Daniel Craig on his career: It’s dumb luck. I’m very lucky

8 hours ago 4

The Venice and Telluride Film Festivals recently ended while Toronto is underway, which means we are well and truly in Film Festival Fall, the busy precursor to Awards Season. Daniel Craig was on the circuit last year with Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, for which Craig earned Golden Globe and SAG nominations but was ultimately snubbed for an Oscar. Last year Craig also made a public plea for Netflix to give the third Knives Out film, Wake Up Dead Man, a longer theatrical release than they gave Glass Onion (one week). Well, Wake Up Dead Man just premiered at Toronto on Saturday, and the good news is that Netflix listened to Craig! So instead of one week of theatrical release before being available to stream, the film is getting… two weeks. How benevolent. Meanwhile, now that Craig, Daniel Craig is years out from being dunzo with playing Bond, it seems reporters couldn’t help but ask the star if this third Knives Out film will be his last turn as Benoit Blanc:

“How lucky am I to get something like this?” the English star tells PEOPLE on the premiere’s red carpet. Craig has played shred detective Blanc in 2019’s Knives Out and 2022’s Glass Onion. Wake Up Dead Man is in theaters Nov. 26 and streaming on Netflix Dec. 12.

“That’s all I can think of when I think about this character,” Craig continues. “I mean, I’ve played [James] Bond and now I’m suddenly playing Benoit Blanc. It’s dumb luck. I’m very lucky.”

Asked whether Wake Up Dead Man marks the end of his playing the iconic character, Craig quips, “Who told you that? Listen, I don’t know. Rian hasn’t written anything because we’re getting this movie out.”

But, he adds, if the writer-director “writes another script and it’s as good as I think it probably will be, then it’s an easy decision.”

Joining Craig at the TIFF premiere of the sequel were Johnson, 51, as well as stars Josh O’Connor, Cailee Spaeny, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Kerry Washington, Mila Kunis, Andrew Scott, Daryl McCormack and Jeremy Renner.

Johnson confirmed the third Knives Out film’s title in May, when he shared a teaser clip on X that included a voiceover mentioning Blanc’s “most dangerous case yet.” The filmmaker later shared a photo of Craig sporting long hair in character and announced that the film had wrapped production.

Addressing the possibility of a fourth go-around with Benoit Blanc, Johnson told Variety in 2022, “If each one of these can really be what Agatha Christie did, if it can be not just in a totally new location and a new cast, but also trying something exciting, I’ll keep doing it as long as Daniel [Craig] and I are having a good time. I’ll keep making these as long as they let me.”

[From People]

I thought that was a nicely done, gracious spin on Craig’s part, to respond to questions of “Will there be another Knives Out?!” with “Man, I’ve just been so damn lucky in my career.” He really has shaken off the grumpiness he used to have with the press and is no longer stirred by them. Also, I think it’s obvious in watching the Knives Out films that he has so much fun playing Benoit Blanc! So yeah, I think he’ll keep returning as long as Rian Johnson is at the helm. Like its predecessors, Wake Up Dead Man has an impressive ensemble cast. I’m wondering if it will also be stacked with the array of fabulous cameos like Glass Onion had, most notably SPOILER! Hugh Grant as Benoit’s partner. (Hey Rian Johnson/Netflix, ever consider a prequel about how the couple met? I would watch the sh-t out of that.) Looking at the new film’s cast, I stand by my assertion of last year that Glenn Close did it, whatever the crime is, and that Andrew Scott is there as the red herring. We have a little over two months to prove that see if I’m right.