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Daniel Craig reflects on "Quantum of Solace" and
talks about the direction Bond 23 may take...
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Craig On Bond 23
4th January 2009
Daniel Craig has
expanded on his earlier comments
about Bond 23 as well as looking
back on the success of "Quantum
of Solace" in a new interview
with The
Times.
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At the time of the interview, "Quantum"
had just surpassed the $500m
mark at the worldwide box-office. "Although
I wouldn’t
know $500m if it sat on my face," Craig said. "But
it would probably be quite nice if it sat on my face. I know
that, when it comes down to it, these films are about box
office, but the moment I start thinking about the figures,
I’ll be stuffed – though maybe I won’t
be saying that in a year’s time, when I’ve spent
everything."
Repeating the success of "Casino
Royale"
was no mean feat, either. "The first film was a huge
punt, although I think if it had failed miserably, I could
have walked away with my head held high and said, ‘Well,
I gave it a go.’ But the fact was that it wasn’t",
Craig said. "It was a success, and in a way that nobody could
have predicted. Quantum was about keeping it interesting, relevant,
and the
only way I could think about doing that was just to throw myself
headlong into it. So I know the work we put in. We didn’t
have a complete script, so Marc Forster
and I had to batter it into shape, to find the story we wanted
to tell."
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When asked whether he was bothered about "Quantum" being
criticised for being too dark, he said: "Well, I nicked
a lot of the ideas about who Bond is from Ian Fleming. But the
point is, we did the movie we had to do to finish the story off,
and comedy and lightness weren’t relevant. This was a story
about loyalty, about friendship, about who you can trust. Gag-writing
wasn’t at the top of the list."
Bond 23
Backing up his earlier comments that the writing
process on Bond 23 can start with a clean slate now the story-arc
from "Casino Royale" has been wrapped up, Craig said that the
tone could be completely
different too. "I love the idea of putting Moneypenny in
the film," he said "I’m dead
keen to do it. And Q. But I work from the premise
that there are millions and millions of people out there who
never saw one of the earlier Bond movies. So they don’t
understand the martini gag. Or the Moneypenny gag, which is a
gag - it had ceased to be a character. So, let’s find out
who she is. We can have fun doing that. And, don’t get
me wrong, I’m up for a submarine base, as long as the gag
works. The problem is that Austin Powers screwed everything up.
He exploded the genre. Did I just say that? I did."
No release
date has been announced for Bond 23, with fans and experts
unsure whether it will be 2010 or 2011. Starting the screenplay
in January (as per producer Michael G.
Wilson's
comments last month)
could mean that Bond 23 hits the traditional November slot in
2010.
The
wrinkle
to
the
usual
two-year
timeline could be the hand-over from Sony back to MGM, pushing
the
release to 2011.
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