BOND star Daniel Craig has weighed into the debate about whether his new film The Golden Compass is anti-religious, claiming the Vatican will one day sell the book.
The £90million movie, which has its world premiere in London tonight, is based on the first book, Northern Lights, in British author Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.
Since it was published in 1995, some have claimed the trilogy is anti-catholic and anti-God but pro-atheist.
The Catholic League in America have already urged parents to ban their children from watching the movie.
But it has also been attacked for watering down Pullman's rejection of organised religion.
However, Daniel, 39, claims the morals of the book are sound.
Speaking in a London hotel before the premiere, he said: "I've never been religious and I'm not a church-goer, but I do find religion fascinating because it has such a huge impact on our lives.
"I'm not surprised at the criticism. I get that. But I think the majority of people who are criticising it haven't read it.
"These books are not anti-religious. Mainly they're anti-misuse of power - whether it's religious or political.
"They sell Dan Brown (author of The Da Vinci Code) now in the Vatican so I'm sure they'll be selling this there too eventually because it presents a very healthy debate.
"It's interesting that people should get so angry because the morals in this book are solid and really good. Any child should read this."
In the film, Lyra Belacqua, played by newcomer Dakota Blue Richards, follows a friend who has been kidnapped by an evil group that want to separate children from their souls.
Daniel plays hero adventurer Lord Asriel, while Nicole Kidman is the film's baddie, Mrs Coulter. Eva Green, who played Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, also stars as witch Serafina Pekkala.
Daniel laughed: "She's going to be in every movie I make from now on. It's contractual. Actually, it's a coincidence."
The film by New Line Cinema, the studio behind The Lord of the Rings, is filled with computer generated delights, including armour-covered polar bears.
And while Daniel and Nicole are the show's big hitters, it is Dakota who is the star of the film, and the adults had to make sure they knew their place and they even had a swear box on set.
Daniel laughed: "It was worth every penny. It cost me a lot of money but it was good. I had to pay a small fortune.
"It became a joke after a while - sometimes Dakota would be on set and you wouldn't know it and you'd hear, 'It's another pound.'
"But I get a big kick out of working with children because you've got to keep them enthused and it's a long day.
"You have to keep them amused and their energy levels go down but Dakota learned quickly and I teased her a lot to get her going, so we could bounce off each other.
"It was a real pleasure. I talk to children the way I talk to adults."
While other James Bonds have struggled to stop being 007, it seems Daniel is carving a career that includes Bond movies but isn't exclusive to them.
Since Layer Cake in 2004 made him a household name, he's played an assassin in Munich, which was based on a true story about a group chosen to kill the people responsible for murdering 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics.
Then he turned the Bond series on its head with a grittier, more realistic 007in Casino Royale before doing this year's big children's fantasy movie The Golden Compass, which is released next week.
Of his diverse career (he is currently filming Defiance, based on a real story about three brothers who saved thousands of Jews from the Nazis that is being seen as even bigger than Schindler's List) he laughed: "I'm clinging on by my fingernails.
"I'm trying to get on with things and trying to keep interested in the work I do because I love my job, the more diverse the better."
The Chester-born actor admits he's retreated from the glare that accompanied him after he took over the role from Pierce Brosnan.
He said: "I don't go to public events and it's on purpose because I don't need to get that hassle.
"Sometimes it's really easy but at other times it gets a bit tricky and I duck away.
"Having a sense of humour is really key. You have to laugh about these things and I've just tried to remain who I am.
"My life has changed in the sense that I don't have the freedom I had before but I have other things now.
"One of them is travelling. I go to places Ihave always wanted to go. I'm not visiting places as a tourist but in a working environment and that's one of the best things."
He admits he wasn't sure about taking on Bond but was persuaded by the script.
Now he is in weapons training for Bond 22, which will hopefully be out next year.
When Daniel was first named as the famous spy, his critics were almost deafening.
As well as being blond, he wasn't a ruggedly good looking actor like Sean Connery that we had come to expect in the role.
