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Daniel Craig's James Bond Contract To Kill For

Will become Britain's highest paid actor

Nice work if you can get it...

BOND'S CONTRACT TO KILL FOR
BIG DEAL: Craig will get £13m for next two films

Sunday July 22, 2007
Sunday Express


DANIEL CRAIG is to become Britain’s highest-paid actor after signing a new multi-million pound deal to play James Bond.

The 39-year-old has won a huge pay rise on the back of the astonishing success of Casino Royale which took over £300 million at the box office to make it the biggest-grossing Bond film ever.

He will get an estimated £5 million for his next outing as 007 and £8 million for his third film – double the sums he originally negotiated with Bond production company Eon.

Leon Forde of movie magazine Screen International, said: “The fact is that he’s become integral to the success of the Bond franchise and I’m not surprised that he’s been given a new contract. Eon are obviously doing everything they can to keep him on board.”

The Chester-born actor, who left home at 16 to enrol at London’s National Youth Theatre, made his name in TV’s Our Friends In The North in 1996 before taking starring roles in films as diverse as Sylvia, in which he played poet Ted Hughes, Road To Perdition with Paul Newman, Tomb Raider and Steven Spielberg’s Munich.

Despite his huge 007 success Craig recently voiced his desire not to be typecast saying: “I don’t want to make just spy films.”

And since Casino Royale he has completed sci-fi thriller The Invasion, with Nicole Kidman, The Golden Compass, adapted from a Philip Pullman book, and low-budget British movie, Flashbacks Of A Fool – an example of how Craig is using his new-found clout to take on projects for a fraction of his Bond fee because they are dear to his heart.

The £5million indie movie Flashbacks Of A Fool sees him playing a troubled Hollywood actor who returns to Britain to confront his demons after hearing his childhood best friend has died.

It is written and directed by debut film-maker Baillie Walsh, an acclaimed pop promo maker who has worked with bands such as Massive Attack and Oasis.

He told the Sunday Express: “We were lucky. Daniel liked the script and wanted to do the film and he delivers a fantastic performance in the title role.”

Walsh salutes Craig’s talents as an actor, as well as his readiness to make smaller films when he could be picking up colossal Hollywood fees.

He added: “You only have to see Daniel’s films, be it Enduring Love or Layer Cake, to realise what a brilliant actor he is and that’s why casting agents in Britain and America are falling over themselves to have him in their films.

“The fact that Daniel is still making films like mine when he could be earning 10 times as much in Hollywood is a
tribute to him as a person.”

The success of Casino Royale was sweet vindication for Craig who was subjected to a hate campaign when cast as Pierce Brosnan’s replacement.

Walsh commented: “There were bound to be doubters because Bond is such an institution, and anyone who steps into the role is going to be subjected to intense scrutiny.

“The only thing he ever wanted to be judged on was his acting and his performance as Bond. And there’s no doubt that he’s a great Bond.”

Last night Eon, refused to comment on Craig’s bumper new deal. A spokesman said: “We never discuss such matters.”

Good on Daniel!

It is an obscene amount of money - but that's show-business.

Enjoy Daniel!

Now on the CBn main page...

Daniel Craig's James Bond Contract To Kill For

Will become Britain's highest paid actor

What happened to the story where he said he was just doing one more? If that wasn't true then I guess the story about Bond 22 being more campy isn't either...

he deserves it. hopefully the quality of the next two will be on the same level if not better then casino royale.

So if anyone's wondering about dollars, this looks to be around $10.3 million for Bond 22 and 16.5 for Bond 23.

By comparison, Brozza was getting $8.2 for TND and $12.4 for TWINE. Maybe with inflation its about even. Or maybe not

What happened to the story where he said he was just doing one more? If that wasn't true then I guess the story about Bond 22 being more campy isn't either...

No, it wasn`t. We all know by now, it was taken out of context.
As for the money - if its true, since Eon chose not to commentate on it, very nice appreciation for Daniel and deserved, too. A lot of actors get huge amounts of money for a lot less - dedication, hard work and whatnot.

It's beginning to look as if some of our predictions that he'd do at least three or four weren't quite so ridiculous. Good for Daniel--and good for Bond, if he can keep raising the bar.

Chris Tucker got $25 million for Rush Hour 3, so this is not even close to a ridiclous sum of money. Pretty fair contract for Craig.

This, on top of the ad-hoc bonus DC got post CR box office numbers, shows precisely why Eon are a class act. They could have done a Lucas or a New Line and left the contract as is. But they didn't.

They were responsible for bringing Craig to a world-wide audience and benifited from him nailing the part.

Eon know what a long shoot it is. They know the media demands and the demands of all the premieres around the planet. They know the hard work DC put into his gym routine.

Good for Eon.

And, yes, DC deserves more that that guy getting $25 mil for Rush Hour three. But that is the market and, of course and on top of that, there's no accounting for taste when it comes to what the kids want to watch (or when it comes to what the Hollywood suits want to feed the kids in urban America).

Can't put complete faith in some of these stories.

Who's a lucky boy then

£13m is a hefty chunk of doe!

Seems perfectly reasonable (so far as Hollywood goes, at least). Going into Casino Royale I thought his salary was a bit low.

At least it squashes those ridiculous rumors he was leaving after Bond 22.