It’s finally sinking in for Daniel Craig that his time as James Bond is coming to a close.
The actor stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday, October 12, where he talked to the late night host about what it was like filming his final scene as 007 for No Time to Die. He has been playing the beloved role since 2006, when he took over for Pierce Brosnan.
During the interview, Craig admitted that the filming process of most movies finish anticlimactically — but this one was different.
“Every single person in the office had stayed late, all the cast had stayed late, all the crew had stayed late, and all the heads of department,” he explained to Jimmy Fallon.
While he get emotional upon filming his last scene, Daniel says he wasn’t thinking about his departure from the franchise while working on the entirety of the film.
“It wasn’t [emotional] while we were filming it,” he explained on the show. “I don’t have time to think about this, you always think about tomorrow or next week or whatever you’ve got to do and there’s always fires to put out and things to do.”
Still, the significance of his 15 years playing James Bond is not lost on Craig.
“I mean every movie is a creative process, and I love my job, so every day is great for me,” he continued. “But when you’re on a Bond movie, you kind of realize this is special.”
Funnily enough, Craig didn’t actually think he would land the role when he was first invited to audition.
Back in September, Craig told the New York Times that he “assumed he’d been invited to audition as cannon fodder, to make it easier to choose someone else for the part.”
“I was just amongst the mix — someone to dismiss,” he told the Times. Obviously, that was far from the truth.
No Time to Die hit theaters on October 8 and brought in $56 million at the U.S. box office--and $313 million globally--during its opening weekend. The film also stars Rami Malek, Ana de Armas, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Lashana Lynch, Ralph Fiennes, and Christoph Waltz.
