James Bond producers ‘pressured Daniel Craig and me to make Spectre’ claims Sam Mendes | Films | Entertainment
Dave Bautista, who played Mr Hinx in James Bond movie Spectre confessed in a recent interview: “[Daniel Craig] didn’t seem like the happiest person on Bond. He was really put through it… You could feel that he was under a lot of pressure. He didn’t seem like the happiest person… there wasn’t a whole lot of interaction with the whole cast.”
The producers admitted years later that Craig told them during filming: “You know, this is it. I don’t wanna do anymore.” And according to director Sam Mendes, that was after he’d already been pressured into making this one.
Spectre was Craig’s fourth Bond movie following the 50th anniversary hit Skyfall, the first 007 movie to make over $1 billion at the box office. Naturally, producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson wanted their star back for another outing with the same director, the Oscar-winning Mendes.
However, Spectre didn’t turn out to be anywhere nearly as loved by the fandom as its predecessor. And now, in a new interview, the filmmaker has shared why they failed to catch lightning in a bottle twice after Skyfall.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Mendes said: “These movies are very difficult to write. Those 10 months of downtime, that’s when the script really turned around, because we had the time to go down blind alleys and try things like the [Bond/Silva team-up]. And that time was not afforded to me when we made Spectre. And you can see the difference in the script. [With Spectre], I felt there was some pressure. Certainly, Barbara and Michael exerted some pressure on me and Daniel to make the next one, so that makes a big difference. People saying: ‘We want you to do it,’ and passionately wooing me to do it, was a big thing.”
READ MORE: Henry Cavill ‘born to play James Bond’ confesses Daniel Craig director
Speaking with Empire for the 60th anniversary of Bond, the producers said: “[The idea of killing of Craig’s Bond] came up again when we were making Spectre. ‘Cause he said, ‘You know, this is it. I don’t wanna do anymore. I think we should kill me off.’ And we said, ‘Hmmm, don’t think so.’ Particularly ‘cause we wanted him to do another one. And so we had the ending in that where he threw his gun away and he was gonna go off and live a happy life.”
After that, they approached him again and said: “You know it’s not the end of the story. You can’t go out like that. It’s a great starting place to see Bond in retirement and how would he deal with it. So let’s think about that.” Craig replied: “OK I’ll give it some thought.” The result was No Time To Die.
