Quantum of Solace

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Germangirl
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Marc Forster: Delving Deep Into The James Bond Character

'The character has this hard shell outside but still ultimately has this vulnerability...'

Written by Devin Zydel on 16 Oct, 2008

Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster has many times already expressed his desire to create a James Bond film that still fits inside the frame of the series but also expresses his unique vision of the character.

In a new Screen Daily interview that took place one towards the beginning of this month, the Swiss director reaffirmed his desire to create a different take on 007 and also talks about the process required to accomplish the task.
Director Marc Forster

Director Marc Forster

As the Bond films are known worldwide to be a family-oriented affair amongst the crew, Forster was asked how he felt he fit into this mold: ‘One of the things was that I had to bring my own ‘family’ with me. I brought all my collaborators.’

‘It was important to me that I could make the movie my own and create a movie that has a specific look and has a connection to my previous work.’

He continues: ‘The reason I accepted the movie was that I felt Bond as a character is emotionally repressed, which I find interesting and has a link to my other work. I felt it would be an interesting experiment, almost like a film-maker who works in a political regime with extremely strong censorship—within that regime, you can still make a film which very subtly brings in what is essential.’

As followers of Quantum’s early stages of production are well aware, the script was seemingly always in a constant state of change, moving from regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade to Paul Haggis (and then followed up with a polish by Joshua Zetumer).

Forster explains: ‘Paul gave us a draft and a polish of the script, but as he was heavily involved promoting his own movie (In The Valley Of Elah), I realised early on that it would be impossible for him to hand in a completed draft before the beginning of the writers’ strike. For that reason, Daniel [Craig] and I started early on to work on the character’s journey ourselves.’
Paul Haggis

Paul Haggis

‘It was very intense,’ he said of the situation. ‘It wasn’t so much that the release date was set and that I had very little time in post-production. The main thing was there was no script in place when we started [filming]. That was the key issue.’

‘There was not really a story that I felt 100% confident and good about. When there was the writers’ strike, I knew that by April, we would run out of story. In February, I brought in another writer, Josh Zetumer, to do a few polishes, rewrites and ideas between Danny, me and him.’

The eventual screenwriting credits ended up going to Haggis, Purvis and Wade for the film.

The next challenge for Forster was no simple task either: how to follow up one of the most financially and critically successful Bond films of all time?

‘So many people loved [Casino Royale]. To live up to that in Quantum Of Solace and to be up to par with that is another added pressure.’

In approaching this challenge, Forster focused on the character of Bond and worked with Craig to develop this in the final performance. ‘The character has this hard shell outside but still ultimately has this vulnerability,’ Forster says. ‘There is this isolation and this pain.’

‘But one of the successes of Bond is his mystery,’ the director is quick to add. ‘You don’t want to have Bond explain himself emotionally or analyse [himself] too much. So I created Camille [portrayed by Olga Kurylenko] as one of the Bond girls, who is a mirror image of him. She’s an assassin and has a revenge motive.’

Finally, Forster had to come to terms with was the incorporation of product placement in the James Bond films. He states: ‘It was at the beginning a little tricky, but what I said was I was not willing to shoot a shot that was featuring a product just for the purpose of featuring the product unless it happens to be part of the story. I feel this has been overdone in the past and it takes you out of the movie.’

After a grueling production schedule and endless hours of editing, it appears that he’s met his goal with Quantum of Solace: ‘I feel very positive because I love the movie. I feel the movie really works.’

Before concluding the interview, however, the topic of Bond 23 came up, despite his earlier statements that he’s not planning on returning. ‘No, it’s something Barbara and Michael asked me about but I’m not really interested … but never say never!’


'Quantum of Solace' Production Pays Homage To Ken Adam

Director Marc Forster and production designer Dennis Gassner aim for a modernistic approach

Written by Devin Zydel on 16 Oct, 2008

During the process of shooting Quantum of Solace, director Marc Forster revealed his appreciation for many of the early James Bond films, citing the production design by Ken Adam as one of the hallmarks of the series.

In a new Variety article, Forster explains how he tried to pay homage to Adam’s visually stunning sets in the design of this latest 007 film.

‘I wanted to return to the stylish look of the early Bond films by production designer Ken Adam,’ he said.
Spy pic from Barbican Venue

007 at the Barbican, back when Quantum of Solace was known as Bond 22

Production designer Dennis Gassner, who replaced longstanding crew member Peter Lamont on this film, said Daniel Craig as Bond was integral in the process of creating Quantum’s more modernistic and organic style.

He said: ‘I had to find a new place in the world for Bond to be Bond on his journey. I said to Marc that the only thing that I had to hold onto was Daniel. ]And what is that? It’s this incredibly angular, chiseled, textured face and blue eyes. It was so simple that it was right in front of us. So I really created a pattern language based on that theory and Marc’s… sense of style and design.’

