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The first reports from the "Quantum
of Solace" press conference in Chile surface.
Details are revealed on shooting, plot, characters,
and more...
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Production Diary (21)
4th April 2008
Reports in today's editions of USA
Today and The
Sun (UK) confirm
that the filming that is wrapping in the Antofagasta region of
Chile will form the climax to the forthcoming 22nd James Bond
film "Quantum of Solace". Check out both newspaper
links for fresh stills from the film.
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"He has his heart broken," says Craig to USA
Today. "The love of his life is killed, and he finds
out she's not who she said she was. He's out for revenge.
But he's also out to find — and this is what the
title is about — a 'quantum of solace.' Something
has been taken away from him, and he's out to get that
back."
When the press visited the location filming, Craig was
seen running "full speed along the rooftop of a long,
narrow building, wedged like a man-made plateau into the
rocky red valley. He's firing a prop pistol into the mirrored
skylights below."
The building is doubling for an 'eco hotel' - a buried tropical
oasis amid this wasteland designed to lure the rich and powerful
with the latest environmental technology. The hotel is a
front for the villain, Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric),
a tycoon using a "Save the Earth" facade to hide
his plan to seize control of part of South America's water
supply. "The villain has taken over this place. Greene
is pretending to be 'green,' but he's obviously not," says
producer Michael G. Wilson. |
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Chile Heat
The real shooting location is actually part of the Paranal Observatory,
which houses some of the world's largest telescopes. The campus
contains the only buildings within a 75-mile radius, with unforgiving
desert stretching in every direction at an elevation of 8,700
feet above sea level.
Olga Kurylenko, who plays rogue agent Camille in the film, told
the paper: "It's much easier to work here than in Panama,
weather-wise. It's hot in both countries, but in Panama it's
humid, and we were working on the boat and I was sweating. Here
it's dry, it's different, it's much easier, but I'm out of breath
a little bit."
Director Marc Forster explained the choice of location. "I
chose the desert because it's isolated, you feel lonely, and
that's what Bond is struggling with himself. In the desert, it's
unforgivable. You're out there, and you might die."
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USA Today reports that in the finished sequence of the
Chilean rooftop fight, Bond will shatter the skylights
and plunge down atop the fleeing Greene. Forster says the
underlying tension of the scene is Bond wrestling with
his eye-for-an-eye temptations.
"I said, 'Look, you're
not shooting Greene, you're only shooting the glass because
you want him alive. You want to crash through and find
him,' " Forster says. In that moment, facing the impending
explosion, Bond must decide whether slaying his nemesis
is worth the cost of other innocent lives. "When they
have this moment between them, Bond has a decision to make," Forster
says. "Bond lost someone he loved. But what does it
mean to kill someone, when you just lost someone?" The action has been relentless for Craig.
He told The Sun, "I
have been running up and down here all day and it does
feel hard at this altitude. Apparently you feel a ton better
when you get back down to sea level, which is something
I am looking forward to."
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Craig detailed the other action scenes for the film, "We are
going from stunt sequence to stunt sequence. We did a body flight
thing
where
you are free-falling
in a wind
tunnel.
That was tough. I did a two-day fight sequence which we had been
rehearsing for two months. That was physically very hard — getting
hit, basically. We are going to Siena in Italy next week and
we are going to be working at heights. The speedboat sequence
was also very hard. Filming on water is always difficult.”
Continuity & Change
Although "Quantum of Solace" is the first ever 'direct'
sequel in the Bond series to date, producer Michael G. Wilson
said that the franchise may go back to stand-alone plots for
the next outing. "He has the realization that there's no
place for him in the outside world," Wilson said. "And
also he's tempted by revenge and tempted by becoming a cynic,
by losing his humanity. He has to fight all of these things." On
the subject of Camille's character, Wilson said: "We felt
Bond could not immediately fall into another relationship. And
we needed someone who had her own agenda and probably could not
form a relationship either because of her situation."
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Bond does bed another MI6 agent, played
by British actress Gemma Arterton, 22, a relative newcomer. "He
has one relationship in this movie, a kind of fling. It's
mutually beneficial," Craig says. "I think both
parties enjoy it."
Craig explained a little about the character of 007 and
how it has changed through the franchise. "It's a
simplistic story that has been around for a long, long
time: There's one lone hero going after the bad guys. It
has been around forever. But you have to apply morals to
it, and within that you show somebody's flaws. That's what
makes them interesting, the mistakes they make along the
way and how they adjust."
"The fact is he's hurt. He's damaged
and he wants revenge. And that's another facet of somebody,
and it's not a good emotion to have. You've got to see
how he deals with it. Last time around, it was just duty
and duty alone. This time around, there's a sense of revenge.
That's how he's going to screw up. Because he will — but
then he gets up and gets it right." |
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For Quant Of A Better Word
On the subject of the title, which
got far more attention from the media than the fans (contrary
to
what
the
media reports),
Wilson explained: "The title we thought was appropriate
for a couple of reasons. The villainous organization is called
Quantum, and what Bond is looking for in his life is a measure
of comfort, and that's what a 'quantum of solace' is. He's just
trying to find a little bit of comfort because his life is in
turmoil."
The Sun reports that, contrary to some media rumours about his
tenure past the next film (his third), Craig plans keep his role. “Until
my joints go I will keep going as Bond. I have no intention of
giving up just yet. It’s important that we make the best
movies possible, so I can hopefully sit back in semi-retirement
at some point and look back and think they were wonderful movies."
Briefing
Produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli (Eon
Productions), QUANTUM OF SOLACE was released in the
UK on October 31st 2008 and is directed by
Marc Forster. Principal photography started on January
3rd
2008 at
Pinewood Studios and around the UK, and foreign locations
including Italy, Panama, Chile, Peru and Austria.
Paul Haggis completed the script based on a first draft
screenplay developed by regular scribes Neal Purvis & Robert
Wade, with later polish by Joshua Zetumer. The story
is a direct continuation of the events of Casino
Royale. 007 faces off against
villains Mathieu Amalric (Dominic Greene), Anatole
Taubman (Elvis) and Joaquin Cosío (General Medrano).
Olga Kurylenko (Camille) and Gemma Arterton (MI6 Agent
Fields) play the Bond Girls. Dame Judi Dench (M), Jeffrey
Wright (Felix Leiter) and Giancarlo Giannini (Mathis)
reprise their roles as Bond's allies. It is British
actor Daniel Craig’s second outing as James Bond,
following his debut film Casino Royale released November
16th 2006.
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