The New James Bond: DANIEL CRAIG

British actor Daniel Craig was named as the next James Bond today, ending months of speculation over who would take over from Pierce Brosnan. In the tradition and style surrounding the world of Agent 007, the 37-year-old actor was swept up the River Thames on a large power boat escorted by the Royal Marines to the highly anticipated news conference. The new dashing blonde Bond wore a blue suit and red tie and posed for photographers in the shadow of London’s Tower Bridge.

"I'd like to thank the Royal Marines for bringing me in like that, and scaring the shit out of me," the actor joked. Daniel Craig was speculated by many to take over the role of Agent 007 James Bond prior to Friday's announcement, and his appointment to star in the next Bond film Casino Royale was all but confirmed when his mother let the secret slip to a regional newspaper earlier in the day.

While little is known about the actor in the United States, Craig will be more familiar to British audiences after appearing in the gangster caper Layer Cake. He also played alongside Paul Newman in Road to Perdition and Gwyneth Paltrow in Sylvia.

"It's a huge challenge. Life is about challenges and this is one of the big ones as an actor,” Craig stated. Earlier in the year he had expressed his misgivings about the script for Casino Royale, which is due to begin filming in January, saying that if he were offered the role he'd want "the emotional level" of the script to change, "but I don't know how ready they'd be to change."

At today's news conference, Craig promised to bring something new to a role immortalized by earlier incarnations Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan. "It's not a question of redefining, but a question of taking it somewhere maybe where it's never gone before." He said he spoke to Irishman Brosnan, who had described the decision by Bond film makers to drop him as a "body blow."

Martin Campbell will direct Casino Royale, due for release in November next year, which takes viewers back to the beginning of the super spy's career. "I certainly think it will be a little bit darker than previous Bond films ... more character, fewer gadgets," the director said of Casino, which is expected to cost at least $100 million. He added: "This will be tougher and grittier, and there's a terrific part for the girl and the relationship Bond has with the girl is probably a much more serious one than we've had in the past."

According to franchise producer Michael Wilson, Craig was chosen from a field of more than 200 potential 007 contenders, and the decision took about two years to make in which Craig has signed on to a three-film contract.

Before becoming Bond, Craig will complete his work on the upcoming Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake, The Visiting, alongside Nicole Kidman, as well as finish work on his role in Steven Spielberg's Munich, which also stars Eric Bana.