DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST 164

John Cusack (right) is already cast as the lead, Lane Meyer, with the scriptwritten by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood).

DIRTY DOZEN – THE REMAKEScreenwiter Scott Rosenberg (Con Air) has been tasked to pen a remake ofclassic WWII action movie The Dirty Dozen. The original film concerned aplatoon of war criminals given a reprise from their fates by accepting adangerous mission. No word on who will star in the 00’s update, but I’mguessing Mickey Rourke and Russell Crowe are high on the list…

DANIEL CRAIG INTERVIEW

James Bond Hype recently interviewed the new 007, Daniel Craig, amidstconstant speculation that he’s not exactly cut-out to follow in theillustrious footsteps of Connery, Moore and Brosnan. They also spoke withproducer Barbara Broccoli.

James Bond Hype!: Daniel, when we talked to you last April, there werealready a lot of rumors about you playing Bond, and you seemed a bittentative about taking on such a role. What made you change your mind?

Daniel Craig: The script really… and Barbara badgering me. I hadn’t seen ascript at that point, and I was obviously giving it serious thought then.I’d have been stupid not to. But I hadn’t seen a script and the processhadn’t really gotten going. Once I sat down and read the story, I justthought that I wanted to tell this story. I really do. I mean, I’m a bigBond fan, and I love what he represents, and it was almost slightly annoyingto finally read it and go, ‘Oh, Jesus! It’s good!’ And that was it, and wewere away.

JBH!:: How did you prepare yourself mentally and physically to play thisrole?

Craig: Mentally, I kind of got my head around it before I got the job anddecided that this is one of those challenges in life that when they comealong, you really just have to face [them] head-on. Accepting the fact thatthere’s a huge amount of history and baggage that comes along with it,saying, ‘Okay, that’s all there and it’s all fantastic,’ so all I had to dois try and put my self into the situation and bring myself to it. That’s allI can do. Physically, I’ve just been in the gym four months now…constantly.

JBH!:: And there were no worries about the physical aspects of the role? Areyou enjoying that part of making the movie?

Craig: Oh, no. I mean, it’s a ride, it really is. And the God’s honesttruth, we are here in the Bahamas and we’ve been in Prague, and we’re makinga movie, and we’re trying to make the best movie we can. The Bond iscertainly not secondary, but I think the better movie we make, the betterBond movie we make. It’s a simple equation.

JBH!:: Why did you go with Daniel over all the other options that were thrownaround?

Barbara Broccoli: Well, he’s a phenomenal actor. I think he’s the actor thatdefies his generation of actors. I was a huge fan of his work, the filmshe’d made, and when we decided we were going to make Casino Royale, it’sobviously a big decision who we’re going to use, and he was always in theforefront of our minds. Obviously, there was a lot of stuff in the press,but the reality was that he was in the forefront, and it wasn’t until wewere able to give him the script that we started talking, and once we did,things moved very quickly.

Craig: It was kind of normal. That’s the weird thing. There’s so muchspeculation going on, as there always is, but once Barbara gave me thescript and I wanted to do it, I screen-tested, because there was a newproducer on board with Sony who wanted to see if I could do it or not, and Igot the job. It’s kind of that simple.

JBH!:: It must be a different kind of experience for you, so are you able toblock out all of the external pressures while you’re working?

Craig: I kind of do. Of course, I’m aware of [the stuff on the internet].The controversy is [something] I get. When I accepted the job, I understoodthere would be consequences, but I can’t set myself up and protectingmyself, I have to say “Okay, I’m going to accept this.” Nobody knows morethan I do how important this is, and basically, I’ve taken on thisresponsibility, and I’m going to give it my best shot, and once the film’smade, then we’ll see. But judge the movie, because that’s the deal. As faras blocking it out is concerned, we’re kind of doing a movie during the day.I go to the gym at night and I get home and sleep. I get up in the morning[and I go back to work]… that’s my process at the moment.

Broccoli: But that’s the reality of filmmaking. When you’re making a movie,everybody is so focused on what you’re doing, you don’t have the time to beworried about the outside world. We’re just trying to make a movie.

