British secret service agent James Bond has an image to uphold, and this is why when the film was offered huge sums of money just to promote certain products, a lot of things were taken into consideration.
According to the Business Insider UK, "James Bond: Spectre" star Daniel Craig was initially offered $5 million just to carry around the Sony Xperia Z4 phone in the movie.
However, Craig refused the offer because he believes Bond is not the type to go using Android phones. And apparently, director Sam Mendes shares the same thoughts.
It was a difficult deal to pass up, since Sony even offered an $18 million marketing commitment for the film. But it was not only Sony who was lobbying its products for James Bond.
Even Samsung got in on the action, offering $5 million just like Sony for Bond to use one of its products on the film, and their marketing and promotional package offer went as high up as $50 million.
The fact that the people behind "James Bond: Spectre" refused the deals is beyond most people's comprehension, but a leaked e-mail exchange between the studio and Bond franchise producer Barbara Broccoli revealed why they did so.
The e-mail written by Andrew Gumpert, President of Worldwide Business Affairs and Operations for Columbia Pictures said: "BEYOND the $ factor, there is, as you may know, a CREATIVE factor whereby Sam and Daniel don't like the Sony phone for the film (the thinking, subjectively/objectively is that James Bond only uses the 'best,' and in their minds, the Sony phone is not the 'best')."
Craig is a difficult guy to convince, especially since he has some pretty set ideas in mind. Even when he was initially offered the role of James Bond for "Casino Royale," there were some reservations on the actor's part.
"I didn't take the role for the fame," he told Germany's TV Direkt magazine. "I just want to be in front of a camera and act. Besides that, I'm actually the kind of guy who shies away from publicity. My private life is the most important thing for me and I always plan to keep it that way."
He hopes that "Spectre" will follow the suit of his other Bond movies such as "Quantum of Solace" and "Skyfall" since it will be "a real celebration of Bond."
"'Casino' was a way of starting again, but I want the fun, the celebration, all of that back in. I couldn't have planned this, but it's very natural the way we've gone to this," he said about "Spectre."
"James Bond: Spectre" will hit cinemas on November 6, 2015.
