7 Great Non-James Bond Daniel Craig Performances
'Some Voices' (2000)
Craig won a British Independent Film Award for this 2000 film about a young man juggling a new romantic relationship while traying to navigate the complexities of his schizophrenia. Just 30 at the time, Craig poignantly captures the unpredictability of his disease and both the exhilaration and danger that comes with it.
'Road To Perdition' (2002)
“Skyfall” and “Spectre” director Sam Mendes’ first collaboration with Craig was on this adaptation of the Max Allan Collins graphic novel of the same name, where he plays the petty, ambitious son of a mob boss who falls into conflict with his adopted brother (Tom Hanks) after sabotaging a meeting with his father’s disgruntled underling. The film evidenced both his movie-star charisma and his fearlessness to test audiences’ sympathies in an unappealing role.
'Layer Cake' (2004)
Matthew Vaughn made his directorial debut with this stylish crime thriller starring Craig as an unnamed drug dealer trying to extricate himself from a dangerous industry. Craig evidenced not only the cool under pressure needed to play an often-besieged spy, but the wry sense of humor that makes his Bond so distinctive and modern.
'Munich' (2005)
Working with Steven Spielberg on what is considered one of the most adult and thematically sophisticated films, Craig plays Steve, a South African driver who teams up with a group of Jews from across the globe to exact revenge on the Palestine Liberation Organization after the Munich massacre at the 1972 Olympics. In a supporting role, Craig showcases his skills as a team player for a story that is much bigger than any one character, inhabiting the complex mix of anger and grief driving the group.
'Infamous' (2006)
Doug McGrath’s film about Truman Capote and the events surrounding his writing of "In Cold Blood" gave Craig a unique opportunity to touch upon the dangerous elements of his personality as a killer who finds himself in an emotional cat-and-mouse game with the man who intends to immortalize him. Craig makes Perry Smith a sometimes frightening but always human figure, conflicted by his intrigue for Capote, and his determination to be viewed as more than a monster.
'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' (2012)
David Fincher’s remake of the first book in Stieg Larsson’s trilogy finds Craig in the role of Mikael Blomqvist, a disgraced reporter who partners up with gifted, antisocial investigator Lisbeth Salander to uncover the truth about a corrupt businessman. Fincher’s film is icy cold, but Craig brings the heat to the relationship between Mikael and Lisbeth, even as he undercuts it with the character’s irrepressible ambition and dishonesty.
'Logan Lucky' (2017)
Steve Soderbergh directed Craig to one of his best performances in this scruffy heist film about two brothers and the convict they hire to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Southern characters are comfortably in the English actor’s wheelhouse, but he ensures that the character is more complex and compelling than the premise suggests, especially when he has to explain to his partners how a few common household items combine for literally explosive effect.
