Quantum of Evil: IGN Visits Bond Set

[stockslivevan]

Quantum of Evil
IGN visits the Austrian set of the next Bond film.
by Stax

May 9, 2008 - "The way we finished up in Casino Royale was with a man who'd lost something that was taken away from him. The woman that he loved killed herself because he thought she was guilty because she was double-crossing him. And he never had the chance to go: 'Why?'," Daniel Craig explains during a roundtable interview on the Austrian set of the forthcoming James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. "That's where we start the story and he's looking for that quantum of solace. He's looking for that little bit, but he can't be open about it because it's a sign of weakness. It gets very complicated but then [the title] also ties in to who the bad guys are."

The Marc Forster-directed film finds 007 (once again played by Daniel Craig) on a quest to uncover the shadowy terrorist organization behind the events depicted in 2006's Casino Royale, the long-running franchise's most successful entry. The villains, as we learned during our recent set visit to Chile, belong to a shadowy network called Quantum. The sequel finds Bond on the trail of businessman Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) -- a leading member of the Quantum organization. To the public, Greene is an eco-friendly tycoon, the head of the Greene Planet corporation who is out to help save the world. But this public persona conceals a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Quantum of Solace continues the Bond tradition of having topical villains and plot lines, with the film skewering the powerful who profess to have environmental credentials even as they pollute the earth and pillage natural resources.

"I just find it interesting that everyone today – and that's why I wanted to have Greene in there when Paul [Haggis] and I were working on the script together – everybody presents themselves today as green is so fashionable," Forster explains. "Everyone's trying to be green, every corporation. So ultimately every corporation realized they can make money by being green so let's be green. So I think it's something one has to look at very carefully. Yes, I think we are going through an environmental crisis and if we don't wake up we're going to destroy ourselves, but I think one has to be really wary of people like Greene because they're pretending to be something they're oft-times not. Personally, I know a lot of people who say, 'I'm riding my bicycle.' But then they have their private jet at the airport. 'I have my Gulfstream, but I'm using my vegetable fueled Hummer.'"

As the story progresses, Bond discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the world's most important natural resources, is forging a deal with the exiled General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio). Using his associates in the organization, and manipulating his powerful contacts within the CIA and the British government, Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in Bolivia (locations in Chile and Panama are standing in for there), giving the General control of the country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land. Bond and the beautiful Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who has her own vendetta, team-up to throw a wrench into Greene's machine.

"Last time Bond spent the whole of Casino Royale learning the lesson that you don't kill people before you ask them the important questions. He learned that; he shot me in the knee," Danish actor Jesper Christensen, who plays the enigmatic Mr. White in both Casino and Quantum, reveals. "So we start the next one with him asking me the questions. And then he screws up and stuff happens."

That "stuff" starts happening when Bond spies on a meeting of the bad guys that takes place during a performance of the Puccini opera "Tosca" at the Seebuhne floating stage on the shores of Lake Constance in Bregenz, Austria. (Read about our visit to that set at our sister site, RottenTomatoes.com.)

But although Bond may have learned a valuable lesson in the last film, that doesn't mean his adversaries quite respect or fear him yet.

"I think there's hope for us all when he's around because I don't think he's too clever," Christensen jokingly says of Craig's 007. "I think that's a great move forward for the Bond series, that Daniel's Bond is more violent, more stupid in a way. More liable to make mistakes and make trouble for himself than the old Bonds, which makes him more like us and more interesting. More character, more human."

Bond isn't the only one who has changed in this new incarnation of the long-running franchise; so, too, have the villains. Gone are comic book-style baddies such as Blofeld and Max Zorin. As Christensen explains, "These guys are more like the new evil guys. Like the guys running the CIA or big corporations, not giving a d**n whether somebody dies as long as the numbers keep going up."

This sentiment is shared by actor Anatole Taubman, who portrays Greene's bowl-cut-wearing henchman Elvis.