As hinted by the film’s trailers and leaked production photos, several typical Bond locations, such as M’s office, have gotten a complete makeover. ‘I wanted to show London the way nobody’s ever seen it before,’ said Gassner. This included shooting at Barbican at the very beginning of production way back in January.
Spy pic from Barbican Venue

007 at the Barbican

On the new MI6 office, Gassner said: ‘I wanted to put Judi [Dench] in a really smart room because she’s the embodiment of MI6. I wanted to see her [figuratively] inside a Macintosh computer and give her the opportunity to use her mind and her voice, so what she says, she gets: “Where’s Bond?” She has easy access in the stainless metal-and-glass world that she’s in.’

However, some longstanding Bond traditions were maintained on Quantum of Solace, including taking advantage of the massive 007 Stage for some of the film’s major action sequences.

‘[After] they rebuilt the stage and ‘Mamma Mia!’ actually shot there, we inhabited it again, ironically, on this film for a big fire sequence,’ said producer Barbara Broccoli. ‘So we got through the sequence without incident, fortunately, but on the backlot, we had a [second] fire involved on one of the exteriors where we were shooting. And there was a report that we had something burn down, which actually was not correct. We deliberately set it on fire.’

CBN
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Post by Germangirl »

Bond… coming

The Bond franchise has a significant fan base in Canada. As such, Daniel Craig and a few others from Quantum came to Canada for a quick day of media two weeks before the premiere in London. Daniel was supposedly not made available for an official photograph session but paps did catch him leaving the Hazelton Hotel in Yorkville en route to the airport…

My friend Laura, who lives for him, as you can imagine she’s been waiting for today for a long, long time and eTalk was one of the outlets to secure an interview. I forgot to ask her if she had her blown out especially for the occasion but I did however message her now wondering if he had just left her luxuriating in the bathtub. Her response?

“MY GOD Elaine – in person, he’s tall, built and FLAWLESS. I’m even more inflamed if that’s humanly possible.”

Apparently Daniel Craig has turned Laura into Dumbledore.

Amazing.

Also amazing…

The film.

Several journalists who screened it said Quantum is “spectacular” and “powerful”…which is a huge relief. Because the title certainly isn’t and follow-ups can be a letdown. One more thing? They said Olga Kurylenko is one of the hottest Bond girls in years.

He’s coming…

Can’t wait! http://www.laineygossip.com/Daniel_Crai ... ?IsMicro=0
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Deb
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Post by Deb »

Germangirl wrote:Bond… coming

The Bond franchise has a significant fan base in Canada. As such, Daniel Craig and a few others from Quantum came to Canada for a quick day of media two weeks before the premiere in London. Daniel was supposedly not made available for an official photograph session but paps did catch him leaving the Hazelton Hotel in Yorkville en route to the airport…

My friend Laura, who lives for him, as you can imagine she’s been waiting for today for a long, long time and eTalk was one of the outlets to secure an interview. I forgot to ask her if she had her blown out especially for the occasion but I did however message her now wondering if he had just left her luxuriating in the bathtub. Her response?

“MY GOD Elaine – in person, he’s tall, built and FLAWLESS. I’m even more inflamed if that’s humanly possible.”

Apparently Daniel Craig has turned Laura into Dumbledore.

Amazing.

Also amazing…

The film.

Several journalists who screened it said Quantum is “spectacular” and “powerful”…which is a huge relief. Because the title certainly isn’t and follow-ups can be a letdown. One more thing? They said Olga Kurylenko is one of the hottest Bond girls in years.

He’s coming…

Can’t wait! http://www.laineygossip.com/Daniel_Crai ... ?IsMicro=0
Lainey's articles always put a smile on my face :D
Daskedusken
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Post by Daskedusken »

Daniel Craig talks extensively about `Quantum of Solace` to Men`s Vogue

Quantum Of Solace - 17-10-08

Immediately after Daniel Craig hit the screen as James Bond in Casino Royale, 007 fan sites (including some that had previously called him an unsuitable choice — too short, too blond, too uncouth, and, inaccurately, unable to drive stick) began suggesting that Craig had pulled ahead of Sean Connery to become the Best Bond Ever, reports Men's Vogue.

A still more startling opinion has also gained ground: Namely, that with barely twelve seconds' worth of screen time in the Nassau surf in Casino Royale, Craig unseated Ursula Andress for the Most Notorious Bathing Suit Scene in Franchise History. The aftershocks of this coup could be felt from Kennebunkport to Saint-Tropez the past two summers. For better or worse, the snug Daniel Craig look crowded the beaches, and sales of powder-blue La Perla swimming trunks experienced a sudden surge, surpassing even those of the lime-green Borat thong.

