Daniel Craig: Part two
Craig was developing an impressive resumé and a great skill at taking on an entirely new persona with each new role. He would play a 19th century Irish refuge in Love & Rage, a young soldier in the WWI film The Trench, a framed Jesuit priest in the royal biopic Elizabeth (starring Cate Blanchett), a Kenyan gamekeeper in the Kim Basinger film I Dreamed of Africa, and the manager of a run-down hotel and health-spa in the satirical comedy Hotel Splendide.
American audiences finally got a real taste of Craig's acting when he took a part in an action-packed summer blockbuster, 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Playing Angelina Jolie's present rival and former lover, Craig was so effective at his trademark immersion into his role that audiences hardly recognized him when he appeared the next year in Road to Perdition as the spoiled son of an Al Capone-era mob boss, complete with a perfect American accent.
His skill for blending so adeptly into his character and environment gave him the odd combination of being wildly praised but seldom recognized. He would appear in many more challenging and thought-provoking roles over the next few years, most notably as Ted Hughes, poet and husband to Sylvia Plath (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) in the biopic Sylvia (2003). In 2004, he took British audiences on a thrill ride as a coke dealer without a name in Layer Cake, which became a sleeper hit in the U.S. as well. The following year found him playing significant roles in American films like The Jacket and Steven Spielberg's Munich.
The script that would mark his debut in the franchise would be Casino Royale, the only of author Ian Flemming's original James Bond books to have never been adapted into a screenplay for the film franchise, as its rights were purchased in 1967 to make a spoof of the film series rather than a real Bond movie.
The choice of Craig for such a famous and well-loved character had some audiences scratching their heads, but those who'd taken a look at the actor's long and impressive filmography were ready to see him take on the job. To say his debut as Bond was a success is an understatment: released in late 2006, Casino Royale quickly rung up the highest box-office tally of any Bond film, and it garnered the best reviews the franchise had seen in years. Audiences and critics alike became Craig loyalists.
While Craig downed martinis as the silver screen's most enduring super spy, the hype sadly overshadowed the fact that the veteran actor continued to take risks on the big screen with such efforts as Renaissance, a visually stunning sci fi thriller that was somewhat remniscent of director Robert Rodriguez's acclaimed 2005 action entry Sin City. Also, before Casino Royale's release, Craig would appear as the killer Perry Smith in the "other Capote movie," Infamous. It wasn't until 2007 that the actor started seeing his newfound stock reflected in giant Hollywood productions, including The Invasion and The Golden Compass.
- Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide