So last week, the official theme song for Quantum of Solace -- y'know, that new James Bond flick -- was formally released online, and above is the music video for Jack White and Alicia Keys' "Another Way to Die." This managed to slip past us, probably because we were all still drooling over Erik's chance to comandeer an Aston friggin' Martin (no, no, 'jealous' isn't quite the word...), and now that it's out, opinions are becoming considerably divided.
On his personal blog, Bond devotee David Cornelius of eFilmCritic.com said "it's, um, not good. Really, really not good. The Coke commercial focused on the catchy hook, which was good. But the rest of the song? Not good. We're talking "Die Another Day" not good. Argh."
Devindra Hardawar of /Film feels a little less harsh about it: "It's not a terrible song (see Madonna's for Die Another Day for a good example of that), but it certainly doesn't feel like anything new for the series. It seems as if it tries to do way too much, and the song ends up feeling overstuffed in the process."
Left in the apparent, admitted minority is Devin Faraci over at CHUD.com, who likes the song, if not the video.
As for me, I dig the thing, though it's stuck stubbornly in my head over the past couple of days, but I rarely think that's a bad thing. What say you guys? Is "Another Way to Die" worthy of our favorite double-0 agent? Or would you rather they had just adopted "Something of Boris" instead?
Click Erik Davis' beautiful face above to head straight to our Aston Martin hi-res gallery
"Now this is a fun one -- when you get to 100mph, just slowly take your hands off the wheel and watch what the car does ..." -- Aston Martin Instructor #1
You may remember how last month Cinematical was invited to travel to London for something called "The James Bond Experience." Part of this "experience" included a chat with Bond himself, Daniel Craig, and Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster. (You can read all about that over here.) Now, however, we're finally allowed to tell you about some of the activities that took place during our four days across the pond -- and how do I not start with the awesomeness that was driving an Aston Martin -- a car, mind you, that's worth more than my life -- at well over 100mph. But let me back up.
Never sit at the back of a bus for more than an hour and a half. By the time our small group of online writers arrived at the Millbrook test track, I felt like I was ready to puke. Millbrook is literally in the middle of the English countryside -- an hour or so out of London, in Bedfordshire, England -- and it's the sort of place that calls for an escort to be with you at all times. See, Millbrook is where they test all sorts of cars and military vehicles before they're called into action. Thus, cameras are everywhere, the public is not allowed in and security is tighter than a seat belt around Santa.
As part of Cinematical's recent James Bond-related trip to London, we were handed six brand new photos from the film to share with our readers. Next week I'm allowed to start telling you what exactly went on over in London -- the danger, intrigue, romance, adventure and excellent room service -- but for now I want you to feast your eyes on these new images, which you can access by either clicking on the image above or into the gallery below.
Directed by Marc Forster, Quantum of Solacepicks up 10 minutes after Casino Royale left off, and it follows Bond (Daniel Craig) while he continues his quest to take down the secret organization that blackmailed his ex-lover Vesper. During his mission, Bond will once again woo the ladies, as well as uncover one man's (Mathieu Amalric) sinister plot to control earth's water supply. Check out our brief conversation (using your questions) with both Craig and Forster over here. Quantum of Solace hits theaters on November 14.
Ever since Daniel Craig took over as James Bond and helped re-boot the entire franchise with a modern, serious spin, folks have wondered how far, exactly, they'd take our favorite secret agent. Not long ago there was a rumor that Bond would go full frontal in Casino Royale, but that came and went. And then, for some odd reason, fans pondered whether Bond would ever seduce a man ... or if a man would ever seduce him. Perhaps the rumor began when Craig co-starred in Infamous and shared a kiss with Toby Jones -- or maybe a select group of fans simply like to push the buttons of those who would rather ... let's just say not be down for watching Bond take on a homosexual experience.
Well, most of you have nothing to worry about (and I say 'most' because I know our readers like to get their freak on and wouldn't mind some Bond on Hanz action). While in London, Craig addressed the issue and, regarding whether Bond would ever seduce another man, he said: " No. Kill him and then seduce him [laughs] but not seduce him. This is that question that keeps eternally coming up but it's never been on the agenda and we've never had a discussion about it. It's not something that I desire or want. No." Or shall we call that a Double-O No?
What do you think? Is there room in the franchise for them to play around with this idea?
