The most famous baccarat gambler of all time was not even a real person, but a fictional character. He was, of course, Secret Agent 007 - James Bond. A high-stakes game of baccarat has become a James Bond trademark as much as his famous martinis - shaken not stirred.
The first James Bond novel, Casino Royale by Ian Fleming (1953) concerned a baccarat game between Bond and bad guy Le Chiffre upon which the fate of the free world depended. Bond also played baccarat in many of the movies, including Dr. No, Thunderball, the 1967 version of Casino Royale, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only, and Golden Eye.
For many people, watching James Bond movies was their first introduction to the exotic game of baccarat and was their inducement to start playing baccarat online.
Play baccarat online at PartyCasino.com.
Casino News Media Profiles
PartyCasino.com
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Poker to feature in Bond-themed evening - 19th December 2008
Hebden Bridge Picture house is hosting a Bond-themed evening on December 20th.
Those who attend will watch a screening of Daniel Craig's latest outing as 007 Quantum of Solace and then move to B@r Place for a casino night, reports the Halifax Courier.
Customers have been invited to turn up in their tuxedos and cocktail dresses, or even dressed as their favourite Bond characters.
There will be alcohol-free cocktails at the cinema as well as canapes and a live jazz band.
After the screening poker fans will be able to hit the felt, where they will be entertained by a video DJ.
While poker is most commonly associated with Craig's Bond because it made up a large part of the story in Casino Royale - his first outing - there will also be roulette and blackjack.
The first glimpse of Bond in the inaugural film of the franchise Dr No sees him sitting at a table playing Chemin de Fer with Sylvia Trench at Les Ambassadeurs Club in London.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Poker News
Casino News
Those who attend will watch a screening of Daniel Craig's latest outing as 007 Quantum of Solace and then move to B@r Place for a casino night, reports the Halifax Courier.
Customers have been invited to turn up in their tuxedos and cocktail dresses, or even dressed as their favourite Bond characters.
There will be alcohol-free cocktails at the cinema as well as canapes and a live jazz band.
After the screening poker fans will be able to hit the felt, where they will be entertained by a video DJ.
While poker is most commonly associated with Craig's Bond because it made up a large part of the story in Casino Royale - his first outing - there will also be roulette and blackjack.
The first glimpse of Bond in the inaugural film of the franchise Dr No sees him sitting at a table playing Chemin de Fer with Sylvia Trench at Les Ambassadeurs Club in London.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Poker News
Casino News
Saturday, December 06, 2008
James Bond Online Slot Coming Soon
Media Man Australia and Casino News Media have it on authority that a new James Bond online slot game and video game will be released soon.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
New Games
Casino News
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
New Games
Casino News
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Craig's Bond flick Quantum of Solace thrashes Australia - News.com.au - 27th November 2008
James Bond star Daniel Craig has got his way - he wanted to thrash Nicole Kidman and he has.
With the first-day box office figures in for both stars' movies, Craig's latest Bond flick Quantum of Solace has easily beaten Kidman's much-hyped epic Australia.
Australia grossed $1.3 million at the box office on its opening day on Wednesday.
Director Baz Luhrmann's romance starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman collected $1,307,853 in ticket sales nationally according to Nielsen EDI figures published by Screen Australia.
It more than doubled the $575,596 taken on the opening day of Luhrmann's last film, Moulin Rouge! in 2001.
But it fell way short of the $2.03 million racked up on one day by the latest James Bond caper Quantum of Solace when it was released last week.
Film expert Bruce Molloy from Bond University said Luhrmann and distributor Twentieth Century Fox would be disappointed with its performance.
"I would think they would hope to do better - I've never seen a saturation publicity campaign like this, ever,'' Professor Molloy said.
"If Quantum of Solace opened by almost half as much again, that is a concern.''
However, Prof Molloy said Australia would be better judged after its opening weekend, and would probably do well off word of mouth.
Inside Film (IF) Magazine journalist Simon De Bruyn agrees.
"It's just not a first day film in my opinion,'' he said.
"It's a long-burn film and the long burn will go over several weeks at the box office.
"And Australians love word of mouth so they'll want to see what their mates think.''
Twentieth Century Fox was asked to comment but did not return calls.
In an interview with news.com.au last week, Craig was asked whether he wanted his film to thrash his former co-star's.
“God yes. What kind of stupid question is that?," he replied.
However, he did admit he couldn’t wait to see Australia because he was a “big Baz Luhrmann fan”.
Craig worked with Kidman in The Golden Compass and The Invasion.
(Credit: News.com.au)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
With the first-day box office figures in for both stars' movies, Craig's latest Bond flick Quantum of Solace has easily beaten Kidman's much-hyped epic Australia.
Australia grossed $1.3 million at the box office on its opening day on Wednesday.
Director Baz Luhrmann's romance starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman collected $1,307,853 in ticket sales nationally according to Nielsen EDI figures published by Screen Australia.
It more than doubled the $575,596 taken on the opening day of Luhrmann's last film, Moulin Rouge! in 2001.
But it fell way short of the $2.03 million racked up on one day by the latest James Bond caper Quantum of Solace when it was released last week.
Film expert Bruce Molloy from Bond University said Luhrmann and distributor Twentieth Century Fox would be disappointed with its performance.
"I would think they would hope to do better - I've never seen a saturation publicity campaign like this, ever,'' Professor Molloy said.
"If Quantum of Solace opened by almost half as much again, that is a concern.''
However, Prof Molloy said Australia would be better judged after its opening weekend, and would probably do well off word of mouth.
Inside Film (IF) Magazine journalist Simon De Bruyn agrees.
"It's just not a first day film in my opinion,'' he said.
"It's a long-burn film and the long burn will go over several weeks at the box office.
"And Australians love word of mouth so they'll want to see what their mates think.''
Twentieth Century Fox was asked to comment but did not return calls.
In an interview with news.com.au last week, Craig was asked whether he wanted his film to thrash his former co-star's.
“God yes. What kind of stupid question is that?," he replied.
However, he did admit he couldn’t wait to see Australia because he was a “big Baz Luhrmann fan”.
Craig worked with Kidman in The Golden Compass and The Invasion.
(Credit: News.com.au)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Stripped down 007 more Bourne than Bond, by Jim Schembri - The Age - 18th November 2008
However much a filmmaker may want to reinvent, reboot, reimagine or digitally remaster him, there is an inviolable, never-to-be-ignored checklist of things audiences are entitled to expect from a James Bond film. In the ripper new 007 adventure, Quantum of Solace, most of those items are covered within the first three minutes.
