A second Bond film starring Craig was planned before production began onCasino Royale in October 2005. In July 2006,Roger Michell was announced to direct with a planned release for May 2008, but left the project that October after delays with the screenplay. Purvis, Wade, and Haggis completed the screenplay by June 2007, after which Forster was announced as Michell's replacement. Craig and Forster also contributed uncredited rewrites to the film's screenplay.Principal photography began in August 2007 and lasted until May 2008, with filming locations includingMexico,Panama,Chile,Italy,Austria, andWales, while interior sets were built and filmed atPinewood Studios. The film's title is borrowed from a 1959 short story byIan Fleming. In contrast to its predecessor,Quantum of Solace is notable for citing inspiration from early Bond film sets designed byKen Adam, while it features a departure from tropes associated withBond villains.
Quantum of Solace premiered at theOdeon Leicester Square on 29 October 2008 and was theatrically released first in the United Kingdom two days later and in the United States on 14 November. The film received mixed reviews, with praise for Craig's performance and the action sequences but was deemed inferior to its predecessor. It grossed over $589 million worldwide, becoming theseventh highest-grossing film of 2008 and the fifth highest-grossingJames Bond film, unadjusted for inflation. The next film in the series,Skyfall, was released in 2012.
Shortly after capturingMr. White,[a]James Bond drives him fromLake Garda toSiena, Italy. Evading pursuers, Bond delivers White toM, who interrogates White regarding the mysterious organizationQuantum. When White responds that their operatives are everywhere, M'sbodyguard Craig Mitchell shoots a guard and attacks M. Bond chases Mitchell and kills him; in the confusion, White escapes. Searching Mitchell's flat in London, Bond and M discover Mitchell had a contact named Edmund Slate inHaiti. Slate is a hitman sent to killCamille Montes at the behest of her lover, environmentalist entrepreneurDominic Greene. Greene is helping exiled Bolivian General Medrano, who murdered Camille's family, to overthrow the government and become the new president in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of desert.
After foiling Camille's assassination attempt on Medrano by "rescuing" her, Bond follows Greene to a performance ofTosca inBregenz, Austria. Meanwhile, the head of theCIA's South American section, Gregg Beam, along with agentFelix Leiter, strike anoninterference deal with Greene for access to putative stocks of Bolivian oil, which the CIA believes to be the reason for Greene's interest in the land. Bond infiltrates Quantum's meeting at the opera, identifying Quantum's executive board members, and a gunfight ensues. ASpecial Branch bodyguard working for Quantum member Guy Haines, an advisor to the British PM, is thrown off a roof by Bond after refusing to answer his questions. He lands on Greene's car and is shot dead by one of his men. Assuming Bond killed the bodyguard, M orders him back to London for debriefing. When he disobeys, she revokes his passports and cancels hispayment cards. Bond heads toTalamone and convinces his old allyRené Mathis to accompany him toBolivia. They are greeted by consular employee Strawberry Fields, who demands Bond return to the UK immediately. Bond seduces her, and they attend a fundraising party held by Greene. At the party, Bond again rescues Camille from Greene, and they leave. The Bolivian police pull Bond and Camille over but discover Mathis unconscious in the car's boot. One of the officers shoots Mathis before Bond kills both of them. Mathis dies urging Bond to forgive himself, as well as his former lover,Vesper Lynd, for betraying him.
The following day, Bond and Camille survey Quantum's intended land acquisition by air; their plane is damaged by a Bolivian fighter plane. They trick the pursuing plane into destroying itself, skydive into a sinkhole, and discover that Quantum has been secretly damming Bolivia's supply of fresh water to create amonopoly. Back inLa Paz, Bond meets M and learns Quantum killed Fields by drowning her incrude oil. Bond meets Leiter, who discloses Greene and Medrano will meet at a hotel in theAtacama Desert to finalize their agreement, and warns him to escape as the CIA'sSpecial Activities Division arrives. Bond and Camille infiltrate the hotel, where Greene blackmails Medrano into signing a contract that will make Medrano the leader of Bolivia in exchange for the land rights. The contract will make Greene Bolivia's sole water provider at significantly higher rates. Bond avenges Mathis by killing the police chief, takes down the security detail and confronts Greene. Meanwhile, Camille kills Medrano, avenging the rapes and murders of her family. The struggle leaves the hotel (which is powered by flammable hydrogenfuel cells) destroyed by fire. Bond captures Greene and interrogates him about Quantum. Bond then leaves him stranded in the desert with only a can of engine oil to drink. Bond and Camille kiss, and she wishes him luck in conquering his demons.
InKazan,Russia, Bond finds Vesper's former lover, Yusef Kabira, a member of Quantum who seduces agents with valuable connections and is indirectly responsible for her death. After saving Kabira's latest target, Corrine, who works inCanadian intelligence, Bond allows MI6 to arrest Kabira. Outside, M tells Bond that Greene was found dead in the middle of the desert, shot twice in the head with oil found in his stomach. Bond admits that M was right about Vesper. M tells Bond she needs him back; he responds that he never left. Bond drops Vesper's necklace behind him as he walks away in the snow.
