Live And Let Die Is The James Bond Novel That Most Influenced Daniel Craig’s 007

The “James Bond” franchise has been around for a long, long time. It’s one of the most enduring franchises in all of pop culture, without exaggeration. For many, that started when Sean Connery first put his stamp on 007 in 1963’s “Dr. No.” In truth, it really started with author Ian Fleming and his original “Bond” novel, “Casino Royale” in 1953. That book would go on to serve as the inspiration for Daniel Craig’s first go-around as the MI6 agent. However, according to Craig, a different Fleming book was a larger inspiration for his version of the character.

In a 2021 interview with The Guardian as Craig was getting ready to say goodbye to 007 when “No Time to Die” was making its way to theaters, the actor was asked which Fleming novel served as the largest influence on his version of Bond. In response, Craig cited the second book in the series, “Live and Let Die”:

“It’s probably Live and Let Die, because I read it first – it was my first one at the cinema and there were lots of differences. He goes to the quartermaster in the book and pulls out his gun and what are basically speed pills. And you think: ‘Oh, right, wow, OK: a gun and some speed pills, that’s a safe combination.’ But it does sort of indicate that he’s twisted. There’s a kind of dark underbelly that we can’t show in the movies but I want to be there.”

Indeed, Craig’s Bond had a bit of an edge to him. In “Skyfall,” which remains the biggest box office hit in “James Bond” history, we see a man who is barely held together by pills, booze, and his sense of duty to his country. That gels with Craig’s comments, and it gels with Fleming’s book.

Published in 1954, the novel sees Bond squaring off against Mr. Big, a ruthless Harlem gangster who uses voodoo to manage his criminal empire. He has been smuggling British pirate treasure to New York from a remote Jamaican island, while funneling the profits to Moscow. Bond must thwart the bad guy and reclaim all of these riches for England.

“Live and Let Die” was not only one of the inspirations for Craig’s take on Bond, but it was also the inspiration for another actor’s first film as the character: Roger Moore, whose first entry came in 1973 after Connery left the role behind. To say that the film differs from Fleming’s book would be a bit of a dramatic understatement.

The movie features many characters from the book, but it’s a campier adventure, one that would set the tone for Moore’s tenure as Bond. Directed by Guy Hamilton, the film was a big success and set up Moore for a long, seven-picture run. However, that “twisted” nature that Craig alluded to is very much absent from the movie as it exists. For what it’s worth, “Live and Let Die” is still regarded as one of the better Moore “Bond” movies, up there with the likes of “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “For Your Eyes Only.”

This is an interesting case of a literary creation being different from his cinematic counterpart. For what it’s worth, Connery wasn’t a big fan of Fleming’s work on the “Bond” novels, saying at one point that the author was “much more interesting than his writing.” Even so, the movies wouldn’t exist without the books, and Craig’s Bond wouldn’t be who he is without “Live and Let Die.”

You can grab Ian Fleming’s “Live and Let Die” from Amazon.