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Welcome to Daniel Craig’s “F--k It” Era

By the time Daniel Craig joined me for this week’s wide-ranging Little Gold Men interview, we’d gotten to know each other a bit—first at a CAA-hosted tastemaker screening for his new film Queer, and then at an American Cinematheque career retrospective of his work in Santa Monica. So when he joined me behind the mic at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, Craig had already been making the campaign rounds for a few months—an oddly new experience for someone as famous and well-regarded as Craig has been for decades.

That’s the part of this season I always find irresistible: The months-long awards trail trek in which stars are compelled not only to talk about their contending performances, but also reflect on how they fit into the broader narrative of their life and career. I asked Craig about exactly this experience. “I suppose I’m going to have to say something fairly intelligent about it,” he cracks on the podcast. “I don’t know what we’re going to do, but we’ll give it a go.”

Fortunately, the now ex Bond and Knives Out star has proven more than game—and when it comes to his brilliantly anguished performance in Queer, what keeps coming up in our conversation is the need to simply let go. “I’m quite stiff,” Craig admits. “I’m an English guy.” That may not align with playing the lead in a trippy, sexually uninhibited William S. Burroughs adaptation helmed by Luca Guadagnino, but Craig felt ready to open himself back up to the world of daring arthouse filmmaking—which is where he got his start. The results are electrifying.