Stephen Colbert got a 007 smackdown from Daniel Craig.
Craig, 56, appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” Monday and scolded the 60-year-old host for mispronouncing his last name all six times he’s been on the show.
“I have a bone to pick with you,” Craig told Colbert, before asking the comedian to say his name.
When Colbert did so, Craig responded, “Now you’re doing it right.”
The James Bond actor explained that his last name, which he said is really pronounced “Cr-ayg,” is a diphthong – a sound made by combining two vowels in a single syllable.
I don’t say ‘Colbet,’” Craig pointed out.
Both Craig and Colbert pronounced both versions of the actor’s last name, and Colbert admitted his big mistake.
“Oooh, I hear the difference. That is subtle,” said Colbert. “That is a subtle difference and I apologize.”
“I don’t want Daniel Cr-ayg mad at me. Daniel Cr-egg? F–k that guy, but Daniel Cr-ayg…” he added as Craig and the audience laughed.
“I am so sorry,” Colbert told Craig. “Please accept my apology.”
Craig accepted Colbert’s apology but reiterated that he’s been saying his last name wrong all six times he came on the late-night show.
“It’s fine. Whatever,” Craig said.
Craig appeared on Colbert’s show to promote his new erotic film “Queer.” Directed by Luca Guadagnino and based on William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novella, the movie is set in 1950s Mexico City and follows an outcast American expat (Craig) who falls in love with a younger man (Drew Starkey).
To develop his character’s American accent, Craig explained to Colbert that he “picked a few famous people” from the Midwest and trained himself to talk like them.
Guadagnino, 53, said in a recent interview with IndieWire that Craig’s role in the James Bond films partly inspired him to cast the British actor in “Queer.”
“When he started to do Bond, also there I found in him the embodiment of an icon and legend in a way that was not submissive to the legend but was confronting it and making its own legend out of it, which is the quality of a real star,” the director explained. “As a film historian, because I am that, because I have studied that and continue doing that, I have a very profound interest in the history of stardom.”
“Very few actors, very few stars can call themselves actors, and very few stars can reclaim the power of going above the icons they play, and he’s one,” Guadagnino said about Craig. “When I spoke to my agent Bryan Lourd, and we were talking about who we saw for the role, and when the name of Daniel came about, I thought, ‘I wish.’ We tried, and he said yes immediately, which tells you that cinema is the place for miracles and that people can not be judged.”
“Queer,” which also stars Jason Schwartzman, Henry Zaga, Omar Apollo, and Lesley Manville, will be released in theaters on December 13.