But given Craig's résumé — a career, prior to Bond, that was long on risky (though frequently shirtless) roles in British independent films — it's not surprising to learn that the ripped and brutish beach look he unveiled 30 minutes into Casino Royale was, in fact, an artistic choice. He inherited a personal trainer, Simon Waterson, a former commando in the Royal Navy, along with the role, and Craig immediately told him, "I want to get chunky for this. I want this guy to look like the uniform's just come off. Like he's literally just stepped out of a war zone." According to Waterson, his new client wished to appear as if he "could kill people just by looking at them." Of course, some of this added bulk was practical. Craig wanted to be fit enough to absorb the daily battering the role required. But much of the newfound mass was an immediate tip-off to Craig's conception of the character. Other Bonds may have aimed for lithe and suave. "But I hit the ground," the actor told me, "like a sack of spuds."

The morning we spoke, in London's Soho Hotel, Craig did indeed look somewhat tuberous. Two nights before, he'd marked the completion of filming Quantum of Solace — his sophomore Bond effort — with what he described as a "bit of a party." Thirty-six hours later, his eyes, the same glacial blue in person as they appear on film, were still rimmed with red. He was impeccably dressed — free clothes being one of the chief perks of the publicity campaign — but he'd put them together in a style you might call randy widower: jeans, a claret-colored silk shirt, black cardigan, and brown-suede boots. The form-fitting attire showed off a noticeably slimmer silhouette — another choice. "Because I went for shape and size for the last film, I wasn't heart-fit," Craig said, taking a sip of water. "So that's what I did on this one. I just wanted to survive the movie."

By all accounts, he deserved his celebration. During the filming, there'd been talk of a Macbeth-like curse: A stuntman drove an Aston Martin into Lake Garda, a technician in the crew was apparently stabbed by a woman he met at a bar, and Craig had to have eight stitches on his face and lopped off a fingertip shooting one action scene or another. Even without the calamities, a Bond shoot is a frequent-flier nightmare, with several units working all over the globe (for this outing, multiple locations in Chile, Panama, Austria, Mexico, England, and Italy). Craig responds by setting a monastic pace: up at five; in makeup by six; on set at sevenish for an early run-through and then ten or twelve hours of shooting; ending the day with an hour or so in the gym, followed by a quick stunt practice, a very light dinner, and lights out by nine-thirty or ten. "That's the way he works," Michael Wilson, a Bond producer who has witnessed the spectacle, says. "I've never known an actor to be that focused."

When I asked Craig about his current regimen, he gave me a heavy-lidded look. "The regimen's over," he said. "That's what the regimen is at the moment." He pulled out his cell phone, thumbed through the texts. "Let's see...I got a message earlier from my trainer: 'What are you doing today?'" Craig immediately snapped the cell shut and tossed it over his shoulder without a glance. "Nothing," he said. The phone bounced around behind him, lost to sight somewhere deep in the cushions of the hotel sofa. "Today I'm doing nothing."

Even in a tuxedo, Craig looks like a violent man. His face is an evolutionary triumph of a particular sort: the memento-mori bone structure reminds you that the original purpose of the brow, chin, and cheekbones is to protect the soft bits from blows and enemy weapons. Directors like to emphasize this quality, often lighting him starkly from above so he casts his own shadows like a one-man Stonehenge. Along the way, Craig has made a few improvements on the original material, smashing his nose as a lad on a Liverpool rugby squad. "It was just an accidental head butt," he protested.

At ease off camera, Craig undercuts and even at times carefully contradicts this native air of violence. His voice still rumbles in the diesel register, but he scatters funny little professorial uptick sounds ("uhm?") and thoughtful grunts of empathetic encouragement ("hnnh") throughout the conversation. He often pulls forward to the edge of his seat cushion, at one point nearly twisting himself into a sprinter's crouch in an excess of enthusiasm. I reminded him that he'd taken on Bond at a point in life when most professional stuntmen begin to disengage from heavier work. "I know," the 40-year-old actor said, managing both to ridicule himself and to appear quite nimble. "It's such a bad look. It's like a midlife crisis: 'Okay, I'll jump out of that. On fire? Yes, let's do it!'"

His mother, an art teacher in Merseyside, nudged him toward the stage when he was a teen. There's a longstanding family argument about whether he first auditioned for the National Youth Theatre at 16 (his recollection) or 17 (his mum's), but whatever the precise tenderness of his youth, Craig got in and immediately landed a role in Troilus and Cressida — as Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks. He began logging miles on tours throughout the U.K. and even to Spain and the Soviet Union.

"I'd been studying Shakespeare," Craig said of his film debut in The Power of One, in 1992. "Now suddenly I'm on a movie set with John G. Avildsen screaming at me, the set's on fire, someone's coming up to powder my brow, and I'm like, 'What the fuck is this about?' I think my performance shows that. People were telling me, 'Wow, you're so intense.' And I'm like, 'No. I'm scared shitless.'"

For a few years after that, Craig hopscotched from the stage to film and TV, becoming a household name in the U.K. in the mid-nineties for the role of Geordie Peacock in Our Friends in the North, a nine-part BBC saga.

