Daniel Craig’s journey to becoming one of the world’s most bankable actors involved stealing a frozen duck.
The British star, who eventually went on to secure the coveted role of James Bond, had to steal food just to survive.
Years before playing the world’s most recognisable secret agent, Craig and his former girlfriend forged a crazy plan to grab a frozen duck for food because they had no other option.
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Craig had his screen debut in 1992’s The Power of One. Credit: Album / Alamy Stock Photo
In a 2012 interview to promote Skyfall, the Knives Out star said he and his ex pinched the duck by pretending she was pregnant.
“A whole frozen duck,” he told Rolling Stone about the meal they stole.
“I played decoy, and she got it up her skirt, which was quite a feat, I have to say, but she did it with aplomb, pretending she was pregnant.”
While he didn’t name the supermarkets he stole from, he said they could all ‘afford’ the loss of a duck or two.
“By the way, I only stole from supermarkets that could afford it. I want to make that perfectly clear. But, f**k, you know, we didn’t have anything to eat, and we had to feed ourselves.”
Craig had to steal food to survive. Credit: Insidefoto di andrea staccioli / Alamy Stock Photo
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Craig’s early struggles thankfully paid off and he no longer has to steal ducks from supermarkets.
When he left school at 16 he moved to London to become an actor and was eventually accepted into the National Youth Theatre and after a while he started getting small parts on TV by the age of 18.
But he wasn’t making enough to splurge on luxury Michelin-starred meals. He told the publication that he’d spend the little money he made on ‘beer and smoked salmon’ and for dinner he’d usually have ‘f***ing chicken or beef stew.’ He’d also avoid paying rent sometimes.
In 1992, when he was 23, he married actress Fiona Loudon and they had a daughter named Ella the same year.
The couple got divorced in 1994. He has been married to actress Rachel Weisz since 2011.
Elsewhere in the interview, Craig said his head ‘exploded’ during puberty. He confessed: “You want this nice, lovely image of me having my first kiss with hearts sparkling in the background? All I wanted to do was get in the girls’ knickers.
“I’ve been kissing girls, like stolen kisses in playgrounds, for as long as I can remember.”
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The 55-year-old Glass Onion star has since added countless classics to his resume, including Our Friends in the North, Elizabeth, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Layer Cake, the latter is credited with helping him secure the role of 007.
He starred in five films as Bond, starting with Casino Royale (2006) and followed by Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015) and finally No Time to Die (2021). Only Sean Connery and Roger Moore fought villains in more films, with six and seven credits respectively. But with 15 years between his first and final Bond film, his tenure actually edges out Moore (12) for the longest-serving 007.
Daniel Craig ‘forgot’ how to do his Kentucky accent after Knives Out
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Daniel Craig has admitted he ‘forgot’ how to do his distinctive Kentucky accent after Knives Out, having reprised his role of detective Benoit Blanc for the film’s follow-up, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which will be released later this year.
In the new flick, Blanc travels to the Mediterranean to solve the latest whodunnit, arriving in Greece to ‘peel back the layers of a mystery involving a new cast of suspects’.
A summary from Tudum, Netflix’s official fan site, says: “If Knives Out was about the murderous ties of flesh and blood, Glass Onion makes a good case for being just as wary of one’s closest friends.
“When tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) invites some of his nearest and dearest for a getaway on his private Greek island, it soon becomes clear that all is not perfect in paradise. And when someone turns up dead, well, who better than Blanc to peel back the layers of intrigue?”
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With Craig returning as the charismatic detective, he’s revealed that there was one element of his performance that he struggled to tap back into: that Kentucky accent.
Speaking to Empire, the actor explained how he was conscious of not letting his character tip over into caricature or ‘pastiche’, not least because the accent proved to be as much of a welcome surprise to fans as the film’s unexpected twists.
“How the f**k do we take something that caught people’s imagination and made them talk about murder mysteries, and do it again without it becoming a pastiche of itself?” he asked.
This included the accent, according to Craig, who was keen to ensure his performance remained realistic.
He continued: “I went away to work with an accent coach for three or four months before we started shooting [Glass Onion].
“I’d forgotten the accent and I didn’t want to do a pastiche. I wanted to make it as grounded and as anchored in reality as possible.”
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Craig also said his previous work as British spy James Bond had helped prepare him for the Knives Out sequel, as it taught him about the pressures of audience expectation.
“I’ve spent the past 15 years of my life trying to do that in a franchise, so I’m not afraid of it,” he added.
“If you’ve got the right people in the room and the right talent, then you can do it. Rian’s a genius writer and doesn’t want to repeat [himself]. Neither do we want to let people down; we want audiences to enjoy the world that we created in the first one and believe in this one.”
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will premiere in select cinemas before being released globally on Netflix on 23 December.
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