Literally taking off where Casino Royale left off, Bond #22 kicks off with an exhilarating high-speed car chase along a precarious high-altitude road in an exotic location. Engines rev, tyres screech, cars spin, twirl and tumble, guns go off, metal is crunched, glass is shattered, bad guys are wasted. It's a great, old-fashioned Bond heart starter buffed up for the blockbuster generation.
And in the middle of the mayhem is our new-recipe Bond (Daniel Craig), bearing the super-serious scowl that has become 007's latest trademark. Never mind the cheap gags and double-entendres of those ancient films with Sean Connery and Roger Moore, this Bond means business.
And action. Quantum of Solace is positively jammed with it, to a fault. It's all go with this Bond, and after delivering this dizzying, brilliantly edited opening sequence, director Marc Forster (Gods and Monsters, Finding Neverland, The Kite Runner) bravely breaks form by skipping over the traditional Bond title sequence and leaps straight into the plot.
This time around something disturbing and deadly is happening inside the supposedly secret sanctum of MI6. Long-serving colleagues who even M (Judi Dench) trusted with her life are turning out to be assassins for an unseen enemy who has infiltrated the department.
So off Bond goes to sniff out those responsible, his venture fuelled by a thirst for vengeance against whoever killed his beloved Vesper at the end of Casino Royale. He inevitably hooks up with a beautiful, much younger woman Camille (Olga Kurylenko) who shares with Bond a powerful desire to get even. In her case it's with the slimy rat who raped her mother.
This leads them into the evil orbit of pseudo-environmentalist Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) whose scheming drives an admittedly blurry, decidedly hurried plot involving oil, water and solar fuel cells that unfolds at breakneck speed.
Never mind what you've heard about all the character development invested in this new Bond. Yes, he's deeper, darker, flawed and full of vulnerabilities, and Craig fills out the tuxedo admirably. Indeed, (and as counter-intuitive as it is to say), his stern, straight-faced performance pays off on the promise shown by the foreshortened reign of the Bond Timothy Dalton delivered in The Living Daylights and the unjustly maligned License to Kill.
But don't be fooled by any pretensions to profundity in Quantum of Solace. The keynote here is pace. In getting away from the bloated, caricatured blandness of the Brosnan films, Bond has now been stripped back to his bare essentials - as has the film. Leaner and faster than ever, Quantum of Solace is the shortest Bond film yet. (Knock the closing credits off its official 106 minutes and the film chimes in at well under 100.)
A lot of the affectations Bond has shaken off come as a relief. The habitual double entendres may one day find their way back into the Bond lexicon, but Craig's focussed Bond simply has no time for jokes about breasts or suggestive names.
And while we might miss Miss Moneypenny, the absence of gizmo guru Q is both welcome and inevitable. Q has simply been made redundant by the digital generation, an acknowledgement by the filmmakers that the average citizen now carries more gizmos than the Bonds of the Connery/Moore epoch could have dreamed of. QOS is replete with elaborate digital displays and high-tech devices, but their presence is casual and seem only slightly heightened for Bond's world.
The downside of all this paring down, however, is that in the image makeover we have also lost a lot of the things we love about Bond. He doesn't introduce himself as "Bond. James Bond", and when asked about his martini its the barman who has to explain that its shaken, not stirred. It's almost as if this Bond is now embarrassed by his corny signatures.
And apart from the odd sarcastic aside, this Bond doesn't even joke. Humour has always been a big part of Bond's appeal, and its absence in QOS is sorely noticeable.
So there's not much left that actually makes Bond Bond. In stripping him back so much and ramping up the action there is actually very little left that distinguishes Quantum of Solace from any other proficient action film. If it wasn't for his fondness for wearing high fashion suits in arid regions, you'd barely know it was Bond at all.
This is compounded by a visual sameness that marks the film's frenetic, unquestionably exciting action sequences. Digitally replace Daniel Craig with Matt Damon and Quantum of Solace could be Bourne IV. It's certainly no surprise to learn that the action segments in QOS were designed and directed by the same people responsible for the Bourne films.
The film boasts some great foot chases, but it really is a case of "seen one guy leap into a window while the camera follows him, seem'em all".
We can accept the more down-to-earth villains and grittier Bond as part of the evolution of the franchise, but one element of the earlier films that new-recipe Bond really should re-embrace is the love of those great, old-school, big-scale endings.
Casino Royale gave us a great action climax with that fight in the sinking building in Venice, but that was a notable exception to the run of lame finales that hobbled the massively mediocre Brosnan Bonds.
Dramatically, Quantum of Solace pays off with a strong, well-engineered dramatic double punch, but all we get action-wise are some are some exploding fuel cells. It can't really match the joyful spectacle of watching an evil villain's lair disintegrate in an eruption of fireballs.
It may be waxing nostalgic, but if there's anything the Bond legacy of Roger Moore taught us it's that you can be serious about saving the world and have a bit of fun at the same time. Here's hoping Bond's next outing recaptures some of that old spirit, no disrespect to his makeover intended.
(Credit: The Age)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Literally taking off where Casino Royale left off, Bond #22 kicks off with an exhilarating high-speed car chase along a precarious high-altitude road in an exotic location. Engines rev, tyres screech, cars spin, twirl and tumble, guns go off, metal is crunched, glass is shattered, bad guys are wasted. It's a great, old-fashioned Bond heart starter buffed up for the blockbuster generation.
And in the middle of the mayhem is our new-recipe Bond (Daniel Craig), bearing the super-serious scowl that has become 007's latest trademark. Never mind the cheap gags and double-entendres of those ancient films with Sean Connery and Roger Moore, this Bond means business.
And action. Quantum of Solace is positively jammed with it, to a fault. It's all go with this Bond, and after delivering this dizzying, brilliantly edited opening sequence, director Marc Forster (Gods and Monsters, Finding Neverland, The Kite Runner) bravely breaks form by skipping over the traditional Bond title sequence and leaps straight into the plot.
This time around something disturbing and deadly is happening inside the supposedly secret sanctum of MI6. Long-serving colleagues who even M (Judi Dench) trusted with her life are turning out to be assassins for an unseen enemy who has infiltrated the department.
So off Bond goes to sniff out those responsible, his venture fuelled by a thirst for vengeance against whoever killed his beloved Vesper at the end of Casino Royale. He inevitably hooks up with a beautiful, much younger woman Camille (Olga Kurylenko) who shares with Bond a powerful desire to get even. In her case it's with the slimy rat who raped her mother.
