Daniel Craig discusses the nature of the heros he plays
Actor News - 02-01-09
He may be living out every Boy’s Own fantasy as James Bond, but the action heroes that intimidate Daniel Craig are his beloved Liverpool FC.
The Wirral-raised Hollywood star could not conceal his love for the Reds when asked about his own personal inspiration.
“The idea of heroes is such a wide concept. When I was growing up, it was Liverpool FC players,” the 007 actor told The Liverpool Daily Post.
“Most of the Liverpool squad are my heroes. I think I’d be a gibbering wreck if I got in a room with some of those people.”
After a hectic year, Craig says he will be taking January off to heal an injury – a separated shoulder and subsequent surgery – inflicted during the filming of the latest Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, released this autumn.
But that wasn’t before heading off to the freezing forests of Lithuania to make Defiance, released next week.
Based on a true story, the film is a tale of family honour, vengeance and salvation in World War II.
Set in Eastern Europe in 1941, it follows the fates of three Jewish brothers who take refuge in the woods of their homeland and begin a desperate battle against the Nazis, finding a way to avenge the deaths of their loved ones by saving thousands of others.
As Tuvia Beilski, Craig is the reluctant leader of their ever- expanding group, with his decisions challenged by his brother, Zus (Leiv Schreiber) who worries that Tuvia’s idealistic plans will doom them all.
Younger brother Asael (Billy Elliot’s Jamie Bell) is caught between his brothers’ fierce rivalry.
As a brutal winter descends, they work to create a community and to keep faith alive when all humanity appeared to be lost.
“We were there for2½ to three months, and the weather got progressively worse and worse,” Craig recalls of the filming.
“We did the occasional night shoot and while we didn’t sleep out there in the forests, it was hard.
“We ate a lot and drank a lot of vodka; it seemed the only way to get through it. It was certainly the nicest way to get through it.
“After a week being in the freezing cold, stamping your feet, you kind of got into it. The forest was amazing. It’s a real wilderness, and once you get in there you can imagine what it was like.”
He says he was fascinated by the brothers’ true story, particularly the situation thrust upon his character, Tuvia, who doesn’t want to be a leader and is forced into a fight for survival.
“One of the things I liked about this part is that Tuvia doesn’t want to save the world. He just wants to survive and live, and I think we all feel like that.
“Then there’s that really fascinating moral switch which happens in his head – he can’t just save his family, if he’s there, he’ll have to save other people, too.
“The vast majority of stories we hear about heroes are embellished afterwards, because they’re good for morale. They’re good for all of us. Usually, though, the truth is much more complicated and much more interesting.
“My grandfathers fought in the Second World War and saw a lot of what went on,” he continues.
“It’s impossible not to feel some personal involvement and that’s why stories like this are relevant. It’s recent history and it doesn’t stop happening in the world.
“The First World War was the ‘war to end all wars’, and, with the Second World War, everyone said ‘that’ll never happen again’.
“And we’re doing a really bad job, because it keeps on happening again and again.”
Although it seems a world away from Bond, Craig still performs his “fair share of killing” in Defiance, and says he appreciates the chance to perform both sorts of role.
He had been keen to work with the film’s director, Ed Zwick, and says the cast gelled immediately.
“That was a great thing about this film,” he says.
“Me, Liev and Jamie are all really individual people, and yet we got on so well. We just messed with each other, in the nicest possible way. We energised each other and tried to put each other off.”
Craig says that, apart from resting his shoulder, he will be taking a break and has no immediate filming commitments.
Two things not on the Craig radar include a rumoured sequel to The Golden Compass and the anticipated I, Lucifer in which Craig was to play a washed-up writer through which Satan lived out his last chance of redemption.
Of the former, the Philip Pullman series in which he played Lord Asriel, he says: “I can’t see there being one at the moment. Warner Bros have the rights to it. It’s a shame, I’d have liked to do another – it’s quite sad really.
“It just didn’t work out the way it was supposed to. But I’m not the one who gets to make those kind of decisions.”
There are “only a finite number of good scripts out there”, he muses, despite the leap to A-list status that came with Bond.
“I wish there was suddenly a pile of brilliant, brilliant scripts being put in front of me, but that’s not the case.
“I do get to look at things perhaps a little earlier than before, but then it just comes down to a choice, is it good enough and do I want to do it? Nothing’s changed there.”
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