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Having been personal trainer to Pierce Brosnan on The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day, Simon Waterson was recruited to get the next James Bond in shape too. When he first met Daniel Craig the relatively unknown Layer Cake star was hungover, with bacon sandwich and cigarette in hand. But over the weeks and months that followed Simon helped turn the skinny arthouse actor into the athletic beast coming out of the sea in Casino Royale.
Speaking with Express.co.uk, Simon shared how “it’s not all red carpet and ribbons” on the James Bond set for Daniel Craig, but can be a grim and gritty reality getting those results through tough and disciplined training.
Asked what sort of shape the star was in when beginning training on Casino Royale, the personal trainer said: “He wasn’t out of great shape, but he wasn’t in the type of Bond shape he’s in now.
“He wanted to put on a bit of muscle, he wanted to be a little bit stronger, so working on strength work, being more dynamic, so speed work and agility. Choreography, flexibility, so the whole shebang when it comes to fitness. I said, ‘Look this is what you want.’ And he’s quite meticulous with his method.
“‘If this is what you want, we’re going to have to live like athletes for quite a long time. We’re going to have to be meticulous without timings.’”
READ MORE: James Bond: No Time To Die ending predicted over three years ago
Simon pointed out it was particularly hard for Craig to train like a professional athlete as well as going to work as an actor.
He added: “So it’s very, very tough. He’s doing all those athletic protocols and he’s having to go and do his day job, which is acting and all the other things that go with that.
“His marks, his dialogue and all things that you have to remember to be an actor. The physicality is like a secondary thing.”
Asked if it was particularly hard getting Craig, now in his fifties, into shape for No Time To Die, Simon claimed it actually wasn’t too much of a challenge.
Aside from overseeing and leading workouts with Craig, Simon has been his nutritionist and recovery man on the Bond films.
It turns out the 007 diet has some themed days to keep things interesting for the star but didn’t require him to cut out any foods at the weekends.
The personal trainer said Mondays are vegetarian, Tuesdays are pescatarian, Wednesdays are white meat, Thursdays are vegan and Fridays are red meat.
But after that, he said the weekends are yours, but that doesn’t mean Craig was gorging on junk food thanks to his weekday diet.
Simon explained: “Food is very mental. Your cravings are kind of lead by what you’ve eaten during the week. But never tell yourself you’re not allowed anything as that’s the worst thing that you could do.”
On working closely with Craig across his Bond movies, the personal trainer admitted they were kind of joined at the hip so had to get on.
He shared: “It’s definitely a different kind of relationship to being a kind of client trainer. He’s a good friend and confidant. The nice thing is we trust each other. We’re training partners as well so what he’s doing I’m doing.
“So whatever pain he’s feeling, I’m feeling. And that’s a good thing because I can go, ‘Hmm…if I’m feeling this today, he’s working. I think we need to do this tonight.’ We have a really good rapport and that’s what you need when you’re trying to do these big movies like this.”
No Time To Die is out now in UK cinemas and hits US movie theatre on October 8, 2021.
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