Cowboy Craig is happy to be back in the saddle for Bond

He says the uncertainty surrounding the future of the spy franchise "worked out very nicely for me". 

"MGM needed to sort things out the whole financial issue, I am glad they have now. But I did a cowboy movie (this week's release Cowboys and Aliens), a mo-cap movie (The Adventures of Tin Tin) and a David Fincher movie (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo).

In Cowboys and Aliens he is an amnesiac gunslinger with a mysterious manacle on his wrist that proves game-changing in the battle between humans and the technologically advanced ETs.

"If I had that bracelet for Bond, that would be the movie over in the first five minutes," he laughs. "There wouldn't be many places to go to."

He has recently completed the first of what could be a trilogy of American adaptations of the Stieg Larsson books. Though he is a fan of the novels he has not seen the original Swedish movies.

"I just hadn't seen them by the time we started. I knew the stories quite well. The script came to me from David. Steve Zaillian had written it and I was just blown away by it.  I thought it was an incredibly good adaptation of the books and it was a David Fincher movie so I was 'count me in, let's do it'.

"By that time the movies were out and I didn't want to cloud my judgement. I have heard they are great so it is not a criticism of them at all. I just didn't want to be affected by them."

He admits he had been searching for a western to do when he was approached for Cowboys and Aliens.

"That sounds as if I am very clever and think these things through, like I have a plan. I genuinely don't. It is what is out there. You have to keep looking. I am terribly fortunate suddenly a cowboy movie came along and I jumped at it.

"There is a lot of competition for the good scripts. What's weird is although now I get to look at things before other people it is still down to my choice, so my taste is still put on the line and whether or not they are good is still something I have to take a gut instinct about. That leap of faith never changes."

He also felt a connection to The Adventure of Tintin, which is being directed by Steven Spielberg with Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish all working on the screenplay in which he plays pirate Red Rackham.

"I grew up reading Tintin. I got my first when I was about six. The Crab with the Golden Claws. They are incredibly cinematic. When Hergé wrote them he did wide, mid shots and close ups, so they  lend themselves to movie-making.

"The film is still literally being made at the moment. It looks dark. It feels like the books. Weirdly it has got that Indiana Jones thing about it which I think comes from that style of comic book."

Though he strives to keep his personal life private, politely refusing to be drawn on the subject of his surprise low-key marriage to Rachel, he admits to having homes in both London and New York, which is why, he explains, he doesn't own a car.

"There is no reason to."

He has not even been gifted with an Aston Martin for his services in promoting them in the Bond movies. An Aston Martin DB5 and a DBS V12 were used in Casino Royale and a DBS, with him at the wheel, was pretty much destroyed at the start of Quantum of Solace.

"You talk to them," he appeals, laughing. "Nothing is free. You don't get an given an Aston Martin without Aston Martin wanting something back.

"I don't need an Aston Martin."

He does, however, wear an Omega watch like Bond.

"I support a charity with Omega so there is little bit of give and take there."

Although other top stars have succumbed to the lure of forums like Twitter he, unsurprisngly, avoids it and is understandably wary about being drawn into communicating with strangers via the internet.

"I don't tweet. If I need to talk to my friends I will ring them up.

"Maybe it is just a generational thing but it is really not something I am interested in. 

"I mentioned in an interview a while back that if you read about yourself and you have any fame at all at a certain point you will start reading comments that are just hate filled. Hate filled. That I have a real problem with.

"There are a bunch of sociopaths out there who I have no reason to be anywhere near, who I would cross the street to avoid, so why would I go on the internet and try and communicate with them?

"Funnily enough I made this comment and then went and read the comments about my comment and they were...hate filled.

"The internet is a forum, a brilliant forum. I understand why it is there but I think the anonymity of being able to go online and say what you like about anybody...

"Words hurt. They really nail you and to think they don't is crazy."