Daniel Craig asJames Bond. Craig's physical training for his reprise of the role placed extra effort into running and boxing, to spare him the injuries he sustained on his stunts in the first film.[6] Craig felt he was fitter, being less bulky than in the first film.[7] He also practised speedboating and stunt driving. Craig feltCasino Royale was [physically] "a walk in the park" compared toQuantum of Solace, which required a different performance from him becauseQuantum of Solace is a revenge film, not a love story likeCasino Royale.[7] While filming in Pinewood, he suffered a gash when kicked in his face,[8] which required eight stitches, and a fingertip was sliced off. He laughed these off, noting they did not delay filming, and joked his finger would enable him to have a criminal career (though it had grown back when he made this comment).[7] He also had minor plastic surgery on his face.[9] The actor advised Paul Haggis on the script and helped chooseMarc Forster as the director.[10]
Olga Kurylenko asCamille Montes, a Bolivian agent with her own vendetta regarding Greene and Medrano. Forster chose her because out of the 400 women who auditioned, includingLisa Ray, she seemed the least nervous.[11][12] A then-unknownGal Gadot was asked to audition for the role, which kick-started her acting career.[13][14] When Kurylenko read the script, she was glad it did not include a sex scene with Craig; she felt it would have distracted viewers from her performance.[15] Kurylenko spent three weeks training to fight with weapons, and she learnt a form of indoor skydiving known as body flying.[16] Kurylenko said she had to do "training non-stop from the morning to the evening" for the action scenes, overcoming her fears with the help of Craig and the stunt team.[17][18] She was given a DVD box set of Bond films, since the franchise was not easily available to watch in her native Ukraine.[16] Kurylenko foundMichelle Yeoh inTomorrow Never Dies inspiring "because she did the fight scenes by herself."[11] The producers had intended to cast a South American actress in the role,[19] thus, Kurylenko trained with adialect coach to perform with a Spanish accent.[18] She said that the accent was easy for her because she has "a lot of Hispanic friends, from Latin America and Spain, and it's an accent I've always heard".[20] When reflecting on her experience as aBond girl, she stated she was proudest of overcoming her fears in performing stunts.[21]
Mathieu Amalric asDominic Greene, the main villain. He is a leading member of Quantum posing as a businessman working inreforestation and charity funding for environmental science. In the 2015 Bond filmSpectre, he is revealed to have been a member of thetitular crime syndicate, of which Quantum is a subsidiary. Amalric acknowledged taking the role was an easy decision because, "It's impossible to say to your kids that 'I could have been in a Bond film but I refused.'"[16] Amalric wanted to wear make-up for the role, but Forster explained that he wanted Greene not to look grotesque, but to symbolise the hidden evils in society.[8] Amalric modelled his performance on "the smile ofTony Blair [and] the craziness ofSarkozy", the latter of whom he called "the worst villain we [the French] have ever had … he walks around thinking he's in a Bond film."[22] He later claimed this was not criticism of either politician, but rather an example of how a politician relies on performance instead of a genuine policy to win power. "Sarkozy, is just a better actor than [his presidential opponent]Ségolène Royal—that's all," he explained.[23] Amalric and Forster reconceived the character, who was supposed to have a "special skill" in the script, to someone who uses pure animal instinct when fighting Bond in the climax.[24]Bruno Ganz was also considered for the part,[19] but Forster decided Amalric gave the character a 'pitiful' quality.[24]
Giancarlo Giannini asRené Mathis, Bond's ally who was mistakenly believed to be a traitor inCasino Royale. Having been acquitted, he chooses to help Bond again in his quest to find out who betrayed him.
Gemma Arterton as Strawberry Fields, anMI6 agent who works at the British consulate in Bolivia. Fields, who is merely an office worker as described by M, takes herself seriously and tries to overpower Bond when the pair meet. She is later seduced by Bond, infiltrates Greene's fund raiser party with him and ends up paying the ultimate price. Forster found Arterton a witty actress and selected her from a reported 1,500 candidates. One of the casting directors asked her to audition for the role, having seen her portray Rosaline inLove's Labour's Lost at theGlobe Theatre.[25] Arterton said Fields was "not so frolicsome" as other Bond girls, but is instead "fresh and young, not ... afemme fatale".[26] Arterton described Fields as a homage to the 1960s Bond girls, comparing her red wig to that ofDiana Rigg, who playedTracy Bond inOn Her Majesty's Secret Service. Rigg, alongsideHonor Blackman, is one of her favourite Bond girls.[25] Arterton had to film her character's death scene first day on the set, where she was completely covered head to toe in non-toxic black paint. The character's full name, which is a reference tothe Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever", is never actually uttered on screen; when she introduces herself to Bond, she says "Mr Bond, my name is Fields, I'm from the Consulate." Robert A. Caplen suggests that this is a conscious effort to portray a woman 'whose character attributes are neither undermined nor compromised' by her name, even though her name may have sexual overtones reminiscent of earlierBond girls.[27] In August 2018, Arterton wrote a short story titled Woke Woman based on the character.[28]
Anatole Taubman as Elvis, Greene's second-in-command. Taubman wanted to make Elvis "as colourful, as edgy and as interesting as possible", with one of his suggestions being thebowl cut.[29] Amalric and Taubman improvised a backstory for Elvis: he is Dominic's cousin and once lived on the streets before being inducted into Quantum. He called Elvis "a bit of a goofball. He thinks he's all that but he's not really. … He's not a comic guy. He definitely takes himself very serious, but maybe by his taking himself too serious he may become friendly".[30]
Jesper Christensen asMr. White, whom Bond captured after he stole the money won atCasino Royale in Montenegro.
