Hollywood actor Daniel Craig has revealed he is “working harder” than ever before and “enjoying it more” in his post-James Bond career.
The 57-year-old, famed for his portrayal of 007 in five films including Casino Royale and No Time to Die, spoke to Radio Times about his newfound professional freedom.
Craig explained that he is now embracing roles he might previously have hesitated over.
“I’m not saying no to things that I might have been a little bit wary about before,” he stated.
Craig reflected on how the shadow of Bond influenced his choices: “When the Bond thing was going on in my life, the juxtaposition between that and another role would sometimes feel self-conscious.”
This shift has allowed him to pursue “really interesting, different stuff,” leading to his current satisfaction.
Since concluding his tenure as the iconic spy, Craig has diversified his portfolio, notably starring as detective Benoit Blanc in the Knives Out series and as William Lee in Luca Guadagnino’s 2024 romance Queer.
He is set to reprise his role as Blanc in the upcoming Wake Up Dead Mean: A Knives Out Mystery, the third instalment from American filmmaker Rian Johnson. The film boasts a stellar cast including Glenn Close, Josh O’Connor, and Mila Kunis.
Expressing his enthusiasm for the whodunit franchise, Craig affirmed his desire to continue: “Of course, I would love to continue working with him (Johnson). As long as Rian keeps inventing it the way he does, then I’m in.”
The new film follows the success of 2019’s Knives Out and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, both of which featured acclaimed ensembles.
In a four-star review, The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey wrote: “What’s clear, three films in, is that Johnson has crafted an ideal formula, rigid in some ways and malleable in others. Wake Up Dead Man is more sober than Glass Onion, more tonally aligned with Knives Out, not as clever as either in its solution and a little baggier in its delivery, yet more soulful in its concerns. All of that feels relatively negligible. The point is that this series is yet to stumble.”
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The full interview with Daniel Craig can be found in the Radio Times Christmas Issue.