Poker face for 007

DANIEL Craig doesn't have many of those famous James Bond throw-away lines in Casino Royale, his first outing as the legendary British Agent 007.

The new movie, the 21st in the franchise but based on Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, published in 1953, takes Bond back to his beginnings, showing him as somewhat susceptible to professional error and vulnerable to emotions.

But Craig is using Bond-style quips frequently and easily during interviews to promote the film.

Asked to give details of a sartorially splendid outfit he wears as he makes himself comfortable beneath a huge chandelier in a room at the Regency Hotel on New York's Park Avenue, he gives a nod to the London shirtmakers Turnbull and Asser (a subtle shade of grey and made to measure, of course); Prada for the tie, also grey; and Ralph Lauren for the navy suit.

"I am not wearing underwear," he says, arching an eyebrow.

Which brings us to the qualities he admires in women, a gender James Bond has studied off and on, so to speak.

"The fact that they're always right," he replies smoothly.

The new Bond, apparently, has made himself right at home, although it hasn't always been a smooth ride for Craig, 38, a native of the walled city of Chester, near Liverpool.

The "blond Bond" was pilloried by sections of the media and on some fan web sites when it was announced he would take over as Agent 007 from the previous incumbent, Pierce Brosnan, 53, and Craig admits he was bruised.

"I was affected by it, yes, of course I was," he says. "You know, I work very hard at what I do and I think sometimes I actually do a kind of half-decent job.

"What bothered me is that normally I premiere a movie and the following day there are reviews and some of them are bad and some of them are good and I take them as they as they come.

"But I hadn't actually presented the work. See the movie and then you have every right to criticise or do what you want, but see the movie.

"I did get hurt by it a bit but then I just said, 'You know what? Let's make this. I've got to try harder now'."

And so, after an 18-month process during which he wavered about whether or not to take the iconic role, Craig threw himself into Casino Royale, the first of three Bond films in which he is contracted to star.

The film updates the novel to make the villain Le Chiffre (Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen) a banker to the world's terrorists. Bond, at the beginning of his career and still not trusted by Secret Service chief M (Dame Judi Dench), gets off on the wrong foot by publicly gunning down a would-be embassy bomber.

He consoles himself by bedding the beautiful wife (Italian actor Caterina Murino) of one of Le Chiffre's ruthless associates, then eventually getting into a poker game with Le Chiffre himself. The ante is sky-high.

Bond's multimillion-dollar stake is provided by the British Treasury, which sends along Vesper Lynd (French-born Eva Green) to deliver and, hopefully, return the money. Initially annoyed by Vesper, Bond soon develops a relationship with her that will change his life.

Craig admits to feeling some pressure in the build-up to Casino Royale's recent release in Britain and the US.

It is due for Australian release on December 7 and he will make a lightning visit to walk the red carpet.

"I owe where I am to all those actors who have played Bond before and certainly to Sean Connery, who set and defined the character all those years ago," he says.

While he says he maintains the responsibility for the direction his career now goes, he regards the danger of being typecast as James Bond as a high-class problem.

"I've worked with some not bad directors and I've asked a few of them whether they'd work with me again," he says.

"They might have been lying, but they all said yes."