David Harbour as Gregg Beam, the CIA section chief for South America and a contact of Felix Leiter.
Joaquín Cosío as General Medrano, the exiled general whom Greene is helping to get back into power, in return for support of his organisation. He murdered Camille's entire family when she was a young girl.
Jeffrey Wright asFelix Leiter, Bond's ally at the CIA. Early script drafts gave Leiter a larger role, but his screentime was restricted by on-set rewrites.[32]
Judi Dench asM. Forster felt Dench was underused in the previous films and wanted to make her part bigger, having her interact with Bond more because she is "the only woman Bond doesn't see in a sexual context", which Forster finds interesting.[33]
Fernando Guillén Cuervo as Carlos, the Colonel of Bolivian Police, the chief of all police forces, and the contact of René Mathis in Bolivia.
Neil Jackson as Edmund Slate, a henchman who fights Bond in Haiti.
Simon Kassianides as Yusef Kabira, a member of Quantum who seduces female agents and manipulates them into giving away classified information. He is indirectly responsible forVesper Lynd's death.
Stana Katic as Corrine Veneau, a Canadian agent and Yusef's latest target.
Glenn Foster as Craig Mitchell, M's bodyguard and a double agent.
Oona Chaplin as Perla de las Dunas's receptionist, a woman saved by Camille Montes in one of the last sequences.
Jesús Ochoa as Lieutenant Orso, a bodyguard of the exiled General Medrano
Marc Forster asked his friends and fellow directorsGuillermo del Toro andAlfonso Cuarón to appear in cameos. Cuarón appears as a Bolivian helicopter pilot, while del Toro provides several other voices.[34]
If you remember inChinatown, if you control the water you control the whole development of the country. I think it's true. Right now it appears to be oil, but there's a lot of other resources that we don't think about too much but are all essential, and they're very limited and every country needs it. Because every country knows that raising the standard of living (and populations are getting bigger) is the way we're all going.
In October 2005, before the beginning of production ofCasino Royale,Michael G. Wilson announced thatNeal Purvis and Robert Wade were working on a screenplay for the next film. They deliberately wroteCasino Royale to tie in to the next film so they could exploit Bond's emotions following Vesper's death in the previous film.[35] Purvis and Wade's first storyline followed Bond releasing Mr. White in Siena so that he could follow him and find his employers. Bond would later infiltrate the mysterious organisation, which is being led by the villain, Dante, who is aligned with Yusuf Kabira, Vesper's boyfriend.[36] In July 2006, asCasino Royale entered post-production, Eon Productions announcedRoger Michell, who directed Craig inEnduring Love andThe Mother, had entered negotiations to direct, and the next film would be based on an original idea by Wilson.[37] The film was confirmed for a 2 May 2008 release date, with Craig reprising the lead role.[38] Months later, in October 2006, Michell stepped down as director citing the slow progress on the script.[39] Upon Michell's departure, Sony Entertainment vice chairman Jeff Blake admitted a production schedule of 18 months was a very short window, and the release date was pushed back to late 2008.[40] Purvis and Wade completed their draft of the script by April 2007,[41] andPaul Haggis, who polished theCasino Royale script, began his rewrite the next month.[42] Work on script was delayed by the2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Haggis's draft was originally titledSleep of the Dead.[43]
Following Michell's departure,Tony Scott,Jonathan Mostow,Marc Forster, andAlex Proyas were under consideration to replace him.[42] In June 2007, Forster was confirmed as director.[44] He was surprised that he was approached for the job, stating he was not a big Bond film fan, and that he would not have accepted had he not seenCasino Royale which he felt had humanised Bond; since travelling the world had become less exotic since the series's advent, it made sense to focus more on Bond as a character. Born in Germany and raised in Switzerland, Forster was the first Bond director not to come from theCommonwealth of Nations, although he noted that Bond's mother is Swiss, making him somewhat appropriate to handle the British icon.[45] The director collaborated strongly withBarbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, noting they only blocked two very expensive ideas he had.[19] The director foundCasino Royale's 144-minute running time too long, and wanted his follow-up to be "tight and fast … like a bullet".[46]
Because Bond plays it real, I thought the political circumstances should be real too, even though Bond shouldn't be a political film. I thought the more political I make it, the more real it feels, not just with Bolivia and what's happening in Haiti, but with all these corporations like Shell and Chevron saying they're green because it's so fashionable to be green. During the Cold War, everything was very clear, the good guys and the bad guys. Today there's much overlapping of good and bad. It isn't as morally distinct, because we all have both elements in us.
