BOND IS THE STIG'S TOPSTEER

DANIEL Craig has thumped every celebrity on the Top Gear leader board after secretly trying out the show’s race course.

The 007 star was given lessons by masked speed devil The Stig while rehearsing the opening car chase from Quantum Of Solace.

After Craig impressed the stuntteam with his driving skills, The Stig, who doubles as a Bond stunt driver, took Craig to the Top Gear racetrack at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey to see how he’d fare against other celebs.

The result was stunning.

Craig, 41, blasted round the course and lopped a massive TEN seconds off the record held by Jamiroquai singer Jay Kay. The secret trial was revealed by Bond stunt co-ordinator Garry Powell who devised the Quantum chase scene in the Carrara marble quarries in northern Italy.

He said: “Daniel is a very good driver. He got a lot of press saying he could only drive an automatic but that’s a big lie.

“The Stig from Top Gear took him out a couple of times but it wasn’t something he really needed. He’s a naturally good driver. We took him to the Top Gear track and he went through there at about 130mph.

“For celebrities the top is around one minute 45 seconds. I reckon he could do it around one minute 35.

“If he went on the show, I’m pretty sure he’d end up on top.”

Powell, 45, the son of Bond stuntman Nosher Powell, reckons there has never been a tougher 007.

In the explosive fi nale, Bond is stuck in a burning building with gas blazing all around him.

Powell says: “There are fireballs exploding behind him and in front of him. He’s landing on fire, sliding along the floor through fire. But you know he can do it.”

But one action sequence where the star didn’t put his neck on the line was when he shares a parachute with

Bond-babe Olga Kurylenko as they plunge to earth from a burning plane.

The entire scene was fi lmed on the ground in a single day in the wind tunnel at Bodyflight in Bedford.

There, instructor Jason Richardson, 35, found himself making a shock movie debut after one stunt double’s blond wig kept blowing off.

He said: “All the close-ups are Daniel’s face. All the tumbling and spinning was me.

“Now they tell my classes they’re to be taught by Craig’s stunt double!” Jason was also impressed by Craig’s stunt skills. “He was a very good flyer,” he said.

“He learned really quickly.”

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news....pSteer-

Sunday, April 12, 2009
Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig has earned his license to kill. When it was announced that he would replace Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, the near-universal reaction was outrage. Bond fans in the U.K. went so far as to launch a website that included doctored photos of Craig as Vladimir Putin and Al Bundy and called for a boycott of the actor. The press skewered him as “Bland, James Bland.”

But then came Craig’s performance as Bond in Casino Royale, arguably one of the best 007 pictures. The new Bond was favorably compared to the legendary, adored Sean Connery, who also sang Craig’s praises. Craig’s former critics ate crow, admitting he was the first to truly capture Bond creator Ian Fleming’s dark, occasionally vicious characterization. The Boston Globe wrote, “The most mocked of Bonds is now fast on his way to generating perhaps the best reviews of anyone in the 007 club for his brutal and engrossing performance.”

The film grossed nearly $600 million, trouncing earlier 007 films and setting the bar high for Quantum of Solace, the new Bond installment, opening this month. In the movie, which picks up an hour after Casino Royale leaves off, Craig, 40, is back—moodier and more pissed off than ever. Bond’s overriding modus operandi: revenge, following the murder of Vesper, his lover in the earlier film.

Craig is from Chester, England, where his father was a merchant seaman and owned a pub called Ring O’ Bells. After his parents split, in 1972, Craig was raised by his mother, an art teacher, in Liverpool. He left school at 16 to study at the National Youth Theater in London. He earned his living as a waiter and enrolled in the Guildhall School of Music & Drama at the Barbican, where he studied alongside Ewan McGregor and Joseph Fiennes. He graduated in 1991.

When Craig was selected to play Bond, much was made about his size (at five-foot-11, he’s the shortest Bond), his piercing blue eyes and his hair color (he’s the first blond). But he has subsequently been crowned one of the sexiest men by Elle magazine. And apparently he’ll soon leave bachelorhood behind: He is romantically linked to Satsuki Mitchell, the actress who accompanied him to the Casino Royale world premiere. He has a teenage daughter, Ella, from a previous marriage.

Soon after Craig completed the filming of Quantum of Solace in Italy, Australia and South America, Playboy sent contributing editor David Sheff, who recently interviewed Fareed Zakaria for the magazine, to meet Craig in London. Sheff reports: “When I arrived in the U.K., a customs agent asked if I was there on business or pleasure. I explained I was in town to interview Daniel Craig, at which point her mood swung from chilly and suspicious to swooning. ‘Oh my God,’ she said, almost hyperventilating. ‘His photo’s near my bed. He’s the sexiest.’

“He’s also an impressive actor, as I was reminded before the interview when I attended screenings of Quantum of Solace and Defiance, in which Craig plays one of three brothers who hide, and save, hundreds of Belarusan Jews from Hitler’s local collaborators. The contrast between the roles couldn’t have been more extreme, but Craig rose to the occasion in both the action-adventure and dramatic films.