After this success, Craig could have taken any number of high-paying TV parts, but he chose to adhere to a steady diet of independent movies. "Not that I don't love television," he said. "But I wanted to be in films: I wanted to be thirty foot across." When I asked how he managed, unlike other gifted actors, to make consistently intelligent decisions about the projects he took on, Craig demurred. "I worked with really, really talented people early on who, on the whole, are really picky. And that, I think, was a lesson to me." He wound up turning things down mostly, he said.

"Money is not his primary motivation," Wilson, the longtime Bond producer, said. "He has a lifestyle that doesn't need airplanes and extra houses. He looks at the scripts and not the payday." The director Edward Zwick, who cast Craig in the upcoming historical rouser Defiance, was more emphatic. "It's choices, finally, that define a career," he said. "The careers that you could point to — Tom Hanks or Denzel or Leonardo — these actors are very aware of what roles might reveal a different facet that has not been revealed to an audience before. So Daniel's decision to do this movie" — his character in Defiance leads a makeshift group of Jews hiding from the Nazis in the forests of Belorussia — "in tandem with Bond, because they will be viewed within weeks of each other, makes a very clear statement about his intentions and ambitions. It's as if he's saying, 'Don't presume to know me too quickly.'"

Actually, Craig did say that to me, in so many words. I'd asked him what it was like to raise a teenager — his sixteen-year-old daughter, Ella, from a brief marriage to the Scottish actress Fiona Loudon in the early nineties — and he leaned back, set his eyes in a typical Double-Oh I'll-never-break-under-torture look, and after the slightest but most pointed of pauses, said: "It's exactly as you can imagine. It's fabulous having a teenage daughter, but she'll grow up, and she needs to be protected. It's as simple as that." The delivery was dry and diplomatic, and just like that the entire subject of his private life — earlier flings with Kate Moss and Sienna Miller, current rumors of an engagement to Satsuki Mitchell, an American film producer — closed forever.

Nice, in a way, for Craig to flash this side. Principled remoteness, bordering at times on willful opacity, is one of his chief qualities on-screen. Still, when I remarked upon the trait, Craig seemed flummoxed. "Maybe there's just an English reserve?" he asked.

Well, exactly. But in England, reserve is like rain, a nearly universal phenomenon. Craig's version of the national character is more like a threatening stillness that reads — to the English, anyway, who are familiar with the many subspecies — as an entirely appropriate working-class response to upper-class condescension. Craig — whose father was a merchant seaman turned publican — has deployed this "reserve" throughout his career, and it has proven to be an effective weapon whether he's being asked to lead, to intimidate, or to seduce. I asked the director of the new Bond film, Marc Forster, a German-born art-house veteran who made Finding Neverland and Monster's Ball, if he'd picked up on the quality. "Absolutely, I sense it," Forster said. "And I connect with that emotional remove very well. All the lead characters in my films are sort of emotionally repressed characters. Bond, in a sense, is a similar character, and Daniel really knows and understands that."

But beyond the range of cell-phone cameras and telephoto lenses, Craig is, apparently, a blokish and enthusiastic drinking companion. One of the things he misses, now that he is England's chief celebrity and highest-paid actor, is that he's no longer able to pop down to the pub for a pint without resorting to a fake beard and sunglasses.

Liev Schreiber, his costar in Defiance, cited an instance of spontaneous warmth as the defining Craig moment for him. "It was my first day in Lithuania, and I'm thinking: 'Here I am in another Eastern-bloc European country for God knows how long. The food's going to be terrible, and what's this strange hotel I'm in?' I'm walking across a courtyard and I hear this very enthusiastic voice say my name. And it's Daniel Craig. And he comes across the courtyard and gives me this huge bear hug." The gesture set the tone for their relationship, Schreiber said.

In Defiance — due out in December — Craig and Schreiber play Tuvia and Zus Bielski, rough backwoods Jews (bullies, really, and local embarrassments) who find, as the Nazis invade their neighborhood, that the family gift for ruthlessness can be useful. The story is true: The brothers wound up leading a band of fugitives, turning more than 1,000 untrained Jews into a ragtag fighting force that survived the war.

In one of the film's turning points, the brothers come to blows over a difference of philosophies. But filming the fistfight presented certain cinematic challenges, since, in real life (and contrary to what you might expect), Craig is five foot eleven and Schreiber six foot three. According to Schreiber, it was Craig who came up with a believable solution: In the film, the mutinous Zus (Schreiber) knocks his brother into the mud, but when he backs off, assuming the matter settled, Tuvia half rises, shakes his head, and delivers a straight right to the balls that sends Zus writhing onto the ground.

"At first, I was mortified that I would have to get hit in the frank and beans," Schreiber said. "But then what I liked about the idea was that you got the sense of Tuvia's ferocity — that there was an animalistic side to him that was more terrifying than anyone else there." Schreiber, who had interrupted our phone conversation earlier to accept a soft-serve ice cream with rainbow sprinkles from his girlfriend, chuckled. "Still, I hope everyone understands that it is, after all, Hollywood, and Daniel Craig wouldn't stand a chance with me."

