‘Good stuff’ forges bond
Strong story sold ‘007’ actor Daniel Craig on ‘Defiance’ role

BY GEORGE LANG Comments 0
Published: January 12, 2009

LOS ANGELES — When the James Bond franchise issued Daniel Craig his cinematic "license to kill,” the actor never considered 007 to be a full-time job. During his downtime from the re-energized spy films, Craig pores over scripts, searching for the next project.

Daniel Craig plays a Jewish rebel leader in "Defiance.” Photo provided by Paramount Vantage

Multimedia

Photoview all photos

Every Bond actor under contract with EON Productions stretches out while serving in Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but Craig has proved more successful than most of his predecessors in preserving a separate filmic identity. At a press day at Los Angeles’ Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel for "Defiance,” opening Friday, the actor, 40, said he doesn’t actively pursue left-field choices, though he is forever cognizant of his most high-profile character.

"There’s no conscious effort to do things .... Look, I’m not going to do another British spy,” he said. "I’m reading a lot of scripts and responding to the material I have. The good stuff — only the good stuff.”

Director Ed Zwick’s "Defiance,” the true story of Jewish partisans who fought the Nazis alongside the Soviet army in World War II, met Craig’s definition of "good stuff.” He plays Tuvia Bielski, the oldest of four brothers who led a community of Jewish rebels in Eastern Poland, living in forests and training their followers in the ways of combat.

Zwick’s film is based on Nechama Tec’s "Defiance: The Bielski Partisans.” Descendants of Tuvia Bielski and his siblings took an active role in "Defiance,” visiting the set while Craig and co-stars Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell filmed in the frozen forests of Lithuania.

"They came two weeks into shooting ... sons, daughters, nieces and nephews,” Craig said. "They were a family full of life. What I took from them was that they were these robust, big men who obviously bulldozered their way through this situation, and that’s how they survived — by dragging these people together and keeping them together as a community, as one.”

Much as he did in 2005’s "Munich,” Craig is playing a shtarker, a Yiddish term that means "tough Jew.” While Craig is not Jewish, he finds himself drawn to playing men fighting for their survival against forces bent on hate.

"I don’t know — they’re good stories. Really good stories,” he said. "And this film deals with obviously an incredibly important part of recent history that has affected us all. It talks about how humans survive a situation, and when they stop fighting. Tuvia, at some point, says, ‘We’ve got to stop taking revenge and start living.’ It’s a fascinating point for me: When does that ‘tip’ actually happen, when people say, ‘Stop this now — stop killing each other and let’s live’?”

Craig’s enlistment as James Bond resulted in the radically rethought 007 of "Casino Royale” and last year’s "Quantum of Solace,” in which the refined demeanor and cocktail jackets gave way to brute force and righteous anger. Craig said the resolution of "Quantum” will allow him to take the character in unforeseen directions.

"The paper’s blank now, and I genuinely feel that we can properly play around with it,” he said. "I think it’s very exciting, and I’m actually really looking forward to it. I have to get this so right, otherwise it’s a waste of my time and a waste of everyone else’s time.”

Travel and accommodations provided

by Paramount Vantage.