It pains me that I can't go into every little fantastic detail when it comes to my recent Bond-related trip across the pond, but trust me when I say Quantum of Solace will definitely be one film you won't want to miss this fall. And if I go any further, the studio might just serve my head on a platter during the flick's premiere after party. But would I taste like chicken? Anyway, as we shared with you yesterday, Daniel Craig and Marc Forster were making the international rounds over in London late last week (where we sat down for a chat) and the Independent learned from Forster that a couple classic Bond one-liners will not be included in the upcoming Quantum of Solace.
Missing from the film will be the lines, "Bond, James Bond" and "Shaken ... not stirred." Forster says, "There was a 'Bond, James Bond' in the script. There are several places where we shot it as well, but it never worked as we hoped. I just felt we should cut it out, and Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson [the film's producers] agreed, and Daniel [Craig, who plays Bond] agreed, too. It's nice to be open-minded about the Bond formula. You can always go back to them later on." Some would argue it isn't a James Bond film unless the secret agent utters at least one of those lines at some point during his adventure. Me? I don't mind as much.
What do you Bond fanatics think? Are these two lines really that important in a Bond film? Does it bother you to know they won't be included this time around?
Cinematical (along with a few other select sites) was lucky enough to visit London, England this past week where we enjoyed several James Bond-related activities -- stuff that comes attached with the phrase, "Once in a lifetime experience." I'll be sharing all that with you over the next couple weeks (teaser: I drove an Aston Martin at 150mph!), but first up: James Bond himself. Remember how we asked you to give us questions for Daniel Craig and director Marc Forster regarding Bond and the upcoming film Quantum of Solace? Well, we chose a couple for each and here's what they had to say:
Of Note: Marc Forster revealed to Cinematical that the running time for Quantum of Solace is just over an hour and forty minutes, making it the shortest Bond film ever. Also, read on to find out why Forster won't direct another one.
Daniel Craig Cinematical: (From Joe P.) Sean Connery once said the secret to playing Bond was to make everything seem effortless. This Bond is not that way at all, what changed and why?
Daniel Craig: It's a different movie and that's a simple answer to that. That's a different movie. We've based the first one and we based that more in reality and running up scaffolding and making it look effortless ... it would just be pointless. It's just, it doesn't tie into where we put it. They may develop some of that -- I don't think we've gone that far, maybe we've gone a little further in this one. But sort of the straightening of the tie after the hundred and fifty foot drop is just not my style. I can't make that my style, I can't force a kind of an idea of what Bond is on my version of it. If it comes out of something -- those sort of jokes and that kind of lightness of touch -- it comes out of the fact that something fucking awful has just happened -- there's been a huge explosion, there's just been this, just been that -- and there's a kind of relief of pressure because something funny happens. Because it's just like, 'did you see that', but that's for the audience to sort of like to see. Making it totally effortless ... it's of a different and, you know, the edges will get smoother, they will get smoother, but since this is a direct sequel to Casino Royale, we've certainly taken up the same pace in Quantum of Solace and we have to continue that. Next time round he'll lie on the beach for about half the movie.[LAUGH]
Okay everybody, gird your loins. MGM is unveiling the theatrical trailer for Quantum of Solace -- a.k.a. James Bond 22, if this is your first time on the internet -- at 9 a.m. Pacific on Monday, June 30th. The trailer will be attached to Hancock, which comes out a mere two days later, but you'll be able to see it early over at Moviefone on this page. Of course, we'll let you know as soon as it's up.
I remember that the start of the good buzz on Casino Royale roughly coincided with the release of its terrific teaser trailer -- the one that began in black and white, with a Judi Dench voiceover -- so I trust they're putting a lot of love and effort into this one in the hopes of having another runaway hit on their hands. The project has taken a bit of a beating in the press, what with the on-set tragedies and much-ridiculed title, but I suspect once people see footage, they'll come around. The blogosphere's love affair with Daniel Craig is far from over.
Now, if only they can get this business about the song sorted out. I say they throw caution to the wind and go with Meat Loaf.
Maybe it's just me, but is it really a good idea to start promoting a Holocaust drama smack dab in the middle of the summer movie season? I guess you can't blame the makers of Defiance for wanting to start their promotions a little early, though. The new poster for Daniel Craig's WWII flick has been released (click image to enlarge), and it is about as dark and sombre as you might expect.
Defiance was written and directed by Edward Zwick (Blood Diamond), and tells the true life story of the Bielski partisans. The Bielskis were three brothers who escaped into the Belarus forests while on the run from the Nazis and banded together to form a resistance group to save other Jews during WWII. Jamie Bell, Liev Schreiber, and Craig (who is the only face that made it to the poster) portray the three brothers, and The Mist's Alexa Davalos also stars as a fellow escapee and love interest for Craig.
