Daniel Craig likes to call it ‘an epic adventure.’ Which, when you consider that it encompasses almost a year of his life, filming in four countries and, most importantly, playing James Bond, one of cinema’s most iconic roles for the first time, is just about perfect.

For three months before filming even started, Craig pushed and punished his body to get into peak condition for the role of 007 and admits that if he hadn’t, he’d never have survived the punishing physical demands of making Casino Royale.

“I just didn’t see the point in doing it unless I got into shape,” he says. “I started last October, maybe even before that, when I knew there was a possibility that it was going to happen and I thought ‘I’ll start trying to get fit anyway even if it doesn’t come off, I’ll live another year.’

“And you know what, if I hadn’t I don’t think I would have survived. I was desperate to do as much of the stunt work as I possibly could and being in good shape was absolutely essential.

”And yes, I’ve been injured. You just get injuries all the time. And you talk to the stunt guys and they get injuries in the way that athletes get injuries and you just have to get through it and get on with it.”

The gruelling, daily workouts in the gym coupled with a strict high protein diet was worth it and Daniel, 38, says he hasn’t been as fit since he was a teenager. “Yes, when I was about 16 and playing rugby,” he laughs.

The physical preparation was simply a manifestation of his commitment to the role. He promised himself, and Bond’s legion of fans around the world, nothing less than 100 per cent dedication to the cause.

“It’s been extraordinary, an epic adventure,” he says. “And it’s been a huge learning curve, which is obvious really. If you take on something this size then it’s going to be a lot of new things to discover.”

Craig is well aware of the controversy, and some sniping, surrounding his appointment as the new Bond for the 21st movie in the franchise. And he’s determined to prove the cynics wrong.

“And I’ve got two choices. I either buckle under it or knuckle down. And hopefully the latter happened; I just went ‘let’s get on with it.’

“At the end of the day if I’ve given a 100 per cent on this, which I feel like I have, I’ve given it everything I could. Next time when we do another one I would make some changes - to the way we look at it and changes to my approach and my preparation time. But the way that this ran out, I gave it everything.”

Casino Royale was the first in Ian Fleming’s phenomenally successful series of novels featuring the British spy. And in the film version, just like in the book, Bond is out to win his 00 status which gives him a licence to kill. His bosses – including M played by Dame Judi Dench – fear that Bond, on the trail of a money launderer who siphons cash for terrorists, is a loose canon.

There has been speculation that the film, directed by Martin Campbell, will be grittier, darker and giving us a Bond with rougher edges than some of his suave, smoother screen incarnations. And Craig admits that he wants his 007 to be a rugged, tough spy who is still, mostly, inexperienced. And he’s ruthless in his pursuit of the target.

“One thing that Bond always does is go after the bad guy and there is no doubt, in this movie, that these are bad men that he is going up against but it’s questionable how he is going after them,” says Craig.

“His reasoning, his conviction, would be ‘well, they’ll do it to me so I’ve got to do it to them first..’ And I think that should be a bit of a jolt to the audience, which is good.”

Craig promises, though, that the elements that have enthralled countless fans over the decades will be present and correct for Casino Royale.

“My approach to it is that we have a great movie here which has the potential to be incredibly exciting to watch and we’re going to push all the right buttons because you know, you can’t go and see a Bond movie and not get thrilled because then there would be no point going.

“Let’s not beat about the bush over this, it’s a franchise that has been built on huge action sequences, beautiful girls and fast cars. And it goes without saying that we’ve got all of that.”

Daniel was born in Chester, England, and grew up in Liverpool. He attended the National Youth Theatre at 16 and then Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 1996 he starred in the highly acclaimed BBC drama Our Friends In The North, a corruption and crime saga rightly regarded as one of the best television dramas of recent times.

As a result, Craig found himself in great demand and was inundated with offers of more television drama; instead he opted to work in small independent movies like Hotel Splendide, The Trench and Obsession.

The gamble paid off and Craig was cast by Sam Mendes to play the psychotic son of Paul Newman’s character in The Road To Perdition and later, poet Ted Hughes opposite Gwyneth Paltrow as Sylvia Plath in Sylvia. He has worked with director Roger Michell twice; as the young man who beds a grandmother and her daughter in The Mother, and as Joe, a writer who attracts the attentions of a stalker, in Enduring Love.

He starred in the hit British gangster movie, Layer Cake and Steven Spielberg’s Munich. Shortly, he will be seen in Infamous playing killer Perry Smith who, along with his accomplice, developed a close friendship with the writer Truman Capote (played by Toby Jones) as he researched his book, In Cold Blood. Next year he will be on screen in The Visiting with Nicole Kidman, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel.

This interview was conducted on set in a private airfield in Surrey, England, near the end of the Casino Royale production. The airport was doubling as Miami International Airport in Florida.

