14 DAY TRIAL // At the beginning of the month, confirmation came that, at least once in the upcoming James Bond film, “Skyfall,” leading man Daniel Craig would be seen drinking a Heineken instead of his traditional “shaken not stirred” Martini.
What followed, only true fans of the franchise can imagine: countless voices accused producers and director Sam Mendes of selling out, because James Bond can't possibly change his drink of choice just like that.
In a brief interview with MovieFone, Daniel Craig who, for the past two films (and supposedly for at least 5 more) played the slick and deadly 007, seems to agree with fans.
Indeed, the choice to have the famous character drink Heineken instead of Martini isn't the most fortunate but, as it happens, it's the only one possible.
As the British actor puts it, a film like “Skyfall” needs a lot of money to make and promote, and Heineken is willing to provide some of it.
“We have relationships with a number of companies so that we can make this movie,” Craig says,
“The simple fact is that, without them, we couldn’t do it. It’s unfortunate but that’s how it is. This movie costs a lot of money to make, it costs as nearly as much again if not more to promote, so we go where we can,” the actor adds.
He then goes on to point that having Bond drinking a Heineken isn't even that big a deal, since he's already a drinker.
“The great thing is that Bond is a drinker, he always has been, it’s part of who he is, rightly or wrongly, you can make your own judgment about it, having a beer is no bad thing, in the movie it just happens to be Heineken,” Daniel explains.
As we also reported at the time the partnership was made public, fans didn't appreciate the idea of such a change, because it meant producers were selling out on a character they've read about in the novels and seen in film for many, many years.
In many ways, they argued, Bond was not the beer-drinking type so the association between himself and Heineken felt forced.
They now have Craig's word that it won't be so. “Skyfall” drops in October this year.