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  1. USA Today: A 'Quantum' Leap For The James Bond Series

    By Devin Zydel on 2008-04-03
    Picture: Daniel Craig

    Daniel Craig is James Bond in Quantum of Solace

    WARNING: Major spoilers

    USA Today has taken an in-depth and extensive look at Daniel Craig’s forthcoming return as 007 in Quantum of Solace.

    Antofagasta

    Visiting the set at Antofagasta, Chile, reporter Anthony Breznican got a chance to speak with the cast and crew of the James Bond film as well as discover many new plot details regarding the story.

    Taking a brief break from an action scene in the Chilean desert, Daniel Craig said: ‘He has his heart broken. 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.’

    Filming continues at the Paranal Observatory, located in the Chile’s Atacama Desert–an area comparable to the planet Mars with it’s red sand and lack of vegetation.

    Greene Ambition

    Mathieu Amalric is Dominic Greene

    Mathieu Amalric is Dominic Greene in Quantum of Solace

    The site will be featured as the headquarters of villain Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a ‘jet-setting CEO’ who’s pretending to be concerned with the environment, but is truly set on seizing 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,’ said producer Michael G. Wilson.

    His ‘eco-hotel’ headquarters will also be the location of the film’s climax, with Craig having recently finished filming a scene where Bond runs full speed across the rooftop of the narrow building while shooting into the mirrored skylights below.

    ‘It’s f–king hard!’ he says matter-of-factly with a laugh after several takes.

    Olga Kurylenko, who plays half-Russian, half Bolivian Bond girl Camille, commented on the high-altitude challenges of working at the location: ‘It’s much easier to work here than in Panama, weather-wise,’ she said. ‘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.’

    Click here for USA Today’s audio photo gallery featuring all-new photos of the Quantum of Solace cast and crew, locations, and more

    Eye For An Eye?

    Director Marc Forster

    Director Marc Forster

    Director Marc Forster had particular reasons for setting the Quantum of Solace finale in the Atacama Desert–an isolated location that fuses with the current struggles Bond is dealing with.

    Continuing the action finale at Greene’s headquarters, Forster explains that after shattering the skylights, Bond will jump down on the fleeing villain.

    ‘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 described. ‘In that moment, facing the impending explosion, Bond must decide whether slaying his nemesis is worth the cost of other innocent lives.’

    The director continued: ‘When they have this moment between them, Bond has a decision to make. Bond lost someone he loved. But what does it mean to kill someone, when you just lost someone?’

    Changes To The Formula

    Producer Michael G. Wilson

    Producer Michael G. Wilson

    As it is well obvious at this point, Quantum of Solace continues merely minutes after the conclusion of 2006’s Casino Royale–a move that creates a direct continuation between Craig’s first two Bond adventures.

    ‘We set something up in motion in the last one that we need to keep in touch with in this one,’ Craig said.

    Producer Wilson mentioned that while they might go back to the stand-alone plots for the next one, for now, the emphasis was placed on ‘evolving Bond.’

    ‘He has the realization that there’s no place for him in the outside world,’ he 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.’

    Not Your Average Bond Girl

    Olga Kurylenko is Camille

    Olga Kurylenko is Camille in Quantum of Solace

    Following up Eva Green’s enigmatic Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, Olga Kurylenko’s Camille seems poised to be equally as mysterious.

    With USA Today commenting that she ‘stands apart from past Bond girls as the only one who doesn’t get sexed up by 007’, Kurylenko described her character as someone who is so focused on ‘what she’s doing, she doesn’t care about meeting a boyfriend or something.’

    However, Gemma Arterton’s character, MI6 Agent Fields, is a completely different story.

    ‘He has one relationship in this movie, a kind of fling. It’s mutually beneficial,’ Craig mentioned. ‘I think both parties enjoy it.’

    Not Your Average Title

    Some news sites and moviegoers will continue to question the title, so the explanations will keep on coming to:

    ‘The title we thought was appropriate for a couple of reasons,’ said Wilson. ‘The villainous organization is called Quantum [a brand new photo of Greene, featuring the Q lapel pin, can be viewed here in the audio photo gallery], 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.’

    Keeping ‘Quantum’ Simple

    Daniel Craig is James Bond

    Daniel Craig is James Bond

    Summing up the storyline, Craig said: ‘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.’

    Stay tuned to the CBn main page for the most up-to-date and complete coverage of Quantum of Solace.