Daniel Craig had ‘no clue’ how to act in iconic Bond scene | Films | Entertainment

A performance from Daniel Craig left the actor with “no clue” how to go about one of the most iconic scenes in a James Bond movie.

Craig made his first appearance in the 007 series with Casino Royale, which fans have since praised as they realise he doesn’t know what to do in one scene.

The particular scene comes as Bond is tasked with playing poker against a series of characters including Le Chiffre. Mads Mikkelsen, the actor who plays villainous Le Chiffre, says everyone at the table, except for Craig, knew how to carry out the scene.

It’s an oversight which makes the film all the better, according to fans. They are highly amused to learn that Craig, despite playing the suave spy, was “awful” at poker.

A post to the r/TodayILearned Reddit page reads: “Despite his lead role as James Bond in Casino Royale (2006), Daniel Craig was reportedly awful at Poker.

“Le Chiffre actor Mads Mikkelsen recalled, ‘Everybody knew how to play poker actually around that table, except for one, Daniel. He had no clue. He sucked.'”

Fans have since established theories as to why Bond is such a poor player of poker. One user suggested it was because he is more of a “Baccarat player,” noting the change between the novel and the film.

In the Ian Fleming book, Bond bests Le Chiffre by beating him in a game of Baccarat, but this was changed due to the popularity of poker in the mid-2000s.

A fan explained: “It’s supposed to be Baccarat in Casino Royale, as it is in the novel. They changed it to poker for the 2006 movie because of how insanely popular poker was at the time.”

Another added: “Also, because poker is just objectively a more interesting game for spectators to observe.”

A third user has suggested Craig being poor at poker is also an insight into Bond’s lack of skills and reliance on luck, as shown in the novels.

They wrote: “Well, that’s true to form since Bond is a garbage poker player as well. The director needed to find a way to make the hands exciting and they knew that if they showed actually skilled poker plays, most people wouldn’t understand what was going on.

“However, most people know relative hand strengths so the way they chose to portray it involved Bond being impossibly lucky then adding narration to make it seem like he was very skilled.”

Others have criticised not the performer, but the poker. One fan fumed: “I mean you don’t need to know how to play poker, you’re just reading your lines as an actor.

“The actual poker in the scene is very silly, as is almost every poker scene on TV or in a movie. They try to convey that the way to show a skilled poker player is just to give them a really good hand, which is nonsense.”

Another agreed, adding: “That’s what it always means to be good at poker in movies and TV, you have the skill to be dealt a good hand.”