20 Years Ago, James Bond Fans Hated the Daniel Craig Casting

“Blonde. James Blonde.” Twenty years ago, variations of that joke could be found all over the internet. That’s because October 14, 2005 was the day that Eon Productions announced that Daniel Craig had been cast as James Bond.

The announcement was classic Bond, with Craig riding toward the reporters in a Royal Navy speedboat, and then posing for pictures while flanked by producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. Standing next to him was director Martin Campbell, who promised the movie would be “definitely darker, more character, less gadgets.”

Of course, Campbell was correct, as that movie was the reboot film Casino Royale, considered by many to be the best in the franchise. Moreover, many still consider Craig’s Bond to be the best interpretation of the character created by author Ian Fleming, even more so than Sean Connery, who originated the part for Eon in 1962’s Dr. No.

Yet, at the time, fans weren’t so sure about putting Craig in the tux. Websites launched with titles such as craignotbond.com and danielcraigisnotbond.com. On these sites and on forums, commenters launched tirades about how Craig’s 5’10” height, his ears, and especially his hair rendered him unfit to serve in Her Majesty’s secret service.

Part of the complaints certainly stem from the fact that the Craig casting truncated the tenure of his predecessor Pierce Brosnan. Even though Brosnan’s final picture was the laughably bad Die Another Day, his casting was a long time coming and his debut GoldenEye (also directed by Campbell) remains one of the best films in the franchise. Unlike his predecessors, Brosnan wanted to continue playing the part, and even though Eon made clear its intentions to recast, and in fact spent a full year and a half before landing on Craig, fans held out hope that he’d get another shot.

It was not to be. Between the franchise floundering to make sense of the world post-9/11, as evidenced by Die Another Day‘s Bond as hostage opening, The Bourne Identity making Bond look old and stodgy, and Batman Begins reinventing prequel films, the time was right to start from scratch. Thus, Craig and Campbell were brought in to adapt Fleming’s first 007 novel Casino Royale, giving the franchise a continuity and a moral complexity only hinted at in previous outings.

By the time that his Bond closed his eyes in the face of oncoming rockets in No Time to Die, Craig had become the definitive Bond for many. But we cannot simply dismiss the rampant criticism directed at Craig as a sign of fandoms past, and not just because danielcraigisnotbond.com remains operational. It’s because the franchise is once again in a period of change, not only looking for a new Bond but also under new ownership, since Eon sold the character’s rights to Amazon.

We know that Denis Villeneuve will helm Bond’s next adventure, which will be written by Steven Knight, but we don’t know anything else about the project. For some time, Aaron Taylor-Johnson was rumored to be the next Bond, but Deadline recently reported that Amazon was looking for an unknown British actor in his late 20s or early 30s to take the part. Many also assumed that the franchise would turn back toward the goofy fun of the Roger Moore and Brosnan eras after the seriousness of Craig’s run, something that now seems unlikely under Villeneuve and Peaky Blinders creator Knight.

All of which sets up a recipe for fan complaints. Whoever gets chosen as the next Bond will make a lot of people unhappy. And whatever direction that Villenueve and Knight plan to go will also make a lot of people unhappy. Looking back at Craig’s run certainly doesn’t prove that the fans are always wrong and the creatives are always right—just look at Quantum of Solace or Die Another Day.

But it does prove that knee-jerk internet reactions to the next Bond announcement will probably look silly, just like the James Blond comments look ridiculous two decades later.