Director: Marc Foster

Writers: Joshua Zetumer (most recent draft changes made during filming) Paul Haggis (believed to have scribed a new script from scratch to suit the needs of the director and his vision), Robert Wade & Neal Purvis (first draft but believed to have been mostly dumped)

Studio: MGM, Columbia Pictures

Release Date: 31st October 2008 U.K. & slowly rolls out worldwide during that next week, opening in the U.S. on 7th November 2008

Current Status:

Filming in Sienese locations in Bolivia until 28th April when production will move to Bregenz, Austria. On 13th May - the production will move to Piazza del Campo in Siena. In June, production will return to Pinewood. The teaser trailer will be attached to prints of Hancock which opens worldwide on July 2nd 2008.

ALL SET PHOTO’S OF THE CAST CAN BE FOUND ON THIS PAGE

MI: 6

Daniel Craig - James Bond

Gemma Arteton - Agent Fields

Judi Dench - M

Jeffrey Wright - Felix Leiter

Roy Kinnear - Bill Tanner

GOOD OR BAD?

Oleg Kurylenko - Camille

Giancarlo Giannini - Rene Mathis

THE VILLAINS

Mathieu Amalric - Dominic Greene

Jesper Christensen - Mr. White

Anatole Taubman - Elvis (secondary villain after Amalric but bigger than a Henchman. Think Leonard in North by Northwest)

Neil Jackson - Mr. Slate (henchman)

Joaquin Cosio - General Medrano

SUPPORTING CAST

Tim-Piggot Smith - British Foreign Secretary

David Harbour - ?

Fernando Guillen Cuervo - ?

Jesus Ochoa - ?

FYI: Eva Green has NOT shot new footage for a video message or flashback as previously rumored. The characters of Q and Miss. Moneypenny will NOT be introduced in this film because the producers want their character introduction to be meaningful and in a film where they have time to explore them as characters.

After over 40 years of continuity, the controversial 2006 reboot Casino Royale is the highest grossing Bond film of all time, the 38th highest grossing film of all time and the 6th biggest in the U.K. Daniel Craig has lodged himself into the hearts & minds of both male and female Bond fans a like and has been the most universally accepted actor to have played the famous character since Sean Connery in the 60’s.

Royale brought back old fans of the franchise and introduced tons of new one’s sick of the formulaic thrillers on our screens and who maybe hadn’t seen a Bond film in their life. Simply put, it was a huge success and without the restrictions of Bond history - the franchise can now grow with every film and Columbia & MGM are wanting to churn out as many as they can whilst Daniel Craig keeps his looks.

A sequel was put into production immediately. Casino Royale director Martin Campbell declined the opportunity to return. Roger Michell who directed Craig in the brilliant drama Enduring Love had a brief stint during early pre-production but would drop out when he claimed he had no time to prepare (the film at that point was aimed for a May 2008 release). A new director took some time to find but eventually it would German helmer Marc Forster [OWF Article - 20/06/2007] who was known for his character driven drama’s Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball and most recently The Kite Runner. His appointment would seem to suggest the new Bond will be much more a classic drama fable but set photo’s have suggested tons of action - something Forster has never done in the past.

Forster wisely appointed second unit director Dan Bradley who would help out with this. His gritty and very much modern day action scenes can be seen in the Bourne series. Another notable crew member working on the film is production designer Dennis Gassner who replaces 18 Bond film veteran Peter Lamont. Gassner’s vision is said to be “early Bond” and in the vein of Ken Adam - the guy who created the memorable and outlandish lairs for the villains in the 60’s. Could we see a return of those?

David Arnold will return to score the film like has done for the previous four movies and although unconfirmed, the big expectation is that Amy Whinehouse will sing the main theme tune - though her personal problems may have cost her the job.

Titled Quantum of Solace [OWF Article - 25/01/2008], the 22nd James Bond film marks the return of all the main characters from the last movie who didn’t die and will this time see James Bond track down a environmentalist (new villain - French actor Mathieu Amalric) who intends to take over water supply in Bolivia for his own means. He works for the Quantum organisation, a last minute change to the script no doubt so that the title becomes relevant (they had hit a snag because all of Ian Fleming’s main titles had been used, so they used an obscure short story title for the film - rather than using a name that matched the plot).

Revenge is said to be one of the over-riding themes of the picture as Bond will team with new female lead Carmille (Olga Kurylenko) to seek revenge for the death of his former lover Vesper Lynd. He has had no time to mourn her, the film will take place literally one hour after the end of Casino Royale. Other new cast members include Gemma Arteton (Agent Fields) and secondary villains played by Neil Jackson and Antaole Taubman.

I would love to see more character - a little less of a bastard Bond this time around, a plot that doesn’t linger near the end and hopefully some more build-up of the “higher organisation” behind everything and of course - more of Felix, who could become a great supporting character in this series. A little more of the classic Bond but Casino Royale showed a lot of promise for where this franchise could go in the following years - now let’s see if they can live up to it.

For a detailed look at all the developments for the QUANTUM OF SOLACE click HERE.

To read Matt’s 8 WAYS TO IMPROVE THE NEXT JAMES BOND FILM click HERE.

If you have a written article, any news, any casting suggestions or anything for the Quantum of Solace movie then leave a comment below, or send me a written piece to editor @ obsessedwithfilm.com (remove spaces).

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