cast Craig as Blomvist , he felt he could relax as Craig as he put in his words "he's so f**king good".
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    Others have said this too but OFFTN is a great reference point to see just how magnificent and versatile an actor Craig is. Which is why as great a Bond as he is, I think it was @TheLivingRoyale who said this, that there's so much that can be done with Bond's character and Craig is a perfect actor to explore and convey such potential. I think Logan being the primary screen writer for the next two Bond films at least and a 3 year gap between SF and the next one, I sincerely hope they conjure up a genuinely amazing script because Craig's been nothing short of a blessing to the series and he deserves a fantastic tenure. His name attracts the best quality and his body if work showcases just how respected and legitimately talented he is.
  • edited October 2013 Posts: 12,837
    doubleoego wrote:
    I think it was @TheLivingRoyale who said this, that there's so much that can be done with Bond's character and Craig is a perfect actor to explore and convey such potential.

    I did say that yeah. Craig is a good Bond but I think he could be even better and with Purvis and Wade now gone I hope he will be.

    If Bond 24 and 25 are going to be connected then I'd love it if they used the whole brainwashing story from the books. I think Craig would be the perfect Bond for that and it'd mean Fiennes gets a bigger part (which they'll have to give him as he's probably getting quite a bit of money), while not being in the field.

    Although I think after the last few I'd prefer a more normal story focused Bond for the next one (we've just had a character piece with SF), so maybe do that for Bond 25 and 26 (if Craig sticks around for that long).
  • Instead what I think should happen is Cornell does Bond 25's theme as well.

    I'd like that, YKMN is a brilliant Bond song and I think only LALD beats it. I want Noel Gallagher to do Bond 24's theme though.
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    Instead what I think should happen is Cornell does Bond 25's theme as well.

    I'd like that, YKMN is a brilliant Bond song and I think only LALD beats it. I want Noel Gallagher to do Bond 24's theme though.

    Noel Gallagher would be great, the Oasis fan in me would be very much pleased \m/
  • @Sandy Do you prefer Liam or Noel? Personally I've always thought Noel was more talented. I think Freaky Teeth sounded really Bondanian, and today I found a video where someone had put it over the CR title sequence.

  • Posts: 6,396
    @Sandy Do you prefer Liam or Noel? Personally I've always thought Noel was more talented. I think Freaky Teeth sounded really Bondanian, and today I found a video where someone had put it over the CR title sequence.

    I think Noel was always the more talented of the two. Better singer and certainly the better songwriter. His more recent work in the guise of High Flying Birds is a real return to form. I'd also love him to write and perform the next Bond theme.
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    @Sandy Do you prefer Liam or Noel? Personally I've always thought Noel was more talented. I think Freaky Teeth sounded really Bondanian, and today I found a video where someone had put it over the CR title sequence.

    I think Noel was always the more talented of the two. Better singer and certainly the better songwriter. His more recent work in the guise of High Flying Birds is a real return to form. I'd also love him to write and perform the next Bond theme.

    Noel for me as well, although I also like Liam a lot.
  • ShardlakeShardlake Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 4,043
    After Definitely Maybe I tuned out, it always amazes that a tribute act which Oasis essentially are garner such praise by people, Noel is clearly talented but Liam is just someone who would have ended up breaking into your house and stealing your television had it not been for his brothers intervention, seriously Beady Eye are a joke.
  • Posts: 6,396
    Yes, I think most would agree that Beady Eye are bloody awful. Even at last year's Olympic Closing Ceremony Liam chose to perform 'Wonderwall' because they've never released anything even remotely decent.
  • Posts: 2,402
    Liam is shit. Noel should've just been Oasis' singer, they'd get much more respect had it been that way.
  • Posts: 6,601
    Baz gave it both thumbs up, but the actual reviews are not due until Monday. But this was the first of the press and star audience shows as a charity.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2476172/Rachel-Weisz-sparkling-gem-cheats-husband-Daniel-Craig-Betrayal.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    Thanks @Germanlady. Weisz looks lovely in that photo.
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    Found this collection of press reviews for Betrayal on BBC today, better than to post each individual review. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24801732
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    I personally think Dan and Rachel doing this play together can't be healthy for their relationship. All that time together just seems like too much time together.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,968
    I hear via venue autographs are usually likely because the actors get less of them - and I'm sure I've posted this elsewhere before - so I sent Daniel a picture and my 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' blu-ray case to personally sign. Someone else who was successful with it got their's back in about three weeks, and mine has been out for two weeks, so hopefully it comes back successful. I'll try to post pictures if it comes back and they're signed. I'm really excited.
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 12,837
    doubleoego wrote:
    I personally think Dan and Rachel doing this play together can't be healthy for their relationship. All that time together just seems like too much time together.

    They probably don't see that much of each other normally though since they're away doing different films.
  • MrBondMrBond Station S
    edited November 2013 Posts: 2,044
    Today marked 7 years since CR's international premiere! And how time flies, it certainly don't feel like 7 years have passed since then!
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,968
    MrBond wrote:
    Today marked 7 years since CR's international premiere! And how time flies, it certainly don't feel like 7 years have passed since then!

    Time really does fly by. Feels like yesterday I was sitting front row and center, opening night here in the States, with my crush and our mutual friend watching this.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Creasy47 wrote:
    I hear via venue autographs are usually likely because the actors get less of them - and I'm sure I've posted this elsewhere before - so I sent Daniel a picture and my 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' blu-ray case to personally sign. Someone else who was successful with it got their's back in about three weeks, and mine has been out for two weeks, so hopefully it comes back successful. I'll try to post pictures if it comes back and they're signed. I'm really excited.

    How exciting! Do keep us updated.
  • MrBondMrBond Station S
    Posts: 2,044
    I were having a "Bond-party" at the opening night, were all invited had to dress in a tuxedo and we played Poker, drank from Martini-glasses and had Bond-quizes. It was a really fun night!

    Note: All of us were just 10 years old that year ;)
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    doubleoego wrote:
    I personally think Dan and Rachel doing this play together can't be healthy for their relationship. All that time together just seems like too much time together.

    They probably don't see that much of each other normally though since they're away doing different films.

    I suppose you could be right.
  • AgentJamesBond007AgentJamesBond007 Vesper’s grave
    Posts: 2,632
    MrBond wrote:
    I were having a "Bond-party" at the opening night, were all invited had to dress in a tuxedo and we played Poker, drank from Martini-glasses and had Bond-quizes. It was a really fun night!

    Note: All of us were just 10 years old that year ;)

    Not sure what this has to do with Daniel Craig.
  • Posts: 2,402
    MrBond wrote:
    I were having a "Bond-party" at the opening night, were all invited had to dress in a tuxedo and we played Poker, drank from Martini-glasses and had Bond-quizes. It was a really fun night!

    Note: All of us were just 10 years old that year ;)

    Not sure what this has to do with Daniel Craig.

    He means when Casino Royale premiered.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited December 2013 Posts: 13,355
    Paul Haggis and Daniel Craig together recently at an event Haggis hosted:

    article-2521753-1A04E35900000578-732_634x760.jpg

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2521753/Heather-Graham-wows-sharing-red-carpet-Daniel-Craig.html
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Methinks Dan's hair needs trimming. ;)
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