Daniel Craig has certainly put his body through quite a bit of unintentional abuse while making the James Bond films. Even in his big finale, No Time To Die, Craig admitted that an accidental slip and fall caused him to break his ankle, which delayed production a slight bit. However, that’s nothing compared to the experience the actor described from his time shooting Spectre, as Daniel Craig and co-star Dave Bautista traded some rather impressively painful injuries.
While making a guest appearance on The Graham Norton Show, the outgoing James Bond had quite a tale to tell about working on Sam Mendes’ second 007 outing. Describing the fight sequence that saw Bond go up against Spectre henchman Hinx (Dave Bautista), Daniel Craig laid out a tale of preparation that ended in double misery. His trip to the world of pain went a little something like this:
We were doing this scene, it was a fight sequence on a train in Spectre. We learned this for weeks, and weeks, and weeks, and weeks. You basically spend a week shooting it and Dave was being really great with me, but he’s a big, big guy, and I forget how big he is. He was sort of throwing me against this wall and he was being very gentle, because so he should-- it’s pretend. I just said, ‘Dave, Dave, mate, it’s alright. C’mon. You can chuck me a bit. Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.’ So, he did. I ended up on the wall, but my knee was sort of over there somewhere. I was like, ‘Oh god.’ I knew it was horrible. Anyone who’s had that kind of injury, you just know in your head that something is wrong.
Even as a James Bond fan, and after seeing England’s greatest super spy getting knocked around on a regular basis for almost 60 years, that description is absolutely horrifying. Not to mention that Spectre was the film that saw Daniel Craig injured to the point where the choice was to either take at least nine months off or wear a “bionic leg” to continue filming. Using the latter option, Craig pushed himself to the point where he was almost certain he’d leave the role after the 2015 film. When watching that train fight, you can kind of see why:
James Bond fighting Hinx is absolutely one of the most devastating fights to be seen in the modern Daniel Craig era of the character. So his story about how, on the other side of the metaphorical table, he accidentally injured the former pro-wrestler/reluctant action star Dave Bautista also makes sense. The good news was that Bautista’s injuries were lesser when compared to Craig’s. However, the bad news was that Spectre’s lead didn’t know that at the time, and he was a bit afraid:
I broke his nose. I didn’t do it deliberately. It clearly was like a mistake. Like I said, he’s a big guy, he’s a professional wrestler, you really wouldn’t mess with him. And I threw this punch, I hit him on the nose and heard this crack. I went, ‘Oh god no!’ and ran away. I thought he was gonna come after me. He was so sweet. He literally did something like this [pushed his nose back into place]. I mean, he’s a lot tougher than I am. I’ll give you that.
That’s the Dave Bautista we all know and love, which only makes it even more of a shame that Hinx had to fly off in such a hurry in Spectre. Still, if James Bond history has taught us anything, should the world want to see Hinx fighting for the side of evil again, it’s not impossible. It worked for Jaws in the classic era, and maybe Bautista’s imposing heavy would be perfect to help usher in the next James Bond’s tenure.
Before we even dream of where the next age of 007 can bring us, Daniel Craig first has to officially wrap his time in the tuxedo with No Time To Die. The film starts its grand tour, with its opening in the UK market this week, and other international territories to follow. And if you’re looking for more Dave Bautista action on the horizon, check out the list of upcoming projects the Army of the Dead star is currently working on.
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