This leads them into the evil orbit of pseudo-environmentalist Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) whose scheming drives an admittedly blurry, decidedly hurried plot involving oil, water and solar fuel cells that unfolds at breakneck speed.
Never mind what you've heard about all the character development invested in this new Bond. Yes, he's deeper, darker, flawed and full of vulnerabilities, and Craig fills out the tuxedo admirably. Indeed, (and as counter-intuitive as it is to say), his stern, straight-faced performance pays off on the promise shown by the foreshortened reign of the Bond Timothy Dalton delivered in The Living Daylights and the unjustly maligned License to Kill.
But don't be fooled by any pretensions to profundity in Quantum of Solace. The keynote here is pace. In getting away from the bloated, caricatured blandness of the Brosnan films, Bond has now been stripped back to his bare essentials - as has the film. Leaner and faster than ever, Quantum of Solace is the shortest Bond film yet. (Knock the closing credits off its official 106 minutes and the film chimes in at well under 100.)
A lot of the affectations Bond has shaken off come as a relief. The habitual double entendres may one day find their way back into the Bond lexicon, but Craig's focussed Bond simply has no time for jokes about breasts or suggestive names.
And while we might miss Miss Moneypenny, the absence of gizmo guru Q is both welcome and inevitable. Q has simply been made redundant by the digital generation, an acknowledgement by the filmmakers that the average citizen now carries more gizmos than the Bonds of the Connery/Moore epoch could have dreamed of. QOS is replete with elaborate digital displays and high-tech devices, but their presence is casual and seem only slightly heightened for Bond's world.
The downside of all this paring down, however, is that in the image makeover we have also lost a lot of the things we love about Bond. He doesn't introduce himself as "Bond. James Bond", and when asked about his martini its the barman who has to explain that its shaken, not stirred. It's almost as if this Bond is now embarrassed by his corny signatures.
And apart from the odd sarcastic aside, this Bond doesn't even joke. Humour has always been a big part of Bond's appeal, and its absence in QOS is sorely noticeable.
So there's not much left that actually makes Bond Bond. In stripping him back so much and ramping up the action there is actually very little left that distinguishes Quantum of Solace from any other proficient action film. If it wasn't for his fondness for wearing high fashion suits in arid regions, you'd barely know it was Bond at all.
This is compounded by a visual sameness that marks the film's frenetic, unquestionably exciting action sequences. Digitally replace Daniel Craig with Matt Damon and Quantum of Solace could be Bourne IV. It's certainly no surprise to learn that the action segments in QOS were designed and directed by the same people responsible for the Bourne films.
The film boasts some great foot chases, but it really is a case of "seen one guy leap into a window while the camera follows him, seem'em all".
We can accept the more down-to-earth villains and grittier Bond as part of the evolution of the franchise, but one element of the earlier films that new-recipe Bond really should re-embrace is the love of those great, old-school, big-scale endings.
Casino Royale gave us a great action climax with that fight in the sinking building in Venice, but that was a notable exception to the run of lame finales that hobbled the massively mediocre Brosnan Bonds.
Dramatically, Quantum of Solace pays off with a strong, well-engineered dramatic double punch, but all we get action-wise are some are some exploding fuel cells. It can't really match the joyful spectacle of watching an evil villain's lair disintegrate in an eruption of fireballs.
It may be waxing nostalgic, but if there's anything the Bond legacy of Roger Moore taught us it's that you can be serious about saving the world and have a bit of fun at the same time. Here's hoping Bond's next outing recaptures some of that old spirit, no disrespect to his makeover intended.
(Credit: The Age)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Craig has a licence to thrill in Sydney, by Matthew Benns - The Sun-Herald - 16th November 2008
James Bond star Daniel Craig left his fans shaken and stirred as he walked the red carpet for the premiere of Quantum of Solace in Sydney last night.
Craig was joined by his partner, Satsuki Mitchell (in a Cavalli dress), Bond girl and former model Olga Kurylenko (in a Colette Dinnigan design) and director Mark Forster on the red carpet outside Hoyts in Moore Park.
Craig said: "It is very rare to make a movie of this size. It was the chance to be at the top of my game."
As to whether Quantum of Solace was the best Bond film ever he said: "It is for other people to tell", but he said viewers would find it "interesting to find out who he (Bond) is and what he is about".
Quantum of Solace had the biggest opening weekend in UK box office history taking $35.9 million.
It is the first of three premieres this week, including Australia, which stars Nicole Kidman, who co-starred with Craig in the Golden Compass.
"I can't wait for Australia," Craig said.
Celebrities including Megan Gale, Rove McManus, Kerry Ann Kennerly and Ruby Rose were cheered by over 200 people who braved last night's rain for a glimpse of the stars.
Among them were 11-year-olds Bianca Oakes and Sarah Wallis from Northbridge, who were screaming.
"I love James Bond movies. Daniel Craig is the hottest Bond," said Sarah.
But her mum Diana disagreed.
"Daniel's blue eyes are a knock-out but Sean Connery is still the best Bond," she said.
The action packed adventure is Craig's second outing as Bond. Filmmakers used up 200,000 blank rounds of ammunition during filming in six different countries.
Kurylenko explained that her character's most vital accessory was "my gun".
Forster, the director, said: "This was a Bond for our times (but) I was inspired by those early Bonds."
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Craig was joined by his partner, Satsuki Mitchell (in a Cavalli dress), Bond girl and former model Olga Kurylenko (in a Colette Dinnigan design) and director Mark Forster on the red carpet outside Hoyts in Moore Park.
Craig said: "It is very rare to make a movie of this size. It was the chance to be at the top of my game."
As to whether Quantum of Solace was the best Bond film ever he said: "It is for other people to tell", but he said viewers would find it "interesting to find out who he (Bond) is and what he is about".
Quantum of Solace had the biggest opening weekend in UK box office history taking $35.9 million.
It is the first of three premieres this week, including Australia, which stars Nicole Kidman, who co-starred with Craig in the Golden Compass.
"I can't wait for Australia," Craig said.
Celebrities including Megan Gale, Rove McManus, Kerry Ann Kennerly and Ruby Rose were cheered by over 200 people who braved last night's rain for a glimpse of the stars.
Among them were 11-year-olds Bianca Oakes and Sarah Wallis from Northbridge, who were screaming.
"I love James Bond movies. Daniel Craig is the hottest Bond," said Sarah.
But her mum Diana disagreed.
"Daniel's blue eyes are a knock-out but Sean Connery is still the best Bond," she said.
