UK: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and Olga Kurylenko attend the royal world premiere of "Quantum of Solace"

Record ID: 219841

  • Title: UK: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and Olga Kurylenko attend the royal world premiere of "Quantum of Solace"
  • Date: 30th October 2008
  • Summary: FANS
  • Embargoed: 14th November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Reuters ID: LVA7XW70ATHIYSF0AAOATCOTS4LQ
  • Story Text: Daniel Craig seeks vengeance for a lost love and shows a more realistic side to the secret agent in the 22nd installment of the Bond franchise.
    Princes William and Harry were on the red carpet on Wednesday (October 29) for the royal world premiere of the new James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace", which sees Daniel Craig reprise the role of superspy 007.
    The 40-year-old actor and his co-stars were greeted by hundreds of fans and a sea of camera flashes in central London for the 22nd instalment of the Bond franchise.
    Craig showed up wearing a tuxedo and his right arm in a sling after a shoulder operation.
    Quantum of Solace, which follows on directly from the plot of the last Bond movie "Casino Royale", is released in British cinemas on Oct.
    31 and hits theatres in the key U.S. market two weeks later on Nov. 14.
    After Craig wowed critics and audiences with his Bond debut in Casino Royale two years ago, Quantum of Solace is expected to eclipse its global box office take of 594 million USD.
    London's Leicester Square was packed as fans waited to get a glimpse of the secret agent and the British royalty. The 22nd Bond film is the first sequel, said Craig.

    "I took the part on straight from 'Casino Royal' and we finished up telling the story we started in 'Casino Royal' with a man who fell in love and had his heart betrayed and he finds out who he can trust."
    When asked whether the action-packed thrill-ride will finally silence critics as to what the re-generated Bond is, Craig said the issue didn't phase him.

    "Oh I'm not trying to silence critics I'm just trying to make the best film we can, the most entertaining Bond film we can that's all we're trying to do," he told Reuters Television.
    Craig was joined at Wednesday's charity gala screening in central London by co-stars including Ukrainian Olga Kurylenko, who wore a sweeping red dress by Valentino. She said her favourite Bond girls are the most modern as they are the most real.

    "There were different Bond girls, I really liked the last ("Vesper Lynd" played by Eva Green in 'Casino Royal') because we saw that the Bond girl had changed with her and she was a real character she had her own story she was deeper and that was the first movie of Daniel, with him the whole Bond (franchise) somehow changed," she said.
    Bond regular Judi Dench, who had a glittering "007" insignia stuck to the back of her neck, said the grittier, colder and more realistic 007 was what his creator had in mind.

    "It was never going to be quite suitable to have it how it once was, I think it should move and I think Ian Fleming would probably want it like this and to reflect a bit what's going on at the moment," she said.
    Gemma Arterton who will be the envy of many women around the world got to play a love scene with hearthrob Craig. When asked about her experience, the English actresses joked: "I won't say anything about the bad breath but (laughs) of course he doesn't have bad breath but it was fantastic every time I coudln't believe I kept laughing at myself I kept thinking is this really my life. Even now I'm pinching myself thinking is this my life? But it's brilliant isn't it?"
    There too was French actor Mathieu Amalric, the latest in a long line of Bond villains who said he was upset that he didn't get to play in his own love scene, especially with actress Olga Kurylenko. But the "Diving Bell and the Butterfly" actor said he was never meant for stardom.

    "It's the first time in my life I usually play in small independent French films of my friends they invented me as an actor I wasn't supposed to be actor I'm more a director. It's Marc's fault and Barbara and Michael took the risk. It's amazing. I hope, I didn't see the film yet, I'm going to discover it, I hope people will hate him (his character) enough."
    They were joined by Prince William, second in line to the British throne, and younger brother Harry. The brothers have asked for proceeds from the night to benefit charities Help for Heroes and the Royal British Legion.
    In Quantum of Solace Bond crosses Europe and South America to discover why the woman he loved betrayed him before she died.
    He also battles to stop evil eco-terrorist Dominic Greene installing an exiled general in power in what is supposed to be Bolivia in exchange for land containing huge natural resources.
    In a complex web of deceit and diplomacy, the secret agent falls foul both of his enemy and British and U.S. intelligence as his mission becomes intensely personal.
    For German-Swiss director Marc Forster, it is the biggest movie he has taken on to date. He has won acclaim for "Monster's Ball" in 2001 and "Finding Neverland", a biopic of Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie starring Johnny Depp.

    "I basically wanted to take it in that direction because at the end of the last one Bond was in so much pain, and I wanted to continue from that that he is bad, he is broken and he is facing his own demons and that gave the emotional texture of the film that he is on," he told Reuters Television.

    "Quantum of Solace" opens in UK cinemas on October 31 and U.S. movie theatres on November 14.
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