Empire UK

who’ve never been off in their lives

before. And Daniel who’s fucking strong

(Craig suffered a knee injury during

filming). And frankly without that

strength to get back on the horse and

to finish the movie with an injury that

basically would have flattened anyone

else for six months we’d have been

down. We’d have released the movie next

year. And probably a sensible person

would have done that. But the fact is...

Craig: I’m not sensible.

Mendes: And he’s stubborn. But there’s

also that feeling when you’re on a roll

when you’re onto something you want

to finish it. I feel like that’s what kept

him going.

Craig: This has been a two-year process.

Since we began talking about the script

it gets to this point and you say “We can

shut down for six months and you can go

have surgery and come back then.” I was

like “Fuck that.” I don’t give a fuck. Stick

two planks of wood on it and I’ll fucking

crack on.

Mendes: You said “I don’t care I’m going

to do this.” Without Daniel’s willpower

we would genuinely have gone down.

It was a pretty significant injury.

Are you okay now?

Craig: I’m great. I’m great.

Mendes: He got through it. In a way

what I’ve remembered more about

working with Daniel on this movie is

more what he felt like to me when we

first worked together. He gave probably

the worst audition I’ve ever seen

anyone give.

Craig: Like most of my auditions I have

to say. How I ever got work I have no

idea. They would get me into reads and

be like “Are you fucking serious?”

Mendes: “Have you ever acted before

Mr. Craig?”

It’s taken two movies but we’ve finally
got it done. We speak only in noises.
Craig: It’s true (makes guttural
barking noise).
Mendes: There’s some truth in that. By
the end you’re so tired that you’re going
(makes strangled moose noise). There’s
a couple of moments where I inhaled
to give him a note and he was like
“I know what you’re going to say.”
I didn’t even get a noise out.
Craig: To go through something with
somebody and having worked incredibly
closely as we have on this it would have
been impossible not to. It’s been also
incredibly calm on the whole. Skyfall
was quite frenetic there was a lot going
on there was a lot of pressure on it. This
one has been bigger and a lot more to do.
Our communication thing is a joke but
it’s actually very true. There’s a lot of
things we’ve not had to say. It’s been
a great relief.
Mendes: It’s funny. Even though I knew
Daniel it was ten years before Skyfall

that we worked together on Road

To Perdition. He’d changed a lot. He

knew more about the role than I did

in many ways. He’d played it twice.

I felt slightly defensive. It’s quite scary

stepping into a franchise that has

pre-existed you. He knows everybody

better than I do and that’s a very odd

thing for a director. You feel that you’re

one step behind. I never felt that on

Spectre. I felt comfortable and relaxed

and even though it was more difficult —

more locations physically grueling it

was longer — it was also much more fun.

I think that’s partly because I relaxed

a bit and people relaxed with me.

You once said Sam that the

relationship on Skyfall had been

feisty at times. And Daniel you’re not

shy in giving your opinion on things.

Craig: As Sam says he was up against

it. It didn’t show. That’s the great thing.

The movie was great. Quantum was

what it was. I said “We have to get

Skyfall right.” I felt a massive amount

of pressure. Instinctively I felt that if we

pushed each other we’d get something.

And I felt the need to push Sam probably

harder than I should and he kicked back

and pushed me and we’ve done the same

on this. We just push each other. We

blew up at each other a couple of times.

Mendes: There were a couple of blow-ups

on the last one. We’re very similar in the

sense that it always blows over very

quickly and it always resolves in a good

way. It never felt like a negative.

Craig: No it didn’t last.

Mendes: It always felt like it led to

something better and that we needed to

let off steam. You get cranky. God knows

there’s been difficult shit on this movie.

Every single person has either been

injured or ill. People have been off

Above: Sam Mendes

gives notes to Daniel

Craig on an Alpine

chalet set in

Pinewood Studios.

Above right:

Mendes and Craig

hard at work

on Skyfall.

H