Dec 9
Daniel Craig Reveals Why He Wouldn't Play Gay While Wearing 007's Tux
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Before he played super-sexy MI-6 agent James Bond in five films over 15 years, Daniel Craig played Derek Jacobi's gay lover in "Love is the Devil." After his stint as 007, Craig played gay sleuth Benoit Blanc in the "Knives Out" movies, as well as the role of Bill Lee in Luca Guadagnino's gay drama "Queer." So why didn't he play gay during his tenure as the world's suavest spy?
Craig addressed that question recently. The British actor "shared he would never have considered taking the role [of Bill Lee] during his time at the helm of the 007 franchise," Deadline relayed.
"I couldn't have done this while doing Bond," Craig said of his role in "Queer," which critics have hailed as a career-best performance. "It would look reactionary, like I was showing my range," he said.
Deadline added that Craig, who was addressing his remarks to UK newspaper The Times of London (where the story is behind a paywall), indicated that "he wasn't interested in the prospect of taking fans of Bond through to a different depiction of masculinity..."
"It's just not a conversation I wanted," Craig said. "I had it all the way through Bond anyway. Could there be this Bond? That Bond? So anything that is going to inflame that conversation?"
"No," the 007 star declared, "life's too short."
The rigors of playing James Bond in five action-packed films were great enough as it was.
"I was so exhausted at the end of a Bond it would take me six months to recover emotionally," Craig went on to add. "I always had the attitude that life must come first and, when work came first for a while, it strung me out."
Now, of course, Craig can focus on other things, and he has. In addition to the two "Knives Out" films he's already starred in, the busy actor is set to return as Benoit Blanc – who was depicted as being in a happy same-sex marriage in 2022's "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," with Hugh Grant playing Benoit's husband, Phillip – in the upcoming third "Knives Out" movie, "Wake Up Dead Man," which is slated for release next year.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
