MAJOR SPOILERS follow for No Time to Die!
No Time to Die, which is Daniel Craig's final film as James Bond, has a shocking ending that fans around the world are still talking about. While they have remained quiet up until now, Craig, director Cary Joji Fukunaga, and producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have finally opened up about the conclusion of the 25th Bond movie.
Speaking to Variety, the No Time to Die team was asked about the death of James Bond, which has never happened in the nearly 60-year history of Bond films, and if it was something they had always planned on for this story.
"I’m going to tell a story here, whether or not anybody remembers it or agrees with it," Craig said. "But it was 2006. Barbara and I were sitting in the back of a car driving away from the Berlin premiere of “Casino Royale.” Everything was going well. People liked the movie. And it looked like I was gonna get a chance to make at least another movie.
"I said to Barbara, 'How many of these movies do I have to make?' Because I don’t really look at contracts or any of those things. And she said, 'Four,' and I went, 'Oh, okay. Can I kill him off in the last one?' And she didn’t pause. She said, 'Yes.' So I struck a deal with her back then and said, 'That’s the way I’d like it to go.' It’s the only way I could see for myself to end it all and to make it like that was my tenure, someone else could come and take over. She stuck to her guns."
"And I had go and tell Michael and we waited to tell the studio! [Laughs] We wanted to get rid of him," Broccoli added. "That was the reality. It was like, make sure that this was the way that we get rid of Daniel."
In the age of reunions and reboots, Craig made sure to let us all know this actually means he won't be back as 007 ever again.
"When he goes, he can’t come back was really what it boils down to," Craig said.
While they had this idea in their heads, Craig reveals that it was "no" for a long time. However, that all changed after Spectre.
"But I think what happened was, at the end of the fourth one, we wanted Daniel back and he was very reluctant," Wilson recalls. "I think we thought, all of us had thought, that that was the best way to end this whole thing. Now, you know, it wasn’t unusual, because Fleming, he tried to kill him off in 'From Russia With Love,' and almost killed him off in 'You Only Live Twice.' But I think it’s the fitting way to deal with a situation where a person is risking their life all the time.
"Eventually, the odds catch up with you. I think Fleming saw it and I guess ultimately we came to that realization, too. It’s also emotionally very important to understand the risks that people like Bond engage in."
Killing off Bond is undoubedtly a bold decision, as "there’s an audience for these movies who walk in expecting that James Bond is going to save the day every time."
"If you stay to the end credits, it definitely says, 'James Bond will return.' So all is good," Craig said.
Wilson also confirms that, despite his unfortunate end, "Bond does save the day."
"It’s the ultimate sacrifice," Broccoli adds. "As Michael says, it’s very appropriate because people in this line of work put themselves at risk all the time. The amazing thing was that the audience managed to keep this secret, and that’s really a testament, I think, to the Bond fans, that they didn’t want to spoil other people’s enjoyment by telling them the end of the story."
When Fukunaga was brought on board to direct, the death of Bond was decided, but how he would die was not.
"There was a few things that Barbara and Michael and Daniel had earmarked. This was definitely one of them," Fukunaga shared. "How he meets his end wasn’t decided yet. It was just the fact that he would, so the question then became how to do it."
The team then discussed how there were "many, many iterations" of how Bond would meet his end, including "blowing him up in a rocket," a "bad oyster," and more.
"A bullet, like an anonymous bullet, I remember that one," Fukunaga said. "But it just seemed like a conventional weapons death didn’t seem appropriate. Given how much he had been able to escape from everything else, the fact that it would just be a bullet that always had your name on it from the beginning, as a sort of the thematic element seemed, while realistic, for Bond it had to be something even beyond that — like the impossible, impossible situation."
"I think the important thing was that we all try to create a situation of tragedy," Craig said. "The idea that there’s an insurmountable problem, there’s a greater force at play, and there’s nothing anybody can do about it. And the greater force being Savin’s weapon. And that it [kills] the only thing that Bond wants in life, is to be with the people he loves and that he can’t be with them, and therefore, there’s nothing worth living for. And he would in fact endanger their lives, and that’s the last thing on earth he wants to do.
"So that element was incredibly important to sort of thread in there, because it couldn’t feel like a random act. It had to have weight — without it, it wasn’t gonna work. And if we hadn’t have got that weight, I don’t think we would’ve done it. We would’ve found another way of ending it.
As previously mentioned, this is obviously not the end of James Bond as the story of the most famous secret agent will continue. As for who will next take up the honor of becoming 007, Broccoli revealed the search will begin in earnest in 2022.
For more, check out our No Time to Die review, why Broccoli doesn't want a female James Bond and would rather have better female characters, and Dwayne Johnson's pitch to become the next James Bond.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Continue reading...
