New 007 'looks the part'

2005-10-15 20:22

The new James Bond. (AP)

London - Arriving in a military speedboat and dark suit and tie for his debut on Friday as the next James Bond, Daniel Craig looked the part of the suave British spy. He also seems to have an appreciation of women.

But Craig's real-life personality strays from the Bond persona.

Not one to dress up for a fancy cocktail party, Craig, who was unveiled as the successor to Irish actor Pierce Brosnan, is the son of a merchant seaman and a teacher and is reported to prefer a pint at his local pub.

During his first press conference as Bond, he took a self-deprecatory tone, saying his Royal Marine escort had scared him and admitting needing a drink when first informed of his selection on Monday.

Nonetheless, the London resident may be the Bond who comes closest to author Ian Fleming's original creation.

Craig shares the blue eyes and slim build of the character in the novels.

Best known for roles with model and actress Sienna Miller in gangster film Layer Cake and a co-starring spot opposite Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Craig made headlines days ago after a reported fling with Miller, who has also been linked to Jude Law.

He dated supermodel Kate Moss last year, and former co-star Jolie described him as "one of the best kissers" she had ever encountered.

Producer Michael Wilson's team's choice may come as a surprise in other ways.

Craig's youth prepared him for the role

Craig doesn't have the classic "tall, dark and handsome" look of most of his predecessors, and the Liverpool-bred actor does not have the upper-class schoolboy upbringing one would expect of Bond.

He rolls his own cigarettes, he once spent the night on a park bench and he is sometimes mistaken for a painter when he stops by his local pub, according to the Daily Mail.

Nonetheless, Craig's youth prepared him for a role that will surely launch him into international stardom.

He was hooked on acting at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre, and at age 16 he moved to London, where he performed at the National Youth Theatre before gaining entry to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Among his contemporaries there were Joseph Fiennes and Ewan McGregor, the latter also identified as a Bond candidate.

His film career began with 1992 roles opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones in the made-for-video Adventures of Young Indiana Jones and a role in boxing film The Power of One, but Craig's breakthrough came in 1996 with the hit British television drama Our Friends in the North, one of the most successful TV series of the decade.

He played Jolie's romantic interest in Hollywood blockbuster Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001, but Craig is less than proud of the role and has said he took it for the money.

He has also acted with Gwyneth Paltrow in Sylvia, with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman in Road to Perdition and as Francis Bacon's gay lover in Love is the Devil.

He married in his early 20s, and has a 13-year-old daughter.

The couple divorced, and Craig had a seven-year relationship with German actress Heike Makatsch.

- AFP