Inside Daniel Craig's 'anti-Bond' makeover: British actor, 56, has swapped 007 machismo for complex roles and a quirky style - and is now enjoying rave reviews for gay erotic drama Queer

He's won over audiences' hearts with his steely-eyed, even-mannered portrayal of James Bond for 13 years.

But ever since 007 star Daniel Craig hung up his bowtie and tux, he's been leaning into more experimental roles, ranging from a fun camp gentleman sleuth with a Southern drawl to a man who falls in love with a drug addict in Mexico City, in the 1940s.

The actor, 56, also appears to be shedding the stern and meticulous aura that comes with playing the macho secret agent, and blossoming into ostentatious fashion choices, most recently marked by his grown out hairdo at Venice Film Festival.

Elsewhere more recently, style outlets celebrated the star's 'freaky' era after he he debuted in LOEWE's FW24 campaign, looking almost unrecognisable in yellow tinted glasses, knitted jumpers and intricately beaded trousers.

Daniel's first post-Bond venture came in the form of Rhian Johnson's Knives Out (2019), where he played an amateur sleuth with a very camp dress sense and an over-the-top New Orleans-esque accent.

He's won over audiences' hearts with his steely-eyed, even-mannered portrayal of James Bond for 13 years. But ever since 007 actor Daniel Craig hung up his bowtie and tux, he's been leaning into more experimental roles. Pictured at Venice Film Festival this week

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Daniel explained that it was important for him to 'kill' Bond so he could artistically move on - which is why he was grateful for the character's fatal end in 2021's No Time to Die. 

'One, for the franchise, was that reset, start again, which [the franchise] did with me,' he revealed.

'So let's kill my character off and go find another Bond and go find another story. Start at [age] 23, start at 25, start at 30.

'The other was so that I could move on. I don't want to go back. I suppose I should be so lucky if they were to ask me back, but the fact is I need to move on from it.

'The sacrifice that he makes in the movie was for love and there's no greater sacrifice. So it seemed like a good thing to end on.'

Benoit Blanc proved to be the perfect clean slate - and delighted viewers with Daniel's new comedic and high camp flair, ushering in a new brand for the actor.

The role places Daniel in two movies - with a third on the way - as an amateur investigator who becomes embroiled in a family inheritance drama in the first film, and a murder mystery on an island full of influencers in the 2022 sequel. 

'It's funny, Daniel Craig was *the* James Bond for most of my life and when I saw Knives Out I thought I'd never see Benoit, I would only see Bond,' one poster on X wrote.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times , Daniel explained that it was important for him to 'kill' Bond so he could artistically move on. Pictured in Casino Royale

Benoit Blanc (right) proved to be the perfect clean slate - and delighted viewers with Daniel's new comedic and high camp flair, ushering in a new brand for the actor. Daniel pictured, in character, with Edward Norton and Madelyn Cline

His most recent role (left) is a touch more sincere and ardent, as he plays an American expatriate in 1940s Mexico City - who finds himself entranced by a young man, played by Drew Starkey, 30 (right)

'But two movies later and now whenever I see Craig Bond I just think 'That's Benoit Blanc'.'

'I started with Tennessee Williams,' he told W Magazine on shaping the detective's quirky dialect. 'He had a bit of a dandy's approach to speech.

'And then combined it with the historian Shelby Foote, who has an authoritative tone to his voice.

'Benoit has a certain use of words that mirrors both those men—fancy, but still down to earth.'

Stylistically, Daniel wanted Benoit to be 'a combination of Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief and Jacques Tati in Monsieur Hulot's Holiday with a dash of my superbly dressed agent, Bryan Lourd'. 

This features striped short and button-down co-ords with pink bandanas tied around the neck, pink linen suits and sturdy suspenders.

In 2021, he also appeared to go out with a bang as he commemorated a premiere for his last James Bond film with a bright pink velvet tuxedo

In 2011, he starred in the bizarre sci-fi flick Cowboys & Aliens, and in 2017, he played a deranged outlaw (pictured in character) helping a family rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway 

Daniel, right, pictured in Cowboys & Aliens with Harrison Ford. The actor has gone for more experimental roles since finishing up with Bond

His most recent role is a touch more sincere and ardent, as he plays an American expatriate in 1940s Mexico City - who finds himself entranced by a young man, played by Drew Starkey, 30. 

The movie - titled Queer - is an adaptation of a novella by American writer William Burroughs. 