Q: What’s it been like?
A: It’s been extraordinary, an epic adventure. And it’s been a huge learning curve, which is obvious really. If you take on something this size then it’s going to be a lot of new things to discover. What’s been interesting and what’s been confirming to me is that the whole thing about going into a job and making sure certain things are in place – like making sure we had a fantastic script. That’s the starting point and even on a movie this big, if you have that in place then it’s just like any other movie.

I’m not talking about stunts and action sequences because a lot of that has to be done on its feet because by the nature of it, you can often visualise it but the practical reality is often harder or it doesn’t work as you thought it would.

Q: So you’re talking about the story itself…
A: Yes, I am. And the story telling has been a breeze. We’re telling the story that is in the script and that is based on a great book. Of it’s time and of it’s period, that book changed so many things.

Q: Any franchise needs reinvigorating from time to time. What are we going to see that will be different with Casino Royale? There’s talk of your Bond being closer to Ian Fleming’s vision…
A: Yes. My approach to it has just been one that we have a great movie here which has the potential to be incredibly exciting to watch and we’re going to push all the right buttons because you know, you can’t go and see a Bond movie and not get thrilled because then there would be no point going. Let’s not beat about the bush over this, it’s a franchise that has been built on huge action sequences, beautiful girls and fast cars. And it goes without saying that we’ve got all of that. There would be no point in tackling this if that wasn’t in place and it is in place.

Q: And a real romance this time. Is that true?
A: Yes, what was appealing to me was with the character of Vesper – who is played by Eva Green and she’s done such a great job – you have this woman that you can believe, I think, that James Bond would fall in love with. And therefore you can believe anything then. And that’s what we’ve never really seen him do, something like On Her Majesty’s Secret Service but it hasn’t been done for a while. And it’s someone who changes the way he looks at the world. When we meet him he’s all the things that Bond is; he’s selfish, he’s an egomaniac, all the things that drive him on, I mean, he can’t do his job without being single minded and this woman just knocks him for six. And that I find very interesting.

Q: It’s loosely based on Fleming’s first Bond novel. But of course you have to make a contemporary movie. How do you achieve that?
A: Well, with a cracking story and sub texts. There’s a fabulous sub text going on underneath that there’s another power out there that is controlling everything. I really loved that idea because it gives it a very modern feeling to it. Because the bad guys that we are dealing with are money men, and they are trying to control the world through terrorist activities and it’s kind of fabulously relevant. And the fact that nothing is as it seems, so where do loyalties lie?

Q: Presumably Bond has to work out that his loyalties lie with M and his bosses?
A: Yes, it’s Mum (laughs), that’s the nickname I kept using for M. It’s ‘you will do your duty because we are the only people you can trust.’ And that’s where he ends up at the end of our story. Actually, the feminine side of this movie is fantastic and that’s because of Judi (Dench). And she’s been given a bigger role in this movie. And I flirt with her in this movie and when she says it’s all going to end in pain I ignore her but when it does all end in pain she says ‘come back to Mum.’ and I love that relationship – that sub text! (laughs). And I’ve always admired Judi, she’s just fantastic, so you can imagine what a joy it was to work with her.

Q: You look incredibly fit, what’s your preparation been like?
A: Hard work but essential. And if I hadn’t been fit I wouldn’t have survived.
I’m desperate to try and do as much as I can stunt wise in this movie. I mean, there is stuff that I just don’t have the skills to do, that’s the bare honest truth of it. But we did a thing today when I shot in the air, and I’m not great with heights but that was a piece of cake today. These little challenges come up for me and I have to conquer them and it’s just getting confident about being physical in the movie and that’s partly about being fit and partly about working with Gary Powell and the stunt team and getting in with them and getting my confidence up.

Q: Have you tried to ignore all the buzz going on ever since it was announced you had the part?
A: I would be lying to you if I said I ignored, it’s that horrible thing with the Internet which is like the drug we’ve all got in our front room. I’ve become ambivalent about it but what’s the point? Because there will be another story tomorrow. And unless someone seriously slanders me then that’s a different matter. But it’s playground stuff. It really is kind of ‘Na na na, you did this!’ and it’s like ‘go away, I’ve got more important things to think about.’

As far as the work is concerned, I’m just doing my best here and that is all that for me matters because I know that everybody around me is doing their best as well. That’s what we are doing. It’s a particularly British movie we are doing here. It’s British talent and it’s James Bond. I think we are doing it fantastically. I mean, we have some of the most skilled people in the world on this movie producing something special. It’s going to give Bond fans – and believe me I’m careful about that, because I know what it means to them – it’s going to give them what they want.

Q: So you’re honouring the tradition of it…
A: That’s the plan. You have to.

Q: What’s the collaboration with Martin Campbell been like?
A: It’s been fantastic. He didn’t have a lot of prep time and things moved pretty quickly once we got going and he has had to pull out all of the stops. It’s been rocky at times, we’ve had our moments but it’s been incredibly rewarding and the two of us have kind of found a way of working together in very difficult circumstances. We’re six months in now and it feels like we have shot two movies back to back basically on this one production. And I’m so impressed by his energy and his desire to get it right and I think Martin has done a fabulous job.

