Bond 22 Is “Quantum Of Solace”

By Garth FranklinThursday,
January 24th 2008 8:05am

The title for the upcoming twenty-second James Bond film has just been officially announced at a press conference in London and it’s a head scratcher – certainly the most confusing title of the franchise’s five decade long run.

“Quantum of Solace” is its name, the same title given to a short story in Ian Fleming’s ‘For Your Eyes Only’ collection and one of the few Fleming titles not already used by the film franchise.

The new adventure sees James Bond (Daniel Craig) out for revenge on a mission that takes him to Austria, Italy and South America. Camille (Ukrainian-born Olga Kurylenko) leads the secret agent to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), member of a mysterious organization and a ruthless businessman, seeking to control huge natural resources.

Kurylenko confirmed she hasn’t filmed any of her scenes yet, but is doing “weapons training and body flight training for aerial scenes and stunt work for fighting.” She claims her character is “a fighter, this girl is going to kick ass. She’s on her own mission and she’s driven by revenge.”

Secondary Bond girl, 21-year-old Gemma Arterton, says she has done many of her scenes including a sex scene with Bond. Her MI6 agent character is “fresh and young, not sultry and a femme fatale.”

Reporters were shown a minute of footage from the new film, including Bond (Daniel Craig) swinging on a rope after an explosion at an art gallery in Siena, Italy. There’s also a scene with Bond and M (Judi Dench) having a meeting in the snow.

The original short story bears no relation to the plot it seems. In the original Bond attends a dinner at Government House in the Bahamas and the local Governor regails him with a story about the tragic love affair of two people who turn out to be fellow dinner guests.

Other short stories in the same collection have been made into other films ranging from the dreary Miami Vice-esque Timothy Dalton flop “Licence to Kill” (based on The Hildebrand Rarity) to Roger Moore’s most serious, low-tech, and arguably second best adventure “For Your Eyes Only”.

‘Only’ used much of its plot from the story ‘Risico’ – a title mentioned in conjuction with this film before. Certainly Olga’s Camille character sounds similar to the Melinda Havelock character from ‘Only’ who was memorably played by French actress Carole Bouquet.