First, Bond 25 lost director Danny Boyle to creative differences, then Daniel Craig injured his ankle while filming, and a controlled explosion at Pinewood Studios went awry. No Time To Die even became the first Bond film to swap composers mid-way through post-production, again citing creative differences.
Add in a costly delayed release and it might seem like a whole lot of unfortunate coincidences for one film–but Daniel Craig doesn’t want it to be called cursed.
“It pisses me off,” he said in an interview with GQ. “Because I’m just like, ‘Don’t curse our movie.’ And also, we’re doing our best here.”
It’s true that Craig has put a lot into this film, and into the Bond franchise at large, after almost 15 years in the titular role. It’s been such a challenging role that he almost didn’t come back after wrapping on Spectre, citing the intense physical demands of the role.
“I was like, ‘Is this work really genuinely worth this, to go through this, this whole thing?'” Craig told GQ “And I didn’t feel… I felt physically really low. So the prospect of doing another movie was just like, it was off the cards. And that’s why it has been five years.”
The timing of his last appearance as Bond, delays aside, has worked out well for Craig, with the success of Knives Out at his back and a confirmed sequel ahead. While some actors can struggle with moving on from such iconic roles, Craig is already carving out a new space for himself.
After its delay, No Time To Die will release in the UK on November 12, and two weeks later in the US on November 25.