The action packed adventure is Craig's second outing as Bond. Filmmakers used up 200,000 blank rounds of ammunition during filming in six different countries.
Kurylenko explained that her character's most vital accessory was "my gun".
Forster, the director, said: "This was a Bond for our times (but) I was inspired by those early Bonds."
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Thursday, November 13, 2008
"Quantum of Solace" set to blast U.S. box offices, by Bob Tourtellotte
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Even before new James Bond flick "Quantum of Solace" blasts into U.S. movie theaters this Friday, industry watchers are expecting it to earn big bucks at box offices and easily top previous 007 film "Casino Royale."
The film is the 22nd in the lucrative series that dates to 1962's "Dr. No" and altogether has grossed over $4 billion at U.S. and Canadian box offices when totals are adjusted for inflation, according to boxofficemojo.com.
"Quantum of Solace," in which the British secret agent battles a villain looking to control natural resources, already has topped box office charts in Europe and other markets.
It debuted in London about two weeks ago, and took in a record-breaking 15.4 million pounds ($25 million) on its opening weekend. So far, it has collected more than $160 million in over 60 international markets.
"This is arguably the most anticipated movie of the holiday season and therefore expectations are quite high," said Paul Dergarabedian of box office watcher Media by Numbers. "I think we are going to see tremendous numbers."
Dergarabedian did not predict an opening weekend figure, but he said "Quantum of Solace" was "certainly on track" to equal or beat "Casino Royale," which debuted with $40.8 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales in November of 2006.
"Casino Royale" introduced actor Daniel Craig as the new James Bond and went on to become arguably the biggest Bond ever with $167 million in the U.S. and Canada and another $426 million internationally for a global total near $594 million.
Dergarabedian noted U.S. box offices have been on a roll lately with five of the past six weekends beating year ago comparisons. Last weekend family film "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" opened to an eye-popping $63 million.
"The fact is, there was so much moviegoing last week that it just enhances the prospects for Bond," he said.
So far, reviews have been mostly good with the film scoring a 76 percent positive rating on Web site rottentomatoes.com, which aggregates movie reviews.
But critical reaction matters little to opening weekend ticket sales for event movies like "Quantum of Solace," which rely on studio marketing to lure crowds to theaters.
The Bond movies are co-produced by EON Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc and distributed by Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Corp's Sony Pictures Entertainment.
(Editing by Jill Serjeant)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
The film is the 22nd in the lucrative series that dates to 1962's "Dr. No" and altogether has grossed over $4 billion at U.S. and Canadian box offices when totals are adjusted for inflation, according to boxofficemojo.com.
"Quantum of Solace," in which the British secret agent battles a villain looking to control natural resources, already has topped box office charts in Europe and other markets.
It debuted in London about two weeks ago, and took in a record-breaking 15.4 million pounds ($25 million) on its opening weekend. So far, it has collected more than $160 million in over 60 international markets.
"This is arguably the most anticipated movie of the holiday season and therefore expectations are quite high," said Paul Dergarabedian of box office watcher Media by Numbers. "I think we are going to see tremendous numbers."
Dergarabedian did not predict an opening weekend figure, but he said "Quantum of Solace" was "certainly on track" to equal or beat "Casino Royale," which debuted with $40.8 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales in November of 2006.
"Casino Royale" introduced actor Daniel Craig as the new James Bond and went on to become arguably the biggest Bond ever with $167 million in the U.S. and Canada and another $426 million internationally for a global total near $594 million.
Dergarabedian noted U.S. box offices have been on a roll lately with five of the past six weekends beating year ago comparisons. Last weekend family film "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" opened to an eye-popping $63 million.
"The fact is, there was so much moviegoing last week that it just enhances the prospects for Bond," he said.
So far, reviews have been mostly good with the film scoring a 76 percent positive rating on Web site rottentomatoes.com, which aggregates movie reviews.
But critical reaction matters little to opening weekend ticket sales for event movies like "Quantum of Solace," which rely on studio marketing to lure crowds to theaters.
The Bond movies are co-produced by EON Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc and distributed by Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Corp's Sony Pictures Entertainment.
(Editing by Jill Serjeant)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Princes shaken and stirred at Bond Quantum of Solace premiere - News.com.au - 30th October 2008
Princes William and Harry have joined James Bond actor Daniel Craig and a host of other stars on the red carpet at the world premiere of new 007 film Quantum of Solace in London.
Craig, 40, who received the biggest cheer of the night from hundreds of excited fans, was dressed in black tie but had his arm in a sling after an operation on a shoulder which he hurt doing stunts for the film.
He was joined by Oscar-winning actress Dame Judi Dench - no-nonsense spymaster "M" in the film - plus Bond girls Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton and celebrity Bond fans like actor Robbie Coltrane and model Elle Macpherson.
Princes William and Harry - who stepped onto the red carpet to the famous Bond theme music - spent around half an hour talking to members of Britain's armed forces outside the cinema in Leicester Square before going inside.
With Remembrance Day approaching, the pair, who both serve in Britain's armed forces, had asked for funds raised at the glitzy premiere to go towards supporting two charities that help war veterans.
The 22nd Bond film is Craig's second outing as the fictional British spy and picks up where Casino Royale left off following the death of his lover Vesper Lynd and with the character broken-hearted and full of suspicion.
It is another dark portrait of Bond but still features plenty of the traditional rooftop chases, hand-to-hand combat scenes and stunts shot in glamorous locations including Panama, Chile, Italy, Austria and Mexico.
Asked what the film's title meant, Craig said: "It's basically the moment of peace in yourself - if you can find your quantum of solace, it means you've figured out what life's about.
"It's the moment in a relationship if you don't have it, it's over.''
It was also the name of a short story in Bond creator Ian Fleming's 1960 anthology For Your Eyes Only.
The film is noticeably short on the love scenes which have become a Bond staple.
Craig, who appeared with film producer girlfriend Satsuki Mitchell on his arm, said this was because "the man's just had his heart broken. It would just contradict the plot somewhat if he'd jumped into bed with 10 women''.
Although some Bond fans criticised the choice of the blonde Craig to play the traditionally dark-hard suave spy in 2005, he won over most critics with a tough but sophisticated performance in Casino Royale.
Director Marc Forster told AFP Craig was "the best Bond ever'', while Graham Rye, editor of the fan magazine 007, described him as "a compelling actor''.
"Although physically he doesn't resemble him at all, he brings the spirit of Bond's character back to the films,'' he said.
