One of the finest and most distinctively remarkable actors to play James Bond, Daniel Craig has come a long way ever since his first movie of the peerless spy.

Starting from Casino Royale back in 2006 up to his last Bond movie, No Time to Die in 2021, Craig has managed to do a splendid job portraying Agent 007 in five installments over one-and-a-half decades.

Daniel Craig
But while he enjoyed the experience of embarking on Bond’s adventures and creating some of the best works of all time, one other incident on the sets of one of the films left the Casino Royale actor terrified for his career and scared out of his mind after he received a strange phone call from his James Bond film producer in the middle of the night.

Daniel Craig’s ‘Enjoyable’ Event That Initially Left Him Scared For His Career

Daniel Craig in a still from Casino Royale (2006)
Though he enjoyed most of the shoot of filming James Bond’s adventures, Daniel Craig felt some of those moments too when he had his heart stuck in his throat out of anxiety.

This includes the one ‘enjoyable’ experience he had after the release of his first Agent 007 film Casino Royale that initially left him scared for his career.

During a Q&A interview with The Guardian, the Quantum of Solace actor shared a story related to his ‘promotional duties’ as Bond. He said:

“I was in Switzerland for Casino Royale. I was very naive and green and was trying to be open-minded. I knew people had loved the movie in London.

The next stage was: does the movie make any money? I didn’t even consider that.”

Since he didn’t want to torture himself constantly with the thought of whether his first Bond film would succeed commercially as well or not, Craig decided to just have a good night’s sleep instead.

“I’d gone to bed and I’d got a call from Barbara [Broccoli] who was with Amy Pascal, who was running Sony at the time, and they said: ‘Get down here now,’ and I thought I’d lost my job.

And they just went: ‘The figures are in and they’re through the roof.’ That was just mind-blowing for me – a success I didn’t even consider.”

As it turned out, Casino Royale made a sparkling $594.4 million at the worldwide box office, which stood at almost 5.8 times its production budget which was $102 million only.

Following his first Bond film’s incredibly immaculate success came four other installments starring Daniel Craig as the unrivaled spy, which turned out to be equally fine, if not better.

Daniel Craig Didn’t Always Fancy Playing James Bond

Daniel Craig as James Bond
Answering another question in the same Q&A interview with The Guardian, Daniel Craig shared how he didn’t always fancy playing James Bond when he was young, especially during drama school.

“It was a role I fancied playing when I was about 10. But then I wanted to be Spider-Man, Columbo, Kojak, and Starsky and Hutch.”

However, that doesn’t mean the Skyfall actor isn’t grateful for the immense success he received after playing Bond.

While answering one other question, he mentioned the part he will miss the most now that he has stepped down from playing the secret agent.

“It’s this massive collaborative effort. I came up through theatre and was taught very early on that you’ve got to look after each other.

And never more so than on a Bond set, because Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson’s attitude is: it’s one big family. They gave me a chance to be creatively involved.

And to be creatively involved in a Bond movie, I will miss.”

All in all, whether he might have fancied it or not, Daniel Craig has still set the bar pretty high up after his exceptional performance as James Bond on the big screen which will undeniably keep on entertaining and leaving an indelible mark on his audience’s hearts in all the following years.