| 
| 
As Daniel Craig confidently strides in to the room on a balmy October morning at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, he looks the way we expect James Bond to look. Clad in a dark blue suit with an impeccably matched shirt and tie, he is handsome and debonair, with only his right arm in a sling (after shoulder surgery) suggesting any form of weakness. He sits upright and makes eye contact when answering questions, and even peppers in some dry British humor with his otherwise straightforward responses.
Craig’s demeanor is not far from his rather serious interpretation of James Bond in “Casino Royale” (2006) and the 22nd installment of the franchise, “Quantum of Solace,” which opens nationwide this weekend. The film follows Bond as he tracks an environmentalist named Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), who wants to control the water supply of Bolivia. M (Dame Judi Dench) believes Bond is chasing Greene because he’s connected to Le Chiffre (the “Casino Royale” villain), who’s responsible for the death off Bond’s beloved Vesper, but that’s only part of 007’s motivation.
Although his Bond follows the character from its origins, Craig – who was a Bond fan while growing up in England – was certainly influenced by Bonds of the past.
“I take most of my cues from [the first James Bond film] “Dr. No” and “From Russia With Love,”” Craig said. “I think what Sean Connery did was develop a very strong, edgy character from the Ian Fleming novels. I could never copy what’s been done, but I’ve read all the books and done my research, so that’s what I use when I put my take on it.”
“I’ve never seen someone so focused,” said the latest Bond Girl, Olga Kurylenko (“Max Payne”). “He does a lot of his own stunts, and you want to stay on his level.”
Kurylenko trained for six months to properly capture the physicality of her role, and wanted her character to be a modern woman. “I think this movie is made for a big audience. Women who’ve seen the film are happy that I’ve portrayed this strong, different, ass-kicking woman,” said Kurylenko, whose character, Camille, starts the film as Dominic’s girlfriend but clearly has a vendetta of her own.
Camille’s substantive plotline isn’t the only thing that’s different in “Quantum.” There’s also a notable lack of traditional Bond motifs (no cool gadgets, Moneypenny, martinis, Q, or witty one-liners), which is something that Craig, who said he has input on the story and is signed for two more Bond movies, is very aware of.
“I think we need to earn all those things – we can’t just plop them straight into the movie and expect them to work,” Craig said. “And I don’t think they do work as well as they used to. So this is about earning all those things, and as far as I’m concerned, we can do anything we want now. We can introduce Q again, Moneypenny, even the submarine base if we need to because we’re there, and I’m very excited about doing another movie.”
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