"You have to watch him. He's got a physicality about him. He is in command, which Bond should always be.''
Dench, who sported a temporary "007'' tattoo on her neck for the occasion, also paid tribute to Craig's acting skills, adding it was "lovely'' to be part of another Bond production. She has played "M'' since 1995.
"To be part of a Bond, you work under great circumstances. I got to go to Panama. You're very lucky - lucky to be employed, I think!'' she joked.
Casino Royale - the most lucrative of all Bond films, clearing more than $US300 million ($A463.6 million) at the box office worldwide - rebooted the franchise and depicted Bond at the start of his career.
The new film's story begins just an hour after the last one ended with a heartbroken 007 tracking down the mysterious Mr White.
* The movie will open in Australia on November 19.
(Credit: News.com.au)
Greg Tingle comment...
Bond is the man of the moment. It appears that Prince William (and Harry) might be auditioning for an upcoming role. He's been know to play dress up before, and he likes his helicopter stunts, as reported in News Limited a few months ago. Don't' laugh, even Richard Branson did a walk up and played a stranded passenger in 'Casino Royale' and in 'Quantum of Solace' Branson did much better having Bond fly with Virgin Atlantic I hear. Don't forget James Packer played an extra in 'The Last Samurai', so stranger things have happened. I wouldn't be surprised to see James Packer appear in a reality TV show or documentary about his casinos in the near future, but that's another story. The more one ponders the thought, it becomes more than likely that William and Harry are in fact auditioning for a future role... perhaps give Bond the keys to the palace, and make the switch of wheels to Rolls-Royce or Bentley, and it might seal the deal. The storyline continues as life imitates art.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Craig, 40, who received the biggest cheer of the night from hundreds of excited fans, was dressed in black tie but had his arm in a sling after an operation on a shoulder which he hurt doing stunts for the film.
He was joined by Oscar-winning actress Dame Judi Dench - no-nonsense spymaster "M" in the film - plus Bond girls Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton and celebrity Bond fans like actor Robbie Coltrane and model Elle Macpherson.
Princes William and Harry - who stepped onto the red carpet to the famous Bond theme music - spent around half an hour talking to members of Britain's armed forces outside the cinema in Leicester Square before going inside.
With Remembrance Day approaching, the pair, who both serve in Britain's armed forces, had asked for funds raised at the glitzy premiere to go towards supporting two charities that help war veterans.
The 22nd Bond film is Craig's second outing as the fictional British spy and picks up where Casino Royale left off following the death of his lover Vesper Lynd and with the character broken-hearted and full of suspicion.
It is another dark portrait of Bond but still features plenty of the traditional rooftop chases, hand-to-hand combat scenes and stunts shot in glamorous locations including Panama, Chile, Italy, Austria and Mexico.
Asked what the film's title meant, Craig said: "It's basically the moment of peace in yourself - if you can find your quantum of solace, it means you've figured out what life's about.
"It's the moment in a relationship if you don't have it, it's over.''
It was also the name of a short story in Bond creator Ian Fleming's 1960 anthology For Your Eyes Only.
The film is noticeably short on the love scenes which have become a Bond staple.
Craig, who appeared with film producer girlfriend Satsuki Mitchell on his arm, said this was because "the man's just had his heart broken. It would just contradict the plot somewhat if he'd jumped into bed with 10 women''.
Although some Bond fans criticised the choice of the blonde Craig to play the traditionally dark-hard suave spy in 2005, he won over most critics with a tough but sophisticated performance in Casino Royale.
Director Marc Forster told AFP Craig was "the best Bond ever'', while Graham Rye, editor of the fan magazine 007, described him as "a compelling actor''.
"Although physically he doesn't resemble him at all, he brings the spirit of Bond's character back to the films,'' he said.
"You have to watch him. He's got a physicality about him. He is in command, which Bond should always be.''
Dench, who sported a temporary "007'' tattoo on her neck for the occasion, also paid tribute to Craig's acting skills, adding it was "lovely'' to be part of another Bond production. She has played "M'' since 1995.
"To be part of a Bond, you work under great circumstances. I got to go to Panama. You're very lucky - lucky to be employed, I think!'' she joked.
Casino Royale - the most lucrative of all Bond films, clearing more than $US300 million ($A463.6 million) at the box office worldwide - rebooted the franchise and depicted Bond at the start of his career.
The new film's story begins just an hour after the last one ended with a heartbroken 007 tracking down the mysterious Mr White.
* The movie will open in Australia on November 19.
(Credit: News.com.au)
Greg Tingle comment...
Bond is the man of the moment. It appears that Prince William (and Harry) might be auditioning for an upcoming role. He's been know to play dress up before, and he likes his helicopter stunts, as reported in News Limited a few months ago. Don't' laugh, even Richard Branson did a walk up and played a stranded passenger in 'Casino Royale' and in 'Quantum of Solace' Branson did much better having Bond fly with Virgin Atlantic I hear. Don't forget James Packer played an extra in 'The Last Samurai', so stranger things have happened. I wouldn't be surprised to see James Packer appear in a reality TV show or documentary about his casinos in the near future, but that's another story. The more one ponders the thought, it becomes more than likely that William and Harry are in fact auditioning for a future role... perhaps give Bond the keys to the palace, and make the switch of wheels to Rolls-Royce or Bentley, and it might seal the deal. The storyline continues as life imitates art.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
It's Bond vs Batman in movie battle, by Petra Starke - The Sunday Mail - 9th November 2008
It's already smashed box office records overseas, but in Australia there's just one question: Can Bond beat Batman?
New 007 film Quantum of Solace earned more than $36 million on its opening weekend in Britain, breaking the $35 million record held by 2005 film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
It is expected to have a similar reception when it opens in the US on Friday, and at its Australian premiere on November 19.
But whether it can beat the Australian opening weekend record of $14 million set in July by Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight, starring Christian Bale, only time will tell.
Sony Pictures managing director Stephen Basil-Jones hopes the film will take at least $7 million at its opening weekend in Australia.
"What we're aiming for is trying to surpass what we did on Casino Royale," he said. "That film took about $6.8 million on its opening weekend - our aim is to beat that."
About 2000 people are expected to turn out at the Sydney premiere, alongside stars Daniel Craig and Olga Kurylenko.
Adelaide cinemas are bracing themselves for bumper audiences, with many sessions already booked out.
Danielle Tsogas, from Greater Union, said advance ticket sales for Quantum had been "terrific".