“And yes, he’s charming and suave. He drank coffee, not martinis, but he’s Bond-like even in blue jeans instead of a Brioni suit.”

http://bomagazines.blogspot.com/2009/04/danie-craig.html

Daniel craig is the grittiest of all the great-looking blokes who have played James Bond over the last four decades. He’s also full of contradictions. His working-class background keeps him grounded—and yet he recently was named to the tony International Best-Dressed list. Bond would be amused by such an honor. And so is Craig.

When we meet for afternoon tea in London’s artsy Soho neighborhood, he is casual but sophisticated in a black cashmere sweater, black shirt, and black jeans. Craig’s 2006 movie Casino Royale became the highest-grossing Bond film in history, earning nearly $600 million worldwide. His second effort, Quantum of Solace, due out Nov. 14, picks up where Casino Royale left off.

“The question I keep asking myself while playing the role is, ‘Am I the good guy or just a bad guy who works for the good side?’” he says. “Bond’s role, after all, is that of an assassin when you come down to it. I have never played a role in which someone’s dark side shouldn’t be explored. I don’t think it should be confusing by the end of the movie, but during the movie you should be questioning who he is.”

Playing the world’s most famous spy has, Craig admits, changed his life. “I was at a stage of my career in which things were going pretty well,” he says. “I was making plenty of money, relatively speaking—enough to live on. But when this opportunity came along, I knew it would turn everything upside-down. I’m 40 now. It really helped me put things in perspective. It wasn’t about the money. It was about changing things up and seeing what would happen.” He takes a sip of tea and adds contemplatively, “At some point, life starts to pass you by and becomes about avoidance. I want to stay clear from that situation, because I don’t like that.”

For Craig, playing Bond seems to be as much an athletic endeavor as an acting challenge. He played rugby as a schoolboy in Liverpool—and talking about that time, he softens. His mother, an art teacher, and his father, who ran a pub, divorced when he was 4 years old. When I ask if his love of performing stems from those early days in his father’s pub, his blue eyes crinkle with joy.

“Oh, you’ve found me out,” he says. “I’ve always loved to dress up a bit and show off. There was also a great theater company in Liverpool called Everyman, where I hung out as a kid. It was one of the major influences on me.”

What would the people who knew him back then say about his becoming a sex symbol? Craig’s raucous laughter is loud enough now to fill any pub back in Liverpool. “If people want to think of me that way, that’s great,” Craig says. “But the truth is, I don’t have a connection with that image.” So, what was he thinking when he posed for the now-famous beefcake photo of Bond emerging from the surf in a Speedo? The shot swept the Internet in 2006, just when he was being introduced as the new 007.

“I was being objectified, but actually that’s not a bad thing to feel,” he says with a laugh. “I knew exactly what was going on when I did that shot. There’s a conscious decision to everything I do. For me to say, ‘Oh, God! I didn’t realize that would happen!’ sounds incredibly naïve. I look at that picture, and my only thought now is that I certainly don’t look like that anymore. For Quantum of Solace, I made a decision that I wanted to get bigger and get muscles, because Bond is older and has probably been training.” It’s unlikely though, that any subtle change in physique will alter his appeal. “As I keep saying, I’m 40 now, and in five years’ time or even less, sex symbol might be a really kind of weird term to attach to myself. How about sexy father figure?” he suggests.

Craig is, in fact, a father. His daughter from an early marriage that ended in divorce is almost as old now as he was when he dropped out of school at age 16 to move to London to pursue an acting career. Would he allow his own child to do such a thing? “No,” is his quick answer. “No. No. No. No.”

His mother and sister are two of the most important people in his life. He is still close to his ex-wife. And his longtime girlfriend, Satsuki Mitchell, a movie producer, is another steady presence. All this female energy around him may explain why Craig’s masculinity onscreen is not off-putting but forged instead with a kind of fierce sensitivity.

“There are people on this planet where you go, ‘Oops, no, I don’t even want to look that person in the eye,’” says Craig. “And that real scariness is not something I’m capable of. That’s something maybe De Niro is capable of at his best. But that’s not me. As tough a role as I have to play, I’m always just me. It’s good to be in touch with as much of yourself as possible. Otherwise, you’re a rather one-note performer. Who wants to be the tough guy and nothing else?”

Among his many tough-guy antecedents in Hollywood—Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, James Cagney—with whom does Daniel Craig most identify?

“The obvious choice for me would be Bogart,” he says. “Not only because of that ease he had with his unique take on masculinity, but also—and this is much more important—because he got to sleep with Lauren Bacall.”

I finally ask this British actor a deeply American question: “Who do you think would be the better James Bond—Barack Obama or John McCain?”

Craig doesn’t hesitate. “Obama would be the better Bond because—if he’s true to his word—he’d be willing to quite literally look the enemy in the eye and go toe-to-toe with them. McCain, because of his long service and experience, would probably be a better M,” he adds, mentioning Bond’s boss, played by Dame Judi Dench. “There is, come to think of it, a kind of Judi Dench quality to McCain.”

