Some No Time To Die Actors Had Bond Homework, Some Didn’t

An exclusive interview with the cast members of the latest James Bond installment, No Time to Die, has shed some light on their knowledge of the franchise and research that they may have needed to undergo. The latest film saw the end of Daniel Craig’s run as the mysterious super spy and, as a result, saw the end of his continuity of Bond’s activities. The film was released on October 8, after some delays, and was an overall success, becoming the fourth highest-grossing film of the year.

No Time to Die saw Agent 007 come out of his retirement that he began in the previous film, being forced back into action upon the kidnapping of a scientist by a mysterious new antagonist with access to an advanced type of technology capable of killing millions. The film sees the return of Craig alongside Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Rory Kinnear, and Ralph Fiennes. New stars who joined the franchise for the film include Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen, Ana de Armas, David Dencik, and Dali Benssalah.

In Screen Rant‘s exclusive interview with the cast for the film’s Blu-ray release, the stars spoke on their knowledge of the previous films and what research they did for their respective roles. Dencik explained the request from director, Cary Joji Fukunaga, to watch the previous Pierce Brosnan Bond films in order to gain a grasp of the original character, as well as the previous Craig films. Meanwhile, Magnussen explained his playthrough of the original N64 Bond game to help with his own performance. Read what they had to say below:

David Dencik: Cary said I should watch… what’s his name? There’s a British actor in one of the films with Pierce Brosnan. [Alan Cumming in GoldenEye?] Yeah. So I watched that. Just for the sake of educating myself, I did watch all of the Daniel Craig films when I became a part of this, just to get a notion of tone, of language, and stuff like that.

Billy Magnussen: I played a lot of N64 Bond. A lot of N64. Odd Job! That’s the one you always play.

Research into the history of Bond, both the stories he’s been through and as a complete character, has always been essential for upcoming installments within the franchise. After the retirement of third Bond actor, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton was one of the choices for his replacement. Dalton was reported to have done extensive research into the character, hoping to recreate the character’s attitude from the original novels. While he was unsuccessful, as the studio wanted to stay in line with Moore’s more light and womanizing side of Bond, it can be said that the actor’s research did not go unnoticed, and it’s much more likely he would’ve been considered today.

Some of the newer Bond actors having to research into the franchise’s past for their current roles only highlights how much history the brand has accumulated over the years, becoming one of the most iconic pieces of cinematic history. Furthermore, with the notion that performers of the newer films are still researching previous entries, audiences can rest assured that these installments will always pay tribute to the entries of the past. No Time to Die is now available to purchase on DVD and Blu-ray.

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