Following the death of Daniel Craig’s James Bond in last year’s No Time To Die, the British actor faces a new chapter in his career free of 007. So far, the actor has already found himself another great character we want to see in a ton of movies with Knives Out and Glass Onion’s Benioit Blanc. And apparently the character charmed Craig’s co-star Edward Norton so much on set, he’s putting Blanc over Bond.
When Edward Norton guested on Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert this week, the actor who is among Glass Onion’s star-studded cast shared his experience working with the James Bond actor as his whimsical and fun detective character. In Norton's words:
One of the delightful things was realizing that Daniel Craig in his DNA might be more like Blanc, than Bond. He’s really, really funny.
Craig’s James Bond was so much more serious than his whodunit collaborations with Rian Johnson, and the Fight Club actor had a realization that perhaps 007 skewed his perception of him. Norton continued:
He’s a British theater actor, you know what I mean? I actually have to say, as iconic as Bond is, and I think he was maybe the best, or one of the two best Bonds ever…But I think, as great as he was as Bond, I’m more impressed by Benoit Blanc because he made this thing up. This is his, he created this, and I had a hard time keeping a straight face on the set with him. He’s so funny, and he’s a funny physical comedian.
One doesn’t necessarily equate Daniel Craig with comedy since he’s been taking it shaken, not stirred since he first debuted his Bond in 2006. But thankfully, Beniot Blanc exists. Craig recently earned a 2023 Golden Globe nomination for Glass Onion, following previously being recognized for the same role in Knives Out for that Edward Norton had to gush over. Norton also said this about working with Craig:
I decided to just try without asking him, in a moment of fear, grabbing him in a very intimate way. And you kind of go in your mind ‘I know he’s just an actor like me, he’s not actually James Bond, I wonder if this is going to be OK?’ When I grabbed him he did the funniest little ass clench and look over the shoulder like a French Moliere actor or something.
The Southern gentleman, who was recently revealed to be queer as well, is Rian Johnson’s own version of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot. With each Knives Out mystery, he meets another ensemble of suspects and uses his sharp eye for detail and the facts to solve murders.
Among them is Edward Norton’s Miles Bron, a billionaire tech entrepreneur who invites a round of old friends to his private island for some fun, and Blanc somehow gets into the mix. Along with Craig and Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Jessica Henwick and Madelyn Cline star in Glass Onion.
Glass Onion premiered in September at the Toronto International Film Festival to wide praise before hitting theaters for a week to impressive box office numbers. You can check out how to watch Glass Onion here on CinemaBlend ahead of its Christmas release.
