Anatole Taubman On All Things Elvis

WARNING: Spoilers

Following up a recent article in which several members of the Quantum of Solace cast discussed their villainous roles, IGN has sat down exclusively with Anatole Taubman to get the lowdown on ‘Elvis’.

‘He doesn’t sing,’ Taubman began, referring to the instantly recognizable performer that comes to mind at mention of the name. ‘He’s got something with his hair. There is something funny going on with his hair that you will find out and hopefully enjoy. So that’s all in a way that he has in common with the real Elvis. Both Elvises have a lot of hair … My king is Dominic Greene, played by the fabulous, fantastic Mathieu Amalric, so I’m his tapestry. But I’m a very shiny, crazy, multi-faceted, glamorous, colorful tapestry.’

‘I didn’t even question it because I thought it was such a cool name. I didn’t even question it because I didn’t want to lose it … I just think it’s a great character name.’ – Anatole Taubman

‘[Elvis is] a Francophile,’ Taubman continued. ‘I wouldn’t say he’s French. We’re family, Dominic Greene and Elvis. They’re family so they speak French together. He’s from Europe, really. No, he’s not Algerian. He’s definitely from Europe.’

When asked further about how exactly his character ties in with Greene, Taubman detailed an interesting backstory: ‘Mr. Greene saved him really. He saved him from the streets. I would have gotten lost and maybe not even survived. Maybe have gotten killed. Elvis is a guy from the streets so at some point Dominic Greene said, “I’ve got to help my cousin, my relative and just take him along. Otherwise, he will not make it.” So I’ve been enjoying life next to him, traveling the world and ‘saving’ the world.’

‘They’re friends. One big family. It’s not really money. They have enough. It’s more about saving the world really. (laughs) But James Bond is chasing them.’ – Taubman on the relationship between Elvis and the other Quantum villains

Elvis will also apparently relate to Amalric’s lead villain in that they both won’t feature any distinguishing ‘Bondian’ traits. Describing the character’s special weapons, Taubman said: ‘Himself really. He’s very loud. Not really efficient but very loud. No guitar strings or nothing like that. People do that for him. Again, he wouldn’t really want to make his hands dirty and those times are behind him. He can if he needs to protect his king, but other than that he has other people running the violent show for him.’

‘When I read the script the first time there was already quite a bit in it where I thought I could really do something with this character. That was really important for me. I don’t think I would have taken on the part if I thought he’d be a boring, colorless tapestry so it was really important to again be the most glamorous tapestry possible.’

‘This Elvis is 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. He’s not a psychopath.’

‘There wasn’t any backstory with Mathieu. I wrote a real long biography of Elvis, where he comes from and where he goes. I talked to Mathieu about it and we shared ideas and made up our own little [backstory]. I did quite a bit of work beforehand to know where we’re from and how we got together.’

There’s much more. Visit IGN for further comments from Anatole Taubman regarding Elvis and Quantum of Solace, including stunts, locations and the pressure of working on a 007 film.

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