We have Daniel Craig getting wasted at a party to thank for Sam Mendes directing Bond

Daniel Craig’s drunkenness has had an outsized influence on the direction of the James Bond films. Last summer we learned that a young Craig’s night out on the town with Mark Strong—and the massive hangover that followed—caused the latter actor to blow his audition for the role of a Pierce Brosnan era villain. Now, the former 007 has talked about how getting drunk with Sam Mendes at a Hugh Jackman-hosted Christmas party helped lead to the director heading up Skyfall and Spectre.

Craig told this story during an appearance on the most recent episode of Awards Chatter. While talking about his run as Bond, he brought up attending a Christmas party thrown by Jackman where he ran into Mendes. Craig, who says he “was definitely a little drunk” at that point, sat down for a drink with Mendes and started to realize he’d be a great candidate for directing the next Bond.

“It just became glaringly obvious to me sitting opposite him,” he says. “And so I just basically went, ‘I’m probably not supposed to say this, but do you want to direct the next Bond movie?’” Mendes said yes and, Craig remembers thinking right afterwards, “I’m in shit now.”