The biggest complaints Craig faced mostly boiled down to his looks (too blond, too blue-eyed), and producer Barbara Broccoli was seemingly incensed by this ridiculous criticism. She told Yahoo! Entertainment, “The fact that they were complaining that he was blond stupefied me because Roger Moore was blond. I didn’t know what they were talking about.” Good point, Ms. Broccoli!
Craig touched on these criticisms as well. “Of course I was bothered by it,” he said — yet he recognized that the vitriol was largely out of his control. “There was nothing I could really do,” he pointed out, adding, “All I could do was make a good movie, or attempt to make a good movie and say, ‘There you go.’ And if they didn’t like it, then I don’t know, that’s all I had to give.”
Make a good movie he did, because “Casino Royale” is a wild ride into the world of exceptional spies, beautiful cars, and dangerous femme fatales. I still get chills watching the poker game because not only does Craig look divine in that tuxedo (blond hair and all), but it’s also a remarkably tense and entertaining scene.
Today, Craig’s portrayal as the “Shaken, not stirred” secret agent is one of the franchise’s best, so it’s crazy to think that such a large portion of Bond fans initially had their doubts. Still, Craig is largely sympathetic stating that the critiques were “understandable.” He tells Yahoo!, “I grew up watching Bond. So I couldn’t criticize other people for having passions about it.” Way to be a trooper, Mr. Craig. No hard feelings.
