[Rocol]

The decision to cast Daniel Craig as James Bond wasn't a popular one - but the actor says he's taking 007 to a new, darker level in Casino Royale.


"Nobody cares about this film more than I do... But there's no point making this movie unless it's different," Craig said. "It'd be a waste of time unless we took Bond to a place he'd never been before."


To do this, Craig has created a very menacing Bond - more akin to Sean Connery's rugged interpretation than the suave Pierce Brosnan version.


"There has to be an element of cruelty," Craig told Mail On Sunday. "Certain things he does should be questionable. I think you should go '***k, that's not nice'. After all, he is an assassin."


Craig said he wanted to create a "darker, harder character - more what Fleming (author of the original 007 books) envisaged." To do this Craig embarked on a demanding gym routine, building up fitness and muscle for the bloody fight scenes.


"I wanted to look like Bond could kill someone," he explained. "There's a lot of blood, we wanted to use elbows and heads. Basically, if his gun runs out of bullets, he'll pick up a bottle."

Casino Royale opens nationwide on November 17.

Rofl, that is good coming from someone that was scared stiff doing some of the stunts, for his opening debut of 007, and even got seasick, when he was on a boat on the River Thames