With the role of Bond, Craig now has a solid day job: He's constantly on the phone encouraging people to spend money, monkeying with the script, trying to land the right cast and crew, or helping to dream up a blockbuster stunt. Having his hands on the wheel has changed his expectations, his sense of commitment. "Now, when I go and get involved with a movie, I have to apply this experience. I have to do those same things. I can't just sort of turn up anymore."

Craig's widely reported hesitations about taking on the title role in the largest British film franchise could be seen as a tribute to his deep roots in the "serious" European film world. Endearingly enough, the success of his Bond hasn't ended these bouts of self-torture. He pointed, with extreme suspicion, to how Bond's "money-wise success" had made him "bankable": Casino Royale hauled in $600 million worldwide, and Craig will apparently make around $9 million for the second Bond film, not to mention $14 million more for a third. (Quantum's budget is reported to be a staggering $230 million.) It's a situation that could easily tempt him to push for other film ventures as big as Bond. "Then my energy steers me to making something tiny and weird," he said, "because that sort of thing gives me huge satisfaction." (By "tiny and weird," Craig might have been referring to Flashbacks of a Fool, directed by his friend Baillie Walsh.)

In Quantum of Solace, the filmmakers have incorporated Craig's self-questioning impulses into Bond's ongoing character development. The story picks up moments after the close of Casino Royale; Bond is still dealing with his feelings for Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) and her death and betrayal. Forster, the director, elaborated: "It's fascinating territory because on the one hand he is an assassin. But he just lost someone he loves. How does that affect him psychologically? Definitely, the ghosts are there." We've come a long way from Octopussy.

Still, Bond films have always served as time capsules for a certain bachelor high style. And even Craig admits that with this second outing he has begun to relax and enjoy the 007 brand of sophistication. Throughout Quantum of Solace, Bond and his stunt doubles wear Tom Ford, more than 300 garments' worth. The close fit of Ford's look beautifully emphasizes Craig's slimmed-down alter ego. "Daniel knows exactly what works on him," Ford says. "Really, the simpler the clothes, the more handsome he looks."

Ford is the first American designer to make a significant contribution to Bond style. Even so, he points out, "I have never really thought of myself as an American designer. We have increasingly become a global culture, and I think of what I do as an international style. James Bond is also, for me, an international character. One of the things that make Daniel's Bond fresh and relevant is that he does not play up the clichés or mannerisms of English style." Ford describes his era-of-globalism Bond suit as preserving the classic English cut, but turned out with Italian flair and finish.

Quantum of Solace also offers much more of Bond's instinctual wit in the face of danger, and more of his longstanding bedroom aplomb. But even in this most traditional arena, Craig has had an effect. "Look, you're going to hold people's attention — plenty of men's attention — with naked girls," he admitted. (Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton are the latest Bond bombshells.) "But the sexiness of a Bond movie has to come from . . . consenting adults. The fact is, the stronger you make those characters, the more entertaining it's going to be. It can't just be me taking my top off."

Actually, I had kept a list of how far you had to go in a Craig film before he started taking something off: in bed by the third scene in Love Is the Devil; surprised while showering in his third scene in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider; getting cozy with Sienna Miller midway through Layer Cake. Steven Spielberg gave him a reprieve in Munich, where Eric Bana took on the shirtless duties.

The hypnotic effect of Craig's torso — à la the infamous beach scene in Casino Royale — often becomes a central theme in his movies. So how to put this? "Often you're cast as the bit of rough trade nobody can keep their hands off," I ventured.

Craig, a moving target for much of the conversation, sat back in his sofa for a moment."You know," he said, with a modest laugh, "it's a career."

http://www.mi6.co.uk/news/index.php?ite ... mi6&s=news
"Love anyway. Live anyway. Choose to part of this anyway”
advicky
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Post by advicky »

advicky
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Post by advicky »

James Bond: Daniel Craig's most famous scene was 'an accident'
Daniel Craig has claimed that the defining moment of his James Bond debut, in which he emerged from the sea in a pair of tight trunks, was an accident. Anita Singh reports

The scene in Casino Royale became the most recognisable image of Craig in his new role as 007 and turned him into an international sex symbol. It was widely interpreted as a pastiche of the moment when Ursula Andress stepped out of the sea in the original Bond film, Dr No.

However, according to Craig, the scene was not in the script and only happened because the actor swam into an awkwardly sited sand bank.

"It was actually by accident," he said. "Where we filmed, off the Bahamas, it's just one of those places where there is a sand shelf and the sand shelf happens to be three feet deep. Because the idea was, I was supposed to swim in and sort of float off, but I swim in and stand up. And it was just one of those things."

Craig said he realised almost immediately that it would be compared to the Andress moment.

