As we wrap on the 2024 movies that are in contention for awards season, Daniel Craig’s role in Queer has given fans tons of opportunities to learn more about his process. And with the 2025 Golden Globe nominations only boosting his profile that much more, the stories seem to be getting bigger as well. Which leads to tough lessons that Craig fondly remembers from working on 2005’s Munich with director Steven Spielberg.
As the actor recalled in a conversation with critic Mark Kermode (via Variety), the former James Bond recapped the experience as “terrifying” with his glowing memories of the West Side Story director. Part of that story was highlighting in the following example, detailing Daniel Craig’s first shot filmed for the movie:
[The camera] came along the street, along the bonnet of the car, came to me and then around the back of the car and then kind of traveled away. And that was his first shot. It was like, ‘I’ve arrived, OK?’ And you’re just like, ‘Oh my God!’ But what are you going to do? Shit or get off the pot. I mean, you’ve just gotta do it.
What’s interesting to remember from this point in time is the notion that Daniel Craig wasn’t seen as a leading man before being cast in 2006’s Casino Royale. Yet there he was, on set with Steven Spielberg, making a prestige drama that arguably helped cast him in that very role.
Of course, it kind of helped that Craig got not only the serious side of the iconic director, but also the fun side. As revealed by Munich co-star Eric Bana in a 2021 Vanity Fair video, Steven Spielberg knew that Daniel Craig was one of the actors screen tested for Casino Royale.
With that knowledge, Craig’s co-star and the former Bond directing hopeful convinced him to take the role – part of which was through shooting a scene with 007’s theme playing on set. Leading to another pleasant memory of his time on Munich, Daniel Craig’s initial apprehension clearly gave way to trusting the process, and getting into gear for the whirlwind that would follow.
If it wasn’t for Craig taking the leap to make Munich, he may have never agreed to star in the semi-reboot that gave us the Bond we know today. But thanks to his eagerness to get off the pot, and the kind words of some guys at work, Daniel Craig’s career was able to grow into the impressive resume it resembles today.
That body of work includes Queer, which is currently showing in theaters. And don’t forget that there’s also a new Knives Out mystery, Wake Up Dead Man, due out at some point on the schedule of upcoming 2025 movies. So fans aren’t going to be missing the former 007 any time soon…which is why you really should learn how to pronounce Daniel Craig’s name correctly.