Having endured the slightly shambolic creative process that went into Quantum Of Solace, Craig was keen to have more input in MGM’s general strategy for the franchise, and had a significant hand in ensuring Sam Mendes was picked to direct.

“He’s English, he’s Cambridge-educated, he’s smart,” said Craig of why Mendes was perfect for the job. “He’s lived with Bond all his life, he grew up with Bond the way I did. We grew up at exactly the same time, and I said to him, ‘We have to do this together, we have exactly the same reference points, we both like the same Bond movies and we both like the same bits in the same Bond movies we like.’”

“We sat down and we just rabbited for hours about Live And Let Die or From Russia With Love, and talked about little scenes that we knew from them. That’s how we started talking about it. That’s what we tried to instil in the script. He’s been working his arse off to tie all these things together so they make sense – in a Bond way.”

“I didn’t just say yes to doing a Bond movie, I said yes to doing a Bond movie with Daniel Craig,” says Mendes, returning the compliment. “I think that what’s interesting is you have an actor who is capable of playing the consequences of his actions as well as fulfilling those actions with great elan and cool. That’s always more interesting.”