And who does he think would be the better Bond girl—Michelle Obama or Cindy McCain?

Again Craig’s laughter practically lifts him from his seat. “Oh, now you’ve crossed the line,” he says. “That’s much too dangerous a question. Can’t we go back to talking about Lauren Bacall?”

http://mohdsuak.blogspot.com/2009/04/daniel-craig-returns-as-007.html

Daniel Craig has revealed that portraying the tough superspy has cured him of his morbid fear of heights.

Chester-born Daniel, 41, revealed that he was originally a quivering wreck at the thought of filming fight scenes on cranes and jumping off buildings.

Now Daniel has revealed that the stunts he was required to perform in filming Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace have finally cured his vertigo.

Daniel, who was educated at Hibre High School, West Kirkby, said the gruelling schedule of filming meant he simply had to conquer his demons.

He said: "I used to have a huge problem with heights before taking on Bond.

"But I have less of a problem with them now and I even look down.

"They always say don't look down, but what's the point of being up there if you don't look down?"

Daniel explained that the sequence in casino Royale in which he was perched on top of a crane was the scariest he'd ever done.

He said: "I was shaking and the thought of getting up there.

"It was a very long process and involved eight weeks of shooting - so there was no time for being afraid of heights. In the end I did as much as I could up there."

Meanwhile preparatory work has begun on the next 007 adventure and there is speculation that it will involve scenes set in Afghanistan.

Code-named "Bond 23" it will see Daniel return for his third outing with a Licence to Kill.

Screenwriter Paul Haggis, who edited the screenplays for Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, is working on the new script.

And it is being suggested that some scenes will be in Helmand province after an official at the British embassy in Kabul was hired as a consultant for the film.

The official concerned is said to have signed a confidentiality agreement with the film-makers to protect the secrecy surrounding the project.

Thousands of British troops are based in Helmand - one of the country's major heroin production regions - where drugs fund the Taliban armed insurgency and Al-Quaeda terrorists.

* It would be the second time that film-makes have ventured into Afghanistan with 007.

In 1987 "The Living Daylights" Bond, then portrayed by Timothy Dalton, was imprisoned in an arms-dealing camp in Arghanistan under Russian control.

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No turning back: Why Daniel Craig will never stop experimenting

Daniel Craig’s new film turns him from chilly Bond action man into a thoughtful leader of Jewish partisans fighting the Nazis. But how has playing the hero affected him?

You wonder where he finds the stamina. Just a couple of weeks after finishing the punishing worldwide promotional circus for Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig is back in another hotel room, this time in Beverly Hills, banging the drum for his next film, Defiance. But stamina is not his problem.

As soon as you meet him, it’s blindingly obvious why he was selected to be the new Bond, the different Bond who would reinvigorate a tired franchise: his raw energy. Past Bonds were notable for their nonchalance, their irony. Craig has a kinetic, masculine vitality that, unlike with most actors, is even more palpable in the flesh than it is on screen. What I find more surprising, though, is his forceful, if untutored, intelligence, tempered by a self-deprecating wit.

In Defiance, Craig is transformed from the relentless, even humourless, action hero Bond has become into Tuvia Bielski, a real-life, flesh-and-blood action hero: hard-drinking, hard-loving, the leader of a band of Jewish partisans who held their own against the Germans in the forests of Belarus during the second world war. The film, based on an extraordinary true story, co-stars Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell as two of the other Bielski brothers, who were farmers before the war. By refusing to surrender and by waging an often brutal three-year guerrilla campaign against the Nazis, the Bielskis managed to keep more than 1,200 Jews alive deep in the forests of Belarus. It was as astonishing a feat of endurance as anything that happened during the war, yet it remained essentially unknown until 1993, when the book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans, written by Nechama Tec, was published. Only now, with the release of the film version, directed by Ed Zwick (Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai), is the story becoming widely known.

“Well, the big story is the obvious one: that there was total annihilation of the Jewish population in Europe,” Craig says, explaining why it took so long for the facts behind Defiance to come to light, mainly because of the reluctance of those who took part in it to talk until many years later. “So, in a way, this is a small story about a relatively small number of people who resisted. But there was also survivor guilt. And they did bad things to survive – though that makes for an interesting moral argument.”

The film highlights the intense differences between Tuvia, the leader of the Bielskiotriad, and his brother Zus, played by Schreiber, over tactics and morality. Zus favoured retribution, not only against the Nazis, but against the locals who sided with them. Tuvia believed they needed to survive with their morality intact. “We may be hunted like animals,” he declares in the film, “but we will not become like animals.”

“That’s the question, isn’t it?” Craig says. “What’s worth fighting for? What I find fascinating was that this normal man, a farmer, was thrust into the role of leadership and somehow figured out these great moral questions. That really made the story interesting for me.”

