News on the USA release delay, Jack White talks about his theme song, director Marc Forster completes his edit, plus news from Austria...

Production Diary (36)
22nd August 2008

USA Delay
Sony and MGM have decided to delay the USA and Canada release of the 22nd James Bond film from 7th November to 14th November, making the most of the holiday schedule left empty by Warner Bros. moving "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" to summer 2009.

"We believe Nov. 14 is a great date that allows us to play straight through Thanksgiving and right into Christmas [in the USA]," Sony chair of worldwide marketing and distribution Jeff Blake said. "We believe this decision will give the public a wider opportunity to see the film over the holiday."

In its new date in the US, "Quantum of Solace" will go up against 20th Century Fox's Nicole Kidman-Hugh Jackman epic "Australia," from director Baz Luhrmann, Universal comedy "Role Models" and MGM comedy "Soul Men."

Other release dates are not affected by this announcement. "Quantum of Solace" will still open nationally in the UK on 31st October. The world premiere will take place at the Odeon Leicester Square on Wednesday 29th October 2008.

 

Another Way To Die
Jack White recently commented for the first time on the creative process involved in recording "Another Way To Die" - the track to "Quantum of Solace" - with Alicia Keys. "I drummed for her voice and she mimicked the guitar tones," Jack says of Alicia to OK Magazine, "then we joined our voices and screamed and moaned about these characters in the film and their isolation, having no one to trust, not even themselves. Maybe we became them for a few minutes."


Above: Gemma Arterton plays MI6 Agent Fields

The song, written, produced and performed by both musicians, was the culmination of years of waiting to record together, said Jack. "After a couple of years of wanting to collaborate with Alicia Keys, it took James Bond himself to finally make it happen," he reveals. " Alicia put some electric energy into her breath that cemented itself into the magnetic tape. Very inspiring to watch. It gave me a new voice, and I wasn't myself anymore."

Joined in the studio by The Memphis Horns, Jack says additional musicians from Nashville also helped with the historic track. "We wanted to push soul into those tapes, and join the family of Barry, Bassey, Connery and Craig."



Above (Top): The 'Tosca' stage in Austria
Above: Director Marc Forster
 

Edit Complete
Commercial director of the Bregenz Festival, Franz Salzmann, said on Thursday that "Quantum of Solace" director Marc Forster had completed his edit on the film, and that Bregenz will feature for seven minutes and eleven seconds.

The huge stage at Lake Constance is very much a part of the film. "Tosca", the opera featured in the movie, will have almost four and a half minutes of screen time, including music from the Puccini. Salzmann said the sequence was the "absolute highlight of the film, because the images are so great".

Salzmann said he hopes for a positive knock-on effect boosting what is already a big attraction to visitors who flock to the Vorarlberg capital in western Austria.

The scenes were shot in May when a 250-strong team were on location for nine days. Daniel Craig declared that filming in Austria was a great experience, and that the scenes filmed in Bregenz are at a critical moment in the storyline, when 007 finally discovers the identity of his enemy.