Daniel Craig would have felt ‘self-conscious’ making Queer while playing Bond

The 56-year-old plays William Lee in the Luca Guadagnino film, an American living in 1950s Mexico who falls in love with a young student.

Daniel Craig smiling on The Graham Norton Show — Daniel Craig said: ‘I guess I’ve always been fascinated by the artifice of masculinity’ (Isabel Infantes/PA)

Daniel Craig has said he could not have made Queer during his stint as James Bond as he would have felt “self-conscious” that people thought he was “trying too hard be a good actor”.

The 56-year-old, who plays an American living in 1950s Mexico called William Lee that falls in love with a young student, said the Luca Guadagnino film “blurs the lines around homosexuality” while speaking on Friday’s episode of The Graham Norton Show.

Graham Norton standing behind Daniel Craig, Nicola Coughlan, Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin, who are seated on the couch for The Graham Norton Show — Host Graham Norton with (left to right) Daniel Craig, Nicola Coughlan, Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin on Friday’s show (Isabel Infantes/PA)

Craig said: “I couldn’t have done it during Bond.

“Not because I wouldn’t have wanted to, but because I would have felt really self-conscious with people thinking I was trying too hard be a good actor.”

The Chester-born actor played 007 in 2006’s Casino Royale, 2008’s Quantum Of Solace, 2012’s Skyfall, 2015’s Spectre and for a final time in 2021’s No Time To Die, in which Bond dies.

He recently told The Sunday Times he cared “deeply” about the espionage franchise, after previously telling Variety “I don’t care”, when asked who he would like to replace him as Bond.

Luca Guadagnino with his arm around Daniel Craig at a screening for Queer — Luca Guadagnino and Daniel Craig attending the gala screening of Queer in London (Ben Whitley/PA)

Speaking about why he chose to star in Queer, Craig said: “I’d read William S Burroughs’s Junkie and think I pretended to read Naked Lunch but didn’t know this story.

“Burroughs’s experience of life always involved a lot of drugs, so the movie sets out to be a bit of a trip.

“It is all slightly off-kilter with a modern soundtrack and the feel of a movie from the 1940s.

“It blurs the lines around homosexuality, which was illegal at the time.

“You had to have a male front and hide it away with no freedom of expression and I guess I’ve always been fascinated by the artifice of masculinity.”

Craig is married to actress Rachel Weisz and is also known for appearing in films including Sylvia (2003), The Golden Compass (2007) and Knives Out (2019).

Queer will be released in UK cinemas on December 13.

– The full interview will be shown on The Graham Norton Show on BBC One at 10.40pm on Friday, December 13, and is also available on BBC iPlayer.