The exact nature of Smith and Capote’s relationship is disputed, but this film suggests sexual contact and a near-rape incident in the prison. Infamous (2006)Ĭraig was handed a plum Hollywood role here: Perry Smith, one of the convicted killers in the In Cold Blood murders, as memorialised by Truman Capote, in the second film about the case in successive years. Photograph: Warner Independent/Allstar 10. With Toby Jones (as Truman Capote) in Infamous. Bond performances tend to be constructed rather than acted, but Craig builds his effectively here. The traditional Bond action open, with a helicopter careering over a Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City, is one of the best, and Craig complements this by astutely handling the gags and one-liners that pepper the script. Riding high on the success of Skyfall, Craig takes 007 into office politics territory as Bond scraps with his newly installed chief (played by Ralph Fiennes) and his rival (Andrew Scott). Craig plays older brother Tuvia Bielski, wearing that air of natural command again, the leader of a camp where hundreds of Jews take refuge. Defiance (2008)Ĭraig used his newly acquired 007 clout to acquire gigs in big though not always particularly earth-shattering films but this war film, from an amazing true-life story of a family of Jewish Belarusians fighting the Nazis from a forest hideout, is pretty decent, if a bit old-fashioned. Photograph: Momentum Pictures/Allstar 12. An impressively high-minded film, and probably Craig’s most uncompromising of his gallery of academics. Adapted from Michael Frayn’s play about the wartime meeting between physicists Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr, Craig played the former (of “uncertainty principle” renown), who might or might not develop atomic weapons for the Nazis. In the days when BBC Four made long-form drama, Craig was charged with upholding one of their bravest (or most foolhardy, considering the ratings) attempts to elevate the tone of the culture. The role brought out Craig’s natural air of command, invaluable later as 007, as he repeatedly clashes with Julian Rhind-Tutt’s nervy officer. He played a hardbitten first world war platoon sergeant in the author William Boyd’s directorial debut the troopers waiting to go over the top at the Somme included fresh-faced Danny Dyer, Cillian Murphy and Ben Whishaw. The Trench (1999)Ĭraig often seems happier (and more effective) as part of an ensemble – at least until Bond meant he had to carry a movie on his own. Sample dialogue: he’s asked at a wake why he’s always smiling Connor replies, grinning maliciously: “Because it’s all so fucking hilarious.” 14. It’s very much the bad guy part: Craig is Connor, the twitchy, murderous son of Paul Newman’s gang boss John Rooney. One of Craig’s earliest forays into Hollywood, playing a small but key role in Sam Mendes’s retro gangster thriller, adapted from a graphic novel by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner. Craig keeps his end up but mentally speaking, he had already left the building. The makers attempted to inject a wintry, valedictory tone into proceedings – understandably, perhaps, given where they wanted to go with the narrative – but the Bond films are never especially good at introspection and regret. This was Craig’s fifth and final clamber up the James Bond tree, and if we are being honest the strain was starting to show, a bit. The film itself never quite lives up to the barnstorming opening in which Craig joins efforts to stop an out-of-control balloon, but his controlled performance suits his character. Here he is essentially a more buff version of Ian McEwan in the Roger Michell-directed adaptation of McEwan’s stalker-thriller. Enduring Love (2004)Ĭraig’s honeyed, soft-spoken tones and donnish frown has allowed him to develop a nice sideline in academics and intellectual types. Craig isn’t required to do much more than stride around purposefully in his 007 tux, but the little cough he gives to attract the Queen’s attention is an acting masterclass in itself. Not strictly speaking a film, or even a performance, but Craig’s comedy skit with the Queen was the climax to the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, suggesting that HM parachuted into the stadium from a helicopter.
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