Daniel Craig doubted he was "physically capable" of playing James Bond again.
The 51-year-old actor had voiced his intention to step down as the suave spy after ‘Spectre’, his fourth movie in the franchise, and he’s admitted he was worried about the action role after needing arthroscopic surgery after injuring his knee during a fight scene with Dave Bautista in his last outing.
He admitted: "I finished that movie with a broken leg. I had to question myself: Was I physically capable of doing [another one] or did I want to do another one? Because that phone call to your wife saying ‘I’ve broken my leg’ is not pleasant."
Daniel – who has daughter Ella, 26, with ex-wife Fiona Loudon and a 15-month-old daughter with spouse Rachel Weisz – eventually changed his mind and signed up for upcoming movie ‘No Time To Die’.
However, during filming he was hit by another serious injury again when his ankle "exploded".
He explained to Entertainment Weekly: "I was running down a floating dock, and it was wet, and I slipped, and I fell over, and my ankle exploded.
"Unfortunately, I’ve been in the same situation before and I know the feeling of a rupturing tendon. I was just like, ‘Oh, f**k.’ "
The actor needed surgery and was warned he’d need to take 10 weeks off to recover – but rushed himself back after just a fortnight.
He said: "I’ve got a great surgeon in London who said, ‘[Have this operation] and you’ll be ready to run in 10 weeks.’ You know, 10 weeks is sometimes the length of a movie shoot. Not on a Bond movie. It’s just a small part of it. So I was like, ‘OK, let’s do this.’
"I was back at work in two weeks, and in 10 weeks I was throwing myself around like an idiot again."
Daniel Craig didn’t think he was physically capable of being Bond again