"I think nowadays the real big, big, big baddies are normal people, people you wouldn't tell [are villains]. People from the farming lobby, people from the weapon lobby, people from the oil lobby. That you wouldn't necessarily tell that they are bad," Taubman explains. "Many people consider George Bush as The Villain, but George Bush when we see him he's looking all right. He's looking proper. The guy looks definitely nicer than I do."

Lead villain Amalric credits director Forster with this low-key, realistic approach to the villains. Amalric, who expressed shock that he would be thought of to play a Bond heavy, initially wanted a more Blofeld-esque approach to Greene, suggesting perhaps that he shave his head or have a scar. Forster insisted that the key to playing such a villain lie not in some gimmicky make-up, but rather in the eyes.

"I found that very intelligent because it's much more frightening where you don't know where the danger comes from," Amalric says. "I think that is what I feel in the world today, no? Everybody, all the politicians, all the CEOs that go on television, all the petrol companies -- like if the ultimate weapon was the smile, you know, and good feelings.

"It's amazing that people today are making business with the right to pollute," Amalric continues. "Selling rights to pollute to other people. It's very complicated what is happening at the moment with the rice, with the wheat. It was this sort of big concern about ecology, or maybe people planned that because the crops are low but at the same time people are starving because we want our cars. It's so complicated."

Although he rages against what he perceives as the true villains of the world, Amalric is glad that the new Bond films are restoring a layer of moral ambiguity to the hero.

"What I find really interesting now since Casino Royale, and they came back to the spirit of the Ian Fleming novels, is that James Bond has the good and the bad inside of himself. To be a James Bond, 007, you have to have killed two persons. So you are an assassin and you are also a secret agent but you're also a broken heart. They wrote the script with that concept. The bad and the good are inside him so that means also the villain has a good side. ... We have that in each of us. We are monsters and gods at the same time in our everyday lives."

Amalric understands, though, that Bond is fantasy and begrudgingly concedes that as such good must win out in the end.

"If it was realistic the evil would win because that's what would happen today. That's why I think it's called Quantum of Solace. It's quite ironic. It's as if Bond was saying, 'Please, can I stop running? Maybe if the evil wins I can have some peace and go home and just sleep.' And I like that because everybody knows there's going to be a 23rd film. The poor guy will just keep running and searching for the next villain and the next evil."

Craig, while acknowledging his character's dark side, believes that his Bond still stands for "what he's always stood for. We've got a single character who's trying to make some sense of the world and fighting against perceived evil. But he's also very independent and therefore he should always remain non-political. The way governments change and things happen -- we have to believe there is an organization in anyone's country that has sort of got their handle on the truth and what's right. We have to kind of believe it because if we don't it's all over. And he's mythical maybe, but that's what he is."

Read about our visit to the Austrian set of Quantum of Solace at our sister site, RottenTomatoes.com. And watch a special behind the scenes featurette at MySpaceTV. The film opens November 7.

[Kristatos]

"I think there's hope for us all when he's around because I don't think he's too clever," Christensen jokingly says of Craig's 007. "I think that's a great move forward for the Bond series, that Daniel's Bond is more violent, more stupid in a way."

Yep, stupid and violent, that's how Bond should be.

[Captain Nash]

"I think there's hope for us all when he's around because I don't think he's too clever," Christensen jokingly says of Craig's 007. "I think that's a great move forward for the Bond series, that Daniel's Bond is more violent, more stupid in a way."

Yep, stupid and violent, that's how Bond should be.

Don't believe everything you read Kris, I don't know if you've viewed the pics from the same article. I think they look rather good. But then I'm not of the same opinion of DC that you are.

[Kristatos]

Don't believe everything you read Kris, I don't know if you've viewed the pics from the same article. I think they look rather good. But then I'm not of the same opinion of DC that you are.

Well, I'm sure that if Jesper Christiansen was misquoted, we'll be hearing from him soon. Otherwise, we'll just have to assume that he really does think that Bond should be turned into Biffa Bacon ("did you spill my vodka martini?").

