Arts & Entertainment

Craig bids farewell to 007 as ‘No Time To Die’ finally arrives

By Paula Escalada Medrano

Madrid, Sep 30 (EFE).- A year and a half after its scheduled release date, “No time to die,” the latest James Bond film and the last one starring Daniel Craig as the world’s most famous secret agent, lands in theaters this week following multiple delays because of the pandemic.

It is a farewell that the British actor has “very mixed” feelings about: “(I feel) a lot of pride in the movie that we have made, a lot of pride in the movies that I have made. I am relieved that we’ve got (…) to the point where people can now go see it in the cinema, which was just a dream a year ago. And of course, a little sad, because it is my last one,” Craig told Efe in an interview.

On Tuesday, the Royal Albert Hall in London rolled out the red carpet for the premiere of the film, an event attended by Prince Charles, his wife Camilla, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Catherine.

“I am very grateful, very proud, and amazed still that I’m here doing this. I can’t quite believe that this is what I’ve done, or did, or am doing. I get a thrill out of the fact that it’s still happening to this day,” says Craig, who has been playing 007 for 15 years.

Very little is known about the plot of the 25th film in the saga, which has not had the traditional press preview. Only three or four lines of the plot have been revealed: the story starts after Bond has left the secret service and is enjoying a quiet life in Jamaica.

But the calm doesn’t last long and his CIA friend Felix Leiter shows up to ask for help in a mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist, a task that turns out to be much riskier than expected and leads Bond to hunt down a mysterious villain armed with a dangerous new technology.

“It’s full of surprises,” says French actress Léa Seydoux about the film, who returns to Bond’s side as Dr. Madeleine Swann, but this time displaying her “vulnerability” more prominently, she explains to Efe.

“We get to understand who she is and why she is damaged. It is because she is damaged that she has this relationship with James Bond, because they both share those similarities,” adds Seydoux, whose character moves away from the traditional portrayal of so-called “Bond girls.”

In recent Agent 007 films, the French actress points out, there is more and more “space for interesting women, interesting characters. The parts have become more consistent.

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