Tough Guy

I’m into it.

Daniel Craig has gotten a different – and H-O-T! – new look now that he’s playing a part in Logan Lucky, director Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming heist movie.

Platinum blond hair and tattoos all over kinda look real good on the man o.k.a. James Bond, wouldn’t you say?

So versatile.

Logan Lucky is expected in theaters next fall.

Photo: X.

007 and Jinx Reuniting (Sorta)

Remember when James Bond met one of his most memorable (female) matches in Halle Berry’s Jinx, in 2002’s Die Another Day?

Ooh, and how ’bout when Daniel Craig took over as 007 from Pierce Brosnan four years later, with Casino Royale, and kind of saluted Berry’s big splashy entrance, which was itself a nod to Ursula Andress’ in 1962’s Dr. No, the very first James Bond movie?

Good times, no?

Jinx made such an impression that for years speculation that Berry would be getting a spin-off ran rampant. The idea never went anywhere, but now...now we’re getting the next best thing: A new film starring Craig and the Oscar winner – one that has nothing to do with the Bond franchise.

Craig and Berry are fixin’ to co-star opposite each other in Kings, the English-language debut of Deniz Gamze Ergüven, the Turkish-French director of the 2016 Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar-nominated French film Mustang.

A love story and a tale of survival, the action of Kings will be set against the rising tension that engulfed L.A. in 1992 during the Rodney King trial. Craig will play a loner who lives in South Central (not to many people looking like him living there...), who has fallen for Berry’s character, a tough mother who looks after a group of kids. As the six-day riots begin (you know the ones), the two must track down the kids in order to keep them safe from the riots.

Sounds totally not stressful at all.

Photo: CBC.ca.

Lucky Daniel Craig

Loving. This!

Daniel Craig is going to work with Steven Soderbergh.

That’s right. And that’s so right.

Craig is thisclose to joining Channing Tatum, Seth MacFarlane, Riley Keough, and Adam Driver in Logan Lucky, a heist movie about two brothers pulling a fast one during a NASCAR race.

Katherine Heigl is also jumping on board.

Now I really cannot wait to see this one.

Photo: GQIndia.com.

Pure Man

Daniel Craig is coming to TV, folks.

That’s right: Not even James Bond is immune to the slow death of the mid-budget big-screen offering.

Indeed, Craig is set to headline an adaptation of Jonathan Franzen’s Purity that the author himself is tackling with Todd Field, who would direct the proposed 20-ep Scott Rudin-produced series.

Purity is being shopped to Showtime and FX, as well as Netflix, Amazon, and hulu. The series will revolved around a young American woman named Pip who doesn’t know who she is, and Andreas, a charismatic German provocateur, the head of a South America-based organization that traffics in world secrets, that would be portrayed by the man o.k.a. 007.

Sounds interesting. But when is someone gonna get this guy to a Steve McQueen biopic, already?

Photo: Shopcade.com.

Mo Blofeld Mo Daniel Craig?

So SPECTRE was like, this moody, mythological outing. The Bourniest of the James Bond movies.

Parts of it worked, parts of it didn’t.

And some of it was over-the-top, yet not enough. I’m thinking of Christoph Waltz’s Blofeld and his foster-sibling issues when I say that, don’t you know, don’t you know.

Now that some time has passed since the movie started bustin’ dem blocks comes word that the two-time Academy Award-winning actor is itching to play Blofeld in not one but two more movies (supposedly). That is, of course, provided that Daniel Craig signs up for more, too.

While Craig got a little dramatic about the idea of playing 007 again before the release of SPECTRE, I do believe he is contractually obligated to one more adventure. So the powers that be would have to shower him in money and work with him to secure other fun projects if they actually want to deliver a bubble trilogy revolving around Bond and Blofeld.

Which sounds quite entirely boring, come to think of it.

Hey. Perhaps, this is simply a first-week-of-the-year rumor, right?

Photo: WordPressNews.tk.

As Iago

What...a showdown.

Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo are set to star in a New York Theatre Workshop staging of Othello.

The Selma star will play Shakespeare’s Moorish general in the fall 2016 production, while the man who is still James Bond will take on the role of Iago, his duplicitous lieutenant.

I believe the play will mark Craig’s first foray Off-Broadway. He most recently lit up the Great White Way opposite his better half, Rachel Weisz, in Betrayal. It, for sure, will be Oyelowo’s debut with the New York Theatre Workshop, so there ya go.

This is very, very tempting.

Photo: TopHDGallery.com.

Dramatic Daniel Craig

Oy vey. Daniel Craig is about to ignite the Internet.

