A 007 actor and his fanboys

If you were to believe rabid fans of Daniel Craig and his two films as James Bond, this video would be quite significant:

The video was taken during the premier of Cowboys and Aliens. To those who believe Daniel Craig is the *very best* James Bond ever (never mind Connery, never mind Moore, never mind any other 007 actor or *potential* Bond actor), this video is proof of that.

To that we offer a few observations:

1) The only obligation an actor has to fans is to deliver the best performance he or she can deliver. Nodding to fanboys is something to endure, not anything more significant than that.

2) Actors have multiple obligations; chances are he/she is not a particular fan of the character he/she is playing. Actors have their own careers to take of and portraying a character in a movie, TV series or play is just a job. In Daniel Craig’s case, do you really think he cares more about Bond than his Cowboys and Aliens character? Here’s the breathless description of the YouTube video above: “Amazingly, at the premiere of Cowboys and Aliens, Craig notices three fans wearing perfect Madagascar outfits from Casino Royale and gives his approval not once but THREE times!”

3) For those actors who are playing a well-known character played by multiple actors previously…well, it will probably take years before any one actor’s performance can be properly evaluated compared with the others. To cite an extreme case: Ricardo Cortez played Sam Spade a decade before Humphrey Bogart did, yet ALMOST NOBODY (to be kind) would cite Cortez’s portrayal to be superior to Bogart’s version. Are 007 fanboys really in a position to evaluate Craig compared with the other five actors who’ve played Bond in films?

Put another way: is Craig’s portrayal of Bond closer to Bogie’s as Spade or to Cortez’s as Spade? Does anyone *really* know at this point? Would Craig himself even care as long as the paychecks clear?