Daniel Craig says it was “something else” to be alive during Queen Elizabeth’s record 70-year reign.
Daniel Craig says it was ‘something else’ to be alive during Queen Elizabeth’s record 70-year reign
The James Bond actor, 54, is continuing to pay tributes to the British monarch since her death aged 96 on September 8 as he performed in a landmark sketch with Her Majesty for the opening of the 2012 London Olympic Games – which he has now called “an incredible thing”.
Daniel told the BBC at the Toronto International Film Festival about the monarch and the new king: “What an incredible thing. We will not see the likes of her ever again.
“To be alive during her reign is something else. I’m very saddened, so I suppose good luck to Charles, really.”
In the comedy sketch, Daniel, who played 007 in five consecutive films, was seen calling at Buckingham Palace to summon the Queen to the Olympics.
The monarch turns from her writing desk and greets him with the words: “Good evening, Mr Bond.”
They then walk together along with some of the royal’s corgis, towards a helicopter and flying over London to the Olympic Stadium, before a stunt double for Her Majesty parachutes Bond-style into the sports arena.
Seconds later, the real Queen, wearing the same peach dress as the stunt double, is seen popping up at the stadium to thunderous applause.
Daniel also paid tribute to the Queen in a statement on her death to the Press Association news agency.
It said: “I, like so many, was deeply saddened by the news today and my thoughts are with the royal family, those she loved and all those who loved her.
“She leaves an incomparable legacy and will be profoundly missed.”
Before the Queen’s death, Daniel described her as “very funny” and said she quipped “he’s the one that doesn’t smile” when they posed for photos while making their Olympics sketch.
Frank Cottrell-Boyce, 62, who co-wrote the Queen’s TV appearances with Daniel and later Paddington Bear to mark her Platinum Jubilee, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the Queen had volunteered herself for the Bond scene.
He added: “We went to the Palace asking for permission to represent her and to know what she was wearing on the day, and it was her amazing dresser who said, ‘No, no, she wants to be in it’.
“She was game and she was up for that. In fact on the day when we were filming, she asked Danny Boyle if she could have a line because there wasn’t a line in the script, probably because when I was typing the script I didn’t quite know how you would type the character of the Queen... what would you type?”
Tagged in Daniel Craig James Bond