The actor recently opened about the frank gay love scenes in the new film, telling Venice Film Festival: 'We just wanted to make it as touching and as real and as natural as we could.'

Delegates at the film festival have professed surprise at the sultry moments which are like nothing hitherto seen in a mainstream film.

Speaking on Tuesday he said: 'Drew (Starkey) is a wonderful fantastic beautiful actor to work with and we had a laugh, we tried to make it fun.

'There was some choreography in the movie which was a very important part of the movie. Drew and I started months before filming rehearsing the dancing. Dancing with someone is a great icebreaker.

'You know as well as I do there is nothing intimate about filming a sex scene on a movie set, but we just wanted to make it as touching and as real and as natural as we could.'

Director Luca Guadagnino, behind the recent hit Challengers starring Zendaya, said: 'Daniel in our first Zoom was adamant that this was going to be a love story first and foremost. We stuck with that - what does it mean to love and to be loved, to be connected and to be disconnected.'

Asked if James Bond – the spy played five times by his leading man – could be gay, Guadagnino replied: 'Let's all be grown up about this. There is no way around the fact that nobody would know James Bond's desires. 

'Having said that – no! The important thing is that he does his missions properly.'

And critics' reviews for the touching film have, thus far, been glowing.

'Hats off to Daniel Craig,' the Daily Mail's Brian Viner wrote. 'The 56-year-old star could hardly be trying harder, after those five James Bond films in 15 years, to shrug off the image of Ian Fleming’s ultra-heterosexual alpha-male super-spy. 

In recent years, the star has donned not just fun patterned knitwear for LOEWE, but also a sultry leather jacket and vest combo for a Belvedere campaign

Daniel, pictured, caused online sensation when he featured his very chic look in a campaign for the brand

'First Craig played the discreetly gay master detective Benoit Blanc in the Knives Out films, and now he has cast discretion aside altogether in the torridly physical Queer, which had its world premiere last night at the Venice Film Festival.

'Adapted from William S Burroughs’ autobiographical novel of the same title, Queer is set in the early 1950s mostly in Mexico City. There, among other gay American expats, dissolute writer William Lee (Craig) spends his time drinking tequila by the barrel-load and chasing young men.

'Mind you, he doesn’t really look like Bond in this film. Lee is permanently unshaven, sports a mid-century haircut, and is almost always drunk. 

'Craig does a magnificent job of making him seem completely real: a feckless, hard-drinking, chain-smoking, drug-addicted, pistol-toting, promiscuously ‘queer’ barfly in an environment in which none of the above really make him stand out from the pack.'

The Telegraph also gave it five stars, praising Daniel's 'sensational' take on a 'role swimming in psychological complexity, which he marshals with rare intuition and grace'. 

Awarding it four stars out of five, the Guardian also remarked: 'It is a really funny, open, generous performance – perhaps the only disadvantage is that he upstages Starkey, just a little, and his mesmeric screen presence will draw our attention back to Lee, away from Gene and his ambiguous intentions and emotions.'

Elsewhere, the Financial Times remarked that the star has finally put Bond 'behind him' with his latest performance. 

'I'm pretty sure I can play just about anything,' Daniel once told GQ, after wrapping his time in the timeless role.

'Yeah. I'm pretty sure I can, or at least I can make a f***ing good fist of it.'

And it shows in the actor' other scattered roles too - which he had taken on amid releasing James Bond films. 

The movie - titled Queer - is an adaptation of a novella by American writer William Burroughs. Daniel pictured in a scene

Delegates at the film festival have professed surprise at the sultry moments which are like nothing hitherto seen in a mainstream film. Daniel pictured with his co-star Drew

In 2011, he starred in the bizarre sci-fi flick Cowboys & Aliens, and in 2017, he played a deranged outlaw helping a family rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

His quirky tastes have also become more and more evident through Daniel's fashion choices.

In recent years, the star has donned not just fun patterned knitwear for LOEWE, but also a sultry leather jacket and vest combo for a Belvedere campaign.

In 2021, he also appeared to go out with a bang as he commemorated a premiere for his last James Bond film with a bright pink velvet tuxedo. 

In one of his most recent fashion statements, Daniel rocked his new look of long blond locks at Venice Film Festival. 

The James Bond star has taken fans by surprise in recent months with his new do which appears to be for his upcoming film Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, which began shooting in June.

Daniel has reprised his role as Benoit for the third instalment with the film set for a release date next year.

He kept the rest of his Venice arrival look simple in a white t-shirt and jeans while Rachel looked as chic as ever in a black dress and shades.