The No Time to Die hype train gets a full head of steam

Daniel Craig/James Bond character poster

The No Time to Die hype train is out of the station and is getting a full head of steam.

The latest example: The New York Times tells us that star Daniel Craig “helped design the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition he wears in the film. The watch is made of lightweight titanium and has what the brand describes as tropical brown detailing.”

Just a few months ago, Neiman Marcus offered for sale seven limited-edition Aston Martin cars (at $700,007 each) “designed by 007 himself, DANIEL CRAIG.”

Move over, Leonardo da Vinci (painter, sculptor, scientist, philosopher, engineer),  Michelango (sculptor, painter, architect, poet), Benjamin Franklin (inventor, writer, diplomat, a Founding Father of the United States).

Daniel Craig is the new Renaissance Man, according to the publicity buildup for the 25th James Bond film.

Craig knows watches. He knows cars. Just look at the press releases and announcements.

All of this on top of being the best James Bond actor ever (Eon boss Barbara Broccoli during a December 2017 podcast with The Hollywood Reporter and No Time to Die Director Cary Fukunaga during an April publicity event in Jamaica.)

For a time, No Time to Die seemed to quiet on the publicity front. Clearly, that’s not the case now.

UPDATE (1:36 p.m., Feb. 20): Add stunt coordination to Daniel Craig’s Renaissance Man credentials. In a story by Esquire, there’s this passage:

“Integral to the shoot was Daniel Craig’s stunt driver Mark Higgins. He’s been working on Bond since Quantum of Solace, and it’s him razzing the stunt DB5 along the cobbles of Matera and doing the machine gun donut at the end of the trailer. A move he actually gives joint credit to none other than Daniel Craig himself.”