Road to Perdition (2002): Daniel Craig Was Connor Rooney Before He Was James Bond

Daniel Craig is Connor Rooney in Road to Perdition, a film about fathers and sons in the worst of situations: mob families vying for control of illegal business during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Craig may have had a license to kill later in his career, as James Bond, but he only thinks he has a license to kill as Connor Rooney. In other words, he is not on the right side of the law in Road to Perdition, and he is not often on the right side of his father’s wishes. Connor Rooney’s actions are the impetus behind all the violence and sorrow that is in store for the Rooneys—and the Sullivans, too—as the narrative unfolds.

Connor is the son of John Rooney, the well-connected patriarch of an Irish mob family working closely with the Italian mob in the Chicago area. John took Michael Sullivan Sr. under his wing when Sullivan Sr. was still a young boy. Sullivan Sr. respects John Rooney and regards him as a father figure. As he tells his son, Michael Jr., he feels that he owes everything to John Rooney. But the fatherly relationship that John Rooney cultivates in Michael Sullivan Sr. creates a murderous sibling rivalry for his biological son Connor. John Rooney relies on Sullivan Sr. as an adult for help in keeping the family business going. John gives more responsibility to Sullivan Sr. than he does to his own son, and Connor is well aware that his father doesn’t trust him as much as he trusts Sullivan Sr.

There is talk among the Rooney mob lieutenants that Connor is stealing from his own father, skimming part of the profits and spending it all on himself. Such talk is met with assassination, so the rumblings aren’t expressed out loud too often. When they are, it is Connor who takes offense and acts on his worst impulses, and he never waits to hear what his father thinks or what his advice might be. Connor Rooney is the most dangerous because he is a hothead among dangerous murderers. When Michael Sullivan Jr. inadvertently witnesses Connor Rooney killing Finn McGovern, one of the Rooney mob faithful, and his own father, Sullivan Sr., killing two of McGovern’s men, Connor decides to deal with all of the Sullivans (Annie, Peter, Michael Sr., and Michael Jr.) himself.

One of Michael Sullivan Sr.’s responsibilities is the collection of debts owed to John Rooney, and Connor takes advantage of this situation to get rid of Michael Sullivan Sr. (or so he is hoping) once and for all. He gives Sullivan Sr. a note for Tony Calvino, someone who runs a jazz club and brothel and is late with his payments to the Rooney family. Connor tells Sullivan Sr. that it’s a note from his father John, but it’s a lie. When Tony Calvino reads the note (“Kill Sullivan and all debts are paid”), he is confused. He hesitates. Sullivan Sr. is smart: He knows how to read trouble, and he sees it in Calvino’s hesitation. He grabs Calvino’s partially hidden gun from the top of his desk before Calvino has a chance to, and he shoots both Calvino and Frank, the brothel security guard.

The film’s narrative never explains the Rooneys’ backstory. Viewers know only that John Rooney places much more trust and responsibility in Michael Sullivan Sr., something that Connor chafes against. He desperately wants his father’s love. In one scene, after John Rooney learns about Connor’s attempted murder of Sullivan Sr. and the murders of Annie and Peter Sullivan, John strikes Connor and laments the day that Connor was born. Connor cowers in fear, but he continues to let his emotions rule his actions, alienating his father more and more.

Connor is the heir to a business that does not shy away from the use of threat and force. His father doesn’t encourage extreme violence, but he knows that it is part of doing business with the mob. He is deeply dismayed when his son takes matters into his own hands to settle scores and avenge personal vendettas, but there seems to be little he can do about Connor’s behavior. And blood is blood for John Rooney. No matter what Connor does, no matter who he kills, his father will not abandon him.

At one point, the mob accountant Alexander Rance tells Sullivan Sr. that Connor Rooney is too valuable, but he never states why. Is it for the simple reason that he is John Rooney’s son? Is Connor valuable as a hit man (when his target is approved, that is)? Is he a valuable liaison between the Rooney operations and the Italian mob in Chicago because he is unafraid of bloodshed and killing? I wondered about Nance’s statement, but answers to these particular questions aren’t really important for the story. Viewers know that Connor is protected by his father and by the resources of his illegal enterprise.

But eventually Connor crosses a line. He tells Frank Nitti, one of the Italian mob lieutenants in Chicago, that his father won’t live forever and that he, Connor, is the future. Nitti isn’t so sure that he wants to deal with someone so hard to control, someone who doesn’t obey orders. He doesn’t object when Michael Sullivan Sr. seeks revenge for Connor’s murder of Anne and Peter Sullivan, Sullivan Sr.’s wife and youngest son.

Daniel Craig gives a powerful performance as Connor Rooney. He is believable when he portrays Connor’s murderous rage, and it’s easy to believe that others are afraid of him and his unpredictability. But Craig is also believable as the wounded son, the son who cowers before his father, desperate for his love. I wonder if portraying James Bond was easy compared to portraying the very different facets of Connor Rooney’s personality!

I listened to the DVD commentary provided by the director, Sam Mendes. He states that one of the reasons Daniel Craig was chosen for the role of Connor Rooney is the color of his eyes (blue): They are similar to Paul Newman’s, Mendes says, the most famous pair of blue eyes in movie history. But Mendes is quick to follow this statement with the assertion that Craig could hold his own with the talents of Newman and Tom Hanks, who plays the role of Michael Sullivan Sr. Connor Rooney may not be a leading role in Road to Perdition, but it is an important one. And I have to agree: Daniel Craig portrays Connor expertly.

This article about Daniel Craig in Road to Perdition is my entry in the You Knew My Name: The Bond Not Bond Blogathon, which has been organized by Gill from Realweegiemidget Reviews and Gabriela from Pale Writer. Click on either blog name for the complete list of blogathon participants and their entries, which will be updated regularly from December 16 to December 18, 2021. Each host operates in a different time zone so there will likely be discrepancies between the times that each entry is added to the two different blogs.

◊ December 16 (Day 1)

◊ December 17 (Day 2)

◊ December 18 (Day 3)

◊ December 19 (Encore!)

July 12, 2002, release date  •  Directed by Sam Mendes  •  Screenplay by David Self  •  Based on the graphic novel Road to Perdition by Max Allan Collins, Richard Piers Rayner  •  Music by Thomas Newman  •  Edited by Jill Bilcock  •  Cinematography by Conrad L. Hall

Tom Hanks as Michael Sullivan  •  Tyler Hoechlin as Michael Sullivan Jr.  •  Paul Newman as John Rooney  •  Jude Law as Harlen Maguire, freelance photographer  •  Daniel Craig as Connor Rooney  •  Stanley Tucci as Frank Nitti  •  Jennifer Jason Leigh as Annie Sullivan  •  Liam Aiken as Peter Sullivan  •  Dylan Baker as Alexander Rance, the mob’s accountant  •  Ciarán Hinds as Finn McGovern  •  David Darlow as Jack Kelly  •  Kerry Rossall as Rooney’s henchman  •  Kevin Chamberlin as Frank the bouncer  •  Harry Groener as Mr. McDougal  •  JoBe Cerny as a banker  •  Peggy Roeder as Virginia, the farmer  •  James Green as Bill, the farmer  •  Doug Spinuzza as Tony Calvino  • Diane Dorsey as Aunt Sarah

Distributed by DreamWorks Pictures (United States), Twentieth Century Fox (international)  •  Produced by Zanuck Company