DANIEL CRAIG AIMS FOR BEST JAMES BOND EVER IN “SKYFALL”

             Daniel Craig leads the cast of Columbia Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures' "Skyfall," his third film as James Bond 007. "Bond is actually remarkably difficult part to play, because he says very little, and the moment you make him say too much, it's not Bond anymore," says Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes.

             "He operates on instinct a lot of the time. He has his own inner demons and he doesn't reveal them to other characters, and yet the audience needs to be aware of them, especially in this particular movie," Mendes adds. "In `Skyfall,' the audience has got to see him, in a sense, fall apart and put himself back together again, but none of the other characters see what's really going on behind the curtain. Daniel's done that, I think, brilliantly."

             It was Craig who invited his friend, Mendes, to direct "Skyfall." "When we started talking about it, I felt a connection with someone who had exactly the same enthusiasm and respect for the Bond films that I did," says Craig. "And, of course, I deeply respect Sam as a director. I said to him, 'This is going to be a new experience for you – trust me, because I made two of them and it was a very new experience for me. Nothing can quite prepare you.'"

             "Daniel's one of the greatest actors that we've ever had," says producer Barbara Broccoli. "He has inhabited the role of Bond and he's pushed it in directions that one wouldn't have thought possible. Starting with `Casino Royale' and going into `Quantum of Solace,' and certainly in this film, he really reveals Bond's inner life in a way that we've never seen before, in a way that author Ian Fleming does in the books, where you really feel as if you understand the inner turmoil and complexity and conflicts. With this screenplay and with Sam, we've unearthed a lot of the emotion connected to Bond's own past and mined the dramatic tension that stems from that."

             Broccoli explains that "Skyfall" explores the relationship between Bond and M (Judi Dench) – perhaps more than in any of the 22 previous films. "We wanted to really mine the relationship between Bond and M, because it is the most significant relationship he has in his life," says the producer. "M is the only person who represents authority to him. You have two extraordinary actors, and we just thought - let's go all the way. It's worked extremely well. It's a very emotional story."

             "Their relationship is based on mutual respect," says Craig. "They both know that every time the chips are down, one of them will have to make a sacrifice – it's difficult to have a touchy-feely relationship with someone under those circumstances. But at the same time – and Sam was very keen on this – Bond's always had in the back of his mind that there's a bit more. It's something he never shows, but the connection is there – and I get a kick out of that as an actor, to play a life you can't show."

             Bond audiences expect that a Bond film will deliver plenty of action, and off course, no actor had more stunts than Craig. Co-star Javier Bardem describes watching Craig take on the role: "There is some physicality to the role that you have to be prepared to do, but of course mine compared to Daniel's was nothing. And he does the action scenes so easily – From the outside, watching him, I was thinking, 'If I were you, I wouldn't be doing that!'" Bardem laughs. "I mean, I did a little bit, but nothing in comparison to with what Daniel did."

             "Daniel's an extremely hard working actor, probably the hardest working actor I've ever seen," says producer Michael G. Wilson. "And it's not only the mental preparation, but the physical preparation. He works out like a demon, like a professional athlete. He is really committed to the role, committed to being Bond."

             Broccoli adds, "Daniel contributes a great deal to designing the action and the fights in particular and he's the one who really pulls it off, because he wants to do as much of it as he possibly can. We were in Turkey for the train sequence and I had my heart in my mouth the whole time; he and Ola Rapace were fighting on the roof of a moving train and the moves that they were doing were just heart stopping. Daniel's the reason why the action works as well as it does because he sells it, he's up there and I think audiences know that."

             Opening across the Philippines on Oct. 31, "Skyfall" is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.