10 Underrated Daniel Craig Movies You Must See

Daniel Craig is best known for playing a tuxedo clad secret agent and for headline grabbing blockbusters, yet his career is packed with smaller projects that show a wide range of roles. These films slipped past many viewers even though they offer a clear look at his choices across drama, thriller, biography, animation, and offbeat comedy.

This list highlights ten titles where he worked with notable writers and directors, played complex characters, and explored unusual settings and subjects. You will find adaptations of acclaimed novels, stories drawn from real events, and projects that experimented with style and form.

‘Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon’ (1998)

This drama is directed by John Maybury and centers on painter Francis Bacon with Derek Jacobi in the lead. Daniel Craig plays George Dyer and appears opposite a cast drawn from British stage and screen.

The film focuses on the turbulent relationship between Bacon and Dyer and uses stylized camerawork to mirror the artist’s approach to image making. The production famously did not secure permission to use Bacon’s paintings, so the team crafted visuals that suggest his work without reproducing it.

‘The Trench’ (1999)

Novelist and screenwriter William Boyd directs this World War I story that follows a group of British soldiers awaiting orders before a major offensive on the Western Front. Daniel Craig plays Sgt. Telford Winter and appears with an ensemble of young actors portraying a single platoon.

The narrative compresses the action into a short span of time and places the camera inside dugouts and forward positions to show daily routines, command structure, and the pressure on noncommissioned officers. Military procedures, equipment, and radio communications are shown in detail as the unit prepares for a push into no man’s land.

‘Love & Rage’ (1999)

Director Cathal Black sets this period drama on an island off the coast of Ireland and builds the story around landowner and tenant tensions. Daniel Craig plays James Lynchehaun with Greta Scacchi as Agnes MacDonnell.

The plot draws from a real case in which a charismatic employee becomes the focus of scandal and violence. Coastal settings, estate interiors, and courtroom scenes create a picture of social status, colonial administration, and the legal fallout that followed an attack which became widely discussed in Irish history.

‘Some Voices’ (2000)

This adaptation of Joe Penhall’s stage play is directed by Simon Cellan Jones. Daniel Craig plays Ray, a young man living with schizophrenia, and David Morrissey plays his brother Dave, who is trying to help him settle into a new routine.

The story follows Ray as he stops taking medication and forms a bond with a woman played by Kelly Macdonald. London streets, small cafes, and a family flat provide the backdrop while the script tracks mental health services, informal care, and the strains placed on siblings navigating treatment and independence.

‘Hotel Splendide’ (2000)

Terence Gross directs this dark comedy set in an isolated spa hotel run by a strict family. Daniel Craig plays Ronald Blanche and works alongside Toni Collette, who arrives in the kitchen with a new approach to the menu.

The film builds a world of odd rules, rituals, and water cures that govern the guests and staff. Sets and costumes lean into a steam filled bathhouse environment while the story follows a shift in management, the effects on daily schedules, and the gradual unravelling of long standing house traditions.

‘The Mother’ (2003)

Director Roger Michell teams with writer Hanif Kureishi for a London set drama that examines family dynamics and class. Daniel Craig plays Darren, a builder who becomes closely involved with a recently widowed woman played by Anne Reid.

The film maps the relationships between generations as property renovations bring characters together in cramped rooms and city streets. It looks at work on row houses, child care arrangements, and the strain of unpaid emotional labor within a family that is trying to redefine roles after a death.

‘Enduring Love’ (2004)

Roger Michell directs this adaptation of the Ian McEwan novel. Daniel Craig plays Joe Rose, a university lecturer, with Rhys Ifans as Jed Parry and Samantha Morton in a key supporting role.

The plot begins with a sudden accident in a field that sets off an unwanted fixation and a series of encounters in public and private spaces. The film tracks police reports, witness statements, and the effects of stalking on daily life, showing how academic work, partnerships, and friendships are disrupted by escalating contact.

‘Infamous’ (2006)

Douglas McGrath directs this portrait of writer Truman Capote during the research and writing of ‘In Cold Blood’. Daniel Craig plays Perry Smith opposite Toby Jones as Capote and Sandra Bullock as Harper Lee.

The narrative moves between Kansas crime scenes, New York society gatherings, and prison interviews. It covers the investigative steps that led to a landmark work of nonfiction, including trial coverage, appeals, and the interviews that shaped the book’s structure and tone.

‘The Invasion’ (2007)

This science fiction thriller is directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel with additional material filmed by James McTeigue during studio ordered reshoots. Nicole Kidman plays psychiatrist Carol Bennell and Daniel Craig plays physician Ben Driscoll, with supporting roles for Jeffrey Wright and Jeremy Northam. The story adapts Jack Finney’s novel ‘The Body Snatchers’ and unfolds in Washington DC after a space shuttle breakup scatters a biological agent that alters people while they sleep.

Production took place in and around Washington and Baltimore, with set pieces staged on city streets, subway platforms, and government buildings. The film follows public health protocols, quarantine logistics, and vaccine research within the plot, and places Craig’s character in scenes that show emergency response coordination, supply distribution, and the risks faced by medical staff during a rapidly spreading outbreak. It is the fourth cinematic version in the ‘Body Snatchers’ cycle after ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ and ‘Body Snatchers’.

‘Flashbacks of a Fool’ (2008)

Baillie Walsh directs this drama about a famous actor who receives news that sends him back to his coastal hometown. Daniel Craig plays Joe Scott and shares the role’s timeline with Harry Eden as the younger version.

The structure alternates between present day scenes in a modern mansion and earlier memories in a small seaside community. Production details include a soundtrack built around art rock and soul tracks, period clothes for the youth sequences, and location work that ties the adult character’s choices to formative events on the shoreline.

Share the underrated Daniel Craig films you would add to this list in the comments.