TF: There was quite a vocal anti-Craig brigade by the time filming started.

Did that create any difficulties for you? Were you shocked by it?

MW: Yeah, there were a lot of bloggers… and some of the press were pretty negative as well.

They didn’t really give him a chance, or themselves a chance to see him in the role.

But of course, we were seeing the dailies so we knew he was doing an excellent job!

TF: So the chatter didn’t shake your confidence at all in the direction you were taking?

MW: Didn’t bother us, didn’t bother the director.

I think from Daniel’s point of view he battened down the hatches and focused on the role.

He did his best to ignore it, but it has to affect someone at some level. It certainly didn’t affect his performance.

TF It turned out to be one the best-received Bonds in terms of critical reaction. That must have felt good.

BB It was great, particularly because of the Daniel stuff.

We’d gotten so much of that at the very beginning, the critics’ response was very rewarding.

It felt like all of the hard work that he had put into it, and the crew had put into it, had really paid off.

Next: Gambling with the franchise