[katied]

I wouldn't take Jesper Christiansen's comments too seriously.But this'll get picked up by websites like Cinematical and posted as gospel truth .Wouldn't be the first or last time *sigh*.

[The Sweeney]

Don't believe everything you read Kris, I don't know if you've viewed the pics from the same article. I think they look rather good. But then I'm not of the same opinion of DC that you are.

Well, I'm sure that if Jesper Christiansen was misquoted, we'll be hearing from him soon. Otherwise, we'll just have to assume that he really does think that Bond should be turned into Biffa Bacon ("did you spill my vodka martini?").

[The Sweeney]

"I think there's hope for us all when he's around because I don't think he's too clever," Christensen jokingly says of Craig's 007. "I think that's a great move forward for the Bond series, that Daniel's Bond is more violent, more stupid in a way."

Yep, stupid and violent, that's how Bond should be.

In the novels Bond was more violent, and made far more mistakes than he ever made in the films....

[bjmdds]

What I got from this is exactly what I was afraid Forster would do, portraying capitalism as an evil and people within the governments as corrupt. The second concept was ripped off straight from the current Bourne theme. Forster's film will be more about his environmental views with a Bond adventure as a secondary theme, then about Bond saving the world, and Almaric is reluctantly bothered by that concept as well. 'George Bush as the villain in society' discussion above exposes this cheesy story as what it really is:Commentary against capitalistic governments, by those elitists who fly the jets, while they want the rest of us to ride bicycles. Forster had no business being involved in any Bond project.

[Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry]

What I got from this is exactly what I was afraid Forster would do, portraying capitalism as an evil and people within the governments as corrupt. The second concept was ripped off straight from the current Bourne theme. Forster's film will be more about his environmental views with a Bond adventure as a secondary theme, then about Bond saving the world, and Almaric is reluctantly bothered by that concept as well. 'George Bush as the villain in society' discussion above exposes this cheesy story as what it really is:Commentary against capitalistic governments, by those elitists who fly the jets, while they want the rest of us to ride bicycles. Forster had no business being involved in any Bond project.

They are using up lots of resources and carbon just to make a movie.

[Jermaine76]

"I think there's hope for us all when he's around because I don't think he's too clever," Christensen jokingly says of Craig's 007. "I think that's a great move forward for the Bond series, that Daniel's Bond is more violent, more stupid in a way."

Yep, stupid and violent, that's how Bond should be.

See...thats the point. Since they did a reboot of the series, you pretty much have to push aside all we know from Dr. No to Die Another Day and look at this Bond in a new way. It sucks, but thats just the way it is. The sad part is Craig will set the standard for Bond 2.0 for others to follow.

[Jermaine76]

What I got from this is exactly what I was afraid Forster would do, portraying capitalism as an evil and people within the governments as corrupt. The second concept was ripped off straight from the current Bourne theme. Forster's film will be more about his environmental views with a Bond adventure as a secondary theme, then about Bond saving the world, and Almaric is reluctantly bothered by that concept as well. 'George Bush as the villain in society' discussion above exposes this cheesy story as what it really is:Commentary against capitalistic governments, by those elitists who fly the jets, while they want the rest of us to ride bicycles. Forster had no business being involved in any Bond project.

I've never heard of the guy before, although he looks like he has too much sugar in his tank.

[carl stromberg]

"I think there's hope for us all when he's around because I don't think he's too clever," Christensen jokingly says of Craig's 007. "I think that's a great move forward for the Bond series, that Daniel's Bond is more violent, more stupid in a way."

Yep, stupid and violent, that's how Bond should be.

See...thats the point. Since they did a reboot of the series, you pretty much have to push aside all we know from Dr. No to Die Another Day and look at this Bond in a new way. It sucks, but thats just the way it is. The sad part is Craig will set the standard for Bond 2.0 for others to follow.

It is a new Bond and a new Bond series. Hopefully the old Bond may return if people get bored with Craig's type of Bond.