Daniel Craig thinks he took playing James Bond "too seriously" at times.

Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig

The 53-year-old actor first starred as the iconic character in 2006's 'Casino Royale' and he admits to having been quite intense during his stint as 007.

He reflected: "I take things quite seriously unfortunately, but also because I care, and I love what I do. So I'm never not trying to figure out whether we can make it a bit better. It's James Bond.

"This is, for me personally, the biggest thing I've ever done in my career. It's one of the biggest things in my life. It's massively important to me, and maybe that’s taking it too seriously, and sometimes you’ve got to lighten it [up]."

Daniel has walked away from the role after starring in 'No Time to Die'.

And the actor is delighted that the new film features "a lot of lightness and a lot of emotion".

He explained: "I think we've definitely managed to do that on this movie. It feels like creatively we've put in all the right things to make it so that there's a lot of lightness and a lot of emotion."

Despite this, Daniel admits he's always seeking to make minor improvements, and therefore some people might consider him to be too demanding on set.

The Hollywood star - who is married to actress Rachel Weisz - told Empire: "I'm always trying to ask the question, ‘Are we doing good enough?’ I’m looking around the room saying, ‘If this isn't good enough, it's not in the movie. Let's move on. Let's get something else. Let's find something better.’ So most people probably think of me as a pain in the a**."