— Marc Forster on the political landscape of the film.[47]
Haggis, Forster and Wilson rewrote the story.[48] Haggis said he completed his script two hours before the2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike officially began.[45] Forster noted a running theme in his films was emotionally repressed protagonists, and the theme of the picture would be Bond learning to trust after feeling betrayed by Vesper.[49] Forster said he created the Camille character as a strong female counterpart to Bond rather than a casual love interest; she openly shows emotions similar to those which Bond experiences but is unable to express.[50] Haggis located his draft's climax in theSwiss Alps,[51] but Forster wanted the action sequences to be based around the fourclassical elements of earth, water, air and fire.[52] The decision to homageOddjob's murder of Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) inGoldfinger in Fields's death came about as Forster wanted to show oil had replaced gold as the most precious material.[47] The producers rejected Haggis's idea that Vesper Lynd had a child, because "Bond was an orphan ... Once he finds the kid, Bond can't just leave the kid".[53] Thewater supply issue in Bolivia was the main theme, with a story based on theCochabambaWater Revolt.[54]
Wilson decided on the titleQuantum of Solace only "a few days" before its announcement on 24 January 2008.[26] It was the name of a short story inIan Fleming's anthologyFor Your Eyes Only (1960).[55] Apart from the title, the film is unrelated to the short story except for the thematic element that "when theQuantum of Solace drops to zero, humanity and consideration of one human for another is gone". Daniel Craig admitted, "I was unsure at first. Bond is looking for his quantum of solace and that's what he wants, he wants his closure. Ian Fleming says that if you don't have a quantum of solace in your relationship then the relationship is over. It's that spark of niceness in a relationship that if you don't have you might as well give up."[16] He said that "Bond doesn't have that because his girlfriend [Vesper Lynd] has been killed",[55] and therefore, "[Bond is] looking for revenge … to make himself happy with the world again".[26] Afterwards, Quantum was made the name of the organisation introduced inCasino Royale.[56] Craig noted the letter Q itself looks rather odd.[7]
In a December 2011 interview, Craig stated: "We had the bare bones of a script and then there was a writers' strike and there was nothing we could do. We couldn't employ a writer to finish it. I say to myself, 'Never again', but who knows? There was me trying to rewrite scenes—and a writer I am not".[57] He said that he and Forster "were the ones allowed to do it. The rules were that you couldn't employ anyone as a writer, but the actor and director could work on scenes together. We were stuffed. We got away with it, but only just. It was never meant to be as much of a sequel as it was, but it ended up being a sequel, starting where the last one finished".[57] In a November 2024 interview before a public audience atChapman University, Craig was more blunt in recalling the experience: "Fucking nightmare...We probably should never have gone and started production, but we did".[58]
During filming, after the strike ended, Forster liked aspec script by Joshua Zetumer, and hired him to reshape scenes for the later parts of the shoot, with which the director was still unsatisfied.[48] Forster had the actors rehearse their scenes, as he liked to film scenes continually.[23] Zetumer rewrote dialogue depending on the actors' ideas each day.[23]
Strada delle Forre inTremosine (Italy) where the movie begins.
Quantum of Solace was shot in six countries.[5]Second unit filming began in Italy at thePalio di Siena horse race on 16 August 2007,[59] although at that point Forster was unsure how it would fit into the film.[52] Some scenes were filmed also inMaratea andCraco, two small distinctive towns inBasilicata in southern Italy.[60] Other places used for location shooting wereMadrid in August 2007;[61]Baja California, Mexico in early 2008, for shots of the aerial battle;[62][63]Malcesine,Limone sul Garda andTremosine in Italy during March,[64] and atTalamone during the end of April.[65] The main unit began on 3 January 2008[19] atPinewood Studios. The007 Stage was used for the fight in the art gallery,[16] and an MI6 safehouse hidden within the city'scisterns,[66] while other stages housed Bond's Bolivian hotel suite,[67] and the MI6 headquarters.[66] Interior and exterior airport scenes were filmed atFarnborough Airfield and the snowy closing scenes were filmed at the Bruneval Barracks inAldershot.[68]
Shooting inPanama City began on 7 February 2008 atHoward Air Force Base. The country doubled for Haiti and Bolivia, with the National Institute of Culture of Panama standing in for a hotel in the latter country. A sequence requiring several hundredextras was also shot at nearbyColón.[69] Shooting in Panama was also carried out atFort Sherman, a former US military base on the Colón coast. Forster was disappointed he could only shoot the boat chase in that harbour, as he had a more spectacular vision for the scene.[70] Officials in the country worked with the locals to "minimise inconvenience" for the cast and crew, and in return hoped the city's exposure in the film would increase tourism.[71] The crew was going to move toCusco, Peru for ten days of filming on 2 March,[69] but the location was cancelled for budget reasons.[5] Twelve days of filming in Chile began on 24 March atAntofagasta. There was shooting inCobija, theParanal Observatory, and other locations in theAtacama Desert.[72] Forster chose the desert and the observatory'sESO Hotel to represent Bond's rigid emotions, and being on the verge of committing a vengeful act as he confronts Greene in the film's climax.[56][73]
Marc Forster chose theAtacama Desert to represent Bond's vengefulness in the climax.
