'We're gonna keep our mouths shut and it is going to pay off in the long run.'
Rami Malek plays the third consecutive Oscar winner to play the big bad villain in a James Bond movie.
Skyfall had Javier Bardem as Silva, while Spectre featured Christoph Waltz as the iconic Blofeld. Malek, who won Best Actor for his role in Bohemian Rhapsody, embodies the mysterious Safin in No Time To Die, and JOE had the chance to chat to him in the run-up to the release of the 25th Bond movie.
We also interviewed No Time To Die's director and co-writer Cary Joji Fukanaga, as well as Craig's co-stars Ben Whishaw (who has played Q since Skyfall) and Léa Seydoux (who plays Bond's love interest Dr. Madeleine Swann).
Check out our full interview with Malek right here:
Over the course of our chat, Malek reveals his favourite Bond song of all time, his favourite memory of Daniel Craig as Bond, and working with director/co-writer Fukanaga on creating the best villain for Bond for the time we are current age.
One thing we had to mention was the fact that going into No Time To Die, very little of the actual plot of the movie is known to the public. The secrets behind this Bond adventure have been kept safe from script leaks or show-all trailers AND THEN the movie had its release delayed by almost two full years because of the pandemic.
Was keeping a big secret like that for so long difficult for him? Malek told us:
"I'll tell you when I realised how secretive it was gonna be, it just hit me right now, it has just dawned on me. When I first received the Bond script, it was hand-delivered to me by Barbara Broccoli herself."
For those who don't know, the Broccoli family have been producers of the Bond franchise since the very first Bond movie, Dr. No, while Barbara has been a part of the Bond franchise since 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me.
Malek continued: "She drove it over to my hotel in London, and I think that is the tone she set for it. 'We're gonna keep our mouths shut and it is going to pay off in the long run.' Which I believe it will and it has."
No Time To Die is released in Irish cinemas on Thursday, 30 September.
Clip via Universal Pictures Ireland
