Daniel Craig reveals James Bond film that should ‘never have started production’-Robert Oliver-Entertainment – Metro

Daniel Craig has said Quantum of Solace should have been delayed (Picture: Danjaq/Eon Productions/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

Daniel Craig has revealed that James Bond film Quantum of Solace, his second in the role, ‘should never have started production’.

The former James Bond actor, 56, made his debut as 007 in 2005 film Casino Royale, which was a huge critical and commercial hit.

Following up that return for Bond was Quantum of Solace, which began production shortly after Casino Royale and was released in 2008.

It starred Craig as the master spy opposite Judi Dench, Olga Kurylenko, David Harbour, Mathieu Almaric, Jeffrey Wright, and Gemma Arterton.

Despite being another box office hit, reviews of Quantum of Solace were mixed and fans regard it as the weakest of Craig’s five Bond films.

Now, 16 years later, Craig has admitted that production on the 2008 film was problematic and now says production should have been paused.

Quantum of Solace follows Bond as he hunts down Vesper Lynd’s killers (Picture: Eon/Danjaq/Sony/Kobal/Shutterstock)

Speaking on the Awards Chatter podcast, he said: ‘[Quantum of Solace] was the difficult second album — [it was] a f*****g nightmare.

‘[Film writer and producer] Paul Haggis did a pass on the script. Then he went off and joined the picket line and we didn’t have writers.’

Craig is referencing the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike, which affected the production of numerous films and TV shows for three months.

Shows affected included Breaking Bad, Lost, Family Guy, and dozens of others. Famous films includingX-Men Origins: Wolverine and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen were also affected in Hollywood.

‘I ended up writing a lot of that film, which I probably shouldn’t say’ (Picture: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

A high-profile production itself, Quantum of Solace was also caught up in the strikes – filming then started without a properly developed script.

Craig said: ‘We should never have started production. I ended up writing a lot of that film, which I probably shouldn’t say. There are some amazing stunt sequences in it but it just didn’t quite work.’

He continued: ‘The storytelling wasn’t there. That’s a lesson — starting a movie without a script is not a good idea.’

The film still has a modestly positive score of 63% on Rotten Tomatoes but is often ranked among the weakest of the 25 Eon productions James Bond films.

The film was still a major box office success in 2008 (Picture: Col Pics/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

Despite the criticism, it still made £467 million at the worldwide box office, which, adjusted for inflation is closer to £750 million these days.

The film follows Bond as he hunts down the network of killers responsible for the death of Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), his love interest from Casino Royale, in a bid to get revenge.

Many fans also regard Quantum of Solace as an indirect sequel to one of the most unconventional films in the Bond franchise, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

The 1969 film saw George Lazenby play Bond for the first and only time and also saw Bond get married for the first and only time – to Tracy Di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg).

At the end of the film, Tracy is brutally killed by villains Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Irma Bunt in a drive-by shooting – the film ends as Bond holds her dead body and weeps.

Many Bond fans believe the end of Casino Royale was inspired by the end of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and that Quantum of Solace was intended as something of a sequel to both films.

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