Daniel Craig almost cost ‘Skyfall’ millions of dollars with leather gloves

Actor Daniel Craig poses for photographers during a photocall for the film "Skyfall" in Paris October 24, 2012. Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes

Daniel Craig’s gloves almost cost “Skyfall” millions of dollars. A freelance film critic and writer has shared a story on Twitter about an almost-mishap on the production of the 2012 James Bond film.

Charlie Lyne posted a couple of Twitter videos to tell a story he heard from a guy who worked on the film’s set. According to the story, Craig and director Sam Mendes were both “completely miserable” during the production of “Skyfall” due to the several factors, including the film studios’ demands and the high expectations on the film, which was Craig’s third appearance as Bond.

The English actor apparently went on shopping trips during his days off, and one time, he bought a pair of leather gloves, which he asked Mendes if he could wear while filming. He thought that the gloves would be something the fictional spy would wear.

Mendes, who was “beyond caring” at that point, agreed. He found out three months later during post-production what a huge mistake that was.

There was one scene that almost ruined the entire film because Craig wore his gloves. When a villain got hold of Bond’s gun from him and was about to fire it on Bond, he was unable to do so because the gun required 007’s fingerprints before it could work.

“This lowly editorial assistant guy pipes up and says, ‘Wait a minute. The logic here is that the villain can’t fire Bond’s gun because it has a fingerprint scanner, but if that’s the case, then how is Bond ever going to fire it wearing gloves?’” Lyne narrated.

Realising the mistake, Mendes and the rest of the post-production team were left speechless. The producers quickly began to calculate how much it would cost to reshoot the whole scene. They figured out that they would need to spend “millions” of dollars to film the said scene again. It was a very expensive mistake, and one that they couldn’t afford.

“The only solution becomes to digitally paint in Bond’s hands,” Lyne said. The outcome shouldn’t be apparent for first-time viewers of the scene, but once viewers have heard Lyne’s story, it is now apparent that Craig had “ridiculously podgy hands.”

“Because in every single frame, he was wearing these leather gloves that have now been painted over with Craig-tone hands,” he continued. “But at least Daniel Craig got to wear his gloves on set.”

It didn’t matter, though. “Skyfall” was a resounding success at the box office, earning US$1.1 billion (AU$1.5 billion) worldwide. Until Lyne’s story, it didn’t appear anyone had even noticed Craig’s weird-looking hands in the fight scene.