While Casino Royale has broken box office records around the world and firmly established Daniel Craig as the new James Bond, the actor looks back on the not-so-easy path to becoming the newest 007—reports News.com.au.

Craig reveals he was in Baltimore, taking a break from working on Invasion when he got the phone call: ‘Yes, I was in Baltimore with Nicole Kidman. Well Nicole wasn’t with me in the supermarket obviously.’

It’s always an anti-climax, there’s nothing tangible or physical that happens to you—it’s a phone call, you’ve got the job. I was on my own because everybody was working so I phoned everybody I could and told them, “You’ve got to keep a lid on it” and then I went to a bar and had a great night. I just got smashed—I don’t remember getting home.’

Getting assitance from a personal trainer was also on Craig’s agenda in preparation for Casino Royale. ‘There’s narcissism definitely, his shirt seemed to come off an awful lot in this movie, but I wanted to make it look realistic. I just wanted to make sure he looked right.’

‘I didn’t give it a huge amount of deep thought, I just knew I had to change myself physically whatever situation he was in. It’s just acting, a bit of acting,’ he said with a grin.

‘Unless we know that he can hurt himself or make mistakes then how can we believe he’s going to fall in love?’ says Craig when explaining how he felt about Bond in Casino Royale ‘I just approached it with that in mind.’

‘Daniel’s not your pretty-boy James Bond, he’s got a sexiness, he’s handsome in a tough, rugged way,’ said director Martin Campbell. ‘But more importantly he’s a wonderful actor and we did need someone, given that we’re more character driven in this, to actually be able to handle that role. In my view he’s probably the best actor that we’ve ever had in the franchise.’

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