"It was going through my mind... as I did it, I went, 'Oh f***.' But I didn't realise the repercussions of it," he said, adding with a laugh: "I had no idea I would be haunted by it for the rest of my life."

Cynics may find his explanation a little hard to swallow. The scene was used in publicity shots for the 2006 film and Craig's muscled torso delivered the message that this Bond would be a tougher, more rugged version of Ian Fleming's superspy than those that had gone before him.

Craig, 40, made the claim in a special edition of ITV1's The South Bank Show, which previews the forthcoming Bond adventure, Quantum of Solace.

The actor admitted he was "knocked for six" by the barrage of criticism which greeted his unveiling as the new 007 and went through a "deep, dark" depression for a period of 24 hours. He initially turned down the role, dismissing it as a "nice joke" and fearing he would be typecast, but changed his mind after consulting friends and family.

Craig confirmed that he is contracted for a total of four Bond films.

"It genuinely is a very high class problem to have, to be typecast as James Bond. And I'm not turning down scripts because of this. I'm trying to steer clear of spy roles but, apart from that, I'm available."

The South Bank Show: Bond is broadcast on Wednesday October 22 at 9.15pm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jh ... ond117.xml
advicky
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Post by advicky »

Germangirl
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Post by Germangirl »

Not as good as I had hoped. Praise for Daniel though all around, but I am disappointed, that they really did go so heavy on the action and not more into the characters. If it continues in this manner, they lost the chance to make a truly great movie. Don´t know what to say.
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Germangirl
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Post by Germangirl »

'Quantum of Solace' Score Arrives On iTunes UK Early

http://commanderbond.net/article/5651
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Germangirl
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Post by Germangirl »

Better

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 965892.ece

From The Times
October 18, 2008
Quantum of Solace: the Times review of the new James Bond
Wormy, arrogant villains, naked agents – latest film has it all
Daniel Craig and Gemma Arterton in Quantum of Solace

The latest incarnation of Bond is a master of heartache and punishment. And Gemma Arterton as a fellow agent in MI6 is no slouch either
James Christopher

Quantum of Solace

Who is the greatest ever Bond? I Quantum of Solace microsite

James Bond is back, and this time it’s mighty personal. Daniel Craig’s craggy agent picks up exactly where he left off in another bruising thriller that leaves you feeling both drained and exhilarated.

There are hand-to-hand fights that make your eyes water and old-school stunts involving motorbikes, speedboats, jet fighters and expensive cars that give you whiplash just looking at them. Really, nobody does it better than the new 007.
Related Links

* Lumley on Fleming and her bond with Bond

* New 007 baddie: I’m Bond to secrecy

* James Bond moments: 007 off target

What makes Marc Forster’s film such an intriguing watch is that this is the first of the 22 Bond movies where the plot flows organically from the last instalment, and Quantum of Solace looks a far stronger picture for this rare continuity.

Needless to say the plot is as forbidding as the title. After the death of his girlfriend, Vesper Lynd, at the end of Casino Royale, Bond mixes revenge and duty dangerously as he hunts down the shadowy group that blackmailed Lynd to betray him.

A link to a bank account in Haiti puts Bond on the scent of Mathieu Amalric’s chief creep and ruthless businessman, Dominic Greene. All great Bond adversaries are generously blessed with kinks and quirks and Greene is no different. Amalric has a wonderfully wormy arrogance.

His sidekick, Elvis (Anatole Taubman), sports a monkish fringe, and Tarantino bad looks. But it’s the manner in which Amalric manages to poison all trust in Bond, even from his nearest and dearest, that makes him one of the classic arch-adversaries.

Cold rage threatens to derail Bond’s mission to crack Greene’s dastardly organisation known as Quantum, and I doubt that there’s a better actor at bottling rage than Daniel Craig.

All muscles, he has defined himself as a darker and more bare-knuckle Bond than any of his elegant predecessors.

The deadpan humour is still there. And despite the occasional blasts of visceral and grisly violence, Craig is threatening to become the most popular 007 yet, certainly with the younger generation.

Even the famous Bond babes seem to be getting tougher. Olga Kurylenko’s stunning, hard-as-nails beauty, Camille, has her own private vendetta that she wants to bring to a bloody conclusion, with or without Bond’s help. And Gemma Arterton’s effortlessly foxy Agent Field appeals to the better side of the wounded anti-romantic.

“Do you know how angry I am at myself,” says the naked, raven-haired M16 agent as Bond kisses his way up her spine. But Bond rarely lets a life-threatening difference of opinion get in the way of a decent flirt.

The familiar faces returning from Casino Royale pose a far more subtle, acidic test for Bond who has to tread carefully around treacherous old friends: Jeffrey Wright’s lugubrious CIA agent Felix Leiter; Giancarlo Giannini’s silky string-puller, René Mathis; Jesper Christensen’s duplicitous Mr White; and Judi Dench, of course, as his witheringly unimpressed boss, M.

