Today, Oct. 14, is the 18th anniversary of Eon Productions getting its mojo back, when it formally announced the casting of Daniel Craig as James Bond.
People may ask whether Eon had lost its mojo. But in 2005, Eon itself said it had. Consider this excerpt from a New York Times article.
“I was desperately afraid, and Barbara was desperately afraid, we would go downhill,” said Michael G. Wilson, the producer of the new Bond film, “Casino Royale,” with Ms. Broccoli. He even told that to Pierce Brosnan, the suave James Bond who had a successful run of four films, he said.
“We are running out of energy, mental energy,” Mr. Wilson recalled saying. “We need to generate something new, for ourselves.”
Running out of energy, mental energy. Sounds like Eon’s mojo was running low on both in the 2000s.
With Craig, it was the first casting that Eon principals Wilson and Barbara Broccoli got to pick their own Bond actor. Albert R. Broccoli had selected Craig’s predecessors. Broccoli’s widow, Dana Broccoli, kept an eye on her children until she passed away in 2004.
Enter Daniel Craig. Barbara Broccoli said in 2006 that Craig is “the actor that defies his generation of actors.” In a 2017 podcast with The Hollywood Reporter, Broccoli said that until Craig announced in August of that year he’d return for one last Bond film, ““My heart was breaking.”
The Eon boss said in that podcast that Craig was the best Bond actor. “He is particularly incredible.”
Today, it has been about four years since he filmed his last Bond scene and two years since his final Bond effort, No Time to Die, came out.
Still, to note the return of the return of Eon’s mojo in 2005, the official account on X, formerly Twitter, this post appeared:
Filed under: James Bond Films | Tagged: Barbara Broccoli, Daniel Craig, Eon Productions, Michael G. Wilson, The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times's 2005 story about the casting of Daniel Craig as 007 | 1 Comment »
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