David Arnold backs new 007

After a fairly frosty reception from the tabloid press (with one paper labelling him James Bland), Daniel Craig’s appointment as 007 for James Bond’s 21st outing, Casino Royale, has not been all martinis and smiles. Fighting Craig’s corner, however, is franchise composer David Arnold, who says people need to give the Layer Cake star a chance to prove himself.

“It would be a very foolish person who made any kind of judgement from how he answered tabloid questions at a press conference,” Arnold says. “People should be very excited about what’s going to happen; it’s going to be very different.”

The Luton-born score merchant admits that Craig does face a battle for acceptance, coming into the series as he does on the back of Pierce Brosnan’s most lucrative outing yet as Bond; 2002’s Die Another Day sucked up over $400 million at the box office. Filling Pierce Brosnan’s tux is a daunting challenge for any actor.

“Everyone is bound to be nervous because Pierce Brosnan was so good,” continues Arnold. “You could see James Bond when Pierce was making [US telly series] Remington Steele. You can’t see the James Bond that Daniel is going to be in the stuff he has done before.”

Arnold, who’s been Bond’s music-maker since 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies, says that, despite Brosnan’s success in the role, a fresh approach to the spy franchise is exactly what is needed. “We went as far we could go with what we did in Die Another Day. This is going to set out a whole new bunch of formulas and values.”

Stay tuned for more Casino Royale updates as we get them…