Daniel Craig and Judi Dench: Their Best Moments Together

As Daniel Craig reportedly prepares for Bond 25, British GQ has re-opened its “vault” on Judi Dench and posted some of her more memorable quotes about Craig. In an interview she conducted in 2012, Dench praised Craig, calling him a “James Bond for today.” Dench and Craig completed three James Bond films together, and though they shared little screen time together, aside from the final act in Skyfall, there was no doubt that they clicked as 007 and M.  Said Dench:

"“A scene is only as good as the two of you make it…When I read a scene with Daniel, it’s always so nice to see. Those will be good days, you think.”"

So what are Judi Dench and Daniel Craig’s best scenes or sequences together? We’ll offer up these five:

Casino Royale

Bond breaks into M’s home 

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The two share just two scenes in Casino Royale — one, in M’s London apartment, and the other in the Bahamas, when he is assigned the poker game against LeChiffre. That’s it. But the first of these scenes packs a wallop and sets the stage for the relationship M will have with Bond over the next three films. M reprimands Bond for killing “one bomb maker,” all the while showing restraint, due to her respect for him. Bond holds his own. When M tells him that it was to soon to promote him to double-0 status, Bond bites back, “Well I understand that double-0s have a very short life expectancy,” he says, “so your mistake will be short-lived.”

Quantum of Solace

Meeting M in Siena 

In the first of four scenes between Bond and M in Quantum of Solace, Bond takes a captured Mr. White to her in a secret location in Siena, Italy. There, he (and the audience) is briefed on what exactly had gone down with Vesper Lynd. M remarks that Bond “looks like hell” and expresses concern that he will seek revenge for Vesper’s death, possibly by seeking Yusef Kabira, her former lover. Bond is short with her. “I’m not going to go chasing him,” he says. “He’s not important.”

Skyfall

Bond breaks into M’s home a second time (Skyfall)

In what might be their best scene together, Bond has again broken into M’s home, this time after she and the rest of MI6 had assumed he died in Turkey. At first, he is seen only in “shadows.” juxtaposing what Mallory would later says about spycraft: “There are no more shadows.” As Bond seeks an explanation for why she had ordered Patrice to be shot (“You should have trusted me to finish the job”), M makes it clear that she was making the best decision she could. But both also realize that they have been “played out.” The pacing and execution of the scene is near perfect.

Taking the DB5 to Scotland 

This isn’t just one scene; it’s actually three, strung together. Bond drives M away from the hearing where Silva made an attempt on her life, they switch into the Aston Martin DB5, and then stop along the road for a look at the Scottish countryside. The interplay in these three connected scenes is as good as it gets: “Oh go ahead, eject me,” M says, as Bond threatens to push the ejection button on the gear shift. Later, she tells Bond, “Orphans always make the best agents.”

M dies in Bond’s arms 

The penultimate scene between M and Bond can’t be ignored, even if it is a bit melodramatic. M’s final words are a direct allusion their encounter in her home, years earlier, in Casino Royale: “I did get one thing right.” Indeed, she did.