Many celebrities are lefties, but is Daniel Craig one of them?
Yes, the James Bond star is left handed. He has spoken about being left-handed many times. Once when he hurt his right shoulder on set, he announced that he would sign fan autographs anyway, since he would be using his left hand and not his right.
Read on to learn more!
Daniel Does His Own Stunts as Bond
Bond movies are known to be extreme where the action is concerned – after all, they have been setting standards for movie stunts for about 50 years now. However, most of the actors who played Bond before Daniel Craig did not get involved in the actual stunts. For instance, Sean Connery refused it completely, he acted as he should have – like a star who couldn’t afford an injury.
Gary Powell, the chief stunt coordinator on some of Daniel’s Bond movies, has spoken to the Guardian about this. He says that Sean Connery always had a stunt double, except in scenes where you could see his face. Both Gary’s uncle and father played the stunt doubles for Sean Connery! This is why Gary knows his stuff; even his older brother was a Bond stunt double – for Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton. Gary doubled for Pierce Brosnan himself.
But he says that things are very different with the Daniel Craig era. “He does a lot more than Pierce used to do, and he’s allowed to because he’s capable of doing it. He thinks, ‘You’re paying to see me, and that’s me doing it.’ He wants the audience to know,” Gary says, adding, “He gets his hands very dirty. Daniel puts the work in, even if it’s something he’s not keen on.” That last sentence refers to Daniel jumping out of a three-story window for Quantum of Solace, despite being afraid of heights.
Daniel Has Been Injured Many Times on Set
Acting like Bond in real life has its risks though; Daniel has been injured many times on set. His first time as Bond in Casino Royale resulted in his first serious injury. During a fight scene, he smashed out his two front teeth. There was a lot of blood, and a dentist had to be flown in from London to treat Daniel, whose teeth were replaced. He wore a protective shield during the rest of the fight scenes, and production wasn’t affected by the injury.
Quantum of Solace was Daniel’s most reckless film; he sustained at least two serious injuries. First, he separated his right shoulder and had to have surgery to fix it – he wore an arm sling for the movie’s promotional tour. He spoke to the press about it, saying it was an old injury that he was probably aggravated by doing more stunts. He added, “It wasn’t an essential operation but if I don’t do it now, I could do something on the next movie and rip it out of its socket. It’s just a pain in the ass, really, and it’ll be a long wait before it heals properly.”
During the same film, Daniel also accidentally sliced off the tip from one of his fingers and had to be rushed to the hospital during production. Speaking about this in retrospect, he has said, “It wasn’t as extreme as all that. I lost the pad. I was bleeding a lot. I had to get it cauterized. Filming stopped and everybody went, ‘Oh my God! He sliced the end of his finger off!’ They went looking for it, but couldn’t find it.”
The production of Spectre also briefly halted when Daniel sprained his knee during a fight scene, but this was more of a minor injury. Bruises, black eyes, and cuts have also been quite common for Daniel while on the Bond set.
Prince William Has Expressed Admiration for Daniel Doing His Own Stunts
During the first-ever joint Royal premiere of Quantum of Solace, when Daniel was still walking around with an injured shoulder, he met with the Princes William and Harry, both of whom reportedly gave him the Royal seal of approval in admiration of him doing his own stunts. Daniel took his arm out of the sling to shake William’s hand, saying, “You guys are our true heroes, you do it for real.”
At the same event, like many others, Daniel was seen signing autographs with his left hand. He told the Daily Mail, “I’m left-handed so it [his shoulder] hasn’t stopped me doing anything.”