I ask whether Craig decided to do Defiance because the part offered the opportunity to show a more sympathetic side of himself than Bond has become. “No, it’s always, ‘Does this story work?’ Everything falls into place around that. And, really, I try to keep it as instinctual as possible, because if you start thinking, ‘I must do a romantic comedy now, because I’ve just done a psychotic’, you’re stuffed. It would seem the antithesis of art.”

At the same time, from quite early in his career, Craig, who has played everything from a gangster, in Layer Cake, to a poet, in Sylvia, has tried to make sure he isn’t typecast. “The first time I came to LA, in the early 1990s, all the jobs I seemed to be going up for were the Nazi or the thug, the bad guy,” he says. “And I remember sitting in a casting and looking around at these actors, all of whom were there to play the bad guy, and I thought, ‘I don’t want to be here. This is not who I want to play.’ You know, on paper, that it’s a career, you’ll make a living, but I knew I didn’t want to be typecast then. I wanted to be able to play anything.”
Even though Bond has made Craig, at 40, the most famous Englishman after David Beckham, and he’s on the way to becoming a very rich man, he says he tries not to think of what he does as a business, but to keep in mind what inspired him to become an actor: “I can remember wanting to act as far back as I can remember.” His mother, an art teacher, used to take him to the theatre in Liverpool, where they lived. “I was just amazed that one minute people were on stage, then they would come off and be completely different,” he says. “It was magic. And it obviously had a deep, deep effect on me.

“I was always impressed by loud people, too, which is a bad thing to be impressed by, because most actors are drunks, and, as the evening goes on, they get louder and more entertaining - well, hopefully more entertaining.”

Acting offered Craig, who left school at 16, a way out - out of Liverpool and out of the low expectations a lot of people, perhaps even he, had of him. “Liverpool at that time was going through a depression: it was just horrendous,” he recalls. “I was failing miserably at school, and my mother said, ‘Well, I know you want to act, so get out and do it.’ It was a gentle but firm push. She also said, ‘If you want to act, go to London.’ ” Craig studied first at the National Youth Theatre, then at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, at the same time as Ewan McGregor and Joseph Fiennes, graduating in 1991. “And it all kind of worked out,” he says wryly. “My mother is very, very relieved.”

Part of the reason for his ebullience when I meet him may be that he has just been told Quantum of Solace has topped $500m in worldwide box-office sales. “Although I wouldn’t know $500m if it sat on my face,” he says. “But it would probably be quite nice if it sat on my face. I know that, when it comes down to it, these films are about box office, but the moment I start thinking about the figures, I’ll be stuffed – though maybe I won’t be saying that in a year’s time, when I’ve spent everything.”

Craig hardly needs reminding about the vitriolic reaction of die-hard fans to the news that he had been chosen as the sixth actor to play Bond. “My God, don’t the producers have any brains?” one fan asked in a typical internet posting. “Bond must be tall, dark and handsome, or at least two of the three, and he isn’t even one.” Craig admits it got to him at the time, but, after all the doubts, he says the success of Quantum is even more satisfying than Casino Royale’s was. That is mainly because he was more involved than he has acknowledged in the development of the character and story. With Quantum, he took full ownership of Bond.

“The first film was a huge punt, although I think if it had failed miserably, I could have walked away with my head held high and said, ‘Well, I gave it a go.’ But the fact was that it wasn’t. It was a success, and in a way that nobody could have predicted. Quantum was about keeping it interesting, relevant, and the only way I could think about doing that was just to throw myself headlong into it. So I know the work we put in. We didn’t have a complete script, so Marc [the director, Marc Forster] and I had to batter it into shape, to find the story we wanted to tell.”

Craig isn’t bothered that Quantum has been criticised for being too dark. “Well, I nicked a lot of the ideas about who Bond is from Ian Fleming,” he says. “But the point is, we did the movie we had to do to finish the story off, and comedy and lightness weren’t relevant. This was a story about loyalty, about friendship, about who you can trust. Gag-writing wasn’t at the top of the list.” Looking forward, he says that having finished the story they began with Casino Royale, everything will be up for grabs in the next film - although nobody has started working on it yet - and the tone could be completely different.

“I love the idea of putting Moneypenny in the film,” he says, to my surprise. “I’m dead keen to do it. And Q.” Moneypenny, to those few who may not have seen earlier Bond films, is the secretary who is always flirting with Bond, Q the Secret Service boffin who equips him with the latest spy gadgets. “But I work from the premise that there are millions and millions of people out there who never saw one of the earlier Bond movies. So they don’t understand the martini gag. Or the Moneypenny gag, which is a gag - it had ceased to be a character. So, let’s find out who she is. We can have fun doing that. And, don’t get me wrong, I’m up for a submarine base, as long as the gag works. The problem is that Austin Powers screwed everything up. He exploded the genre. Did I just say that? I did.”

As satisfying as the success is, Craig admits he still hasn’t fully come to terms with how much Bond has changed his life, although he insists that the people closest to him, including his long-term girlfriend, the producer Satsuki Mitchell, and Ella, his 16-year-old daughter, treat him as they ever did.

