Quantum of Solace is the 22nd James Bond film by EON Productions, due for release in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2008 and in North America on 14 November. The sequel to Casino Royale (2006), it is directed by Marc Forster, and features Daniel Craig's second performance as James Bond. Casino Royale's Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade returned as writers, alongside newcomer Joshua Zetumer. In the film, Bond battles Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a member of the Quantum organisation posing as an environmentalist, who intends to stage a coup d'état in Bolivia to take control of its water supply. Bond seeks revenge for the death of Vesper Lynd, and is assisted by Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who also wants to kill Greene. The title was chosen from an unrelated short story in Ian Fleming's For Your Eyes Only (1960).
Producer Michael G. Wilson created the film's story while Casino Royale was shooting. The film was originally scheduled for a 2 May 2008 release, but it was pushed back to allow more time when Roger Michell dropped out as director. Second unit filming began in August 2007 at Siena and Madrid, before principal photography began in January 2008 at Pinewood Studios. Production designer Dennis Gassner took over from Peter Lamont, who retired after working on eighteen Bond films. Gassner designed the five major Pinewood sets, which stand in for Siena, Bolivia, and the MI6 headquarters. His designs are close to the modernism of Ken Adam, the first Bond production designer. Location filming took place in Panama, Chile, Italy and Austria, before moving back to Pinewood in June. There will be more gadgets than in Casino Royale, though they will still aim to be realistic.
Premise
Beginning almost an hour after Casino Royale, Bond is then involved in a car chase in Siena, Italy. The official synopsis shows that after his capture Mr. White reveals to Bond and M that his organisation, Quantum, has agents in Her Majesty's Government and the Central Intelligence Agency. Forensic evidence of an MI6 traitor leads Bond to Haiti, where he meets Camille, who then helps him find Dominic Greene, a ruthless businessman and chairman of Greene Planet, the legitimate cover for Quantum.
Greene intends to use his government contacts to help overthrow the current regime in Bolivia, and place the exiled General Medrano as the head of state. Medrano will in exchange give him a barren piece of land, which will actually give them total control of the nation's water supply. Bond travels to Austria and South America to unravel Greene's plan, staying one step ahead of the CIA, terrorists, and M whilst trying to keep his desire for retribution over Vesper Lynd's death in check.
Marine shooting being carried out at Fort Sherman
Cast
* Daniel Craig as James Bond: Craig said Bond is "still too headstrong and doesn't always make the right decisions". Writer Paul Haggis added Bond will be "a very human and flawed assassin, a man who has to navigate a morally complex and often cynical world while attempting to hold onto his deep beliefs of what is right and wrong". The actor advised Haggis on the script and, as a fan of Marc Forster's films, helped choose him as the director. Craig's physical training for his reprise of the role placed extra effort into running and boxing, to spare him the injuries he sustained on his stunts in the first film. He also practised speedboating and stunt driving. Craig felt Casino Royale was [physically] "a walk in the park" compared to Quantum of Solace. While filming in Pinewood, he suffered a gash to his face, which required eight stitches.
* Mathieu Amalric as Dominic Greene, a leading member of Quantum posing as a businessman working in reforestation and charity funding for environmental science. Craig confirmed "there is a connection" between Greene and Vesper Lynd. Amalric acknowledged taking the role was an easy decision because, "It's impossible to say to your kids that 'I could have been in a Bond film but I refused.'"Amalric wanted to wear make-up for the role, but Forster explained that he wanted Greene not to look grotesque, but to symbolise the hidden evils in society. Amalric revealed Greene "doesn't know how to fight, [so] James Bond would be more surprised. Sometimes anger can be much more dangerous. I'm going to fight like in school." Amalric modelled his performance on "the smile of Tony Blair [and] the craziness of Sarkozy," the latter of whom he called "the worst villain we [the French] have ever had [...] he walks around thinking he's in a Bond film." He later claimed this was not criticism of either politician, but rather an example of how a politician relies on performance instead of a genuine policy to win power. "Sarkozy, is just a better actor than [his presidential opponent] Ségolène Royal – that's all," he explained. Bruno Ganz was also considered for the part.
Marc Forster chose the Atacama Desert to represent Bond's vengefulness in the climax
* Olga Kurylenko as Camille, a Russian-Bolivian agent and the lead Bond girl. She has her own vendetta regarding Greene and Quantum. The producers said Camille is someone "who challenges Bond and helps him come to terms with the emotional consequences of Vesper's betrayal". "At the beginning she is an opponent [of Bond], but they are going to have to collaborate, " the actress further said. "We'll see if she's a villain." Kurylenko spent three weeks training to fight with weapons, and she learnt a form of indoor skydiving known as body flying.Kurylenko dislikes stunts, but overcame her fears because of Craig's friendliness. She was given a DVD box set of the films since the Bond franchise was not easily available to watch where she grew up in Ukraine. The producers had intended to cast a South American actress in the role. Kurylenko trained with a dialect coach to perform with a Spanish accent, which was easy as "I have a good ear, so I can imitate people", and because her accent was not made heavy.
