Owen defends Craig's Bond

Clive Owen has defended new James Bond star Daniel Craig following ongoing criticisms that his fellow actor is not up to the role of 007. Owen, himself tipped as a possible contender to play the suave secret agent before Craig landed the part, told the BBC that the release of the latest Bond film would prove what a "great choice" movie producers had made in casting a "proper actor" for the iconic role. Craig is due to make his debut as Ian Fleming's notorious spy in Casino Royale, the 21st official Bond film which is due for general release on November 17th. Owen, who clearly harbours no bitterness over not being selected for the role of 007 himself, told the BBC: "I think when Craig first took the part he got a pretty rough ride, which to a certain extent is inevitable because there are so many different people who have so many different ideas about something like that." "The thing that is really exciting is that he is a proper actor," added Owen. "He is not shallow or posing, they have cast a really serious actor and I think that when the film comes out everyone will see what a great choice he was." Meanwhile 007 himself has hit back at critics who have claimed that he is too soft to convincingly play Bond, amid reports of Craig's fear of heights and his need to wear a life jacket when filming scenes on the water. Following new claims that the actor had to be given an automatic version of Bond's trademark Aston Martin as he had been unable to work the gears in a manual model, Craig, 38, boasted that he had reached 170 miles per hour in the super car. "I got it to 170 just the other day," bragged the actor, according to the Daily Mirror.