Craig: And we can’t stop it. When the rumor mill gets going with a storythat’s this big…

JBH!:: You mean like the thing about you getting two teeth knocked out?

Craig: Oh, yeah, but it’s stupid. I mean, I get battered and bruised everyday.

Broccoli: It’s the nature of the role.

JBH!:: Barbara, why did you go with Martin Campbell to direct this movie andinduct in a second new Bond?

Broccoli: Well, because he’s a great filmmaker and a great storyteller, andthis story is one that is complex, but also fun. Over the years, there’sbeen a tradition of bringing back the directors who you work well with andhe’s unbelievable.

Craig: He’s relentless, but that’s what those [action] sequences need.

JBH!:: This seems to be one of the first Bond movies to really get a lot ofdramatic film actors in the cast from Daniel to Jeffrey Wright, and ofcourse, Dame Judi Dench is back. That was sort of the approach to BatmanBegins as well, so was this a conscious decision to make a more dramaticfilm?

Broccoli: I think it’s very hard to compare other actors. I mean, they’veall done movies and they were all actors in different ways. They were all oftheir time, and they all took the character in a direction that wassuccessful and we were very happy with it. Now, we’re in a new phase andwe’ve got a phenomenal actor. The fact is that it would be nice to make itsound like it’s all a big hocus pocus thing, the reality is we went torecast the role and we sat down and asked, ‘Who is the best actor around forthe role?’ and we said Daniel, and here he is. It’s as simple as that.

JBH!:: Is it true that you’re trying to make it a rougher Bond, and if so,why keep it PG-13?

Broccoli: We’re going back to the origins of the character and the story,but we feel that even though it’s rougher and more complex, we’re stillmaking a family film. We’re still making something, which is what we callheightened reality. It’s more realistic and it’s not as fantastical as thelast couple [movies] have been or we’ve made through the series. There weretimes, when the films got very fantastical like with Moonraker and thingslike that. You change because you change with the times. At the moment, Ithink everybody is feeling very serious about the world and they don’t feelfrivolous about the world, and I think it’s the right time to tell thisstory and Daniel’s the right actor to play him.

JBH!:: Can you talk about Bond’s attitude towards women in this movie? It’sobviously changed over the course of the movies, but in the original book,he was a bit of a sexist pig.

Broccoli: Well, it was written in 1953 and things have moved on a little bitanyway.

Craig: Not much.

Broccoli: (laughs) Yeah, exactly!

Craig: I’m not shying away. Bond is damaged. His reason for being marked isbecause of the upbringing he’s had and the profession he’s taken on. What wedo discover in this movie is why he becomes damaged and his relationshipwith Vesper is the key to this. It really forms this character. What you’llsee is that there’s a fallibility to him that sort of slides as the moviegoes on and he becomes stronger and stronger. He always takes things on thenose, and as the movies goes on, his single-mindedness starts to come out,and you start to understand why he’s [the way he is].

JBH!:: It was mentioned by another producer that they plan on recreating thebrutal torture scene from the novel, so how are you going to prepare forthat?

Craig: We’ll see. It’s going to be…

JBH!:: Painful?

Craig: No, hopefully not. (laughs)

JBH!:: Do you know who’ll be doing the music for the movie yet?

Broccoli: The composer is David Arnold, who is going to be composing thescore, but we have no yet chosen a person who is doing the song.

JBH!:: Some other journalist suggested that U2 might do a pretty cool themefor it.

Broccoli: Well, they’re great. You may know that Bono wrote the song forGoldenEye but they didn’t perform it, Tina Turner did.

JBH!:: What did you think of the original Casino Royale movie?

Broccoli: Well, it’s a spoof. I haven’t seen it in many years. At the time,I remember being quite amused by the whole thing because it didn’t reallyfit into any category, but I suppose if you look at it now that we’ve hadthe Austin Powers and whatever, it’s of that genre, like a fun spy spoof.Even at that, I don’t think, to be honest, that it was a very successfulstory.

JBH!:: Daniel, do you have a favorite Bond?