During filming inSierra Gorda, Chile, the local mayor, Carlos Lopez, staged a protest because he was angry at the filmmakers' portrayal of theAntofagasta Region as part of Bolivia. He was arrested, detained briefly, and put on trial two days later. Eon dismissed his claim that they needed his permission to film in the area.[74][75] Michael G. Wilson explained that Bolivia was appropriate to the plot, because of the country's history of water problems,[73] and was surprised the two countries disliked each other a century after theWar of the Pacific.[76] In a poll by Chilean daily newspaperLa Segunda, 75 per cent of its readers disagreed with Lopez's actions, due to the negative image of Chile they felt it presented, and the controversy's potential to put off productions looking to film in the country in the future.[77]
From 4–12 April, the main unit shot on Sienese rooftops.[65] Shooting on the real rooftops turned out to be less expensive than building them at Pinewood.[5] The next four weeks were scheduled for filming the car chase atLake Garda andCarrara.[65] On 14 April, a closing scene featuringJesper Christensen's Mr. White andPaul Ritter's Guy Haines getting killed by Bond after Bond said his iconic "Bond, James Bond" line was reportedly filmed, but the filmmakers removed it during post-production in case they decided to bring back Mr. White and/or continue the Quantum story arc in future sequels. The scene's deletion later enabled Mr. White's return inSpectre.[78] On 19 April, anAston Martin engineer driving aDBS to the set crashed into the lake. He survived, and was fined £400 for reckless driving.[79] Another accident occurred on 21 April, and two days later, two stuntmen were seriously injured, with one, Greek stuntman Aris Comninos, having to be put in intensive care. Filming of the scenes was temporarily halted so that Italian police could investigate the causes of the accidents.[80] Stunt co-ordinator Gary Powell said the accidents were a testament to the realism of the action.[51] Rumours of a "curse" spread among tabloid media, something which deeply offended Craig, who disliked that they compared Comninos's accident to something like his minor finger injury later on the shoot (also part of the "curse"). Comninos recovered safely from his injury.[7]
For the role Craig trained to be less bulky than inCasino Royale and toldMen's Fitness magazine "In fact, I was much fitter for this film compared toCasino Royale – I really had to be – and I was running a hell of a lot more in training, just so I could do these scenes, whereas last time I spent far more time pumping heavy weights to bulk up so I could look big."[81]
Filming took place at thefloating opera stage atBregenz, Austria, from 28 April – 9 May 2008. The sequence in which Bond stalks the villains during a performance ofTosca required 1,500 extras.[82] The production used a large model of an eye, which Forster felt fitted in the Bond style, and the opera itself has parallels to the film.[83] A short driving sequence was filmed at the nearbyFeldkirch, Vorarlberg.[84] The crew returned to Italy from 13 to 17 May to shoot a (planned) car crash at the marble quarry in Carrara,[85] and a recreation of the Palio di Siena at thePiazza del Campo in Siena. 1,000 extras were hired for a scene where Bond emerges from theFonte Gaia. Originally, he would have emerged from the city's cisterns atSiena Cathedral, but this was thought disrespectful.[65] By June the crew returned to Pinewood for four weeks,[83] where new sets (including the interior of the hotel in the climax) were built.[48][67] Thewrap party was held on 21 June.[86]
Production designerPeter Lamont, a crew member on 18 previous Bond films, retired afterCasino Royale.[87] Forster hiredDennis Gassner in his stead, having admired his work onPeter Weir's 1998 psychological comedy-drama filmThe Truman Show and the films of theCoen brothers.[49] Craig said the film would have "a touch ofKen Adam",[88] while Michael G. Wilson also called Gassner's designs "apostmodern look atmodernism".[67] Forster said he felt the early Bond films' design "were ahead of their time",[49] and enjoyed the clashing of an older style with his own because it created a unique look unto itself.[89] Gassner wanted his sets to emphasise Craig's "great angular, textured face and wonderful blue eyes", and totally redesigned the MI6 headquarters because he felt Judi Dench "was a bit tired in the last film, so I thought, let's bring her into a new world".[90]
Louise Frogley replacedLindy Hemming ascostume designer, though Hemming remained as supervisor. Hemming hiredBrioni for Bond's suits since her tenure on the series began with 1995'sGoldenEye, but Lindsay Pugh, another supervisor, explained their suits were "too relaxed".Tom Ford was hired to tailor "sharper" suits for Craig. Pugh said the costumes aimed towards the 1960s feel, especially for Bond and Fields.Prada provided the dresses for both Bond girls.Jasper Conran designed Camille's ginger bandeau, bronze skirt and gold fish necklace,[91] whileChrome Hearts designed gothic jewelry for Amalric's character, which the actor liked enough to keep.[92] Sophie Harley, who createdVesper Lynd's earrings and Algerian loveknot necklace inCasino Royale, was asked to create another version of the necklace.[93]