Defiance wrapped production back in 2007 (as we all know, Craig has been a tad busy working on a certain spy film ever since) and there hasn't been much hoopla surrounding the film -- with the exception of a small trailer release back in January. So even though the next three months are all about blockbusting fun, we can't forget that Oscar season is merely months away; I'm sure Zwick hasn't.
Defiance will arrive in theaters on December 19th, 2008.
The producers of the latest Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, may want to just pack it up and give us what they've got, whether or not the thing will make any sense. First they lost an Aston Martin. Then a stuntman was seriously injured during a crash. Then another. Last week, Daniel Craig (aka 007) was treated for a facial injury (requiring stitches). Over the past weekend, there may or may not have been a fire at Pinewood Studios, where the film is currently shooting. And finally (let's hope), on Tuesday, Craig went to the hospital after cutting his hand. Who knows what else will go wrong before principal shooting finishes next weekend? Oh, and there's always a chance that accidents can happen during post-production, too.
According to the BBC, Craig's hand injury was minor enough that he returned to the set Tuesday afternoon, and he only received medical treatment "as a precautionary measure." Other reports claim that he actually sliced off the tip of his finger, which probably sounds worse than it actually is. Regardless of how serious, this incident is being viewed as just the latest evidence that the film is cursed. Some of the stories coming out that I hadn't previously read about include Craig suffering a rib injury in Panama and a technician being stabbed by a woman at a bar in Austria. Wow.
As long as nothing too serious prevents its scheduled release, Quantum of Solace hits theaters November 7.
Brace yourselves for some horrific news from the set of Quantum of Solace, the new James Bond film due in theaters this fall. In a tragic accident early Saturday morning, the film's star plunged into Italy's Lake Garda and was destroyed. No, not Daniel Craig, silly. I mean the real star: the $250,000 Aston Martin DBS that 007 drives.
Yes, this is terrible news, even worse than the news that the movie would be called Quantum of Solace. As a stuntman was delivering the car to the northern Italy set in rainy weather, he lost control of the vehicle on a curve, went through a guard rail, and plummeted into the lake. (That's the recovered vehicle in the picture.) The stuntman, who wasn't named in any of the news reports I found, escaped with just some scratches and bruises; his job experience probably means he knows how to react in an auto-related crisis. It sounds like it would have been a spectacular sequence for a movie, if only there had been cameras rolling.
The reason this is such a big deal is that Aston Martins ain't exactly cheap, nor are they plentiful. It's not like it was a Honda Civic and the producers can just go grab another one off the lot. London's Sunday Mirror says the film had acquired five Aston Martins for the Lake Garda sequence. Two were already sprayed with bullet holes (on purpose), and it was the third one that went into the lake. The filmmakers presumably had other intentions for the remaining two cars; no word yet on whether they'll have to adjust their plans, or whether they'll be able to make do. Obtaining a replacement car on short notice doesn't appear to be an option.
I think I'm ready to give up trying to figure out what's going on with this movie -- I'll just wait till November and judge it then. But here's the latest intangible -- Bollywood actress and British tabloid staple Shilpa Shetty has just joined the cast of Quantum of Solace in an as-yet undetermined role, along with moderately well-known supporting actor David Harbour, whose role is also undetermined. Although it's being touted by MI6, the source of this information appears to be that Harbour and Shetty's names both popped up on IMDB over the weekend, so I would wait for EON confirmation next week before this becomes really, really official. IMDB does have a name for her character, though -- Devi. This late casting of Shetty is a curiosity, since she was considered a prime candidate for a Bond girl during the initial casting phase, and the Bond producers were known to be interested in working a Bollywood favorite into the film to take advantage of the synchronous orbit of Bollywood and British cinema.
Surely they don't have room for three Bond girls, do they? Shetty is very popular in Britain and recently got worldwide press attention for a mini-scandal involving Richard Gere, so I think it's more than likely that this role will amount to a cameo, like Madonna in Die Another Day or like British actress Christina Cole's role as "Ocean Club Receptionist" in Casino Royale. Remember that little scene where Bond checks into the Ocean Club and has a momentary flirtation with a stop-you-in-your-tracks-gorgeous blonde behind the front desk? I'm thinking they invited Shetty to do one of those parts and she agreed, perhaps after quietly losing out on getting one of the main Bond girl parts. But what do I know -- I thought Arterton was Moneypenny. Meanwhile, filming continues to roll on, and more confusion is sure to follow.
