While Daniel Craig is saying a fond farewell to James Bond with a record breaking run at the box office internationally, and a reasonable U.S. debut to boot, there is one particular movie of his five-film run that he doesn't have the greatest things to say about. Although it is fair to say that none of Craig's movies have flopped, when it comes to Quantum of Solace, which holds the lowest audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes of the five, Craig wasn't kind in his reminiscing of the Casino Royale follow up.

Speaking to Empire magazine, Daniel Craig was asked whether he had changed has an actor since his 2006 debut as the superspy and replied, "Yes, and for a while, I mourned the actor that I was in Casino Royale because in Casino Royale I didn't know any better. I just didn't get all of the pressure. Then you do [the film] and you get some success, and you go, 'Oh sh*t'. It's a double-edged sword. If I made Casino Royale and it was a pile of sh*t and I walked away, we wouldn't be having this conversation. And maybe I would have carried on acting and that would have been great. But it was a hit, and then there was the pressure that came with the need to succeed."

Craig went on, "Sometimes I would yearn after the person I was when we did Casino Royale. Sometimes too much knowledge is just a little bit not a good thing. I was in the dark about a lot of things, about the way things worked, about the way the world really viewed Bond. Then I suddenly started understanding them, and the weight of it bored me down. We did Quantum of Solace, which was a bit of a sh*t show to say the least, and the full weight of it made me locked up. Thankfully, since then it's just been about loosening up and trying to get back to that feeling of Casino Royale, which is just like, 'Come on, it's James Bond, enjoy yourself. Let's have a good time'. I mean, I'm still a moody c*nt."

No Time to Die has been on hold for over a year thanks to the Covid pandemic, so the hype around it has been gradually building for months now, and that seems to have paid off with the film's international debut last weekend breaking a number of records for the franchise. With the U.S. debut predicting a $55 million plus opening, the new $60 million forecast may not put it at the top of the pile against previous Bond movies domestically, in the grander scheme of things, there is nothing bad about a $60 million weekend in the current climate.

In a recent interview, Bond producer Barbara Broccoli said that despite the Amazon acquisition of MGM, the James Bond franchise would be remaining as a theatrical experience and not succumb to the trend of movies heading to streaming platforms anytime in the future. The hunt for the next James Bond will get underway next year, with a number of big names already being touted by fans as Craig's replacement including The Witcher's Henry Cavil and Bridgerton star Rege-Jean Page top of the list. All of that however is in the future, and for now we can just sit back and watch Daniel Craig do what he's done best for the last fifteen years as the longest-serving Bond of the James Bond franchise in terms of time spent between his first and last movie (not actual films counted).

You can check out the Daniel Craig interview at Empire.