“When you can’t tell your friends from your enemies it’s time to go,” growls Dench.

Of course, Bond is having none of it. There are new necks to break and toys to play with as the action rips across Austria, Italy, and South America.

The global stakes are as precarious as ever. Amalric’s masterplan to destabilise a South American regime, install a dodgy dictator, General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio), and take control of the biggest source of fresh water in the world is fabulously cock-eyed. But that’s one of the main reasons why we can’t get enough of the greatest franchise of them all.

The director, Marc Forster, has absorbed the lucrative lessons discovered in Martin Campbell’s Casino Royale. He has also managed to pace his sequel much better. Royale felt slightly wheel-clamped by one too many longeurs. If anything, the crunching chase sequences in Quantum of Solace are even more magnificently dangerous. And the daredevil leaps and tumbles through glass roofs are just as sensational as the splintering high-speed pyrotechnics.

But it’s the amount of heartache and punishment that Craig’s new Bond absorbs that makes him look so right for our times.

Bond is no longer a work in progress. He is now the cruel, finished article.
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Germangirl
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Post by Germangirl »

Also good

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7676637.stm

This is a Bond adventure that's badder, better but not bigger.

Clocking in at one and three-quarter hours, it's a good half hour shorter than 007's previous outing. And its reduced running time results in a leaner, tauter experience.

Picking up shortly after the end of Casino Royale when Bond confronted the mysterious Mr White, Quantum of Solace quickly throws him into a round-the-globe hunt.

Bond is trying to track down the shadowy organization whom he holds responsible for the death of Vesper - the woman he loved and who died at the end of the last movie.

And that leads him to sinister bad guy Dominic Greene, played by Mathieu Amalric.

Emotional progression

So far, so familiar. But what this film does differently is to focus closely on an emotionally battered Bond, his mission and his motivation.

There are odd moments of uncertainty when the film tries to juggle Bond's personal story with the ambitious plans being pursued by Greene.

Mathieu Amalric as Dominic Greene
Bond's enemy is played by Frenchman Mathieu Amalric

But for the most part the villainy rightly takes a back seat to Bond's emotional journey.

007's mission may be what drives the film's plot, but the real interest lies in how Bond deals with the individuals and situations he meets along the way.

That's not to say that the film jettisons all the things that have characterized the previous stories.

There are broad nods to Goldfinger especially, but this film manages the difficult task of moving the franchise into interesting new areas.

The raw nature of the film may put off some who yearn for the days of gizmos, gadgets and Bond quips as he dispenses with faceless opponents.

Supporting cast

And it's a brave step to push even further a lot of the themes developed in Casino Royale, especially the rediscovery of who Bond is, and why he is the way he is.

It's a film that feels like the second part of a trilogy, with this being the bleaker second act.

Daniel Craig as James Bond and Olga Kurylenko as Camille
Daniel Craig is accompanied by actress Olga Kurylenko

For a lot of the movie Bond is a particularly unsympathetic character, and often it's only Craig's performance along with the shifting morality of Bond's legion of enemies that forces the audience to root for him.

Olga Kurylenko, who plays a refreshingly different kind of female companion, does well with a part that has far more depth than most Bond girls.

And Gemma Arterton is superb in her brief role as an agent whom Bond encounters in Bolivia, cementing her position as one of cinema's brightest young stars.

As ever the end credits promise that James Bond will return, and thanks to Quantum of Solace, the sense of anticipation for this should be particularly high.

Not to see what super villain Bond will be battling, but to discover what the next stage will be in a character that Daniel Craig has managed to reinvent and develop movie by movie
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Germangirl
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Post by Germangirl »

The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Germangirl
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Post by Germangirl »

From MI6 - someone who has seen it :D

Hi ya, guys. Just got back from the World's first screening of QoS. How do I know? Well, the head of Sony got up on the stage and told us and added how lucky we all were to be there.

Ok, before I give you a heavily spoiler-filled comments I’ll try and answer some of your own nagging worries on whether this is a good Bond film, or if it’s too short, badly composed or whether Daniel Craig delivers as our martini-loving agent in his second outing. Does it feel like a worthy sequel to the hugely successful Casino Royale? Or was it one huge disappointment? Was YOLT'S review made-up?

First off it's NOT too short. In fact it feels just the right length. And YOLT hasn't seen the film even though he got some things right but a hell of a lot of things wrong!! I suggest that some of you should sit further back as there's a lot of hand-held camera work, no doubt courtesy of Bourne's 2nd Unit Director and stunt coordinator Dan Bradley. Daniel Craig looks really at ease in Bond’s skin and reminds us why he’s the best thing that has happened to 007. He's mean and bad in this sequel but still has integrity and a sense of duty to Queen & country. The title sequence is fresh with Craig walking and firing a gun across the desert with plenty of stars and map grids erupting around. It kind of reminded me of those Guiness ads with swirling bubbles and dissolves and morphing. The title track is a real hatchet job though, heavily condensed and badly edited IMO. The font is bold and modern.

