Daniel Craig reflects on "Quantum of Solace" and talks about the direction Bond 23 may take...

Craig On Bond 23
4th January 2009

Daniel Craig has expanded on his earlier comments about Bond 23 as well as looking back on the success of "Quantum of Solace" in a new interview with The Times.

At the time of the interview, "Quantum" had just surpassed the $500m mark at the worldwide box-office. "Although I wouldn’t know $500m if it sat on my face," Craig said. "But it would probably be quite nice if it sat on my face. I know that, when it comes down to it, these films are about box office, but the moment I start thinking about the figures, I’ll be stuffed - though maybe I won’t be saying that in a year’s time, when I’ve spent everything." Repeating the success of "Casino Royale" was no mean feat, either. "The first film was a huge punt, although I think if it had failed miserably, I could have walked away with my head held high and said, ‘Well, I gave it a go.’ But the fact was that it wasn’t", Craig said. "It was a success, and in a way that nobody could have predicted. Quantum was about keeping it interesting, relevant, and the only way I could think about doing that was just to throw myself headlong into it. So I know the work we put in. We didn’t have a complete script, so Marc Forster and I had to batter it into shape, to find the story we wanted to tell."

When asked whether he was bothered about "Quantum" being criticised for being too dark, he said: "Well, I nicked a lot of the ideas about who Bond is from Ian Fleming. But the point is, we did the movie we had to do to finish the story off, and comedy and lightness weren’t relevant. This was a story about loyalty, about friendship, about who you can trust. Gag-writing wasn’t at the top of the list."

Bond 23
Backing up his earlier comments that the writing process on Bond 23 can start with a clean slate now the story-arc from "Casino Royale" has been wrapped up, Craig said that the tone could be completely different too. "I love the idea of putting Moneypenny in the film," he said "I’m dead keen to do it. And Q. But I work from the premise that there are millions and millions of people out there who never saw one of the earlier Bond movies. So they don’t understand the martini gag. Or the Moneypenny gag, which is a gag - it had ceased to be a character. So, let’s find out who she is. We can have fun doing that. And, don’t get me wrong, I’m up for a submarine base, as long as the gag works. The problem is that Austin Powers screwed everything up. He exploded the genre. Did I just say that? I did."

No release date has been announced for Bond 23, with fans and experts unsure whether it will be 2010 or 2011. Starting the screenplay in January (as per producer Michael G. Wilson's comments last month) could mean that Bond 23 hits the traditional November slot in 2010. The wrinkle to the usual two-year timeline could be the hand-over from Sony back to MGM, pushing the release to 2011.

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