Sean Connery on the one thing that separates a great James Bond from a forgettable one: Reality. In a rare interview, Connery was asked to compare his portrayal of Bond with Roger Moore's. He didn't dodge the question. "I think it's just a different appetite, that's all," he said. Connery explained that his approach to Bond was always rooted in grounding the character, no matter how outlandish the situation: "I played Bond with the reality, credibility, and hopefully still accomplishing stunts and effects and what have you, but out of it some indigenous humor. Anything that happens is possible." In other words: The audience should never be winking at the screen. They should be believing it. He felt Moore inherited a different direction, one that had already begun drifting toward spectacle over substance by the time Diamonds Are Forever was released: "His is a sort of parody of the character, as it were, in that situation, so that you will go for the laugh or the humor at whatever the cost of the credibility or the reality." Neither approach was wrong. Both found their audiences. But Connery was clear about where the line sat for him. What's remarkable is how that philosophy carried across decades and actors. When Daniel Craig stepped into the role decades later, he returned the character to exactly the edge Connery had always described. Darker. More believable. The danger more real. Connery noticed: "The spectrum of actors, I mean from myself to Daniel Craig, who I thought was fantastic, marvelous." And when told Craig had studied Connery's films extensively before taking the role, his response was characteristically understated: "Well, I'm flattered. Well, I mean, it's there to see, and the danger element, I think he really gets it." Source: The South Bank Show