Daniel Craig Credits Filming Casino Royale as Inspiration for No Time to Die

When No Time to Die arrives in theaters in the United States it will mark the final time that Daniel Craig will play James Bond, and it will also arrive some fifteen years after his first appearance in 2006's Casino Royale. Though Craig doesn't have the most official Bond movies to his name (Roger Moore's 7 are still the highest) the delays in No Time to Die's release will result in him having technically played the character the longest. To bring things full circle Craig himself confirmed that the idea that would become No Time to Die was one he first thought of way back on the set of his first movie. 

"I finished (SPECTRE) with a broken leg. I'm not moaning about that; it's just the way it was," Craig told Entertainment Weekly, who pointed out that he previously said that 2015 movie would be his last. "I had to question myself: Was I physically capable of doing (another one), or did I physically want to do another one? Because that phone call to your wife saying 'I've broken my leg' is not pleasant. But I had a break. It was five years, and we had an idea, an idea that I'd had on Casino Royale. I spoke to Barbara (Broccoli, Bond franchise producer) about it, and she said, 'Yeah, go for it.' We expanded that idea, and that became the plot or became at least what we were aiming for, and I'm very, very, very happy we did."

That idea seemingly being that James Bond finds himself at the start of the film in retirement, called back for one last job after years away from the spy life and MI6.

Fans may also recall that originally, development on the 25th James Bond movie had Academy Award winning director Danny Boyle attached to helm. Craig confirmed as well that work on the film basically restarted after he left, resulting in something else.

"Just about, yeah," Craig said about starting over. "I'm a huge fan of Danny, and I'd love, love to work with him. It didn't work out. The problem is, with a Bond movie, there's no hiding place. It happens all the time in movies. You work with directors, you work with writers, and you get to a point and you go, 'It's not working, sorry,' and you move on. It's just in a Bond movie it becomes this huge event that gets blown into something else. But I've got massive, massive respect for Danny. I love him very much. Swing and a miss, you know."

No Time to Die will finally arrive in theaters on October 8 after multiple delays from the COVID-19 pandemic. Marking Daniel Craig's final time as the hero, the film will also star Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, with Jeffrey Wright, with Christoph Waltz and Ralph Fiennes as "M."