The film returns to the traditionalgun barrel opening shot, which was altered into part of the story forCasino Royale where it was moved to the beginning of the title sequence. In this film, the gun barrel sequence was moved to the end, which Wilson explained was done for a surprise,[94] and to signify that the conclusion of the story had begun in the previous film. The opening credits were created byMK12. Having worked on Forster'sStranger than Fiction (2006) andThe Kite Runner (2007), MK12 spontaneously began developing the sequence early on, and had a good idea of its appearance which meant it did not have to be redone when thetitle singer was changed. MK12 selected various twilight colours to represent Bond's mood and focused on a dot motif based on the gun barrel shot. MK12 also worked on scenes withgraphical user interfaces, including the electronic table MI6 uses,[95] and thePort-au-Prince, Haiti title cards.[96]
Quantum of Solace was the last inFord's three-film deal that began with 2002'sDie Another Day. Although Ford sold over 90% of theAston Martin company in 2007, theAston Martin DBS (2007) returned for the film's car chase aroundLake Garda;[97]Dan Bradley was hired assecond unit director because of his work on the second and thirdBourne films, so the film would continue the gritty action style begun inCasino Royale.[98] He had intended to useFord GTs for the opening chase,[99] but it was replaced by theAlfa Romeo 159.[100] After location filming in Italy, further close-ups of Craig, the cars and the truck were shot at Pinewood against a blue screen.[101] Originally, three Alfa Romeos were in the sequence, but Forster felt the scene was too long and re-edited it so there would be two Alfas chasing Bond.[102] Ten cars were supplied by Aston Martin. Six 'hero' cars, needed for close-ups and promotional work, all survived filming unharmed with four more cars used for special effects and stunts.[103][self-published source?]
Fourteen cameras were used to film thePalio di Siena footage, which was later edited into the main sequence. Aerial shots using helicopters were banned, and the crew were also forbidden from showing any violence "involving either people or animals."[59] To shoot the foot chase inSiena in April 2008 four camera cranes were built in the town, and acable camera was also used.[64]Framestore worked on the Siena chase, duplicating the 1,000 extras during principal photography to match shots of the 40,000-strong audience at the real Palio, removing wires that held Craig and the stuntmen in the rooftop segment of the chase, and digital expansion of the floor and skylight in the art gallery Bond and Mitchell fall into.[101] The art gallery fight was intended to be simple, but during filming Craig's stunt double accidentally fell from the construction scaffolding. Forster preferred the idea of Bond hanging from ropes reaching for his gun to kill Mitchell, rather than having both men run out of the building to continue their chase as specified in the script, and the number of effects shots increased.[101]
To film the aerial dogfight, a "Snakehead" camera was built and placed on the nose and tail of aPiper Aerostar 700.SolidWorks, who provided the software used to design the camera, stated "pilots for the first time can fly as aggressively as they dare without sacrificing the drama of the shot." The camera could turn 360 degrees and was shaped like aperiscope.[104] The crew also mounted SpaceCams on helicopters, and placed cameras with 1600mm lenses underground, to cover the action.[62] Forster wanted to film the plane fight as a homage toAlfred Hitchcock'sNorth by Northwest, and chose planes like theDouglas DC-3 to suit that.[89][105]
Thefree-fall scene involved its own set of challenges; director Marc Forster didn't want to shoot the scene against a green screen.[106] The scene was shot in an air tunnel at Bodyflight, which offers the same effects as skydiving.[106] Daniel Craig and Olga Kurylenko did their own stunts for this scene.[106] While a great solution for the actors' performances, the technique presented enormous VFX challenges: relighting shots captured in a tall white tube to match the sky over the Bolivian desert; and the impossibility of filming medium to wide shots of the actors. An array of eightDalsa Origin cameras (supported by seven HD cameras and a 35mm hand-held camera, all running in sync) was used to create avirtual camera with which to shoot the actors floating in the simulator.Ged Wright and his team atDouble Negative[102] developed a method to use the data from these cameras that allowed these real performances to be placed in a synthetic environment as seen by a synthetic camera.During the shooting in the wind tunnel Craig and Kurylenko wore wind-resistant contact lenses that enabled them to open their eyes as they fell. For safety and comfort, they only shot for 30 seconds at a time.[107] Forster wished he had had more time to work on the free-fall scene.[101]
