Actually, that’s not right. I know it’s happened at least one: 1971’s “Diamonds Are Forever” which marked Sean Connery’s return to the role after a one film hiatus, picked up where George Lazenby’s “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” (1969) left off. Bond tracks down and kills Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who had killed Bond’s wife at the end of the previous film.
The movie, opening Nov. 7, is about halfway through filming. They’ve been to Panama and Baja California, Mexico, with plans to shift next to Italy and Austria before returning to London’s famed Pinewood Studios for more stage shooting.
The action sequence shot in the Chilean desert last week is a turning point for the embittered superspy, his chance to discover whether his thirst for vengeance will turn him into the same kind of cold-blooded killer as the people he is fighting. “He has his heart broken,” says Craig, who turned 40 during the shoot. “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.”
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[I]n the thin air of the 8,700-foot elevation, where it’s easy to run out of breath doing take after take of sprinting and gunplay. Craig’s sprinting gunshot scene is literally breathless — his chest heaves hard after multiple takes, but he laughs matter-of-factly later when asked about the high-altitude challenges. “It’s (expletive) hard!”
The thin atmosphere has been hardest on the new Bond girl, Olga Kurylenko, 28, who plays a mysterious Bolivian-Russian rogue agent whose quest for revenge puts her in league with Bond. But even she prefers it to the marshy conditions of their last location. “It’s much easier to work here than in Panama, weather-wise,” she says. “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.”
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The last time the James Bond producers gambled on major alterations to the long-running formula, there was a huge outcry — and a huge payoff when Casino Royale finally came out. During filming, many die-hard fans of previous Bond star Pierce Brosnan jeered the choice of the blond, blue-eyed, rough-edged Craig for the traditionally suave and sophisticated British agent. But then Casino Royale became the highest-grossing Bond film in history, earning $595 million worldwide (about $150 million more than 2002’s Die Another Day), and many fans and critics praised Craig as the best Bond actor since Sean Connery originated the role.
More changes to the traditional formula are in store for Quantum of Solace, among them the notion of a true sequel. Bond has always been ageless, and the previous 21 movies stand largely independently of each other, but Quantum of Solace picks up where Casino Royale ended, with Bond working his way up the chain of command of the terrorists who blackmailed his lover, Vesper Lynd. “We set something up in motion in the last one that we need to keep in touch with in this one,” Craig says.
Producer Wilson, who is the stepson of the late founding 007 producer, Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli, and has worked on every Bond film since 1979’s Moonraker, says filmmakers might go back to stand-alone plots the next time, but for now they wanted to continue with an evolving Bond. “He has the realization that there’s no place for him in the outside world,” Wilson says. “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.”
Another curious twist is the hint that there may be less romance this time for the notorious ladies’ man. “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,” Wilson says. Kurylenko says her vengeful rogue agent, Camille, is so focused on “what she’s doing, she doesn’t care about meeting a boyfriend or something.”
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.”
Then there’s the title, a moniker some fans ridicule. Quantum of Solace comes from a short story by 007 author Ian Fleming, and it’s not a spy story but a tale told to Bond about another couple’s tragic romance. The short story has nothing else to do with the movie. Wilson explains: “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.”
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When Quantum of Solace makes its debut, the squabbles during filming will no doubt largely be forgotten, and 007 fans will now be wondering: How will the film further change the iconic superspy?
The Bond of the past was calculating and in control, rarely caught off guard and more bemused than tortured by the havoc he confronts. Quantum of Solace transforms him into damaged goods. Craig says he prefers to explore the weak spots of a previously invulnerable hero. “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.”
The Bond formula had gotten very tired. Casino Royale was the best Bond flick in years and it sounds like this will continue that tradition.
