By In an interview with his Cowboys & Aliens director Jon Favreau, Daniel Craig spoke about how excited he is for Bond 23, which starts shooting in November, and the fervour with which Sam Mendes has thrown himself into the project, reading all of Ian Fleming’s books and preparing a more classic style of Bond movie. Craig also said that he’s more excited for 23 than he was for Casino Royale. Favreau, clearly a fan himself of the Bond series – and who deploys an all-time great metaphor involving a bird at the 2:30 mark – also mentions how much he enjoyed the presence of Q and his inventions in the old movies and asks Craig whether there are any plans to bring him back. While Craig confirms that there have been discussions, he says that the prevalence of high-tech gadgetry available to everyone today makes it difficult for the character to seem relevant without slipping into Austin Powers-esque territory.
As a lifelong Bond fanatic, it’s always great to see two people talking with such passion about the series and even if much of it is the kind of hyperbole that always accompanies press for big movies, Craig seems genuinely enthusiastic about what Bond 23 has to offer. It’s also a good sign that Sam Mendes has been reading the original novels, because while some movies benefit from moving away from their source material, the Bonds are almost always better when revolving around Ian Fleming’s material: see the difference between Casino and Quantum as a prime example.
Bond 23 is released on October 26th 2012 in the UK and November 9th in the US. Cowboys & Aliens is out tomorrow in the US.