“I’m in denial about it, but it has changed everything for me,” he says. “Life just got flipped on its head. All of a sudden, everybody recognised me. I can’t go out without being recognised. Simply put, it’s a pain in the ass. You can’t have the sort of spontaneity of saying, ‘Let’s go to the pub.’ People say, ‘You’re an actor. Isn’t that what you do?’ But I don’t do it to be recognised. I do it because I get a kick out of doing it. I’m not moaning, but I have had to reassess the way I look at the world, the way I live my life. I knew I would, I just didn’t have a plan for it.”

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By: Shanon Watson

With killer looks, this guy has it going on. Daniel Craig’s style is admirable, whether he’s dressing down or donning his most fashionable red carpet attire. He’s been selected as one of Britain’s best dressed men by “GQ.” This is the fourth year in a row that he’s graced the magazine’s list. He dresses simply but with a European flair. With a weathered face like the Marlboro man, he blends a rugged allure with modern panache. It’s no wonder Craig is a hit with the ladies and landed the coveted role of the sixth actor to play James Bond.

It’s tailor made

Yeah, it’s difficult to peel your eyes away from him. Just keep in mind that he has a license to kill. Above, Craig is wearing an Alfred Dunhill dinner jacket, which is similar to this one by Hugo. Dunhill is the British fashion house that scored the role of Bond’s tailor for “Casino Royale.” Just prior to this movie, the double agent’s suits were furnished by Italian fashion house Brioni. Dunhill suits are cut very classic and straight, whereas Brioni suits offer a more slim fit. Both looks are appealing, but Dunhill offers a traditional British look, which is more in tune with the double agent’s background. Tides changed once more with the production of “Quantum of Solace,” where the suits were created by American designer Tom Ford. See here. His suits have a flair for the Italian with strong shoulders and a narrow waist. Ford is renowned for reviving the Gucci label.

Can’t read these eyes

Whether you want some shades for function or style, the following will meet your needs. Check out Craig sporting some bomb aviators by Christian Dior above. Get yours here. Scope him out in this scene from “Quantum of Solace.” He’s wearing a pair of Tom Ford sunglasses, which you can find here. Notice that with the single bar nose bridge, these glasses are a fresh update on the classic aviator look. In “Casino Royale” he wore these Persol shades in the first part of the movie and these ones in the latter part. Most of these sunglasses come with polarized lenses, which are great for reducing glare from the sun or any Bond-style explosions you may encounter.

You gotta gotta dress up to get down

Above Craig blends casual and formal elements of style. Here, his dark, slim cut jeans pair well with a button up shirt and blazer. The look is polished but not over-the-top. It’s great for a night out on the town. Here is a similar yet affordable shirt. Pair it with a blazer like this. In “Casino Royale,” Craig wore these polos by Sunspel. They’re also great for pulling off a nice yet casual look.

Here he is again in jeans and a tee. I would caution against wearing jeans with this much flare at the bottom of the leg. Opt for more of a boot cut. The wide flare can make legs appear shorter, whereas a slight boot cut makes for a leaner, longer look. Here is a pair of great boot cut jeans. Also, notice his distressed leather belt. A quality belt is always a good investment. Pick up a good one here. Be sure to wear some stylish leather shoes like these.

In brief

When Craig emerged from the ocean in this scene from “Casino Royale,” all attention focused on a) his sculpted body and b) his itty bitty swim trunks. I’d reserve a suit like this for a European vacay, but if you’re feeling particularly bold and don’t mind fitting all your manliness into a skimpy pair of trunks, then by all means go for it. If you’ve got the body and the confidence, then you’ll definitely grab the attention of any and all passersby.

You can snag this look, called square trunks, by going here. The pair donned by Craig in the movie is by La Perla, but if you want this particular style and brand, you’ll have to search eBay or buy them through this Italian version of the company’s website. Keep in mind that tiny swim trunks aren’t all that popular in America. Here is another basic pair of fitted trunks that promise to stay put, and the dark color is more discreet than Bond’s bright blue getup. This look is daring, so if you have any apprehension or fear that a suit like this will barely cover your crotch rocket, then opt for something that’ll leave a little more to the imagination.

At the end of the day, if all else fails in your pursuit to look like the next Daniel Craig or James Bond, let your last option be to enlist the assistance of the Royale Marines and roll onto the scene aboard a boat. Nothing says V.I.P. quite like this entrance. Or next time you’re at the bar, order yourself this drink: three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet shaken and graced with a slice of lemon peel. If you can’t dress like Bond, you can certainly drink like him.

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Daniel Craig: A poet in motion

Daniel Craig first grabbed attention - and a loyal female fanbase - in the TV series Our Friends in the North. Could his latest role, as Ted Hughes opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in Sylvia, be his Hollywood calling-card?

By Liz Hoggard
Wednesday, 28 January 2004

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en....26.html

Could playing the anti-Bond be the best career move Daniel Craig's ever made?

