Dave Bautista: Daniel Craig Seems Much Happier on Knives Out Than James Bond

Daniel Craig played 007 for fifteen years, but he apparently had more fun on Knives Out.

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Dave Bautista, who stars alongside Craig in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, explained why the 007 star prefers a good mystery.

“He was really put through it on Bond,” said Bautista. “You could feel that he was under a lot of pressure. He didn’t seem like the happiest person on Bond, but on Glass Onion, it was the complete opposite.”

Bautista previously starred opposite Craig in the 2015 Bond film, Spectre, as the evil organization’s top assassin. After sharing plenty of scenes with Craig, he’s no doubt seen exactly how playing James Bond took its toll on the actor.

Now, Bautista stars alongside Craig in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out sequel… and it sounds as though he had a much better time.

“He was just so much fun, and he was always smiling and happy and interacted a lot more,” said Bautista. “On Spectre, there wasn’t a whole lot of interaction with the whole cast. But Glass Onion was the complete opposite. We were always together. So, I got to know him better as a person and actually see him do his thing.”

Knives Out saw Daniel Craig cast as private detective, Benoit Blanc. As for the sequel, Bautista plays influencer Duke Cody and says the difference between Craig’s two roles is a masterclass in acting.

“It’s really a weird thing when you watch someone transform from Bond to Benoit Blanc,” he explained. “It’s amazing because I’m always in awe of people who can transform themselves like that. This is why I wanted to be an actor because I wanted to be that guy. As odd as it sounds — because I look like a f***ing gorilla — I wanted to be a chameleon.”

Craig may have said goodbye to Bond, but would he be up for more Benoit Blanc?

“As long as we’re having fun and Rian’s up for it, I’ll do it,” he said. “What a wonderful thing to be able to do. I should be so lucky.”

IGN’s Glass Onion review gave it 9/10 and said: “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is a bigger, bolder, funnier, angrier sequel that improves on almost every aspect of its predecessor. Rian Johnson plays with an air-tight script that targets the absurdity and stupidity of the one percent while delivering a hilarious murder mystery on the most luxurious private island not owned by a Bond villain.”

Want to read more about Glass Onion? Check out how Daniel Craig forgot his accent in the Knives Out sequel as well as how much Netflix paid for Knives Out 2 and 3.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.