Daniel Craig Says Filming This Movie Was a 'F--king Nightmare'

During an appearance on The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast, the actor -- who starred as 007 in five films from 2006 until 2021 -- shared why production on 2008's Quantum of Solace was a "f--king nightmare."

THR's Scott Feinberg brought up Craig's second Bond installment during their conversation, noting that while the British star's first film playing the legendary secret agent in Casino Royale was a "huge hit," Quantum of Solace "took some flak."

Craig, 58, described the movie as a "difficult second album," before sharing that production on the sequel was a challenge due to the 2007-08 Writers Guide strike.

"F--king nightmare. Paul Haggis did a pass on the script, then he went off and joined a picket line, and we didn't have writers, so we didn't have a script," he recalled. "We probably should never have gone and started production, but we did."

"I ended up writing a lot of that film -- I probably shouldn't really say, and I do not want a credit, it's fine -- but we were in that state because that's what we're allowed to do," he claimed. "I was allowed to work. Under WGA rules we were allowed to work with a director and write scenes."

Craig added that there were "some amazing stunt sequences" in the film, noting that he's "still bearing the pins to prove it."

"So in that sense there's a lot of great stuff in it, but it just didn’t quite work," he said. "The storytelling wasn’t there. And that’s the abject lesson: going to start a movie without a script, it’s just--"

"Never a good idea," Feinberg finished, to which Craig agreed, "Not a good idea."

Craig went on to star in three more Bond films, including Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), and No Time to Die (2021).

While he doesn't have the best memories of shooting Quantum of Solace, his journey as Bond took a turn for the better with the third film, Skyfall, which Feinberg noted became the first Bond film in history to earn more than a billion dollars at the box office.

In response, Craig recalled how he drunkenly invited his friend Sam Mendes to direct the film before he apparently even asked Bond producer Barbara Broccoli.

"It's such a showbiz story. I was at Hugh Jackman’s Christmas party, so drunk, and it was towards the end of the evening," he shared. "Sam, I think he was doing a play in town -- it was in New York -- and arrived late. And I was like, 'Oh, Sam, so nice to see you,' and sat down and chatted with him -- and drunk, offered him the job. I then phoned Barbara the following day and went, 'I think I might have offered Sam Mendes the next movie.' And she actually just went, 'Will he do it?'"

"It worked out," Feinberg said, to which Craig replied, "It worked out, yeah."