Vengeful ‘Bond’ surfaces
Bond is back – and he wants revenge.
Producers on Thursday revealed some of the secrets about the latest James Bond film, due for release later this year, including a title that reflects the inner turmoil that drives its suave superagent hero: “Quantum of Solace.”
It’s not as mellifluous as “From Russia With Love” or “Goldfinger.” But Daniel Craig, returning as Bond after 2006’s “Casino Royale,” says he likes it.
“It has grown on me,” Craig told reporters on the film’s set at Pinewood Studios near London. “It doesn’t trip off the tongue. But why should it?”
Producer Michael G. Wilson said the title, chosen only a few days ago, was taken from a story by Bond creator Ian Fleming that appears in the collection “For Your Eyes Only.”
Craig said Fleming defined a quantum of solace – it means, roughly, a measure of comfort – as “that spark of niceness in a relationship that if you don’t have, you might as well give up.”
Filming began earlier this month at Pinewood, the franchise’s home since the 1960s. The new installment is a direct sequel to “Casino Royale,” beginning an hour after that film ends, with Bond devastated over his betrayal by true love Vesper Lynd.
“He had his heart broken at the end of the last movie, and that certainly is a spur for him in this one,” Craig said.
“I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t revenge in his heart. But it’s more than that. That spurs him on, but that’s not what the movie is. It’s not a revenge movie. It’s about him figuring a few things out.”
Producer Barbara Broccoli said the film, directed by Marc Forster (“Monster’s Ball,” “The Kite Runner”), mixes Bond’s “inner turmoil” with action – and, of course, gadgets – as he tries to stop a shadowy cabal trying to bring down the world economy.
Bond may find solace – producers are coy – in the arms of two new Bond Girls: Ukrainian Olga Kurylenko as a feisty Bolivian named Camille, and Gemma Arterton as an MI6 agent named Fields.
“In the movie, he is obviously still attached to his past,” said Kurylenko. “The appearance of this new girl might divert him. Or, it might not.”
Craig, who overcame public skepticism – a blond Bond? – to win rave reviews for “Casino Royale” said he still felt nervous about the role.
“All the fear I felt before is still there,” he said. “This is a $200 million movie, and it’s James Bond. We have to make it great.”