"Many of those pre-booking are wanting to ensure they don't miss out on being one of the first to get in and see it," she said. "The last Bond release took over $30 million, which was a surprise to everyone. So if that's anything to go by, then we're in for a big one."
Wallis programming manager Bob Parr said he expected Quantum to "turn the tide" on the current lull in cinema attendances, despite the economic crisis.
"In bad times like this, people actually go to the movies more; rather than spend money and go away, they're more likely to stay home," he said. "The UK is in much worse strife than we are and this film took 20 per cent more than Casino Royale did (in 2006)."
The film kicks off the summer blockbuster season, with Baz Luhrmann's epic Australia to open on November 26, High School Musical 3 on December 4, and Madagascar 2 on December 18.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
New 007 film Quantum of Solace earned more than $36 million on its opening weekend in Britain, breaking the $35 million record held by 2005 film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
It is expected to have a similar reception when it opens in the US on Friday, and at its Australian premiere on November 19.
But whether it can beat the Australian opening weekend record of $14 million set in July by Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight, starring Christian Bale, only time will tell.
Sony Pictures managing director Stephen Basil-Jones hopes the film will take at least $7 million at its opening weekend in Australia.
"What we're aiming for is trying to surpass what we did on Casino Royale," he said. "That film took about $6.8 million on its opening weekend - our aim is to beat that."
About 2000 people are expected to turn out at the Sydney premiere, alongside stars Daniel Craig and Olga Kurylenko.
Adelaide cinemas are bracing themselves for bumper audiences, with many sessions already booked out.
Danielle Tsogas, from Greater Union, said advance ticket sales for Quantum had been "terrific".
"Many of those pre-booking are wanting to ensure they don't miss out on being one of the first to get in and see it," she said. "The last Bond release took over $30 million, which was a surprise to everyone. So if that's anything to go by, then we're in for a big one."
Wallis programming manager Bob Parr said he expected Quantum to "turn the tide" on the current lull in cinema attendances, despite the economic crisis.
"In bad times like this, people actually go to the movies more; rather than spend money and go away, they're more likely to stay home," he said. "The UK is in much worse strife than we are and this film took 20 per cent more than Casino Royale did (in 2006)."
The film kicks off the summer blockbuster season, with Baz Luhrmann's epic Australia to open on November 26, High School Musical 3 on December 4, and Madagascar 2 on December 18.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Daniel Craig: the "greatest Bond" ever? - LiveNews.com.au - 31st October 2008
Daniel Craig is the "greatest Bond".
According to 'Quantum of Solace' co-producer Michael G. Wilson, the actor - who reprises his role as the British spy for a second time in the new movie
- has eclipsed all of his predecessors, including Sir Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan, with his portrayal of 007.
Wilson told British radio station Heart FM: "He is the greatest Bond right now and the people love him."
Wilson also confirmed Craig will definitely be returning to the role for a third time and revealed work will start on the next movie in early 2009.
He said: "Last time when we were in post production on 'Casino Royale' we were already working on 'Quantum of Solace'.
"This time we haven't started, but in January we are going to get some writers together and start kicking some ideas around."
Long-running Bond producer Barbara Broccoli hopes 40-year-old Craig will continue as the secret agent for years to come.
She said: "He's got to come back, we're not going to let him go."
(Credit: LiveNews.com.au)
Greg Tingle comment
The general consensus is that Daniel Craig is the greatest Bond ever. Casino Royale set the stage, and for anyone that needs more convincing, Quantum of Solace will do it. I've spoke to everyone from John "Vulcan" Seru (Gabor in The World Is Not Enough) to media experts close to media and casino mavericks like Richard Branson and James Packer. I had Seru go on BBC re this. Mr Craig is the man of the moment, the future, and he leads the pack of Bond's over the decades in the opinion of many.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Daniel Craig
According to 'Quantum of Solace' co-producer Michael G. Wilson, the actor - who reprises his role as the British spy for a second time in the new movie
- has eclipsed all of his predecessors, including Sir Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan, with his portrayal of 007.
Wilson told British radio station Heart FM: "He is the greatest Bond right now and the people love him."
Wilson also confirmed Craig will definitely be returning to the role for a third time and revealed work will start on the next movie in early 2009.
He said: "Last time when we were in post production on 'Casino Royale' we were already working on 'Quantum of Solace'.
"This time we haven't started, but in January we are going to get some writers together and start kicking some ideas around."
Long-running Bond producer Barbara Broccoli hopes 40-year-old Craig will continue as the secret agent for years to come.
She said: "He's got to come back, we're not going to let him go."
(Credit: LiveNews.com.au)
Greg Tingle comment
The general consensus is that Daniel Craig is the greatest Bond ever. Casino Royale set the stage, and for anyone that needs more convincing, Quantum of Solace will do it. I've spoke to everyone from John "Vulcan" Seru (Gabor in The World Is Not Enough) to media experts close to media and casino mavericks like Richard Branson and James Packer. I had Seru go on BBC re this. Mr Craig is the man of the moment, the future, and he leads the pack of Bond's over the decades in the opinion of many.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Daniel Craig
Bond memorabilia makes a killing - ABC News - 31st October 2008
Shaken by the gyrations of the financial markets? Maybe a look at James Bond memorabilia as an investment would stir your imagination.
Experts say the value of 007 memorabilia has shot up, not least because of the world premiere on Wednesday of Quantum of Solace, the eagerly awaited new Bond movie starring British actor Daniel Craig.
At the top end of the market are Bond's cars, most notably a 1965 Aston Martin driven by Sean Connery in Goldfinger and Thunderball.
The gadget-laden car fetched more than a million pounds ($1.6 million) at auction in the United States two years ago.
But there are less pricey ways of owning a piece of Bond memorabilia.
Due to the spy's enduring popularity, there is a high level of collector interest in original Bond movie posters, and their value has risen dramatically over the past decade.
Original British posters advertising 'Dr No', the first of the action-packed films, can fetch between 5,000 and 7,500 pounds, depending on their condition.
Market is 'huge'
A decade ago, they could have been snapped up for just 100 pounds, according to Bruce Marchant, co-owner of The Reel Poster Gallery in London.
"Prices for Bond film posters have risen quite dramatically over the past 15 years," Mr Marchant said.
"The market is huge, and while the prices sometimes stabilise, they've never gone down."
Bond film posters have a loyal fan base, mostly in Britain, continental Europe, the United States and Japan.
"Many people buy them because they love them and never sell them again," Mr Marchant said.
"It spans about three generations with 22 Bond films now."
First editions of Ian Fleming's Bond books are also sought after as collectors' items.