Some fans threatened to boycott the film and even set up a website but were silenced when Casino Royale hit the screens.
However Daniel knew when he was filming that his first foray into a world of guns, martinis and Aston Martins was good and on the next film added: "The pressure is now on."
While there have been rumours he's signed up to do four more Bonds, he denies it and said: "It's not that it's not true but I haven't signed up on that level.
"I've signed for the next movie and after that we'll see. That's the way I'm doing it and it's certainly not formal."
While Daniel may now be a global name, he has managed to keep his home life private.
While he was previously married to Scot Fiona Loudon and is dad to their daughter Ella, he's also been linked to Sienna Miller and has been dating American producer Satsuki Mitchell for two years.
With fame, fortune, an ever-growing career and family to concern him, Daniel admitted: "I've got it all, I just don't parade it.
"It's very much part of my life but I don't choose to share details about the ones I love with anyone other than those who have met them.
"I have to make time for things like life, family and friends.
"You have to make time to visit - you can lose touch and I don't want to.
"That is the most important thing to me.
A holiday would be nice but we have Christmas coming up."
Of course an interview can't go by without mention of the "trunks shot" in Casino Royale, which saw a buffed-up Daniel emerge from the sea in tight blue shorts.
When asked about that sex symbol tag, he guffawed: "I live with it. It might not last very long."
Joking he added: "I'm very, very serious about it and I'm having therapy.
"No, it's fine. It's all part and parcel and this is a fickle business so I can't take it too seriously."
The Golden Compass is out next Wednesday, December 5.
WHO'S WHO?
Daniel Craig Lord Asriel
HE is a member of the English aristocracy in a parallel universe, which is dominated by an oppressive version of the Christian Church. Asriel lost everything after an affair with another politician's wife ended in terrible tragedy.
Nicole Kidman Mrs Marisa Coulter
SHE is the head of one particular faction of the Church known as the General Oblation Board.
Under Mrs Coulter's guidance, The Oblation Board has been secretly kidnapping children from Lyra's world, and using them as "lab rats" for their sinister experiments at their laboratory in Bolvangar.
The Oblation Board thinks that by cutting away the child's daemon, they can prevent the child from knowing sin.
Dakota Blue Richards Lyra Belacqua
THE central character of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a parallel universe to our own. She finds herself embroiled in a cosmic war and her life is changed forever when her best friend Roger and other children are kidnapped.
Sir Ian McKellen Iorek Byrnison (voice)
HE is a panserborne - an armoured bear and king of Svalbard. In the His Dark Materials books, he is called Iofur Raknison, but his name has been changed by New Line Cinema.
Eva Green Serafina Pekkala
AS queen of the witches, Serafina rules over certain clans in the district of Lake Enara, which is an alternate name Pullman created for Lake Inari in northern Finland.
Sam Elliott Lee Scoresby
ASKILLED aeronaut balloonist and best friend of armoured bear Iorek Byrnison.
Tom Courtenay Farder Cordam
AN important member of the Gyptians. He seems to take the role of second-in-command or adviser for the Gyptian King John Faa.
Jim Carter John Faa
The King of the Gyptians. When the dreaded Oblation Board starts kidnapping children, John Faa is the man who leads 170 of his men to the North to try and save them from a terrible fate.
Jack Shepherd Master
THE Master of Jordan College is the highest-ranking scholar, and oversees the college's affairs in all sectors. He is the one who gives Lyra The alethiometer, a device that looks like a compass which tells the truth.
He tells her that it is a very rare device, being one of only six ever made.
Ian McShane Ragnar Sturlusson (voice)
THE pompous panserborne who usurped the rightful king of Svalbard, Iorek Byrnison.
'The majority of people who criticise it haven't read the books. Mainly they are anti-misuse of power - be it religious or political'
'I don't go to public events, I don't need to get that hassle. Having a sense of humour is key. I've just tried to remain who I am'
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