It can be revealed that Daniel Craig began plotting what may be the biggest film surprise of the decade 15 years ago.
The outgoing James Bond actor says in a new book that when cast for the 2006 film Casino Royale he told the producers that he “would like to kill off Bond when I finish”.
The key players in the world’s most successful film franchise are interviewed in the publisher Taschen’s forthcoming The James Bond Archives. No Time To Die edition.
They tell how the twist was developed and how it was kept secret. The real script featuring Bond’s death had only a limited circulation with fake scripts given to most of the film crew.
The associate producer, Gregg Wilson, said that the “fake” final scene had Bond climbing out of the rubble to discover he was to be knighted. “This is the first time we have had a fake script to keep elements of the story secret,” he said.
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In the film Bond, after discovering a poison he is impregnated with will kill his lover if he ever touches her, forces open blast doors to ensure British missiles can destroy the villain’s lair.
But for the first time in the 25-film franchise, he cannot escape.
The book reveals that the film’s producers, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, had flirted with the idea of killing off Bond at the end of the previous film, Spectre, but “decided against it”. They had a script for Spectre featuring a “Bond daughter” but dropped it because the proposed character would have been too old for 007 “to have some repartee” with.
In No Time To Die, Bond’s only known daughter makes a first appearance; Mathilde, his six-year-old child with Madeleine Swann, who is played by Léa Seydoux.
Craig’s original desire to have Bond killed off when his time was finished indicates the influence he held with Broccoli, who has frequently lavished his performances with praise.
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In an interview with the editor of the book, Craig says: “When I started as Bond on Casino Royale, one of the early discussions I had with Barbara and Michael was that I would like to kill off Bond when I finished.”
The book, which had access to the archives of the Bond film production company EON, reveals who had previously been in contention for the role.
In 2005 the producers chose a three-strong shortlist for the “tuxedo screen test”.
Craig emerged triumphant over Henry Cavill, who would later gain recognition with the rebooted Superman films, and Sam Worthington, who would later be the lead in Avatar.
