Ramblings of a 70-year old: daniel craig

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

The Princess Royal made Daniel Craig a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George at Windsor Castle

Daniel Craig is an actor who made a name for himself by portraying the role of James Bond. He is a British spy codenamed 007 who has full authority to tackle anyone engaged in espionage activities against Britain. How he accomplishes it is his prerogative. It is a fictional character created by Ian Fleming and has been around since the 1960s. Craig has now received the same honor as his character James Bond. It was a CMG for services to film and theatre. Daniel Craig (54) starred in the last five Bond films. His first appearance as 007 was in Casino Royale in 2006 and the last one was No Time To Die in 2021. The versatile actor also appeared in Knives Out (2019) alongside Chris Evans, Ana de Armas and Jamie Lee Curtis. He will return in the film's sequel, due to premier at the end of next month. Daniel Craig receives same honour as James Bond.

Paul Greengrass, film director, producer and screenwriter also received honors. He has directed a number of Hollywood blockbusters. These included three of the Bourne franchise films and Captain Phillips (2013). Dame Emily Lawson will also receive recognition for services to the NHS. She headed the vaccine rollout scheme in the UK, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another personality to receive recognition is street dancer and TV personality Ashley Banjo. He will receive an MBE for services to dance following his rise to fame following the win of his dance troupe Diversity's Britain's Got Talent in 2009 against Susan Boyle. Another person to win an MBE is six-time triathlon world champion Jonny Brownlee. He is the younger of the Brownlee brothers. He will receive an MBE alongside James Guy, two-time gold medal swimmer at Tokyo 2020. Yet another recipient of the MBE is tennis coach Louis Cayer. It will be for his services to sport. He is senior performance adviser for the Lawn Tennis Association. He has also worked extensively with men's doubles players including Jamie Murray, as well as Emma Raducanu.

Sunday, October 16, 2022

This year’s London Film Festival closed with ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” is a sequel to the 2019 movie “Knives Out” starring Daniel Craig. He was in the role of detective Benoit Blanc. On the closing day of this year's London Film Festival, the stars expressed happiness at seeing the film industry return to form after the pandemic. While interacting with a section of the media Daniel Craig said – "It's just wonderful to be here at the London Film Festival on the closing night. Especially with the standard of film this year, which has been so amazing - to be in that number is just exceptional." Apart from Daniel, others in the cast include Edward Norton, Kate Hudson and Janelle Monae. Incidentally, Greece was one of the locations chosen for the shooting. That helped the actors to bond better. In the words of Craig - "I mean, it was an amazing experience. We were under lockdown, so we were kind of restricted in our movements so we couldn't really go very many places. It was about 150 degrees in the shade, but, you know, those are high class problems." Daniel Craig tells of filming new Knives Out movie in Greece during lockdown at London Film Festival. Kate Hudson, who portrays the role of a former supermodel turned designer, said the cast got on brilliantly. In her words - "It was good fun, with a lot of hard work in between, you know?" However, we were a good work-hard, play-hard cast, so we were very well suited for each other, we had really good times. It was COVID, so it kind of forced us to have to play with each other for three months, so we ended up getting really close and it was really fun."

Writer and director Rian Johnson had brought out the first “Knives Out” to the London Film Festival three years ago. About working with Kathryn Hahn, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monae, he said, “it's absolutely kind of a director's dream, made my job very easy." Early reviews for the film are very positive and the attention now turns to the third. In 2021, Netflix concluded a deal for two Knives Out sequels. It was reportedly worth almost £400m. Rian Johnson says he and Craig are very happy to keep going. Audiences in the UK will have to wait a little longer for “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” It will not hit the cinemas in the UK until November, and will come on Netflix the following month.