Daniel Craig can’t reiterate it enough in interviews. He’s really done playing James Bond after five movies across 14 years. However, Bond producer Barbara Broccoli hasn’t taken the news well, especially as she brought him out of retirement for No Time To Die.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Broccoli said how Craig was ready to hang up his tux after Spectre.
The 59-year-old said: “He felt at the end of the last movie he’d kind of done it.
“I said to him, ‘I don’t think you have, I think there’s still more of the story of your Bond to tell.’
“Fortunately, he came around to agree with that.”
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However, now Craig’s finished shooting No Time To Die she’s struggling with the reality that the star will no longer be Bond.
Asked about finding his replacement, Broccoli said: “We still have so much to do to finish this film, to get it right, so we’re really focusing on that.
“I’m in denial, to be honest, about Daniel.
“I can’t really confront that right now.”
Meanwhile, Broccoli told Variety: “I’m in total denial.
“I’ve accepted what Daniel has said, but I’m still in denial. It’s too traumatic for me.”
Craig has certainly put his return in No Time To Die down to her persuasiveness.
The 51-year-old said: “Barbara doesn’t take no for an answer.”
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Craig continued: “It’s not in her wheelhouse. I had a nice long break, which I really needed.
“And then she was just persistent and came to me with some ideas, which we started formulating, and I got excited again.”
The producer also lamented to Empire: “It’s pretty devastating.
“[And] if he hadn’t come back [for No Time To Die], I was gonna go put a duvet on my head and cry for three years.”
Nevertheless, Bond franchise history proves No Time To Die may not be Daniel Craig’s final outing despite his clarifications.
That’s what Bond expert and author of Catching Bullets – Memoirs of a Bond Fan, Mark O’Connell told Express.co.uk in an exclusive interview.
He said: “The history of Bond, particularly with Connery and Moore is – they had about three final Bond films in them. And yes the cheque book at the time slightly sugared the pill and they returned.”
No Time To Die is released in UK cinemas on April 2, 2020.
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