The actor has decided to play a mild-mannered leftwing radical journalist in the US version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Genius or madness?

It is hard to imagine fictional characters further apart than Mikael Blomkvist, the central protagonist of Stieg Larsson's hugely successful novel The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and James Bond. And yet Daniel Craig, the current 007, last week reportedly signed on to star in a trilogy based on the Swedish book and its two sequels.

With Bond currently on hiatus due to studio MGM's financial travails, Craig has seized the opportunity to be part of another high-profile series with both muscular fists. And make no bones about it, Larsson's posthumously published stories are serious news, having sold more than 27m copies around the world. The second instalment in the Millennium series, The Girl Who Played With Fire, is the only translated novel to have ever topped the UK hardback chart, so this is no minor indie role which Craig has taken on. And yet despite their similarity in status, Blomkvist remains the anti-Bond.

007 apologists would argue that his creator, Ian Fleming, was writing in a very different era, and recent Bond films have tried their best to introduce stronger female characters. Yet one can't help suspecting that Lisbeth Sander, the "heroine" of Larsson's novels, would find 007 to be a despicable creature. The tattooed, "punk" hacker with the photographic memory maintains a fearsome and lethal hatred of men who exploit women, and even if the Bond girls seduced by James don't seem to particularly mind being exploited, that is exactly what is happening to them. At least one in two usually ends up dead, after all, even in the later films, starring Craig.

There are other differences. Bond is constantly at the centre of his own tales, while it's notable that in the recent Swedish film adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth emerged as by far the more fascinating character. Though clearly a damaged individual, it is she who lies at the centre of the story's discoveries. When she and Blomkvist embark on an affair, the man is very much the passive partner – the seduced, rather than the seducer. It's an extremely un-Bond-like dynamic. (It should be mentioned, here, that the film version was criticised for obliterating the book's feminist polemic by showing Lisbeth naked, being raped, but despite this completely misguided decision, I think she still comes across as a strong persona).

While both Bond and Blomkvist are ostensibly middle-aged, Larsson's man has little of 007's macho charisma in Niels Arden Oplev's movie, though one might suggest that his moral fibre is rather more intact. Blomkvist is a leftwing journalist, a radical who has made it his life's work to expose the corruption of corporate Sweden (he also has a nice line in unmasking the festering dregs of the country's aging Nazi element). Bond, on the other hand, is very much for Queen and country, with a background in the armed forces and a healthy (as it turns out) distrust of foreigners. If the two were British newspapers, Blomkvist would be a souped-up Morning Star, while 007 would be the Daily Mail or the Telegraph.

Of course, it may just be that such a role is perfect for Craig at this point. While Bond has a rest, he takes on a series which could not be more different, but is likely to receive almost as much attention. Yet I can't help wondering if audiences prepped for the next Daniel Craig saga won't be a little surprised to find him dialling it down as a mild-mannered journo. Or could it be that director David Fincher will succumb to the temptation to dumb down the original source material to create something more generic in the interest of box office success? I suppose it all depends on whether he's in Zodiac mode – quite happy to let the story tell itself, no matter how unorthodox the narrative arc becomes – or moonlighting in his Curious Case of Benjamin Button guise as a skilled but unadventurous director for hire.

I hope it's the former, for unlike another forthcoming Hollywood adaptation of a Swedish original, Matt Reeves' Let Me In (following Tomas Alfredson's Let the Right One in), there is space for a well-filmed US remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The original had a TV movie quality about it that Fincher should be well-placed to improve on. And it could well be the role which in years to come, is remembered as "that other series that starred Daniel Craig". The one in which he was so much better than he was as Bond.

Источник

Перевод на русский, пост 14

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news....ll.html А здесь про разрыв (?) помолвки с Сац в "Telegraph"

http://www.film.com/features/story/2011-year-of-daniel-craig/43566565

Will 2011 Be the Year of Daniel Craig?
With four movies out this year, momentum seems to be building for Bond.

Elisabeth Rappe, Jan 12, 2011

Movie stardom is a precarious thing, particularly in these quick-and-dirty days. You are only given so many chances to be A Really Big Name. A headliner. An actor or actress who can open a movie purely by being them, and thus gets their pick of the juiciest scripts. These, we are told, are the people who can get movies made. Hope often rests on them to pick edgy scripts, and fund them on their star power alone.

What's always startling about the definition of stardom is that the public's perception of a star isn't the same as the industry's. We think of Hugh Jackman of being a big star. Hollywood considers him a wild card, and unable to open a movie on his own name. (Exhibit A: Fox assuring audiences he was manly enough for Australia.) Gerard Butler may burn up gossip blogs, but he's not 100% bankable. Neither is Clive Owen, Josh Brolin, Viggo Mortensen, or a dozen other actors we gush over, but are considered impotent when it comes to luring in crowds. But perhaps the biggest shocker of that "big but not a leading man" list is Daniel Craig.