"Fleming first editions perform extremely well at auction," said Philip Errington, deputy director at Sotheby's in London.
A first edition of the first Bond book 'Casino Royale', published in 1953, is expected to fetch between 9,000 and 12,000 pounds at Sotheby's literature sale in December, Mr Errington said.
Two decades ago a similar edition might have fetched just 1,000 pounds.
"To own a first edition of 'Casino Royale' is the be all and end all for a Fleming collector," Mr Errington said, adding that the condition of a book and dust jacket are key to determining its value.
Bond first editions by Fleming are particularly collectible, said Mr Errington, because there are only 14 volumes.
Other 007 editions, such as 'You Only Live Twice' and 'The Man with the Golden Gun' can be bought for as little as a few hundred pounds because they had very large print runs.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Experts say the value of 007 memorabilia has shot up, not least because of the world premiere on Wednesday of Quantum of Solace, the eagerly awaited new Bond movie starring British actor Daniel Craig.
At the top end of the market are Bond's cars, most notably a 1965 Aston Martin driven by Sean Connery in Goldfinger and Thunderball.
The gadget-laden car fetched more than a million pounds ($1.6 million) at auction in the United States two years ago.
But there are less pricey ways of owning a piece of Bond memorabilia.
Due to the spy's enduring popularity, there is a high level of collector interest in original Bond movie posters, and their value has risen dramatically over the past decade.
Original British posters advertising 'Dr No', the first of the action-packed films, can fetch between 5,000 and 7,500 pounds, depending on their condition.
Market is 'huge'
A decade ago, they could have been snapped up for just 100 pounds, according to Bruce Marchant, co-owner of The Reel Poster Gallery in London.
"Prices for Bond film posters have risen quite dramatically over the past 15 years," Mr Marchant said.
"The market is huge, and while the prices sometimes stabilise, they've never gone down."
Bond film posters have a loyal fan base, mostly in Britain, continental Europe, the United States and Japan.
"Many people buy them because they love them and never sell them again," Mr Marchant said.
"It spans about three generations with 22 Bond films now."
First editions of Ian Fleming's Bond books are also sought after as collectors' items.
"Fleming first editions perform extremely well at auction," said Philip Errington, deputy director at Sotheby's in London.
A first edition of the first Bond book 'Casino Royale', published in 1953, is expected to fetch between 9,000 and 12,000 pounds at Sotheby's literature sale in December, Mr Errington said.
Two decades ago a similar edition might have fetched just 1,000 pounds.
"To own a first edition of 'Casino Royale' is the be all and end all for a Fleming collector," Mr Errington said, adding that the condition of a book and dust jacket are key to determining its value.
Bond first editions by Fleming are particularly collectible, said Mr Errington, because there are only 14 volumes.
Other 007 editions, such as 'You Only Live Twice' and 'The Man with the Golden Gun' can be bought for as little as a few hundred pounds because they had very large print runs.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Bond makes Quantum leap at box office - News.com.au - 2nd November 2008
The new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, debuted in Britain on Friday to record one-day ticket sales of £4.94m ($12.1m), distributor Columbia Pictures said yesterday.
The total tops Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the previous record holder with an opening day haul of £4.025m ($9.86m) in 2005, and it also beat the £2.9 million pounds ($7.1m) first-day total for the last Bond flick, Casino Royale (2006), Columbia said.
In Quantum of Solace, British super spy Bond (Daniel Craig) is on a mission across South America and Europe to stop an eco-terrorist from controlling precious natural resources, and he wants to learn why the woman he loved in Casino Royale betrayed him.
Casino Royale was a huge box office success with a global haul of $US594 ($899.8m).
Friday's British opening of Quantum of Solace in 542 theatres will be followed by a November 14 debut of the film in the US and Canada.
The film will open in Australia on November 19.
(Credit: News.com.au)
Greg Tingle comment
The Bond franchise has indeed make some more huge leaps. 'Quantum of Solace' has followed beautifully the success of 'Casino Royale' both in numbers at the box office. You can bet the the numbers are looking good for the advertisers in the product placement arena such as Aston Martin, Virgin Atlantic, Coke 007, Omega and Sony Ericsson, and that video game sales for Bond will be massive. Little wonder Bond is now known in advertising and media circles as 'Buy Another Day'. Bond is breaking records at the cinema as this goes to print. Daniel Craig is the best Bond of all time, from just about any perspective you spy it.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
The total tops Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the previous record holder with an opening day haul of £4.025m ($9.86m) in 2005, and it also beat the £2.9 million pounds ($7.1m) first-day total for the last Bond flick, Casino Royale (2006), Columbia said.
In Quantum of Solace, British super spy Bond (Daniel Craig) is on a mission across South America and Europe to stop an eco-terrorist from controlling precious natural resources, and he wants to learn why the woman he loved in Casino Royale betrayed him.
Casino Royale was a huge box office success with a global haul of $US594 ($899.8m).
Friday's British opening of Quantum of Solace in 542 theatres will be followed by a November 14 debut of the film in the US and Canada.
The film will open in Australia on November 19.
(Credit: News.com.au)
Greg Tingle comment
The Bond franchise has indeed make some more huge leaps. 'Quantum of Solace' has followed beautifully the success of 'Casino Royale' both in numbers at the box office. You can bet the the numbers are looking good for the advertisers in the product placement arena such as Aston Martin, Virgin Atlantic, Coke 007, Omega and Sony Ericsson, and that video game sales for Bond will be massive. Little wonder Bond is now known in advertising and media circles as 'Buy Another Day'. Bond is breaking records at the cinema as this goes to print. Daniel Craig is the best Bond of all time, from just about any perspective you spy it.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Saturday, November 08, 2008
The best of Bond, by Garry Maddox - The Sydney Morning Herald - 1st November 2008
It started with Dr. No in 1962. Sean Connery, dressed in a suave tux, introduced himself to a glamorous brunette across a casino table. "Bond," he said, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. "James Bond."
The British secret agent was off and running for the most enduring series in cinema history: 21 "official" movies before Quantum Of Solace this month, total box office almost $US4400 million ($7080 million).
Bond's impact on popular culture means you don't have to be a fan to know that 007 has a licence to kill, drinks vodka martinis shaken, not stirred, and has prompted the sigh "Oh, James" more times than James Brown, James Packer and Jamie Durie combined.