Q: Let’s talk about the locations. You’ve been filming in The Bahamas which is going to give us some of the glamour that we associate with Bond.
A: Completely. We’ve got the beaches and the motorised yachts and the sailing boats in The Bahamas and you know, Caterina Murino, who is our glamorous Italian beauty. Fantastic. Pure Bond really.

Q: Are there times when you look up and think ‘oh wow, I’m in the middle of a Bond movie?’
A: Oh of course. Actually, being on the 00 stage at Pinewood there were lots of times when that happened. Chris Corbould, our special effects guy, has done this amazing set that sinks into water and it’s fantastic and working on that you say to yourself ‘this is a real moment..’ And there have been plenty of moments scattered throughout. Like the times when I’ve been driving the (Aston Martin) DBS around. That model isn’t even out until next year and it’s incredible.

Q: That must have been fun as well as hard work. Is it important that you have a good time when making a film like this?
A: The truth of it is this whole experience has got to have an element of fun to it. It’s been difficult at times – the thing with the press, the hard work and the whole thing going on – but the experience has been wonderful. Shooting in The Bahamas it’s very glamorous and it’s been very nice but actually shooting a movie anywhere is very difficult – it can be in The Bahamas, it can be in Iceland – wherever it is it’s shooting a movie. And I’ve had to make sure that I’ve got as much enjoyment out of it as possible because that’s the reason I did it. Because when I made the decision I went ‘OK, if I’m going to do it, I’m all in. All in.’ You have to commit.

Q: Did you look any of the previous Bond films or did you feel that it wouldn’t be helpful?
A: Look I’ve got the box set and I went through them religiously. I had to. Not because I can answer questions at press conferences when someone says ‘in Man With A Golden Gun in scene 54…’ although if you want to test me …(laughs). But you know, for tips. Some of those are great movies and director or filmmaker would be lying to you if they said that they didn’t copy off people because you have to. I just wanted to go through them and there was stuff that Sean (Connery) did and stuff that Roger (Moore) did and all the people did that were their little keys and you go ‘oh that’s cute, the way they did that.’ Not something conscious to deliberately do, but just to have a mental note of it that when you are doing stuff that there is continuity to things, that it has. Nothing specific.

Q: Why do you think Bond has been so successful for so long?
A: Cubby Broccoli was such a showman and that played a huge part. And you know it always seems to tap into the zeitgeist, somehow, it always gets a flavour of it. And touch wood, we have too. And you know Bond is a classic hero this guy who says ‘I’m going to get the job done and this is how I’m going to do it. I don’t care about your rules!’ And that was such an exciting thing, you know, women wanted to sleep with him and men wanted to be with him, it was that classic scenario but he was one of the first. The honest answer though is that I think at first it was Cubby Broccoli and then Michael (Wilson) and Barbara (Broccoli) who says ‘this doesn’t die.’

Q: Where are we on a second one? Will you do another one?
A: There’s no announcement at the moment but it’s looking good for next year. I mean, I signed up for it so let’s get on with it. I’d like the second one out of the way so I can take a break (laughs)

Q: Is your Bond going to be a little more down and dirty, as they say?
A: Yes and that was a desire of mine. I wanted us to question him. Is he right to do this stuff? For me I always want to try to figure something out and to try to figure someone’s motives out and when we see that ‘oh I get it, there was no other way..’ You know, that guy had to die or that guy had to be put out of commission, but I wanted the audience to have to think about that, about why he does what he does.

Q: Bond always has some cool gadgets. Will there be gadgets this time out?
A: That’s a part of the movie but it doesn’t dominate it. But what is very important in this is the lack of CGI, The CGI in this movie will be there to enhance as opposed to tell the story.

Q: I saw one of the sequences when you are having a fight on a crane. What’s it like when you do a scene like that?
A: Listen, when I was a kid we lived near the seaside and my days were spent at the beach, every single summer, all day every day, playing either James Bond or something on the beach. We used to pretend to fight, we would throw each other off sand dunes and fall about the place and do all of that. And I’m doing that now, when you think about it (laughs). So it’s great..

Q: So it’s that fun element again…
A: Oh yes, it is fun. There are moments of pain and misery and you are thinking ‘I can’t do this! I really can’t’ but plenty of others when I think ‘this is great!’ I mean, I get to finish a week and it’s been like a week and a half. And that’s what the deal is, that’s what the job was and nobody was making it up or anything. I knew full well.

Q: How have family and friends reacted?
A: Well, it’s kind of been a little overwhelming, as much for them as it has for me. Both of my parents are very chilled and my mother especially is like ‘yes, it was meant to be.’ That’s always been her attitude about things.