Daniel Craig to Politicians: I Do Not Want to Be Your Friend

What would M say about this?

Daniel Craig, the sixth James Bond in the 007 film franchise, does not mince words about politicians in a new interview in the December-January issue of Men’s Journal (the Craig interview has yet to go up on the magazine’s Web site). He starts with the former British prime minister Tony Blair – a man who would have been Bond’s boss.

Mr. Craig, now starring in “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” said politicians too often try to cozy up to celebrities hoping to be seen as cool.

“Tony Blair started it much more than anybody’s ever done,” Mr. Craig said. “It becomes ‘Mephisto.’” (He’s talking about a 1936 German novel about an actor who curries favor with the Nazis to promote his career, and the 1981 movie based on it.)

He uses a few profanities in the interview to describe politicians as ignorant and self-serving, adding: “That’s how they become politicians, even the good ones. We’re actors, we’re artists, we’re very nice to each other. They’ll turn around and stab you.”

Born in England to an art teacher and a pub owner, Mr. Craig was reared to vote for Labour Party candidates, he said, but came to view Mr. Blair’s moderate brand of Labour as “the Tories dressed in red.” Mr. Craig’s next Bond film, “Skyfall,” with Judi Dench as his superior, M, is scheduled for release in the fall of 2012.