Tagged: Daniel Craig
Skyfall – Bond “Enjoying Death” in Exile
Daniel Craig as James Bond in Skyfall.
So summer is almost ending. You’re reasonably upset about it. Stretch it out a little longer by going into self-exile. All you need is a leather jacket, a case of booze, and a remote beach.
Vitals
Daniel Craig as James Bond, supposedly dead British secret agent
A remote Greek beach, Spring 2012
Film: Skyfall
Release Date: November 9, 2012
Director: Sam Mendes
Costume Designer: Jany Temime
Background
James Bond is reasonably turned off by the British Secret Service after a rushed order from his boss leaves him with a gunshot wound to the chest that sent him falling from the top of a moving train. Luckily, Bond pulls through but, rather than reporting back to duty, chooses to stay “dead” by indulging himself on a Greek beach with gorgeous women and dangerous drinking games. Continue reading
Skyfall – Bond Returns to Istanbul
Daniel Craig as James Bond in Skyfall (2012).
Vitals
Daniel Craig as James Bond, British secret agent
Istanbul, Spring 2012
Film: Skyfall
Release Date: November 9, 2012
Director: Sam Mendes
Costume Designer: Jany Temime
Background
After a four year hiatus between films – the longest gap in Bond history without a new actor – Daniel Craig boomed back into 007’s shoes in the explosive opening scene of Skyfall, set in the oft-used Bond setting of Istanbul. The long but quickly-paced film kicks off in media res, with 007 chasing down an assassin who just killed a fellow MI6 agent and stole the film’s MacGuffin, a hard drive with the identities of all agents. Continue reading
Casino Royale: Bond Lands in the Bahamas
Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale (2006).
Vitals
Daniel Craig as James Bond, “vacationing” British secret agent
Bahamas, July 2006
Film: Casino Royale
Release Date: November 14, 2006
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
Background
After “shooting” up an embassy and causing an international scandal, Bond is ordered by M to go “stick his head in the sand” and think about his career. Appropriately, given the history of the Bond canon, our hero heads for the Bahamas via a chartered flight, booking a spur-of-the-moment villa at The One and Only Ocean Club. Given that overnight stays at the One and Only rarely fall under $1,000 per night, this is hardly a man who is really giving too much concern about the prospect of unemployment.
Nor does his arrival give that impression. Bond steps off the plane looking like a million bucks in a sharp suit that is a rare find for many reasons. Continue reading
The Casino Royale Dinner Jacket
I’m not sure if any of you knew this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if many of you did – today is National Martini Day, celebrating the favorite drink of many from presidents and industrialists to entertainers and fictional secret agents.
Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale (2006).
BAMF Style’s choice for today was an obvious one.
Vitals
Daniel Craig as James Bond, rookie British secret agent
Montenegro, Summer 2006
Film: Casino Royale
Release Date: November 14, 2006
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
Background
After years of audiences used to Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan*, some Bond fans were unsure what to expect with the new tough and gritty Bond played by Daniel Craig. While most hardcore fans – especially those of Fleming’s novels – were pleased by the return to form in 2006’s Casino Royale, some worried that the “Bourne-era” Bond would be too tough for the Bond dinner jacket.
Luckily, Casino Royale not only puts Bond in a sharp tailored dinner jacket for the second act of the film, but his formalwear actually is commented on in the film’s dialogue as Vesper tells him:
There are dinner jackets and dinner jackets. This is the latter.
Layer Cake – Daniel Craig’s Leather Jacket
Daniel Craig in Layer Cake (2004).
Seeing as the stoner holiday of 4/20 is coming up this weekend, it’s only appropriate that BAMF Style profiles a cinematic drug dealer. However, the classy “businessman” of Layer Cake is hardly the traditional dealer…
Vitals
Daniel Craig as an unnamed London drug dealer
London, Summer 2004
Film: Layer Cake
Release Date: October 1, 2004
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Costume Designer: Stephanie Collie
Background
Layer Cake could be argued Daniel Craig’s test drive as Bond. While more timid than the infamous spy (“I hate guns! Although that one is very pretty…”), he plays a cunning, manipulative, and cheeky anti-hero with a conflicting but specific set of morals. He also has a pretty sharp wardrobe without resorting to Bond’s dinner jacket and martini trope. Also, much like Bond, he gets to enjoy a steamy mid-day hotel room tryst with a femme fatale, until he is rudely interrupted of course.
However, there is one major difference glaring between Daniel Craig in Layer Cake and Daniel Craig as Bond. In Layer Cake, he plays a criminal: a drug dealer, to be exact. Now, he is a drug dealer with morals, but still, I think we can all agree that drug dealing is a profession Bond would look down upon. Although, as Dan himself tells us in the film’s narration…
I’m not a gangster, just a businessman. And my commodity happens to be cocaine.
Casino Royale: Bond’s Navy Polo in Venice
Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale (2006).
Vitals
Daniel Craig as James Bond, disillusioned British secret agent
Venice, Summer 2006
Film: Casino Royale
Release Date: November 14, 2006
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
Background
I will make no apology for the fact that I think Daniel Craig is the best thing to happen to James Bond since a badass Scotsman first caught the eye of Cubby Broccoli and the Bond producers in 1961. Craig exemplifies what a modern Bond would be: tough but considerate while being slightly arrogant and insecure. He’s got a few quips, but he’s not winking at the camera every five minutes nor is he more focused on staying in bed with his woman-of-the-week while there’s a job to get done.
That being said, I’m a huge fan of the Bond series and will watch any of the movies (maybe not A View to a Kill) any day. I’ve read all the books, blah blah blah… Besides giving Connery his just due, I would argue that Craig IS Bond, at least from the literary standpoint. He may not be what the public wants him to be/thinks he should be, but he delivers Ian Fleming’s original vision to the screen. Continue reading
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