Daniel Craig is allegedly up for USD150 million to play the iconic spy in another two James Bond films.
The actor previously mentioned that he would rather slash his wrists than play James Bond again.
Radar Online was the first to report on the news saying that Sony was the one to make the offer. The new deal would have Craig play Bond for two movies that could be made back-to-back. Sound great on paper, but there are a few problems with this report as Sony no longer owns the rights to the film.
As far as we know, no one owns the distribution rights to James Bond, making the offer sound more like an unsubstantiated rumor with no weight. There would be no point for any studio to make such an offer when they don’t hold the rights, unless Sony reacquired them without anyone knowing. But it is being said that the studio is negotiating a deal to distribute the film, which makes sense since no other studios have made a move since Sony’s distribution rights to the franchise came to the end after the release of Spectre.
But even if that were the case, and the offer has been made, it sounds like Craig has no interest in reprising the role given what he has said in the past. Last year, Time Out (via Deadline) interviewed Craig about the possibility of doing more James Bond films, to which he said:
“I haven’t given it any thought. For at least a year or two, I just don’t want to think about it. I don’t know what the next step is. I’ve no idea. Not because I’m trying to be cagey. Who the f**k knows? At the moment, we’ve done it. I’m not in discussion with anybody about anything. If I did another Bond movie, it would only be for the money.”
Well at least he’s being honest about doing it for the money, but if he can’t give an honest performance then we will just have another repeat of Spectre where he looks bored and disinterested in the project. But $150 million isn’t exactly a drop in the bucket, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody who would not want to return for that amount of money.
Jeffrey S. Overstreet
