All five of Craig’s Bond movies work as part of an ongoing narrative about the British superspy from broken lonely shell of a man to one who finally finds himself, love and family. Despite conflicting reactions to some of the later films, particularly the divisive SPECTRE and the equally divisive ending on No Time To Die, it is another from that all those involved at the heart of the franchise agree is the weakest in the modern Bond era. The action thriller certainly has a rather, ahem, dry main plot about nefarious plans to seize control of international water supplies. It’s back on TV tonight if you want to see what they are talking about, although not all of us entirely agree with them…
Craig said: “I remember [shooting Casino Royale] with massive fondness. And all this other sh*t was going on around it, which was meaningless at the time because I knew we had a good film, I knew ‘Casino’ was good. You kind of go ‘Wait and see, it’s going to be great, don’t worry.
“I would sort of yearn for the person I was when I did Casino. Too much knowledge sometimes is not a good thing. I was sort of in the dark about a lot of things, about how things worked, the mechanics of it. How the world really viewed Bond, all of those things I was just didn’t understand them. Then I started to understand them, the weight of it sort of bore down.”
For many reasons, Craig and other involved have gone on to explain why Quantum of Solace is, in their eyes, flawed.
Filming had commenced on January 3, 2006 and the producers, including Craig himself, found themselves with an unfinished, imperfect script due to industry troubles beyond their control.
Craig said: “We had a writer’s strike. We had a script; it wasn’t completed, but it was nearly completed. The movie kind of works.”
Barbara Broccoli admitted: “We were kind of screwed, and we all had to muddle in and try and make the story work, and it wasn’t really working that great.”
Fellow producer Michael G Wilson also explained that the script didn’t focus on the right parts of the Bond journey: “It wasn’t totally focused on his journey, and sometimes we get too wound up on plot rather than keep to the story, which is an issue for these kind of films.”
One of the main Bond Girls of the movie, alongside Olga Kurylenko’s Camille Montes, also had her own issues with aspects of the plot. Quantum of Solace introduced Strawberry Fields, an MI6 agent played by Gemma Arterton.
She explained: “At the beginning of my career, I was poor as a church mouse and I was happy just to be able to work and earn a living. I still get criticism for accepting Quantum Of Solace, but I was 21, I had a student loan, and you, know, it was a Bond film. But as I got older, I realised there was so much wrong with Bond women.”
Her own issues with the movie were highlighted by one particular scene.
In one scene that has possibly not dated well, Bond and Miss Fields are undercover in a hotel when he makes his typical move, getting her naked by claiming he would find her “something to wear” at an upcoming party.
Arterton added: “As I got older, I realised there was so much wrong with Bond women… My Bond girl should have just said no, really, and worn flat shoes.
“You know, I haven’t seen it for about 15 years either, so I can’t really remember what’s in it or what I did, but I know I wouldn’t choose a role like that now. Because she was funny and she was sweet, but she didn’t really have anything to do – or a backstory.”
THE QUANTUM OF SOLACE ON ON ITV 4 AT 9PM TONIGHT