TheMoving Picture Company created the climactic hotel sequence. The fire effects were supervised byChris Corbould, and post-production MPC had to enhance the sequence by making the smoke look closer to the actors, so it would look more dangerous.[101] A full-scale replica of the building's exterior was used for the exploding part Bond and Camille escape from. The boat chase was another scene that required very little CGI. Machine FX worked on replacing a few shots of visible stuntmen with a digital version of Craig's head,[102] and recreated the boats Bond jumps over on his motorcycle to make it look more dangerous.[101] Crowd creation was done for theTosca scene by Machine FX, to make the performance look like it had sold out.[102] Forster edited the opera scene to resembleThe Man Who Knew Too Much.[70] In total, there are 900+ visual effects shots inQuantum of Solace.[101]
David Arnold, who composed the scores for the previous four Bond films, returned forQuantum of Solace. He said that Forster likes to work very closely with his composers and that, in comparison to the accelerated schedule he was tied to onCasino Royale, the intention was to spend a long time scoring the film to "really work it out." He also said he would be "taking a different approach" with the score.[108] Arnold composed the music based on impressions from reading the script, and Forster edited those into the film.[109] As withCasino Royale, Arnold kept use of the "James Bond Theme" to a minimum.[52] Arnold collaborated withKieran Hebden for "Crawl, End Crawl", a remix of the score played during the end credits.[110]
The film premiered at theOdeon Leicester Square on 29 October 2008. PrincesWilliam andHarry attended, and proceeds from the screening were donated to the charitiesHelp for Heroes andthe Royal British Legion.[117] The film was originally scheduled to be released in the UK and North America on 7 November; however, Eon pushed forward the British date to 31 October during filming,[118] while the American date was pushed back in August to 14 November, afterHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had been moved to 2009, thereby allowing the distributors to market the film over the autumn blockbusterThanksgiving holiday weekend.[119] In Australia, the film was moved a week to 19 November, after20th Century Fox chose to releaseAustralia onQuantum of Solace's original date of 26 November.[120]
Returningproduct placement partners fromCasino Royale includedFord,Heineken,Smirnoff,Omega SA,Virgin Atlantic andSony Ericsson.[121] A reported £50 million was earned in product placement, which tops the Bond films' record of £44 million forDie Another Day.[122] The 2009Ford Ka is driven by Camille in the film.[123]Avon created a fragrance called Bond Girl 007 withGemma Arterton as the "face" of the product.[124]Coca-Cola became a promotional partner, rebrandingCoke Zero as "Coke Zero Zero 7." A tie-in advert featured the orchestral element of "Another Way to Die."[125] In the film, Coca-Cola was briefly seen being served at Dominic Greene's party. Sony held a competition, "Mission for a Million," enabling registered players to use their products to complete certain tasks. Each completed "mission" gave consumers a chance to win $1 million and a trip to a top-secret location.[126]
Corgi International Limited made 5-inch action figures and gadgets (such as a voice-activated briefcase), as well as its traditionaldie-cast toy vehicles.[127][128] It also created 7-inch figures of characters from the previous films.[129]Scalextric released four racing sets to coincide with the film.[130]Activision released its first James Bond game, also titledQuantum of Solace, which is based on bothCasino Royale andQuantum of Solace. It is the firstBond game to feature Craig's likeness and the firstseventh-generation console game in the series.Swatch designed a series of wrist watches, each of them inspired by a Bond villain.[131]
Quantum of Solace was released on DVD andBlu-ray byMGM Home Entertainment via20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in Australia, the United Kingdom and North America from 18 to 24 March 2009. On the DVD sales chart the film opened at No. 3, grossing $21,894,957 from 1.21 million DVD units sold.[134] As of 1 November 2009[update], 2,643,250 DVD units were sold, generating $44,110,750 in sales revenue.[134] These figures do not include Blu-ray sales or DVD rentals. The DVDs were released in both a standard one-disc set and a deluxe two-disc special edition. There are no audio commentaries or deleted scenes on these editions.[135] AnUltra HD Blu-ray release was released on October 22, 2019.
