No time to wait: world premiere for new Bond movie

Craig is joined in the film by Lashana Lynch Lea Seydoux

Actor Daniel Craig walked the red carpet for the final time as James Bond in rain-swept London on Tuesday, at the star-studded but much-delayed world premiere of the latest superspy blockbuster, "No Time To Die".

British star Craig's fifth and final outing in the franchise is hitting big screens after its release was repeatedly postponed during the coronavirus pandemic.

Charles talked with the stars, shaking hands with Craig having trodden the sodden red carpet.

The release will be in cinemas only, with struggling theatres hoping Bond will lure back crowds.

Reflecting on 15 years of playing 007, Craig said: "I genuinely don't have any bad memories, but I think it's going to take about another 15 years to unpick all this."

It will go on general release in Britain on Thursday and in the United States on October 8 -- a year and a half behind schedule.

In the film, reportedly costing $250 million (£182 million, 214 million euros), Bond returns to active service after retirement, vowing: "I have to finish this."

"I get shot and then I get blown up. It feels like James Bond to me," Craig said in an official podcast.

UK bookmakers are tipping the likes of Tom Hardy ("The Revenant", "Dunkirk") or Rege-Jean Page, the mixed-race star of the Netflix hit "Bridgerton".

He has won praise for adding depth and emotional complexity to the all-action role, but only reluctantly agreed to one final appearance as Bond.

Emmy-winning US filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga directed the new film, becoming the first American to helm the franchise. 

The filmmaker stepped in after the original director Danny Boyle, known for "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Trainspotting", left over "creative differences" in 2018.

Fukunaga said in a promotional video that his Bond is "like a wounded animal", struggling because "the world has changed, the rules of engagement aren't what they used to be: the rules of espionage (are) darker in this era of asymmetric warfare".

As the MeToo movement has heightened awareness of misogyny in popular culture, some have argued that time has run out for the franchise.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Fukunaga said that in one 1960s-era film, "basically Sean Connery's character rapes a woman".

Among those working on the screenplay was Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the British creator and star of the TV series "Fleabag" and writer of the first series of "Killing Eve".

"It's an incredible moment to have a female black lead in a movie who is holding her own," she told Sky News on the red carpet. 

am/jwp/phz/jj

...