Yes, that's right. James Bond is considered a bit of a loser by studio executives. Why? Because he's Bond. Despite his physique and popsicle-blue eyes, Craig has had little luck with audiences outside of 007 installments. The Invasion, The Golden Compass, and Defiance all fizzled and though that had little to do with Craig, he's viewed with a bit of studio skepticism. When he was cast in Jim Sheridan's Dream House, there was a fair amount of critical clucking about how desperately he needed to make his name in something new. When it seemed as though Bond 23 would never happen due to MGM woes, Craig's slide down the cast list seemed a distinct possibility.

But that's so last year. 2011 is going to be the year of Daniel Craig. Again, it seems bewildering to those of us who are fans of movies and the people in them, but Casino Royale was just a starting point. Craig has to prove what else he can do. With four major movies being released into theaters this year, this is his biggest and best opportunity.

First up is Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens. Daniel Craig was a last minute replacement for Robert Downey Jr., and I can honestly say that from where I was sitting and reporting, no one cared. Craig may have his own creepy popsicle, but no one sparked to the idea of his riding the range and shooting extraterrestrials. (Why not? Don't men love Westerns? Don't ladies love cowboys?) That changed once the trailer hit, and he looked so mean and mysterious. The whole mystique -- the dust, the hat, the chaps, the squint -- fit him like good pair of boots. That's not a surprise. The Western genre is rather to flinty and rugged blondes. I suspect it will do more to sell him beyond Bond than a dozen romances, dramas, or comedies might, particularly in a post-True Gritworld. Unless, of course, it winds up a disastrous Jonah Hex with aliens, in which case it will set the genre back so far that even the Coens might complain.

But Craig's got all genres covered this year. If chaps and spurs don't sell him, perhaps a supernatural thriller will. Dream House, which hits theaters on September 30, will either build on Cowboys & Aliens buzz, or gently scrub it away. The plot is intriguing -- Craig and Rachel Weisz play a couple who find their ideal home, only to find out it's haunted by its former inhabitants -- and the cast is good. (Naomi Watts, Marton Csokas, and Elias Koteas costar.) Jim Sheridan may be its weakest point. It could be on par with his best thrillers, or it could be Get Rich or Die Tryin'. If it flops, Craig takes the hit. It's not fair, but that's the way it works.

However, you don't get the enviable role of James Bond without a few clear skills, and Craig played his cards right with sheer scheduling. Whatever his buzz is by December, he won't be resting on his laurels or hiding from the world. Oh no. He's headlining The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for David Fincher. Despite the talent amassed, many fans are skeptical of this remake, and dubious that it can do better than the Swedish original. But there are undoubtedly just as many fans who feel Fincher can wring new angles out of the story, and many moviegoers have yet to meet Lisbeth Salander or Mikael Blomkvist on page or subtitled screen. Craig has the opportunity to make the character his own, and to carve out a new (if limited) franchise with the Millennium Trilogy. But Tattoo could fizzle simply because of an abrupt Salander burnout (it happens with so many properties) or a sense that Fincher is just echoing an established property. We saw this last fall with Let Me In, which had some fine scenes in its own right, but wound up striking a lot of people as pointless. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo could end up with a very similar fate.

Craig also is faced with embodying another European favorite: Red Rackham in Steven Spielberg's ambitious adaptation of The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. He'll be buried under layers of motion capture though, so it's entirely possible many will see the film and never realize Craig is Rackham. If the movie is a roaring success, it will be the cherry on top of an incredibly full and awesome year. If it's a flop, well, the motion capture can forgive a lot of sins. But it won't help Craig any. He's going to be seen as a bad penny.

2011 could find Craig conquering four separate genres in a single year: Western, horror, thriller, and animation That's the kind of slate any actor or actress would envy, and wins fans from every demographic. That's the kind of year that makes you a superstar. But if they're all dead on arrival, then it just looks like bad timing and overblown ego. Just ask Jude Law how it can sting to have bombarded one cinematic year, and then be mocked for the scheduling that's out of your control. One goes from being a golden boy to being a sidekick in Sherlock Holmes.

But that won't happen to Craig. Not completely, anyway. He will either be bigger than big in 2012, anticipating the release of Bond 23 (which is going into production to earn him even more 2011 press), or he'll have to be content being known only as the world's sexiest super agent. That's not a bad way to build a screen legacy (I don't hear anyone calling Sean Connery a failure). He won't be hurting for money. The residuals are enough to retire on unless he tries to buy Argentina and a pack of racehorses. And if you're a man and could choose one indelible image to go out on, it ought to be looking fit in a pair of tight swim trunks. Really. No one is going to be shedding a tear for Daniel Craig.

Nevertheless, good luck to you, Mr. Craig. May 2011 be your year. From where I sit, it certainly looks as though it will be. You've got a good mix, they're well spaced through the year, and you're a talented fellow. Odds are in your favor. Who knows? You may even get a new popsicle flavor out of it!