No Time to Die, which is Daniel Craig's final film as James Bond, has a shocking ending that fans around the world are still talking about. While they have remained quiet up until now, Craig, director Cary Joji Fukunaga, and producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have finally opened up about the conclusion of the 25th Bond movie.
Speaking to Variety, the No Time to Die team was asked about the death of James Bond, which has never happened in the nearly 60-year history of Bond films, and if it was something they had always planned on for this story.
"I’m going to tell a story here, whether or not anybody remembers it or agrees with it," Craig said. "But it was 2006. Barbara and I were sitting in the back of a car driving away from the Berlin premiere of “Casino Royale.” Everything was going well. People liked the movie. And it looked like I was gonna get a chance to make at least another movie.
"I said to Barbara, 'How many of these movies do I have to make?' Because I don’t really look at contracts or any of those things. And she said, 'Four,' and I went, 'Oh, okay. Can I kill him off in the last one?' And she didn’t pause. She said, 'Yes.' So I struck a deal with her back then and said, 'That’s the way I’d like it to go.' It’s the only way I could see for myself to end it all and to make it like that was my tenure, someone else could come and take over. She stuck to her guns."
"And I had go and tell Michael and we waited to tell the studio! [Laughs] We wanted to get rid of him," Broccoli added. "That was the reality. It was like, make sure that this was the way that we get rid of Daniel."
In the age of reunions and reboots, Craig made sure to let us all know this actually means he won't be back as 007 ever again.
"When he goes, he can’t come back was really what it boils down to," Craig said.
While they had this idea in their heads, Craig reveals that it was "no" for a long time. However, that all changed after Spectre.
"But I think what happened was, at the end of the fourth one, we wanted Daniel back and he was very reluctant," Wilson recalls. "I think we thought, all of us had thought, that that was the best way to end this whole thing. Now, you know, it wasn’t unusual, because Fleming, he tried to kill him off in 'From Russia With Love,' and almost killed him off in 'You Only Live Twice.' But I think it’s the fitting way to deal with a situation where a person is risking their life all the time.
"Eventually, the odds catch up with you. I think Fleming saw it and I guess ultimately we came to that realization, too. It’s also emotionally very important to understand the risks that people like Bond engage in."
Killing off Bond is undoubedtly a bold decision, as "there’s an audience for these movies who walk in expecting that James Bond is going to save the day every time."
"If you stay to the end credits, it definitely says, 'James Bond will return.' So all is good," Craig said.
Wilson also confirms that, despite his unfortunate end, "Bond does save the day."
"It’s the ultimate sacrifice," Broccoli adds. "As Michael says, it’s very appropriate because people in this line of work put themselves at risk all the time. The amazing thing was that the audience managed to keep this secret, and that’s really a testament, I think, to the Bond fans, that they didn’t want to spoil other people’s enjoyment by telling them the end of the story."
When Fukunaga was brought on board to direct, the death of Bond was decided, but how he would die was not.
"There was a few things that Barbara and Michael and Daniel had earmarked. This was definitely one of them," Fukunaga shared. "How he meets his end wasn’t decided yet. It was just the fact that he would, so the question then became how to do it."
The team then discussed how there were "many, many iterations" of how Bond would meet his end, including "blowing him up in a rocket," a "bad oyster," and more.
"A bullet, like an anonymous bullet, I remember that one," Fukunaga said. "But it just seemed like a conventional weapons death didn’t seem appropriate. Given how much he had been able to escape from everything else, the fact that it would just be a bullet that always had your name on it from the beginning, as a sort of the thematic element seemed, while realistic, for Bond it had to be something even beyond that — like the impossible, impossible situation."
"I think the important thing was that we all try to create a situation of tragedy," Craig said. "The idea that there’s an insurmountable problem, there’s a greater force at play, and there’s nothing anybody can do about it. And the greater force being Savin’s weapon. And that it [kills] the only thing that Bond wants in life, is to be with the people he loves and that he can’t be with them, and therefore, there’s nothing worth living for. And he would in fact endanger their lives, and that’s the last thing on earth he wants to do.
"So that element was incredibly important to sort of thread in there, because it couldn’t feel like a random act. It had to have weight — without it, it wasn’t gonna work. And if we hadn’t have got that weight, I don’t think we would’ve done it. We would’ve found another way of ending it.
As previously mentioned, this is obviously not the end of James Bond as the story of the most famous secret agent will continue. As for who will next take up the honor of becoming 007, Broccoli revealed the search will begin in earnest in 2022.
For more, check out our No Time to Die review, why Broccoli doesn't want a female James Bond and would rather have better female characters, and Dwayne Johnson's pitch to become the next James Bond.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Continue reading...