Director and Producers hit back at Casino Royale and Daniel Craig negative press

His enemies have been hatching plots to destroy him for more than 40 years � slipping tarantulas under his bedsheets, shoving him into shark tanks, aiming lasers at his private parts � but James Bond has never been up against anything quite like this before. Right now, on this bright, breezy afternoon in March, on the Bahamas set of Casino Royale, 007 is facing a force more dastardly and diabolical than SMERSH and SPECTRE combined: bad press - reports EW.

Since October, when it was announced that Daniel Craig would become the sixth Bond � replacing the reluctantly retiring Pierce Brosnan � the 38-year-old Brit has been dodging potshots from Prague to the Caribbean. His hair is the wrong color (it's Bond, not Blond, sneer the hardcore). His blue eyes are the wrong shade (some fans want them brown). He's not the right size (though at 5'11'', Craig is hardly petite). And that's just what's being written about the man on sites like craignot bond.com � a Web page launched for the sole purpose of blasting Craig's casting that goes so far as to call for a Casino Royale boycott. Not since Michael Keaton put on a cowl for the first Batman movie has the hiring of an actor for an action film unleashed such a loopy storm of fan fury.

As for the more traditional news outlets � particularly the papers in 007's hometown � they haven't shown better manners. ''The Name's Bland... James Bland'' is how London's Daily Mirror greeted the new secret agent. From the day Craig got the gig, the tabloids have been snapping at him like the piranhas in Blofeld's swimming pool � spinning stories such as the one about how a London dentist was supposedly airlifted to Prague after Craig got his front teeth knocked out during a fight scene (''The Name's Bond...Broke Bond,'' cackled the Sunday Mirror). Or the one about the actor not being able to operate the stick shift on Bond's new Aston Martin (''Craig's 007 Can't Get in Gear''). Or that truly scandalous scoop detailing how Craig got sunburned in the Bahamas (''Ow! Ow! 7''). All of which can be awfully frustrating for the people trying to make the movie.

''No, his teeth didn't get knocked out,'' says director Martin Campbell, taking a break from shooting a scene in which Craig, looking tanned and orthodontically undamaged, chases a bomb-toting baddie. ''What happened was that one of his caps came loose while we were filming in Prague. A local dentist came to the set, put a bit of glue on it, and that was that. The whole thing took 10 minutes.''

''That story about the stick shift was ludicrous,'' adds Barbara Broccoli, who produces the Bond franchise with half brother Michael G. Wilson. ''Everybody drives a stick in England. You have to be able to in order to get an unrestricted license over there. The tabloids come up with these stupid stories. Almost everything they've written about this movie has been wrong.''

Of course, you can't blame the media � or fans � for being curious about the new chap in Bond's tux. For one thing, Craig isn't merely the latest successor to the role, he's also part of the most ambitious makeover of the franchise since it started in 1962. Casino Royale will attempt to reboot the entire series by telling the story of Bond's maiden mission as a double-0 agent, ignoring his previous 20 big-screen adventures and introducing the character as if he were a brand-new creation. (''But it's not a prequel or a period piece or anything like that � it's set today, right now,'' explains Broccoli.) That's a heavy load for any actor to carry, let alone one most moviegoers have never heard of before.

Indeed, even those who have seen Craig in films like Munich and Layer Cake still know next to nothing about him as a personality � except maybe that he once dated Kate Moss and reportedly helped Sienna Miller get even with Jude Law � which may explain a lot of the Craig bashing. So far, he's kept his distance from reporters, appearing only for large press conferences and group interviews.

It's understandable, but the lack of close-up media contact has left Craig largely a blank page to the public and set the tabs free to doodle in details on their own. ''He's an incredibly funny, charming, sexy guy,'' promises Broccoli. ''Fans are going to love him � they just don't know him yet.''

Eventually, even the Bondophiles who object to his hair color may decide he makes a first-class 007. That uprising over Batman's casting didn't hurt Michael Keaton any; his turn as the Caped Crusader ultimately came to be regarded as the best to date. And here on the Casino Royale set, watching Craig dash by with a Walther PPK clutched in his fist, one has to wonder if his detractors might be underestimating him. That, of course, would be a very foolish mistake � one Mr. Bond's enemies have regretted making before.

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