Preparations for the Bregenzer Festspiele's performance of Tosca
* Gemma Arterton as MI6 Agent Fields, who works at the British consulate in Bolivia. Arterton was chosen from around 1500 candidates.One of the casting directors asked her to audition for the role, having seen her portray Rosaline in Love's Labour's Lost at the Globe Theatre. Arterton said Fields was "not so frolicsome" as other Bond girls, but is instead "fresh and young, not [...] a femme fatale". Her character is a homage to the '60s Bond girls. Her hair in the film is modelled after Diana Rigg, who played Tracy Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, who is one of her favourite Bond girls along with Honor Blackman.
* Judi Dench as M. She said M's relationship with Bond becomes "pretty prickly".M's husband, who was briefly seen sleeping next to her in Casino Royale, will also be heard off-screen in the film.
* Anatole Taubman as Elvis, Dominic's cousin and second-in-command. He has a bowl cut. His name was chosen by Paul Haggis, which Taubman found cool, but he avoided making Elvis Presley jokes to avoid losing the role. Taubman imagined Elvis once lived on the streets before being inducted into Quantum by Dominic, and he constantly discussed his backstory with Amalric. He called Elvis "a bit of a goofball. He thinks he's all that but he's not really. [...] He's not a comic guy. He definitely takes himself very serious, but maybe by his taking himself too serious he may become friendly."
* Joaquin Cosío as General Medrano, who is Bond's enemy in Latin America. Greene is helping the exiled general get back into power, in return for support of his organisation.
* Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter, Bond's CIA ally who aided him at Casino Royale in Montenegro. This will mark only the second time the same actor has appeared as Leiter twice since David Hedison played the character in Live and Let Die (1973) and Licence to Kill (1989).Early script drafts gave Leiter a larger role, but his screentime has been restricted by on-set rewrites.
* Giancarlo Giannini as René Mathis, a French double agent who helps Bond discover for whom Le Chiffre and Mr. White worked.
* Neil Jackson as Mr. Slate, a henchman who has a fight with Bond.
* Jesper Christensen as Mr. White, whom Bond captured after he stole the money won at Casino Royale in Montenegro.
* Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner, a recurring member of the MI6 staff, later destined to be Chief of Staff.
* Tim Pigott-Smith as the British Foreign Secretary.
* Simon Kassianides as Yusef, who has a confrontation with Bond in Moscow towards the end of the film.
* Stana Katic as Corinne Veneau, an associate of Yusef.
* David Harbour as Gregg Beam, a contact of Felix Leiter who is known to speak directly to 'M' in the film.
* Glenn Foster as Henry Mitchell, rumoured to be an MI6 double agent.
Fernando Guillén Cuervo and Jesús Ochoa have minor roles as the Bolivian Chief of Police and Medrano's Lieutenant Orso respectively. Kiera Chaplin, granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, appears as a receptionist.
Release & Marketing.
The film will premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square on 29 October 2008. The Princes William and Harry will attend, and proceeds from the screening will be donated to the charities Help for Heroes and the Royal British Legion. The film was scheduled to be released in the British Isles and North America on 7 November. EON pushed forward the British date to 31 October during filming, while the American date was pushed back in August to 14 November, after Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had been moved to 2009 (17th July), thereby allowing the distributors to market the film over the Thanksgiving period. In Australia, the film was moved a week to 19 November, after 20th Century Fox chose to release Baz Luhrmann's Australia on its original date of 26 November, and concerns from distributors over audiences being forced to choose between two major films.
For India - 7th November 2008.
Corgi International Limited will release 5-inch action figures and gadgets (such as a voice-activated briefcase), as well as their traditional die-cast toy vehicles. They will also release 7-inch figures of characters from the previous films. Scalextric will release four racing sets to coincide with the film.
Returning product placement partners from Casino Royale include Ford, Heineken Pilsener, Smirnoff, Omega SA, Virgin Atlantic Airways and Sony Ericsson. Avon are creating a fragrance called Bond Girl 007 with Gemma Arterton as the "face" of the product.
Although no release of a novelisation of the film's screenplay has been announced, Penguin Books has published a compilation of Fleming's short stories entitled Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories, with a UK release date of 29 May 2008 and a North American release date of 26 August 2008.
In May 2006 Activision acquired non-exclusive rights to develop and publish James Bond games; an exclusive deal with Activision took effect in September 2007. During an earnings report, Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision, announced that their first Bond game would be released in May 2008. Previously it was reported by Variety that Activision's first game is a tie-in to Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, with the title being Quantum of Solace. Sony Pictures Television has also announced a mobile game.
Posts
