Peter Mitchell August 11, 2011
Daniel Craig is a man of few words, just like that cool, tuxedo-wearing, martini-swilling British super spy character he plays so well.
It's not that the 43-year-old is rude.
Craig, apparently, is just not a talker.
"Wait. You got Daniel to talk?" Cowboys & Aliens director Jon Favreau, feigning shock on his face, says.
Favreau is happy to poke fun at Craig, who co-stars with Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde in the genre bending western-sci-fi-action film which, as the title suggests, pits gunslinging cowboys against marauding aliens in a wild west battle.
Favreau's "You got Daniel to talk?" query came after a journalist asked the director a question that began with the words, "Daniel Craig said ... "
"Wow you are good," Favreau says to the journalist when it is confirmed that Craig, in fact, did speak during an earlier interview.
Craig, Favreau, Ford and Wilde have been flown in to the 15,000 hectare Paw's Up luxury ranch in Greenough, Montana, to talk up the $US163 million film with reporters.
Craig, born in Cheshire, England, was pleasant and even cracked a couple of smiles during his interviews, but he admits to being uncomfortable with the Hollywood star tag. He just wants to be an actor toiling with his craft.
"I don't really know what that means," Craig responds when asked if he likes being a Hollywood "mega" star.
"I really don't."
Craig was bitten by the acting bug aged six when he was cast in a school play. When he turned 16 he left his home on the Wirral Peninsula in north-west England to join the National Youth Theatre in London, appeared in stage productions with the Royal National Theatre and worked regularly in supporting roles on Hollywood movies, including as Angelina Jolie's love interest in 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Sam Mendes' 2002 gangster drama with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, Road to Perdition.
It was his hiring in 2005 as James Bond that brought Craig overnight worldwide fame and, when his first Bond film, 2006's Casino Royale, was a monster hit, earning almost $US600 million at the box office and resurrecting the ailing spy franchise, the Englishman's star status was confirmed.
"I enjoy what comes with it, but there's also some bad things that come with it," Craig explains about fame.
"I'm doing a job I love and getting paid for it which is all I ever wanted to do in acting.
"Back when I was at drama school all I wanted to do was make a living out of it and that's what I've managed to do."
Craig's private life has largely been under the radar, with the actor in a six-year relationship with film producer Satsuki Mitchell, but that ended last year. Soon after, Craig was dating English Oscar-winning actress Rachel Weisz, who had just split from her husband, director Darren Aronofsky, best known for this year's best picture nominated psychological thriller, Black Swan.
In a surprise move, Craig and Weisz married on June 22.
Predictably, Craig is not keen to talk about his marriage.
"No," Craig sternly replies when asked if he went somewhere special for his honeymoon.
The pairing of Craig and Ford in Cowboys & Aliens was a deft move by Favreau and the film's producer, Steven Spielberg, who was keen on signing up both. The acting duo's box office earning record and popularity with film fans is top tier.
Audiences respect both as tough guys, however, being tough, Craig says, is not something that comes easily for him.
"No. God no," he says.
"It's all hard work."
He figures Hollywood keeps hiring him as a tough guy because he's "good at pretending".
In one scene in Cowboys & Aliens Craig and Ford stand toe-to-toe and punch each other in the face.
Neither twitches.
"That was Harrison's idea," Craig, breaking into a smile, says.
"You have two characters that are very tough. He figured either they do that or spend the film out-toughing each other.
"They have guns on their hips, so there is only one place to go eventually and that is to pull the gun and if that happened the movie would be over.
"So, we had to have a scene where we dealt with the fact where we hit each other, I turn my back on him, he doesn't shoot me and then we are ready to go somewhere.
"We had to get it out of the way. It was that simple".
Cowboys & Aliens is based on the graphic novel of the same name and begins with Craig's character, desperado Jake Lonergan, waking up in the New Mexico desert in 1875 with a metallic weapon clamped on to one of his arms. He has no idea how it got there.
Ford plays a Civil War veteran and cattle baron.
When the aliens arrive in 10-legged spacecraft the ragtag townsfolk, many who robbed and fought among themselves, band together to take on the unwelcome visitors.
"I thought it would be a comedy," Craig, recalling the moment he first saw the film's title, says.
"When I received the script I said 'I'll read it. It looks like fun'.
"But, what I loved about it was it was played straight.
"It was real characters experiencing things and getting together.
"I thought that's what you want to happen in a film like this.
"The comedy is in the title. That's the gag, but the movie is not about gags."
Craig has no plans to change his ways and will continue to choose roles largely based on the quality of a script.
He doesn't care who he impresses and is not scared of rejection.
"I stopped worrying about being desired a long time ago. Way before James Bond," Craig explains.
"As an actor, you have to forget about that.
"I have been up for parts and it has come down to two people and they go for the person with brown eyes.
"When that's the decision, you just have to say, 'f it'. You get used to the rejection and you don't take it personally.
"I don't care what other people are doing.
"I don't care about how much other actors get.
"If you start worrying and getting jealous of other people around you, you're f. You're screwed.
"The grass is always greener somewhere else. There's always a nicer trailer.
"Someone always has a better perk than you.
"Me? I'm happy.
"I can be James Bond, but then I get to work with Harrison Ford on Cowboys & Aliens and I still feel starstruck."
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