What Daniel Craig Won't Miss About Playing James Bond

No Time to Die marks the end of the road for Daniel Craig's take on the iconic MI6 agent James Bond. While saying goodbye to his license to kill and all the perks that come along with playing one of the most celebrated characters in movie history won't be easy, there is at least one thing about playing Bond that Craig won't miss. Is it the dangerous stunts? Those stuffy tuxedos? Or maybe the endless questions about when he'll hang up his bowtie? Nope, it's the free martinis.

During an October 6 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Craig opened up about No Time to Die's COVID-19 delays, how he found out he got the role (a personal call from legendary Bond producer Barbara Broccoli), and why even though he likes martinis, he hopes well-meaning fans and restaurant owners will stop sending him free drinks before noon. "I don't get it very often, but sometimes, I'll be sat somewhere ... maybe in a hotel lobby, or somewhere where there's a bar ... it can be literally nine a.m. in the morning, and a martini will be shoved in front of me," Craig told Fallon. "Back in the day, there may be a time when a nine a.m. martini may have been kind of a nice thing, but they don't go down so well now at nine a.m. — I love a martini, but nine a.m. is a bit tough."

Craig's early morning martini fatigue is totally understandable, but it's also funny since the actor revealed that prior to being cast as James Bond he had never tried a martini, shaken or stirred.

Long before he was promoting his fifth and final Bond film, Craig was busy filming Invasion in Baltimore alongside Nicole Kidman when Broccoli called to tell him he got the role that would change his life by simply saying, "Over to you, kiddo." The Knives Out star was understandably elated, but he was also sworn to secrecy. That's how he ended up in the alcohol aisle while doing his weekly shopping at Whole Foods.

As Craig revealed to Fallon, he decided the best way to secretly celebrate his casting would be to make himself a martini, even though he only had a vague idea how to make the drink. "I bought myself a bottle of vodka, a bottle of vermouth, and a shaker and a glass," he said. "Here's the thing, you may not believe this, but I'd never had a martini before."

The actor went on to share that not only had he never had a martini prior to his casting, he only had a vague idea of what actually went in one. That didn't stop him from making his own, though — or from heading to a bar in Baltimore where he proceeded to order three more, despite already being drunk. The best part of his story is that the lucky bartender who was serving him had no idea why the actor couldn't stop grinning. When the bartender asked, Craig said to him, "You wouldn't f*cking believe me if I told you."

Craig's interview with Fallon isn't the first time he's expressed his martini woes. In a December 2019 interview with The Sunday Mirror, the actor revealed he's had enough of people asking him about Bond's signature drink. "Whenever someone asks me, 'Would you like it shaken or stirred?' I feel like punching him in the face," he told the publication. Despite his martini-fueled celebration after landing the role, it seems the 52-year-old hasn't fallen for Bond's favorite drink. Instead, he remains a beer man at heart. "You go into a bar for one drink, and you are served three," he lamented. "Besides, I'm not really into martinis. I prefer beer." James Bond would be scandalized.

Luckily for Craig, his final Bond film is wrapped, but the actor's days of being associated with martinis are probably long from over. Hey, maybe one day people really will stop asking the star if he wants his drink shaken or stirred ... especially at nine o'clock in the morning.