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  1. Daniel Craig Talks 'Quantum of Solace' On The Today Show

    By Devin Zydel on 2008-11-12

    Daniel Craig appeared on NBC’s Today Show this morning to discuss his second time around as James Bond in Quantum of Solace, which hits US theatres this Friday.

    Speaking with Matt Lauer, Craig talked about the intense pressure on this film following up the massive success of Casino Royale two years ago.

    Daniel Craig is James Bond

    Daniel Craig isJames Bond

    He said: ‘Nothing’s a guarentee. You hope [the films are] going to make money and you hope that they’re going to make the right amount of money so that you can make them again. But we did very well last time [for Casino Royale] unfortunately, or fortunately… it’s a good pressure to have.’

    The actor also brushed off the suggestion that he might have felt at all vindicated by the recent Bond success in spite of several harsh words the media had for him around the time of his announcement as 007 #6.

    ‘I genuinely don’t think that way. I mean, by the time the criticism started coming, we were halfway through the movie and it was too late by then. I had to just continue. And then comes the premiere in London and people ask me the same question, “you must feel great with the success of the movie, you had good critics, you had a good box office…”, I felt food about it then and I feel good about it now.’

    Lauer than brought up the point that Quantum of Solace represents a very different, darker Bond than what fans may have been accustomed to in the earlier Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan entries. He asked Craig: ‘Do you think it’s the same audience? Is it still the escapism?’

    ‘Put it this way,’ Craig responded, ‘We make fantasy movies and this is a huge fantasy movie and happens to be a Bond movie. I’m hoping we’ve got some of the old audience; I think we have and I think we’ve also got some new audiences too.’

    'Quantum of Solace'

    Quantum of Solace

    ‘I still maintain that there’s an audience out there that hasn’t seen a Bond movie and you have to treat them as well.’

    Craig agreed immediately with Lauer’s summation of Quantum as a grittier, meatier, more story-driven movie. ‘Yeah, it is,’ he said. ‘But I don’t know another way of making a movie like this. If you expect an audience to go along with this fantasy world and expect them to enjoy the spectacle of a Bond movie, then you’ve got to give them a story, you’ve got to get their teeth into emotionally because I think that makes it just a much more complete experience.’

    Par for the course of any Quantum interview was a discussion of the stunts and media scrutiny regarding the incidents during the production.

    ‘I think the thing has been blown out of proportion, really,’ said Craig. ‘We had one serious injury and thank the Lord that the guy who got hurt is OK. I mean, if I scratch myself, it hits the press’–Lauer interjects with a laugh: ‘But you cut off the tip of a finger, I mean…’–‘it’s fine, it’s fine. I mean, I’m not trying to sound all macho at all. The fact is that it’s part of the process. It’s part of doing the movie. You know, we’re doing the movie and we’re doing stunts.

    ‘The joke of it is that the injuries I get are from doing the simple stuff. I got them during fight sequences. When I’m jumping off buildings or driving the car, I’m safe.’

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