Every actor who played James Bond has a love/hate relationship with the role. For Sean Connery, landing the Bond films was a double-edged swordas the Scottish star eventually began to feel boxed in playing England's greatest spy, which led to him making a string of incredibly dark films in the 1970s, including Christopher Nolan's favorite Connery film"The Offense" in 1973. During this time, Connery could be heard talking about how he "hated" James Bond and even "would like to kill him".

That kind of set a precedent, with every actor who played 007 in subsequent years developing a similar relationship with the role. Roger Moore was never comfortable using guns, and after leaving the saga Pierce Brosnan claims (via CBS) repented of the "stupid singles" and was glad to no longer "be shackled by some contorted image." Timothy Dalton was perhaps most comfortable with the role, but even then he had a tough time after 1989's License to Kill, initially deciding not to return as Bond before seemingly changing his mind only to find EON Productions ready in Brosnan to replace him. . him. Even George Lazenby experienced problems behind the scenes after playing Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, struggling to reconcile his own penchant for the counter-culture fervor of the time with the figure of a man who would die for queen and country. .

But by far the most intriguingly bizarre relationship between actor and role belongs to Daniel Craig. The 2006 Casino Royale star was apparently not only uncomfortable playing super spy during his tenure, but decided on the whole thing before she was even cast - developing a strategy to undermine his first date for the role that eventually came back.

Daniel Craig may have been the most vocal of all the James Bond actors about his feelings against 007 - at least after Connery said he wouldn't mind insulting the character. The British star infamously told Timeout London back in 2013 (via The Guardian) that he would "rather cut (his) wrists" than play Bond after his fourth outing as the character. But while at first you might think the actor was getting tired with each successive installment of the modern franchise, he was actually anti-Bond from the start.

As noted in a GQ before Craig was cast as 007 in Casino Royale, he convinced himself that he didn't want to be Bond, while still agreeing to meet with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. The actor said: "It was literally like, 'F**k off.' I don't want this. How dare you? How dare you offer me this?" So when he went to the audition, he clearly took a blase approach to clothing, wearing a sleeveless dress shirt paired with a jacket that revealed his sleeves. "I thought, 'F** , I'll let them hang like that," he added.

What on earth had Craig so upset? That remains unclear, but based on his comments it seems the actor may have seen the role as somehow beneath him. Or maybe he was restrained from remaining trapped in the same pigeonhole that Connery found himself in 40 years earlier. Whatever the reason, the actor, who recently gave a sensational performance in Luca Guadagnino's Queer apparently he was dead set against being Bond (but he auditioned anyway). Fortunately for fans of what's left the best Bond film ever made, Casino Royale Craig's attempt to sabotage his audition doesn't go as well as expected.

After Daniel Craig turned up for his James Bond audition in an inappropriate outfit, he was no doubt surprised to learn that his look actually impressed Bond's bodyguards. In the making cliplongtime Bond producer Barbara Broccoli recalled Craig's loose dress as the very thing that convinced her he wanted to be the new 007. She said:

“Michael (G Wilson) and I really loved him. We only loved him. The only problem was that he didn't want to do it. (He) came into the office and I remember him coming in and I said to Michael afterwards, "He wants to do it." That was the funniest thing, it was something about the way he (...) wore French cuffs and they weren't finished and (...) that thing somehow, I don't know why, I said: He wants to do it. "

It seems, then, that Craig's sloppy cuffs were what landed him the James Bond role in the end. But that was really just the beginning of the actor's difficult relationship with 007. Even after the part ended, but before filming began, the actor seemed intent on destroying his frame in the most durable cinematography.

As the GQ piece notes, when "Casino Royale" director Martin Campbell called Craig in for a screen test, the actor refused to play ball. Campbell asked the actor to take a grape from a fruit bowl and put it in his mouth, but the star refused, "causing an argument on his first day on the job". Craig said: "I just went, 'No.' I said, "No, I can't." I Won't Do It You were about “How Will I Be James Bond?” Amazingly, Craig managed to keep his place as the new Bond, possibly due to Broccoli's surprising affinity for her star. complete hostility to the role.

Despite his reservations about playing James Bond, Daniel Craig certainly nailed it in the end - at least for the first film. Even in tracking, "Quantum of Solace" - which remains the biggest disaster in Bond history, but not for the reason you might think - Craig was good. Behind the scenes, however, he never really seems to have settled down.

Years after filming Casino Royale, Craig talked to his co-star Mads Mikkelsen about Diversityrecalling how he didn't feel able to join the rest of the cast for poker games between scenes, saying, "What he was asking me to do was go off the set and relax, and I wasn't able to to do it." In that instance, you might think that the pressure of debuting his version of Bond and leading the legendary franchise got to the actor - and that was undoubtedly part of it.

But we know that Craig was against the whole idea of ​​Bond even before he auditioned. By his own admission, he literally tried to sabotage his casting at every turn. Without being harsh, then, the question that arises when you consider all this anti-Bond sentiment in its entirety seems to be as simple as this: what the hell was Craig's problem?

In fairness, I think Craig's bitter resentment towards Bond actually helped him find a new dimension to the character. His intense portrayal in "Royal" remains my favorite to this day, and it continued in "Quantum," which, taken as a supplement to "Royal," is a good movie despite what you may have heard. Problems arose when Craig seemed to give up on hating Bond and adopted his "I don't give af**k" pose (another quote from his infamous Timeout London interview). I could barely contain my anger at being in a Bond film because of the more blatant approach to both him and the EON since 2012's Skyfall. Either way, the Craig era is now coming to an end, and the world is awaiting the announcement of the next actor to be very excited to play 007.