Though I liked the chase I felt the bit where the titles and music kicks in was a tad clunky. Not as smooth as I'd have liked, but then again that could just be me and my high expectations.

I'm really in two minds about revealing too much here so no abuse, guys.
Overall I thought this was a great sequel. The acting is great. Gemma Arterton isn't annoying and Olga Kurylenko is very good in this, neither will disappoint. I also enjoyed Mathieu Amalric, who was very believable in a quiet and menacing way. The upshot is I want to see this movie again, which is how I judge a Bond film. I could watch it over and over.

I'll post more when I get some time, but for for now rest easy. This is a cracking good thriller with some very nasty edges. And M even gets to utter a swear word at the end!! And Bond has definately got that swagger back!!
Last edited by Germangirl on Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Germangirl
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Post by Germangirl »

From someone at CBN - good/very good also :D

Just got back from the press screening of Quantum of Solace in London and as promised here is my review.

Apologies in advance if I miss anything major out or if my spelling is terrible: it's late! wink.gif Oh and there are no major spoilers in my review- the one's which are are tagged and if anyone wants to know anything else just message me! smile.gif

...

Quantum of Solace had to achieve two things. Firstly it had to prove that Casino Royale was not just a one-off flook. Secondly it had to leave us in no doubt that Daniel Craig is James Bond and will be for some time.

On both of these point it delivered; in style.

The opening sequence of the film (PTS) was also one of it's most memorable action sequences. Steve McQueen in Bullitt eat your heart out! This car chase was well worth the written-off Aston and inured stuntmen; it was one hell of a gripping ride and more than a nod to those who said CR could have done with a decent car chase. Also this was not the overly long PTS of 20 minutes plus that had been rumoured. This was a pulse-pounding 10 minutes of great action.

But back to the opening titles. I loved them, in fact I liked most of MK12's work throughout. The titles are very stylish and very contemporary- which some traditionalists may object to. Although the titles weren't as bigger departure from Daniel Kleinman's work on CR.
Lot's of Bond with a cartoon effect in the titles (like CR). Also a few of our good old 'naked ladies' but they are fitted into the new style.


The title's end and we're back on the quest for information about "the organisation". The adventure takes us on a brilliant and unexpectedly sudden chase through Sienna and then we're straight to Haiti (after a short pit stop in London). The action is great but at this point I start to feel slightly uneasy. I am a little concered that there may be a bit too much action. (For me this was only a slight and momentary worry but I'm sure for some it will be more of a concern.)

My worries are soon assuaged by our good friend Rene Mathis. From his arrival onward the film really does get into it's stride. The action/plot balance is redressed and we are treated to some great performances. Not least from Giancarlo Giannini himself who really is top class. I was impressed also by Gemma Arterton and of course Jeffery Wright.

Mathieu Amalric was very good but not brilliant. Similarly Olga Kurylenko was very pleasant and competent but lacks any great depth or range. But these are by no means weak-links they are just at the lower-end of a brilliant cast.

As before, there are some very funny moments. Bond, Fields and Mathis get the best witty exchanges, along with M's few good quips. Mentioning M I really thought Dame Judi was great. A lot less grumpy and head mistress like than in some previous outings. In this one Bond and M really do seem to form an understanding.

The cinematography and editing really shone. I'm slightly biassed as I work in this sector but I do think it would be hard for anyone not to notice some of the great shots and stylish editing on show.

Even at the times when the narrative is slightly faltering there is one thing that remains rock solid: Daniel Craig's performance. As one journalist put it to me as we were leaving "God Craig is a bloody good Bond." I don't think there is much more I can add to that other than he is brilliant.

The short running time affected the film in a different way than I expected. I feared it would feel like there was less substance. It didn't feel that way at all. You got your money's worth in relation to the amount of locations, set-pieces and globe-hopping but, at times, it all felt a little rushed. Though there were nice quieter moments to catch your breath.

If I had my way I would have cut down the action just a tad. Maybe removing one sequence from early on would have done the tick. Other than that I wouldn't have made many other changes.

This was a very different film to Casino Royale. It felt far faster, often darker and at times rougher. The change in tone also appeared to reflect Bond as a changing character. This time around things are done with far more pace and precision but with no less style. Indeed the film is very similar to CR in that they both feel firmly part of the same Daniel Craig series- QOS does not feel in any way out-of-kilter with Casino or the rest of the franchise.

Some won't like the style, some won't like the amount of action and some won't like the film but I thought it was great. For me CR still has a special place in my affections. It had the trump card: change. Quantum of Solace didn't have the luxury of that card but made up for it with jaw-dropping action, brilliant performances and an exciting plot. This is no Casino-wannabe but a great film in it's own right!

8/10
Last edited by Germangirl on Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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