MrBishop
Well-Known Member
Well...we have a new James Bond... 'cept that he's blonde.
MoreHis name is Craig, Daniel Craig.
The English actor was named as the next James Bond on Friday, ending months of speculation over who would take over from Pierce Brosnan on Her Majesty's secret service.
In typically flamboyant 007 style, the 37-year-old swept up the River Thames on a power launch to a news conference, escorted by Royal Marines boats.
The first blond Bond, wearing a blue suit and red tie, posed for photos in the shadow of Tower Bridge and told reporters: "I'm kind of speechless at the moment."
The casting of one of cinema's most iconic characters closes the successful four-film run of Irishman Brosnan, who was shaken and stirred not to be retained to make "Casino Royale," the 21st Bond film, that starts shooting in January.
The 52-year-old described the decision by the Bond franchise makers to drop him as a "body blow."
"I was looking forward to making it edgier and grittier, and for all of that to go down in one phone call was highly disappointing," he told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Craig was the hot favorite in the runup to Friday's announcement, and his appointment was all but confirmed when his mother let the secret slip to a regional newspaper on Friday.
While little known in the United States, Craig will be more familiar to British audiences after appearing in the gangster caper "Layer Cake."
He also played alongside Paul Newman in "Road to Perdition" and was poet Ted Hughes opposite Gwyneth Paltrow's Sylvia Plath in "Sylvia." But it is the Bond role that could catapult him into superstardom.
Other actors rumored to have been approached to play 007 include Britons Clive Owen and Jude Law, Australia's Hugh Jackman and Croatia's Goran Visnjic.
![daniel_craig.jpg](http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/contrib_pix/d/a/hds/daniel_craig.jpg)