Может переведу потом)

Blame plastic surgery craze on Daniel Craig
By lindsay Clydesdale on Feb 1, 11 06:27 AM in

BLAME it on Daniel Craig. The 007 star and his perfect pecs are sending more men to the plastic surgeon to make them look like delicious Dan in the famous beach scene of Casino Royale.

Figures from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons shows that despite the recession, nip and tucks are still on the rise and the biggest increase is in so-called moob jobs.

Men with fatty, saggy areas of skin on their chest are becoming insecure about their lack of a six pack and opting to go under the knife.

But the head of the association said around a third of all men asking for surgery are sent away to improve their diet and levels of exercise instead, because they're overweight.

It's a strange world when people will spend thousands of pounds to have their body cut up and sewn back together, rather than cutting out the crap and going for a run.

Daniel Craig didn't have pec implants, neither was his chest sculpted into shape by doctors while he lay on his back in an operating theatre.

He worked out for hours, every day, for many months, with several trainers. It will probably have been boring, certainly difficult and at times painful.

But it also made him a fitter, stronger person - something no amount of surgery will achieve.

It's also odd at a time when the entire country is supposed to be suffering from the stuttering economy, job losses and price hikes, that plenty of us will still pay thousands of pounds for unnecessary surgery. What weird priorities people have.

Still, men and their moob-jobs will have to go some way to compete with us. Because when it comes to vanity, women are still way out in front in the mad things they'll do for their appearance.

Tomorrow night, TV show Beauty and the Beast begins and episode two features freaky-looking Sarah Burge, who's spent more than half a million pounds on 100 cosmetic operations and calls herself a real-life Barbie doll.

After the damage she's done to herself, particularly the overzealous laser work on her face which has frozen her features, she looks more like Chucky.

Then there's Allyson Donovan, a contestant on another show, Bridalplasty, where brides-to-be compete for their wish-list of plastic surgery.

Unveiled as the winner on Sunday, she showed off the results of all that chiselling, scraping and tightening, to her dazed fiance as she joined him at the alter.

But despite the $20,000 cost of the treatments, to my eyes what made the biggest difference was the 35 pounds in weight she was forced to lose first.

Frankly if these daft people can't grasp that it's a risk every time they have needless surgery and gamble their health for their looks, perhaps the gene pool is better off without them.

Источник

Добавлено (09.10.2011, 20:59)
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В общем поучилось как-то так!
А вообще статья откровенно дибильная!

Какова карьера Крейга после Бонда?
Безнадежна. Абсолютно безнадежна.
От Кристиана Тото.

Актерам не просто получить вымышленную лиценцию на убийство,когда проходит кастинг на роль Британского суперагента. Они получают карьерные возможности не такие как у других.

Какая еще франшиза может сделать такой фильм из простых приключений героя,способного одновременно быть настолько горячим в постели и спасать мир? Но не так давно новый Бонд Дэниель Крейг привратил очередное приключение в лучшее выступление в кинобизнесе.

Последний фильм Крейга "Дом грез" вышел в прокат в этом уикенде, но критикам не позволили даже мельком взглянуть на фильм до его релиза. Что касается "Ковбои против пришельцев", несмотря на восторженные отзывы фанатов,картина откровенно провалилась в глазах критиков и обывателей.

Вы слышали что-нибудь о фильме "Ковбои против пришельцев 2"? Я тоже нет!

Другие после бондовские роли Крейга: "Вызов","Золотой компас","Вторжение", были довольно холодно встречанны зрителями,несмотря на большой бюджет и хороший актерский состав.

Привлекательный звезды не обязательно должны быть талантливы. Криминальная драма "Слоенный пирог" живое тому подтверждение. ((And, in an age of metrosexual leading men, Craig brings a virility to his work that’s impossible to deny.) Извините как перевести это на человеческий язык я незнаю,т.к. не могу понять что он этим хочет сказать.) Женщины восторгались выбором плавок в "Казино Рояль",первом фильме с Крейгом.

Но Крейг не единственный Бонд,который встретил неодобрение общественности.

Пирс Броснан оставил карьеру на телевидении, после того как его утвердили на роль Бонда в 95-ом году на фильм "Золотой глаз". Но после Бонда он никак не мог найти свою роль. Он становился старше, но оставался привлекательным. Он был хорошим актером,который мог сыграть как в драме так и в комедиию У него был свой особый стиль. Его возраст близился к 60 и он стал слишком стар для Голливуда.

Он даже не смог спеть часть пени в мюзикле "Мама Мия!"(тоже не снаю к чему он это)

Дважды сыгравший Бонда Тимоти Далтон также подтверждает тотальное невезение в карьере после Бонда,поэтому он так и не смог стать звездой кино.

У Крейга есть шанс реабилитироваться этой зимой. Он выступит в главной роли в фильме "Девушка с татуировкой дракона",долгожданная кино версия бестселлера Стига Ларсона. Режиссер Дэвид Финчер,который снял нашумевший фильм "Социальная сеть", возможно раскроет истинный талант Крейга ,какого мы еще не видели.

P.S Это был жуткий американский язык! Чуть бошку себе не сломала!