And not in the good way.

The actor has – somewhat rather ill-advisedly – said, in a new interview with Time Out London, that he, “[woud] rather break [a] glass and slash my wrists” than follow up the upcoming SPECTRE with another James Bond film.

Guess he missed the update on the media training class when he took over the franchise with Casino Royale nine years ago, huh. I mean, you can barely say anything these days if you are a star, let alone something that isn’t a humble acknowledgement of your #blessed status in life.

To be fair, Craig did say that, although he is contractually obligated to suit up at 007 for one more film, right now, “at the moment,” after working on SPECTRE for as long and as hard as he has (sustaining a knee injury that, evidently, required surgery last spring – not his first Bond-production-related injury, btw), he is “over” the character. That he would like to give Bond a break for “at least a year or two.”

Look, Craig is no spring chicken. He is 47. And these movies, they require a lot of their lead. They must be in almost every scene of the world-crossing action. They gotta sell the darn thing. You gotta be away from your family. And you gotta sell the darn thing. Craig has never been known to enjoy that part of his job as much as the creative. His approach is candid. That turns people off.

Perhaps, he could work on his beside manner.

I, for one, enjoy it more when kitties like to scratch a bit.

Photo: TimeOut.com.

Update: I said there would be backlash. I just never imagined that Ellen Pompeo (TV’s Grey’s Anatomy) would be the one leading it.

Meeting the Author

No more teases: The first full trailer for the latest James Bond outing, SPECTRE, is here.

Daniel Craig, of course, is back as 007 in director Sam Mendes’ follow-up to Skyfall, and the film promises to be everything that 2012 blockbuster was and more.

The new preview offers a glimpse of Bond girls Monica Bellucci and Léa Seydoux that contextualizes their roles some (the former seems to be the mysterious-type conduit to a larger-looming conflict and the latter a damsel in distress with many a useful skill to our hero...), as well as what appears to be the first meet between Bond and Christoph Waltz’s maybe-Blofeld Oberhauser, the villainous man who claims to be the author of all of good ol’ James’ pain.

Mmm.

Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, and Ben Whishaw – the new M, Ms. Moneypenney, and the new Q, respectively – are also seen and heard, which is not quite the same case for newcomers David Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Andrew Scott.

SPECTRE will be in theaters on Nov. 6.

Photo: The Karpel Group.

WWJBD Now

SPECTRE.

SPECTRE.

It’s all about the upcoming SPECTRE now.

Daniel Craig’s latest 007 adventure’s coming out this fall, and, like Skyfall before it, it promises to be a doozy.

James Bond will receive a cryptic message from his past that will send him – like a kite dancing in a hurricane – on a journey to uncover the true intentions of a beyond-sinister organization. Check out the blockbuster’s first teaser trailer now.

SPECTRE will take over theaters on Nov. 6.

The New Look of Bond

New movie, new look?

Seems that’s the thinking behind Daniel Craig’s new sartorial choices in the upcoming SPECTRE, the first one-sheet poster of which has just been released.

There you have it, men: Mock turtlenecks are in for fall.

SPECTRE will be in theaters on Nov. 6.

Photo: EW.com.

SPECTRE Looms Nigh...

Wanna see more of Daniel Craig as James Bond in the upcoming SPECTRE?

Good. You are in luck.

Last week, the powers that be gave us a behind-the-scene look at the shooting of the film; specifically, of a sequence shot in Austria. Co-stars Léa Seydoux (Blue Is the Warmest Color) and David Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) were involved.

Check it out.

SPECTRE is due out on Nov. 6.

Photo: EW.com.

007 the Snow Bunny

How cute H-O-T did Daniel Craig look on the Austrian-mountain set of SPECTRE this week?

Super, huh?

And how much does this pic from one of the locations – the Gaislachkogel mountain in Sölden – that will (?) be featured in the next James Bond movie make you want to go to there?

Lots, huh?

Mmm...to go to there with 007 himself.

Now there’s a thought.

Photo: People.com.

SPECTRE Are at It Again

What happened at Skyfall is going to loom large over Bond 24.

Or so it would seem since it was announced super-early this morning that the upcoming follow-up to the 2012 hit Skyfall will be titled SPECTRE.

Ahh. And, yes...SPECTRE, as in SPECTRE, the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion organization!

As previously reported, Sam Mendes will be back at the helm, and Daniel Craig, of course, will once again suit up as James Bond.

