Columbia PicturesHis name's Bond, James Bond. You probably already knew that much about Britain's number one secret service agent. But with Skyfall, the latest installment in Daniel Craig's Bond franchise, hitting theaters today, there's probably plenty more you want to know about the 007 saga.
The cast—including Craig and his Bond Girls Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlohe—sat down at this week's press junket for the film and discussed all things Skyfall, so we've compiled five burning questions whose answers are even hotter.
1. Is that really Daniel Craig doing the stunts? "I get a kick out of it," Daniel said of the action scenes in the film (of which there are plenty). "I don't do all my stunts—I'd be lying if I said that. But I like the fact that occasionally that you'll see on screen that it's my face and it's me. And I think audiences hopefully appreciate that. At least, I really hope they do."
If not the audience, at least his costars do: "I learned an incredible respect for action heroes," Harris, who plays Eve, revealed. "Daniel, for me, is extraordinary because he does a 15-hour day, then he will train for two hours afterwards. I don't know anyone else who works that hard."
2. Has Bond abandoned his womanizing ways? Bond has always been a love-'em-and-leave-'em kind of guy (just look at how many Bond Girls he's left in his romantic wake). But is Craig's Bond ready to fall in love? "I do hope," Marlohe, who plays Bond's latest conquest, Sévérine, pondered. "I do hope my destiny would have been a huge love story between him and I."
Harris—who insisted viewers can feel free to call them Bond Girls or Bond Women—continued. "You feel like he's open to it, but he's a Bond with issues. He needs to go through a bit of therapy before he's able to make deep, meaningful attachments...[But] you're seeing women who are an equal to him much more, so it's a much more interesting journey rather than have women who are arm candy."
3. Is Bond ready to order his martini shaken...not stirred? When Craig first started work on Casino Royale, he mentioned that he hadn't earned the right to signature Bond sayings, like his drink order or way he introduces himself. That's over now. "We couldn't just cram in the old gags. It would've felt wrong, and I was not trying to copy anybody who'd come before…But it's always been a plan," Craig explained of (finally) using the phrases."
"He can't say this, but he has earned it actually," director Sam Mendes chimed in. "What [Casino director] Martin Campbell did so brilliantly in that film was bring everything back down to sea level and take away pastiche and the assumption that there were going to be those moments. Now we're able to reintroduce them with a sense of fun and mischief."
4. Did James Bond really just (gasp) cry?! "He doesn't cry, he's sweating," Daniel Craig immediately quipped when asked about a particularly emotional scene in the film (of which there are a couple in the action-packed film).
But, if 007 is in need of a tissue to dry his eyes, did Skyfall break one of the 10 Commandments of Bond? "Of course we did, that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to mess around with it," Craig told reporters. "It's interesting: You said he cries, other people I know said he doesn't cry, it's open. But it's an emotional scene."
5. What's next? While we're promised the next two (at least) installments in the Daniel Craig Bond era will take us to "a new place," there are few details on where exactly that new place will be (or even who will be along for the ride).
But here's one thing we do know: It won't be to the stage. "I think we've got our hands full making these as movies without taking them on to the stage," producer Barbara Broccoli, who successfully brought Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to the theater, laughed. But Craig has an idea: "I see a musical!" he joked right before admitting he doesn't sing, "not even slightly."