He’s in, he’s out. He’s in, he’s out. The back-and-forth speculation about whether Daniel Craig will return for another James Bond movie or quit the long-running spy franchise altogether has been rivaled only by the suspense around Jon Snow’s fate.
And now the latest report claims Craig will indeed retire his 007 tuxedo for good, despite a £68 million offer (that’s more than $100 million here in the States) to return for two more Bond movies.
However, that report comes from the free-wheeling British tabloid the Daily Mail, which isn’t always the most reliable news source, so we might wait on the official word before we know Craig’s fate for sure.
“Daniel is done – pure and simple – he told top brass at MGM after Spectre,” the Mail quotes a source. “They threw huge amounts of money at him, but it just wasn’t what he wanted.”
“He had told people after shooting that this would be his final outing,” the source continued. “…but the film company still felt he could come around after Spectre if he was offered a money deal.”
Craig himself said last year he would sooner “slash his wrists” with broken glass than swill another straight-up martini as 007, so there’s reason to believe the Daily Mail sources might know of what they speak.
Tom Hiddleston is apparently leading the shortlist to replace Craig, after a big year as the star of High-Rise and the miniseries The Night Manager.
But it will be hard to compete with Craig’s DGAF swagger: Who but James Bond himself would have the balls to turn down that kind of money?