UPDATE: It is expected Daniel Craig will resume filming Bond 25 “within the week,” indicating the injury is not very serious. The original article follows.
Bond 25 reportedly halts production after Daniel Craig suffered an injury on-set. To say the latest installment in the long-running action franchise has had a troubled path to the big screen would be an understatement. Last summer, original director Danny Boyle left the project due to creative differences, which had a domino effect on the entire movie. In addition to Cary Fukunaga coming onboard as helmsman, the script needed to be rewritten and the movie’s release date was pushed back multiple times before the studio settled on an April 2020 premiere.
Things seemed to have settled down on the Bond 25 front, as Fukunaga recently locked in his cast and started rolling the cameras. Set photos showed Craig reuniting with Jeffrey Wright, who reprises his role as Felix Leiter in the film. Unfortunately, just when things started looking up for Bond 25, the team encounters yet another setback.
According to The Sun (hat tip Variety), production on Bond 25 was suspended due to Craig’s injury. The actor apparently hurt himself while sprinting in Jamaica and was taken to the U.S. for X-rays. The official diagnosis is unknown at this time, but it was said Craig was “complaining about his ankle.” Screen Rant contacted MGM for comment and will update this post accordingly.
Of course, something similar happened during production of Mission: Impossible - Fallout, when Tom Cruise fractured his ankle while performing a stunt. That incident occurred in August 2017, and Cruise didn’t resume filming until October of that year. Conceivably, Craig could be sidelined for at least two months, but that depends entirely on the severity of his injury. Hopefully, it isn’t as bad as Cruise’s and Bond 25 can get back up and running after a brief delay. It’ll be interesting to keep tabs on this development and see if it affects the movie’s release date. Currently, the film is about 11 months away from hitting theaters, and there’s still a lot of work left to be done. Pushing it back again might be smart, as it would give Fukunaga and his team additional time to complete the picture.
And though Craig is out for the foreseeable future, it doesn’t mean the Bond 25 filmmakers are just going to sit on their hands. There are a few ways they could keep working, even without their lead star. Perhaps they’ll shift things around in the shooting schedule and film scenes that do not require Craig’s presence next. Maybe Fukunaga and company will look over their script again and refine some sections with late rewrites. They can do their best to keep ahead of the eight ball, though there’s no denying Craig’s injury is unfortunate. He’s undisputedly the most important cast member, and there’s only so much the team will be able to do without Craig there.
More: Danny Boyle Explains Why He Left Bond 25
Source: Variety
- Bond 25 Release Date: 2021-10-08