Upon its opening in the UK, the film grossed £4.9 million ($8 million), breaking the record for the largest Friday opening (31 October 2008) in the UK.[136] The film then broke the UK opening-weekend record, taking £15.5 million ($25 million) in its first weekend, surpassing the previous record of £14.9 million held byHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It earned a further £14 million in France and Sweden—where it opened on the same day. The weekend gross of the equivalent of $10.6 million in France was a record for the series, surpassing whatCasino Royale made in five days by 16%. The $2.7 million gross in Sweden was the fourth-highest opening for a film there.[137][138]
The following week, the film was playing in 60 countries. It grossed the equivalent of $39.3 million in the UK, $16.5 million in France and $7.7 million in Germany on 7 November 2008.[139] The film broke records in Switzerland, Finland, United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Romania and Slovenia. Its Chinese and Indian openings were the second-largest ever for foreign-language films.[140]
The film grossed $27 million on its opening day in 3,451 cinemas in Canada and the United States, where it was the number one film for the weekend, with $67.5 million and $19,568 average per cinema.[141] It was the highest-grossing opening weekendBond film in the US,[142] and tied withThe Incredibles for the biggest November opening outside of theHarry Potter series. From the British opening on 31 October, through to the US opening weekend on 14 November, the film had grossed a total $319,128,882 worldwide. The film grossed $168.4 million in Canada and the US, and $421.2 million in other territories, for a total of $589.6 million.[4]
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 63% based on 299 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Brutal and breathless,Quantum Of Solace delivers tender emotions along with frenetic action, but coming on the heels ofCasino Royale, it's still a bit of a disappointment."[143] OnMetacritic the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100 based on 48 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[144] Critics generally preferredCasino Royale, but continued to praise Craig's depiction of Bond, and agree that the film is still an enjoyable addition to the series. The action sequences and pacing were praised, but criticism grew over the realism and serious but gritty feeling that the film carried over.[145] The film earned an average grade of "B−" fromCinemaScore's audience surveys, on an A+ to F scale, the lowest of the Craig era as Bond.[146]
Roger Moore, the third actor to play Bond in the films, said that Craig was a "damn good Bond but the film as a whole, there was a bit too much flash cutting [and] it was just like a commercial of the action. There didn't seem to be any geography and you were wondering what the hell was going on."[147]Kim Newman ofEmpire magazine gave it a 4/5 rating, remarking it was not "bigger and better thanCasino Royale, [which is] perhaps a smart move in that there's still a sense at the finish that Bond's mission has barely begun." However, he expressed nostalgia for the more humorous Bond films.[148]The Sunday Times review noted that "followingCasino Royale was never going to be easy, but the director Marc Forster has brought the brand's successful relaunch crashing back to earth—with a yawn"; the screenplay "is at times incomprehensible" and the casting "is a mess." The review concludes that "Bond has been stripped of his iconic status. He no longer represents anything particularly British, or even modern. In place of glamour, we get a spurious grit; instead of style, we getproduct placement; in place of fantasy, we get a redundant and silly realism."[149]The Guardian gave the film 3 stars, and was particularly fond of Craig's performance, saying he "made the part his own, every inch the coolly ruthless agent-killer, nursing a broken heart and coldly suppressed rage" and calling the film "a crash-bang Bond, high on action, low on quips, long on location glamour, short on product placement"; it concludes "Quantum of Solace isn't as good asCasino Royale: the smart elegance of Daniel Craig's Bond debut has been toned down in favour of conventional action. But the man himself powers this movie; he carries the film: it's an indefinably difficult task for an actor. Craig measures up."[150]
Screen Daily says, "Notices will focus—rightly—on Craig's magnetism as the steely, sexy, murderous MI6 agent, but two other factors weigh in and freshen up proceedings: Forster's new technical team, led by cinematographer Roberto Schaefer and production designer Dennis Gassner. And the ongoing shift of M, as played by Judi Dench, to front and centre: the Bond girls fade into insignificance as she becomes his moral counterpoint and theirs is the only real relationship on screen." The review continues, "Bond is, as has been previously noted, practically theMartin Scorsese of theBAFTAs: 22 films later, with grosses probably close to theGDP of one of the small nations it depicts, it's still waiting for thatAlexander Korda award. The bestCasino Royale could achieve was a gong for sound. Will this be the year that changes its fortunes?"[151]Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times, who praised the previous film, dislikedQuantum of Solace. He wrote that the plot was mediocre, characters weak, and that Bond lacked his usual personality, despite his praise for Craig's interpretation of the role. Throughout his review, he emphasised that "James Bond is not an action hero."[152]Kate Muir wrote inThe Times that "TheBond franchise is 50 years old this year, and the scriptless mess ofQuantum of Solace may be considered its mid-life crisis", before she went on to praise the film's successorSkyfall as a "resurrection".[153] Some writers criticised the choice ofQuantum of Solace as a title. "Yes, it's a bad title," wrote Marni Weisz, the editor ofFamous, a Canadian film publication distributed in cinemas in that country, in an editorial entitled "At least it's notOctopussy."[154]
Not all the reviews were as critical. Tim Robey ofThe Daily Telegraph, in a reflective review of the film in 2013, was positive. He praised the film's shorter runtime, claiming that many otherBond films run out of steam before the end, and includedCasino Royale in this category. Describing the film as having a "rock-solid dramatic idea and the intelligence to run with it", he gave the film four stars out of five.[155]
Craig retrospectively stated that the2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike negatively impacted on the production and result ofQuantum of Solace.[156][157] During a 2021 interview onThe Empire Film Podcast, Craig described the film as a "shit show".[158]
The film was nominated for Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Visual Effects, Film and Sound Editing at the 2008Satellite Awards, winning Best Song.[159] It was nominated for Best Action Movie at the 2009Critics' Choice Awards,[160] and at theEmpire Awards, which is voted for by the public, it was shortlisted for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Newcomer, Best Thriller and Best Soundtrack.[161] It was nominated for theSaturn Award for Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film, while Kurylenko and Dench were both nominated for the Best Supporting Actress award.[162] It was nominated by theVisual Effects Society Awards for "Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture."[163]
Movie critic Gilbert Cruz listed the film's pre-titles sequence as the eighth-greatest car chase in film history.[164]
