It’s been almost 20 years since Daniel Craig was cast as James Bond in Casino Royale.
The outgoing star made five 007 films, which were released over 15 years, some of which were better received than others.
Casino Royale and Skyfall are considered two of the greatest Bond movies, but the film between them ended up being something of a mess of an epilogue to the former.
Speaking with the Hollywood Reporter, Craig called 2008’s Quantum of Solace the “difficult second album”.
Shot during the Hollywood writers’ strike of the time, the star found himself writing scenes… for himself.
Craig shared: “F***ing nightmare. Paul Haggis did a pass on the script, then he went off and joined a picket line, and we didn’t have writers, so we didn’t have a script. We probably should never have gone and started production, but we did. I ended up writing a lot of that film — I probably shouldn’t really say, and I do not want a credit, it’s fine — but we were in that state because that’s what we’re allowed to do.”
Craig added: “I was allowed to work. Under WGA rules we were allowed to work with a director and write scenes. But there’s some amazing stunt sequences in that, and I’m still bearing the pins to prove it, so in that sense there’s a lot of great stuff in it, but it just didn’t quite work. The storytelling wasn’t there. And that’s the abject lesson: going to start a movie without a script, it’s just – not a good idea.”