Its kind of dark enough as a movie: Daniel

doweshowbellyad=0; Daniel Craig in a still from ‘The Golden Compass’ He scorched the screens as James Bond in Casino Royale and swept the women off their feet as he emerged from the sea looking his sexiest best.
But while this Bond loves action, he’s also an adventurer at heart. Very much like his character Lord Asriel that he plays in the movie The Golden Compass based on Philip Pullman’s novel.In an exclusive with BT the actor talks about working in this fantasy thriller and acting with ‘good friend’ Nicole Kidman once again
What did you find appealing about The Golden Compass?
This was the kind of movie, that I saw as a kid that scared you. Spielberg’s films always did that — they had fantasy and action and there was always a moment that scared the shit out of you.
And with this one too, there are some scary moments for Lyra’s character and its kind of dark enough as a movie to properly entertain.
Nicole Kidman provided some of those scary moments?
And she’s pretty good at it (laughs) and she looks amazing in it. Nicole and I are quite good friends now. So it’s very easy to work together.
Is there a bit of the Victorian adventurer about your Character Lord Asriel in the movie?
Yes, there is a little bit of the Shackleton in there. He’s a scientist, so the adventuring is only a means to an end. Like Sir Ranulph Fiennes who can run seven marathons in seven days and then climb the Eiger, he has a certain element of that. But once he gets there, its scientific experiments that are important to him.
Is that a bit of a Daniel Craig alter ego that likes that kind of adventure?
There’s part of me that likes it, yes. We had filmed on the glacier in Switzerland underneath the Jungfrau. Flying up on a helicopter and staying up there all day.
We were so high that we couldn’t have walked down and if bad weather had grounded the helicopter we would have had to stay up there.
Actually there’s part of me that would have quite liked to be trapped up there for a couple of days (laughs). There was a little hut that we would have stayed in and I was happy to hear that there were a few beers in the fridge!
How did you first discover the books?
My family. It was kind of passed around I can’t remember when. But one member of my family read it and said you’ve got to read these, they’re very good.
And I got into them and I’ve read them three of four times actually. Philip Pullman is a fantastic write. I don’t think he set out to write these as children’s stories, but that’s what they became and like all great children’s literature they transcend the label.
And if anybody hasn’t read them I can thoroughly recommend them.
Could you have seen yourself taking a role like this, say, five or six years ago?
It’s a weird one. I don’t know whether I would have thought about doing it a few years ago. It’s a huge movie and it’s a ‘kids movie’, so called. But these books aren’t, they are something else.
So I don’t know, but more likely I would have done it.
What’s your take on the theme of organised religion?
There is a fundamental right to discuss all sorts of things. Particularly at the moment with the way the world is all we’re saying is ‘let’s raise this up’ and faith always needs a question, it needs to be questioned.
But it should also be about growing up, about being a human being and figuring out who you are and becoming better of that. At the bottom of it, it’s saying okay, that’s one way of looking at life, but there might be another way and it won’t destroy us, it will make us better.
Did you meet the author Philip Pullman?
Plenty of times. We e-mail a lot. He is fascinating and passionate which is really what I wanted. We sat and had a meal and I wouldn’t say we got drunk, but we certainly had a couple of glasses of red wine and the conversation just started getting going (laughs).
He feels very passionately about his subject about the books, obviously, but also passionate about life and I really like the man. I’m a huge admirer of his obviously and genuinely like him very much. It’s been a total privilege.
He seems to have given a lot of input into the film. Was that important?
Absolutely. I think it’s crucially important that he has. He’s the man who knows and no to have had him around would be criminal.