Daniel Craig can’t answer how many James Bond films he’s in
00-oh, no.
Daniel Craig’s experience as 007 has become a blur.
The British actor, 56, could not remember how many James Bond movies he’s been in during a Nov. 4 Variety interview with his “Queer” co-star Drew Starkey, where they were asked questions and had to write their answers on a white board.
“Are you asking me that?” Craig asked after hearing the question. “Do I have to write the answer? I’m gonna get it wrong.”
Starkey, 31, wrote his own guess on his white board: “Too many.”
“Exactly,” Craig said with a laugh.
Starkey, despite what he wrote, admitted that he doesn’t know the exact number of James Bond movies that Craig has done.
“I don’t know either,” Craig added. “I’d have to count them. One, two, three … five? Five.”
Craig indeed starred in five films from the spy franchise: 2006’s “Casino Royale,” 2008’s “Quantum of Solace,” 2012’s “Skyfall,” 2015’s “Spectre” and 2021’s “No Time to Die.”
Later in the interview, Craig was asked, “If you were to pass the James Bond torch, who would you love to see play him?”
Craig, while laughing and shaking his head, responded, “I don’t care.”
“I’m not writing, I’m doodling,” he added while refusing to give an official answer on the white board.
Craig confirmed as far back as 2019 that he was done playing James Bond after “No Time to Die,” which features his character’s death.
He recalled in 2022 that the decision to do five Bond movies was made just days after “Casino Royale” premiere in 2006.
“I was driving away from the Berlin premiere of Casino Royale with [producer] Barbara Broccoli,” he told UK’s the Times. “I had genuinely thought I would do one Bond movie, then it would be over. But by then we knew we had a hit on our hands.”
“I realized the enormity of it, so I said to Barbara, ‘How many more? Three? Four?’ She said, ‘Four!’ ” he remembered. “I said, ‘OK. Then can I kill him off?’ She said, ‘Yes.’ “
Craig also told the BBC in 2022 that he has no regrets about leaving 007 behind.
“I had an incredibly fortunate 17 years of my life making this. I literally want to spend the next 20 years of my life trying to unhook it all and try and put it into a place because it was incredible,” he said. “I left it where I wanted it to be. And that I was given the chance to do that with the last movie.”
Craig has since moved onto Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” murder mystery movies. The third film in the installment, titled “Wake Up Dead Man,” is set to be released next year.
Before Craig, James Bond was played by Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan.
The 007 franchise is slated to continue with a new actor in the titular role. It’s been reported, but not yet confirmed, that Aaron Taylor-Johnson, 34, has been offered the job.
“Bond is Aaron’s job, should he wish to accept it. The formal offer is on the table and they are waiting to hear back,” a source told the Sun in March.
Johnson was asked about being the next James Bond in a 2023 interview with Esquire.
“It’s my own path, what feels intuitive to me,” he said. “I’ve never made a decision based on other people’s perspectives, or their judgments, or their expectations of me.”