British jazz singer Amy Winehouse, who is known internationally more for her drug problems and wild antics -- in my five seconds of research, I see that she apparently heckled Bono while he was giving a speech, which makes me think she's good people -- has reportedly been offered the chance to sing the theme song for the new James Bond film. If British rag The Sun is to be believed, the producers of Quantum of Solace have gotten themselves involved in Winehouse's personal drama by offering the singer the theme song on the condition that she get herself clean and sober by April. "That's when the Bond people make a final decision on who sings the theme," the source said. "If Amy is clean then, it's hers." I don't know who this source is -- craft services guy, maybe -- but I also wouldn't put it past the crafty Bond producers to try to stir the media into a frenzy by putting Winehouse on the payroll in such a manner. For his part, Daniel Craig has already commented on this whole drama, saying "It's just way, way off that. Everyone's speculating about it but we've got other things to deal with -- there's no point in writing the song for a movie when we haven't got a movie." Yikes.
In other Bond news, there isn't any, really, but Craig did get into another tiff with journalists over his reputation for being difficult when it comes to press, which I didn't know he had. I met Craig during the junket for Casino Royale and found him to be as warm and as forthcoming as you could expect. On that so-called reputation, Craig says "I don't think it's true, it's just lazy journalism; they want to paint me as someone difficult. I think I'm quite nice, but maybe I'm delusional. There's no point in doing Bond if you're not going to sell it."
Shortly after I first saw Casino Royale, someone asked me what I thought about it and I blurted out "B-." How could I, a Bond fan, give the movie such a low rating, they wanted to know, to which I replied that it seemed more like a movie-movie than a Bond movie and it should have gone further in its realism, and been R-rated. "If they had made this as a sort of R-rated version of Majesty's Secret Service, it might have actually been a great film," I said at the time. All of this is a long-winded way of leading up to mentioning that Daniel Craig is apparently keen on executing an explicit nude scene in Quantum of Solace, according to reports, which would seem to necessitate an R-rating this time around. Access Hollywoodrecently asked Jeffrey Wright about the rumors that Craig was trying to work some full-frontal into the movie this time around, to which he replied "The world is ready for anything, but I'm not licensed to reveal that." He also conceded that the title of the film was "pretty exotic."
Meanwhile, for those of you who have completely given up on trying to remain spoiler-free, there are now many details of a key car chase that will occur in the film. The Italian press has been all over this one, with an Italian Bond fansite detailing that the chase will take place along the banks of Lake Garda, between the resort towns of Navene and Malcesine and that the cars are expected to top speeds of 125 mph. According to them "the pursuit will feature spectacular and reckless maneuvers in a series of tunnels, culminating with a scene where a truck brings the action to an abrupt halt and a huge explosion." I don't know about you, but hearing that makes me immediately depressed because I have zero confidence that Marc Forster can pull it off. I mean, really, this is the guy who couldn't even make kite-flying seem realistic.
Finally, thanks to some advance toy marketing, we know that there will be a character in this film known as 'Elvis.' There's no confirmation on who this character is supposed to be, but since he's prominent enough to be toy-worthy, expect yet another casting announcement soon.
Is Gemma Arterton feeling the heat for having recently (apparently) blurted out a key plot point involving her character in Quantum of Solace? Seems that way. "You have to work out what you can say and cannot say," Arterton tells Reuters in a recent article. "It's quite hard for me who has a bit of a motor mouth. I've been learning for the last six months to think before I speak." As she continues to work on her problem, Arterton also continues to give away more plot details for the upcoming film, intimating in the same Reuters piece that oil -- "a lot of oil" -- is what the villains are after this time, and South America is apparently where they're looking for it. Arterton also tells IGN in another new interview that her character does become sexually involved with Bond -- there's a kiss, at least -- and that something happens to her in a "scene which is an homage to something iconic, but I cannot tell you what that is. But it will be remembered."
What is she talking about? Let's speculate. Given what Arterton has already let slip about her character's destiny and given that in this IGN interview she mentions Diana Rigg more than once -- noting her as one of her favorite Bond girls and saying "my hair is reminiscent of Diana Rigg's hair" the most obvious answer is that perhaps the "homage scene" is a climactic one for her and is something similar to the climactic scene in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. That would fit in with everything she's saying, but it wouldn't seemingly fit in with Bond's journey at this point, since it would be so similar to the ending of Casino Royale. Although, it might work if Arterton's Agent Fields is only a minor character, which she appears to be. A minor character could be resolved in such a way. Gemma, you're making my head hurt!
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