Craig: I mean, Sean [Connery] was always kind of like the one that sort ofeverybody says, and he defined the role, so it’s difficult not to like SeanConnery, but one of the first movies I saw in the cinema was Live And LetDie, so Roger Moore was very much in my mind. And then Pierce just took therole somewhere else. I’m not trying to dodge the question, but each one hastheir own meaning to me.

JBH!:: Why do you think that the franchise has lasted so long, longer thanany other movie character?

Broccoli: Well, I think the good will of the public has been an enormoussuccess, because there are people who are Bond fans who bring a lot of goodwill and they want the movies to be good, they want to like them. I thinkthat the caliber of movies, the money’s always been up on the screen, andalso the fact that the films have evolved with the times.

Craig: I think it’s been faithful and so good, so when you go see it, youget certain things that are very important for the audiences. They’ve alwaysmoved on and always become different and they’ve always looked at the timesand like you’ve said, this is heightened reality.

Broccoli: My father had a very simple philosophy, which was don’t shortchange the public. Don’t con them. Give them what they want and put themoney on the screen, and I think we’ve tried to do that. This film, althoughit is darker and more serious, it’s also going to be a fun ride.

JBH!:: Daniel, after you finish this, will you continue to do other movies inbetween Bond movies?

Craig: At this particular moment, I can’t really look that far ahead,because I kind of want a holiday after this… even though we’re in theBahamas. But yes, I’ve got two movies coming out this year and I’ve beenvery busy over the past couple of years doing some interesting work, andI’ve been connected to a couple smaller movies maybe, and I’m readingscripts while I’m doing this. I like to read scripts, so it’s a question oftiming.

JBH!:: Are you already working on the sequel and will that be an originalscript?

Broccoli: We are. We’re already thinking about it. We’re in the earlystages. It’s an original story, but it’s going to continue part of what thestory is in this film.

JBH!:: So we won’t be seeing any remakes of Dr. No or From Russia with Loveafter this?

Broccoli: We don’t plan to do that, but to coin a phrase, “never say never.”

Casino Royale opens on 17 November.

I still say they’d be better off waiting for 7 July 2007 (07/07/007,geddit?) but what do I know, eh?

All figures are weekend box-office gross.

• 1. Failure To Launch ($24.4m)
• 2. The Shaggy Dog ($16.3m)
• 3. The Hills Have Eyes (2006) ($15.7m)
• 4. 16 Blocks ($7.41m)
• 5. Madea’s Family Reunion ($5.75m)
• 6. Eight Below ($5.55m)
• 7. Aquamarine ($3.86m)
• 8. Ultraviolet ($3.68m)
• 9. The Pink Panther (2006) ($3.65m)
• 10. Date Movie ($2.53m)

UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)

• 1. The Hills Have Eyes (2006) (£1.12m)
• 2. Date Movie (£0.75m)
• 3. Syriana (£0.71m)
• 4. Chicken Little (£0.65m)
• 5. Walk the Line (£0.575m)
• 6. Lucky Number Slevin (£0.570m)
• 7. Big Momma’s House 2 (£0.49m)
• 8. Final Destination 3 (£0.33m)
• 9. Last Holiday (£0.31m)
• 10. The Weather Man (£0.22m)

All the following are U.K. release dates, and are subject to change.

• 17th March 2006: Romance & Cigarettes, She’s The Man, V For Vendetta, Failure To Launch, The Pink Panther (2006)
• 24th March 2006: Tristan & Isolde, The Big White, Inside Man,Half Light, The Greatest Game Ever Played
• 31st March 2006: Slither, Shooting Dogs, Firewall, Yours Mine & Ours, Lemming, The White Countess, Imagine Me & You, Basic Instinct 2
• 7th April 2006: Ice Age 2: Meltdown, Three, Take the Lead, The Squid and the Whale, Rent, Wah-Wah, An American Haunting
• 14th April 2006: Lemming, Alien Autopsy, American Dreamz, Junebug, Just My Luck, Scary Movie 4
• 21st April 2006: The Moguls, Harsh Times, Hoot, Hostel, Confetti, CRAZY, L’Enfer (2005), Mistress of Spices
• 28th April 2006: Eight Below, Lucky You, Love & Hate, Flight 93

Page Content copyright © Dan Owen, 2006.