Craig will be joined by his Skyfall co-stars Ralph Fiennes (the new M), Naomie Harris, and Ben Whishaw, while joining the fun of the latest 007 adventure will be Monica Bellucci (in the role that was rumored for Penélope Cruz, perhaps?), Léa Seydoux (Blue Is the Warmest Color), David Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), and Christoph Waltz as a villain who may reveal himself to be...Blofeld (for now the Horrible Bosses 2’s stars character is only known as Oberhauser – which still could be a red herring, but not quite on the level of Star Trek Into Darkness’ Khangate).

Per Bond tradition, SPECTRE will be a world-crisscrossing affair: The film will be shot along London, Rome, Mexico City, Tangier, Erfoud, and the Austrian Alps. Everyone will begin reporting for duty as early as next Monday.

Oh, and in case you are into cars and stuff, James Bond will drive the Aston Martin DB10 in the film (the ride was especially designed for the production).

Also, if you are into watching a bit of the title sequence for the film (yes, the powers that be showed that with their announcement), well, here it is:

SPECTRE is due out next Nov. 6.

Photo: Moviefone.com.

No Truth for Him

What happened?

Daniel Craig is no longer interested in The Whole Truth.

Evidently, the actor c.a.k.a. James Bond dropped out of the courtroom drama starring Renée Zellweger earlier this week, for reasons unknown.

Production is now scrambling to find a new leading man.

Darn. I was really looking forward to seeing Craig get all stern and s--- in court. Or something like that.

Photo: JustJared.com.

Whole Truth Man

It’s been a long while since I read up on anything Daniel Craig (probably because the man was busy on Broadway), so this is most welcome.

The actor c.a.k.a. James Bond has attached himself to The Whole Truth, a dramatic thriller about which nothing else is know.

So…short item. But an item nevertheless.

Craig soon will suit up as 007, btw. The 24th entry of the franchise is due out next year.

Photo: InterviewMagazine.com.

The Curtain’s Gone Up on the Craigs’ Betrayal

It’s on: I must find a way to get to New York and catch Betrayal.

Why?

’Cause the just-started-previews Mike Nicholls-directed limited-engagement revival of the Harold Pinter play stars one of my favorites, Daniel Craig, and his real-life wife, Rachel Weisz, in her Broadway debut.

Betrayal will open officially on Nov. 3.

Photo: People.com.

I See Little Dan, Daniel Craig!

Men will be men.

And just like Justin Theroux and Jon Hamm before him, Daniel Craig gave into the joys of letting it all hang free and loose while taking a walk in New York this week.

Thanks for giving us a sight while taking in the sights, man.

Photo: People.com.

The Craigs Are Doing Broadway

Yay!

I will be heading to New York this fall, quite possibly for my birthday: Daniel Craig is going back to Broadway (he hit the New York stage for the first in 2009, in A Steady Rain), and he’s taking his wife, Rachel Weisz, with him when he goes.

As expected, the pair will take on the Great White Way together, in a Mike Nicholls-directed limited-engagement revival of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal. This will mark her Broadway debut.

Previews begin on Oct. 1 for a Nov. 3 – three days before my 31st. 

Life of Pi’s Rafe Spall will play Craig’s best friend, a.k.a. the man with whom Weisz’s character is having an affair.

Ooh, kids – I am so excited.

Photo: EW.com.

Here Come...the Craigs, Broadway

I will go to New York for this – you can bet on it.

Yeah, yeah, I know I often say I think there’s a quick Big Apple run in my horizon every time someone I like goes to Broadway (sometimes I have – just ask Lauren Graham...or not), but this time I mean it som’in’ fiercely serious: Daniel Craig is looking to light up the Great White Way again.

Only this time he isn’t planning on doing it with Hugh Jackman, with whom he starred in A Steady Rain back in 2009, but with his real-life wife, Rachel Weisz, who would be making her New York stage debut.

Urgh, fine...I won’t get jealous.

The couple is circling the staging of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, which would see them playing a married couple crumbling in reverse chronology due to her affair with one of his friends.

Sounds like a challenging thing to pull off at the theater, so I guess it’s a good thing that 10-time Tony nominee Mike Nicholls is in talks to direct the play.

A West End production of Betrayal with Kristin Scott Thomas and Douglas Henshall is being mounted in May, while the Great White Way staging is set for the fall.

Photo: Zimbio.com.

Giving Thanks

Good goin’, Daniel Craig.

This is why I heart the actor so: He barely cracks a smile, and he’s always doing his own, unexpected thing.

Case in point? His surprise visit with British servicefolk last Sunday at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan.

Craig turned up to say hello, give thanks, tour the premises, and overall cheer everybody up with a screening of his latest turn as James Bond, Skyfall.

Loves it.

Photo: JustJared.com.