Even though we’ve had some memorable villains in the Daniel Craig series of James Bond films including Mads Mikkelsen’s Le Chiffre, Mathieu Amalric’s Dominic Greene, Javier Bardem’s Raoul Silva, and Christoph Waltz’s Blofeld, No Time to Die director Cary Fukunaga wants to make Rami Malek’s Safin a much greater threat.
In an interview with GQ, Fukunaga explained how after the reveal of Blofeld in Spectre caused him to think bigger when creating Safin as he didn’t want to establish a cliché supervillain.
“First of all, Rami belongs in that company and in the same breath as any of the truly great actors. The awards tell you that but so does his work,” Fukunaga said. “Once we got into Christoph Waltz/Blofeld territory, you can’t go small again. We had to think bigger. It’s tricky because you don’t want to make a cliché supervillain, but you have to make someone that’s threatening not only to Bond and the people he loves but to the world at large.”
In the same interview, Rami Malek continued by explaining how tricky it was to balance the character, which resulted in conversations with the director to create a villain that would be threatening to them.
“We really did sit down, and think about what would truly frighten us, what would send a real panic into our hearts. It’s that sense of dread that sets it apart.”
Malek has also previously revealed that his “unsettling” Bond villain in No Time to Die is a former SPECTRE assassin and a powerful figure in the world of terrorism.
No Time to Die was originally scheduled for release in April 2020 but has now been postponed twice due to the ongoing global health crisis. Daniel Craig’s fifth and final outing as the iconic British spy James Bond is now scheduled to debut on April 2nd 2021.
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Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.
No Time To Die stars Daniel Craig (James Bond), Ralph Fiennes (M), Naomie Harris (Moneypenny), Rory Kinnear (Tanner), Léa Seydoux (Madeleine Swann), Ben Whishaw (Q), Jeffrey Wright (Felix Leiter) and Christoph Waltz (Blofeld), while new additions include Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), Ana de Armas (Blade Runner 2049), Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel), Billy Magnussen (Velvet Buzzsaw), Dali Benssalah (A Faithful Man) and David Dencik (Top of the Lake).
