Greta Gerwig is set to bring Daniel Craig into the world of The Chronicles Of Narnia, as her new film begins to take shape.
Daniel Craig may well be returning to the Netflix fold, which might be considered a surprising move for the actor given his reported unhappiness over the streaming platform’s refusal to put its films in cinemas. According to Deadline, the former James Bond actor has an offer on the table to join Greta Gerwig’s upcoming adaptation of The Chronicles Of Narnia.
It’s early days as far as negotiations go, reports the outlet, and there are no details yet regarding who Craig might play or even if he’s interested in the part.
Rewind a couple of years, and reports were rife that Craig was rather unhappy with Netflix’s anti-theatrical stance. One widely-reported story circulated that the actor even publicly dressed down the company’s CEO Ted Sarandos at the premiere of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery back in 2022.
Craig has gone on to work on another Knives Out film for the streaming platform, however: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is due out later this year. Plus, Netflix’s distribution strategy has subtly shifted in the last year or so, with the surprising (and welcome) news that Greta Gerwig has managed to persuade the company to give her Narnia films a two week IMAX run prior to the film’s release on Netflix.
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While Netflix is adamant that this won’t change its wider strategy of releasing films straight onto its streaming platform without a cinema release, it surely gives filmmakers and actors with some degree of sway a rather sizeable amount of leverage with which to negotiate future collaborations with the company.
Craig certainly fits the bill in that regard. He’s a major star, and we can’t help but wonder if there’s room here for him to negotiate some form of theatrical release for Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. It’s probably unlikely because the film is set for release in the second half of this year and we doubt Netflix would be able to snag any IMAX screens for 2025 this late in the day.
Bringing Craig back into the fold when he’s reportedly expressed frustration with the company would represent a coup for Netflix, with Narnia's IMAX release probably proving to be the detail that tips the scales. If nothing else, tempting Craig back with the promise of a theatrical release will hopefully create a template where cinema’s biggest stars lend their talents to the company if it continues to loosen its hardline stance on its films going straight-to-streaming.
Craig previously left Luca Guadagnino’s Sgt Rock project, although some reports suggested he was never officially attached to the film. He also has an adaptation of Othello in the works alongside Denzel Washington in Barbara Broccoli’s planned take on the Shakespearean tragedy. We’ll bring you more on Greta Gerwig’s Narnia film as we hear it.
