Mark Strong Blames Drunken Night With Daniel Craig for Blown 007 Villain Audition

Mark Strong says he learned a valuable lesson after a night of heavy drinking with a pal before an audition.

The actor, who most recently appeared in Disney’s Cruella, was a guest on Sky One’s There’s Something About Movies, where he talked about auditioning as a James Bond villain in the 1990s when the franchise starred Pierce Brosnan.

“And I learned the lines … and to celebrate I went out for a drink, and I got pissed. I overdid it and the next day I was severely hungover,” Strong explained.

Still, the actor said he was not going to miss the chance to be in a 007 film, so he trudged into the audition, where he was met by eight people sitting behind desks. It was a mess, he admitted.

“I started, then I just forgot my lines, couldn’t remember what they were and they all just kind of fell apart,” he said. “I was sweating, it was a terrible experience — but I really learned from it.”

The kicker for his story was the best part: “The irony was, the guy I was out the night before getting pissed with was Daniel Craig. So I blame him!”

Craig, of course, would go on to be the next James Bond. His latest installment as 007, No Time to Die, is due out in the fall.