AFTER 15 years of intensifying action, adventure and thrills, actor Daniel Craig is ready to hang up his hat as the iconic British superspy James Bond in grand fashion, no less, with No Time To Die.
The 53-year-old Englishman has had his fair share of challenges to overcome as he took on the role of MI6 Agent 007 starting with Casino Royale back in 2006.
Despite initial criticism for being the first Bond with blonde locks, Craig soon won fans and critics over with his fresh, muscular and edgy portrayal of the suave character.
The father of two and husband to fellow artiste Rachel Weisz also managed to endear himself to fans after the sophomore slump of Quantum Of Solace
in 2008, which faced plenty of production difficulties due to a screenwriter strike at the time of filming.
Follow up films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015) helmed by award-winning British director Sam Mendes helped to further solidify Craig's status as an international star.
But his tenure as an action hero had also taken a toll on his body as Craig had endured several major injuries, including to the shoulder and leg.
This in turn, sparked off his infamous "I'd rather break this glass and slash my wrists" quote when asked about being in another Bond film after Spectre.
With No Time To Die, Craig returns for the last hurrah in the Cary Joji Fukunaga-directed effort. The release of the film had been pushed back several times since last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which also necessitated some reshoots to keep it up to date.
Challenges aside, No Time To Die represents the 25th official Bond film in one of cinema's biggest film franchises that spans close to six decades.
"I'm really very aware of the legacy of these films and what they are, and how they've affected people's lives and how they've affected my life.
"I'm incredibly fortunate to be making films of this size. Very few people actually get to do this. You know, how lucky am I?" says Craig during a session from the Original James Bond Podcast.
He adds being different was what attracted the producers initially to cast him as the then next James Bond.
"I can't do an impression of something that's gone before. I can't recreate what you've done before.
"I can come in and try and reinvent it, because that, to me, is fascinating and interesting. They then went, 'yeah, that's exactly what we want you to do'."
EMOTIONAL CENTRE
In No Time To Die, Craig pulls out all the stops for his fifth and final outing and says: "We've thrown the kitchen sink at it."
The story begins with Bond having left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. But his peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help.
The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist eventually turns out to be far more treacherous than expected. This leads Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.
French actress Léa Seydoux, who reprises her role from Spectre as the psychotherapist Dr Madeleine Swann, says the new film will have an emotional heart and an epic love story amidst the gunfire and explosions.
"The love story is more the centre of the film, I would say, and is the heartbeat of it. It's very essential to the film and it will be quite a romantic one," she says.
Swan was Bond's love interest who also assisted him on his mission in the last film. Fukunaga had previously said that her presence allowed him to explore Bond's unresolved trauma, which originated from the death of Vesper Lynd (played by Eva Green) in Casino Royale.
"I felt happy to come back to play her and was satisfied to be able to develop her part and her relationship with Bond.
"She's more consistent now, more mature and she's got a secret," says Seydoux.
She adds there are also more interesting and complex female characters in the new film.
One of them is a new MI6 agent, who had taken over the 007 designation after Bond's retirement, who has to work with the previous spy to save the day.
British actress Lashana Lynch, who plays the new agent named Nomi, had previously said that she hoped her character would bring a new layer of relatability to the world of espionage.
"When you're dealing with a franchise that has been slick for so many years, I wanted to throw a human spin on it.
"To deal with the anxiety and be someone who's figuring it out, completely on her toes," she says of the sophisticated and capable character.
No Time To Die, which was partially filmed in Jamaica, left an indelible impression on Lynch whose parents hail from the island country in the Caribbean Sea.
"You see a part of Jamaica that I think not a lot of people get to see, which disheartens me actually, because it's so beautiful.
"So you see the landscapes, you see the people, you see the heat," she says.
Lynch had previously said that the experience gave her a deeper understanding of the privileges as a British-born Jamaican that her parents and grandparents gave to her when they relocated to England.
Jamaica holds a special significance for the film franchise since famed British novelist and James Bond creator Ian Fleming wrote many of his spy novels there.
The first Bond film Dr No from 1962, which starred Sean Connery, as well as the eighth instalment Live And Let Die (1973), with Roger Moore taking over as 007, were both shot on the island paradise.
Aside from sunny Jamaica, filming for No Time To Die was conducted in Norway, Italy, Scotland and the Faroe Islands as well.
A WORTHY ADVERSARY
Every Bond film will feature a prominent villain and the longstanding franchise has over the years garnered a diverse, colourful and lethal collection of rogues.
For No Time To Die, the role of the antagonist falls on the shoulders of Rami Malek, who hopes he will be able to do justice to the long tradition of infamous scoundrels.
"It's an honour to be part of arguably one of the greatest franchises, which has been a global phenomenon for decades.
"To be part of a legacy of villains who have come before me and left their mark, they're iconic and I can only hope to do the same," he says.
No stranger to playing iconic characters, Malek won an Academy Award for his role as the late singer of legendary British rock band Queen, Freddie Mercury, in the biographical musical drama Bohemian Rhapsody.
In the new Bond film, the American actor of Egyptian descent relishes the exploration of the twisted mind of his character.
"I feel I gravitate to the dark side. Those characters are sometimes the most complex, intriguing and such a great showcase for an actor. Really, it's a no brainer for me," he says of taking on the role.
Malek plays Lyutsifer Safin a terrorist leader, who producer Barbara Broccoli had previously described "the one that really gets under Bond's skin".
"For me, I love investigating and investing in the mind of someone who is devious in order to find out what makes them that way, what compels them to do the things they do.
"Why they have these grand aspirations of altering the world and taking on such a worthy adversary in the character of James Bond.
"It's one of the most difficult roles I've had to play but also could become one of the most fulfilling as well," he says.
Malek adds he told Fukunaga he didn't want Safin to exhibit any kind of religious or ideological identity.
"I said: 'We cannot identify him with any act of terrorism reflecting an ideology or a religion. That's not something I would entertain, so if that is why I am your choice then you can count me out'.
"So he's a very different kind of terrorist. What I really wanted from Safin was to make him unsettling.
"He thinks of himself as being heroic," he says.
SATISFYING FINALE
Fukunaga is the first ever American director to helm a Bond film.
Known for his character-driven TV and film dramas like Beasts Of No Nation, True Detective and Maniac, the director who is of Japanese and Swedish descent, says the latest film will be a great swansong for the Craig-era Bond that packs an emotional punch.
"After five years of retirement, who has he become? He's sort of a wounded animal struggling with his role as a '00'.
"The world has changed. The rules of engagement are not what they used to be. The rules of espionage are darker in this era of asymmetric warfare," he says.
With the stakes raised high, the people close to Bond, whom he considers as family, are at great risk.
"It's a race, not only to save the world but also their lives.
No Time To Die is a combination of all that Bond has become.
"With all that he's seen, the trauma and the loss. What is that mission that will be his most challenging and most difficult? That was our target," says Fukunaga.
He adds: "Everything that was left unsaid will finally be said."
No Time To Die, which also stars Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes and Ana de Armas, is currently screening in cinemas nationwide.