“Making the film was a fast and furious journey while waiting for it to be released was a long journey. This is how Cary Joji Fukunaga sums it up, for 20 minutes, his experience in the realization of To die can wait. The final James Bond episode with Daniel Craig was completed just before the first lockdown, but its release postponed for months due to the pandemic.
“We have no control over this kind of thing, concedes the director, known in particular for the virtuoso first season of True Detective. We make the film, then we hope for the best for him. I was afraid that the studio would decide to release it at the same time in theaters and on the platforms, as has happened to others. I am reassured to know that the spectators will see it all together in the theaters. »Cary Joji Fukunaga never saw To die can wait only recently to record audio commentary for its future DVD release. “Looking back,” he says, “I can say I’m proud of the start and proud of the end. These two points are important, because if they are successful, we can hope that the public will be indulgent to the environment. “
A heavy responsibility
To be entrusted with the farewell of Daniel Craig was a heavy responsibility for the filmmaker. “I was well aware of the huge expectation around the film,” he admits. And especially since Casino Royale is my favorite film of the saga. It is this film, precisely, which had launched Daniel Craig in 007, a role which it thus takes again for the fifth and final time with To die can wait.
“Over the years, Daniel has made the character more complex and more vulnerable without losing any of his brute force, nor his very modern sense of humor. Cary Joji Fukunaga is also happy to have contributed to the improvement of the image of the women in the adventures of the spy. “The world has changed and it was normal that this also affects the way in which women are shown in James bond. The influence of Barbara Broccoli, one of the most powerful producers in the world, is obviously crucial in this development. “
A pharaonic shoot
Discovered with independent films like Sin Number (2009) and Beasts of No Nation (2017), the filmmaker did not feel too disoriented on this pharaonic set. “I enjoyed great freedom of action,” he says. The most difficult thing was to manage certain teams from a distance so that the result remained coherent with the whole film: I sometimes had the impression of participating in the game of the “telephone” where your words end up being distorted by passing from a interlocutor to the other! His worst anxieties, however, came from the stunt sequences. “I spent sleepless nights fearing an accident especially for the sequences with helicopters,” he admits.
Longing and relief
The filmmaker is preparing to say goodbye to James Bond and it is a relief tinged with nostalgia for him. “To finish the story while being sure not to disappoint will not have been so easy, insists Cary Joji Fukunaga. Because for me, the best endings are those that leave you hungry and make you want to see more. And to admit that he would be ready to come back to another James Bond if the opportunity presented itself to him.