David Arnold, who has been scoring Bond films and co-writing themes for the past decade, has summed up the formula as "action, adventure, violence, girls, gadgets and guns". After watching the first 21 movies in 21 days it's hard to disagree, other than to add that the formula also includes exotic locations, over-the-top chases, countless fantasy villains with their nattily uniformed henchmen and 007's inevitable witticisms.
Then there are the conventions loved by fans, such as the MI6 agent's flirtations with Miss Moneypenny and Q's gadgetry advice.
When Daniel Craig took over the role in Casino Royale, the Bond story went back to the early days of his earning the 007 licence. Reflecting the impact of another spy with a similar name - Jason Bourne - the series became grittier, with more realistic action and emotion. For once, the blood and bruises from all those fights and near-fatal scrapes looked real. Quantum Of Solace carries on the new direction.
Yet every Bond - bar one - has had an impact. In six movies Connery established the character as suave, witty, unkillable, resourceful and endlessly attractive to women, especially if they had a provocative name such as Pussy Galore or Plenty O'Toole
For seven movies Roger Moore brought more comedy to the series, even to the surreal point of his Bond defusing a nuclear bomb while wearing a clown suit in Octopussy. Somehow he found time to get the make-up right before stopping the timer without a second to spare. With Timothy Dalton came more earnestness; with Pierce Brosnan, more gloss and high-tech action. Only George Lazenby, who played the character just once, failed to establish a distinctive Bond.
Over the years agent 007 has survived assassination attempts by such devious measures as deadly tarantula, snake, crocodile, burial in a pipeline, crushing by a lover's legs and, just to show how dangerous being a secret agent can get, exploding dessert.
Fans all have a favourite Bond (often Connery, though Craig racked up credit points in Casino Royale), a favourite Bond girl (lots of possibilities but rarely Grace Jones) and often a favourite adversary (especially for those who grew up with Blofeld, Goldfinger, Oddjob and Jaws in the early movies).
It's a series full of memorable theme songs, gadgets and droll lines. And the greatest of all Bond moments? Here are our 10 best.
THE QUINTESSENTIAL BOND GIRL
Ursula Andress emerged from the sea like a lustrous blonde goddess in a slinky white bikini in Dr. No. She was innocently collecting sea-shells - as you do - on a mysterious island with armed guards who happened to be protecting her father's killer.
It was an entrance made all the more memorable when she introduced herself as Honey Ryder and casually mentioned that she'd killed a man who had taken advantage of her by putting a black-widow spider under his mosquito net. It certainly caught Bond's attention, with Connery joining in the calypso song she was singing.
Watching it now, the scene seems much more modest than, say, a Pussycat Dolls music video. Other Bond movies have done more provocative takes on emerging from the sea, including Halle Berry in Die Another Day.
But in 1962, Honey's arrival on No's island was a very sultry moment. Forever remembered for wearing a bikini she provided herself - she didn't like the supplied version - Andress later posed for Playboy without it.
THE JETPACK
The opening moments of Thunderball provided one of Bond's most memorable gadgets - even better than the submarine car of The Spy Who Loved Me or the many modifications to the Aston Martin that kept the resourceful MI6 mechanics busy for years. Having dispatched a cross-dressing killer attending his own funeral - if you want logical plots, you've come to the wrong place - 007 flies away with a jetpack. "No well-dressed man should be without one," he quips as he tucks his portable rocket into the boot.
Generations of fans at the Royal Easter Show have marvelled at the handiness of a jetpack ever since.
DEATH BY LASER
Goldfinger is full of classic Bond moments: the lover killed with a coating of gold paint; the modified Aston Martin with ejector seat; Pussy Galore introducing herself to Bond (who cheerfully replies, "I must be dreaming"); the manservant Oddjob decapitating a statue with his lethal hat; and the defusing of a nuclear bomb with precisely 007 seconds to go.
But the great scene had Bond strapped down with a laser about to slice him in half. "Do you expect me to talk?" he asks. Bond fans can all join in for Auric Goldfinger's response: "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die."
Rather than using the traditional ingenious device supplied by Q, Bond bluffs his way out by pretending to know all about something called Operation Grand Slam. In the moment before being sucked out of plane window, after Bond has foiled a plan to blow up Fort Knox, Goldfinger lives to regret letting Bond survive.
SPEEDBOATS IN THE SWAMP
Roger Moore's first outing in Live And Let Die saw carnage on the Louisiana waterways. Having used crocodiles as stepping stones to escape a potentially ugly end, Bond steals a speedboat and is pursued by thugs, police and the annoying Sheriff J. W. Pepper.
Boats jump roads, go across lawns and end up in odd places - a swimming pool, a ship's hold and jammed through a police car. Twenty six boats were built for the scene; 17 were destroyed during rehearsals alone.
There was a speedboat chase up the Thames in 1999's The World Is Not Enough but this one is the classic.
SKIING OFF A CLIFF
Bond's big-wave surfing in Die Another Day was one of the lamest moments in the series thanks to unconvincing special effects. But his frequent chases on skis have always been memorable. The best was at the start of The Spy Who Loved Me.
Having left the bed of a beautiful woman spying on him - he never learns - Bond is pursued by a team of armed killers as he skis down a mountain.
Shooting one with a gun inside a stock, he backflips then skis off a cliff, tumbling towards a vast valley. After a long pause to contemplate 007's certain and very messy death, a Union Jack parachute opens. Cue the theme music.
TAKING OVER A PLANE
As Bond, Roger Moore never seemed much of an athlete. In A View To A Kill, he looked more likely to go to bed with a hot cocoa than Grace Jones. But in Octopussy his 007 had one of the great mid-air action scenes.
When the smooth villain, Kamal Khan, and his offsider, Gobinda, escape in a plane with the kidnapped Bond girl Octopussy, our hero arrives at the airstrip on horseback.
Jumping on the tail of the taxi-ing plane, he climbs on the roof as it takes to the air, then avoids being shaken off during a barrel roll. After dispatching Gobinda back to earth by neatly flicking an aerial into his face, Bond clambers inside the plane and, moments before it crash-lands, jumps to safety with Octopussy. To the stuntmen who made Moore look good, we salute you.
It's awkward when the air hostess you are kissing pulls a gun on you mid-flight. It's even trickier when you're pushed out of the plane without a parachute. If you are 007, though, you can get out of even that most impossible situation.
In Moonraker, Bond plummeted towards the plane's free-falling pilot and grabbed his parachute. Then he fought off the giant, steel-toothed villain Jaws, who had come after him, and landed safely.
The only glitch was that Jaws survived by landing on a circus tent, which meant Bond then had to battle him on a Rio cable car.
WELCOME TO A CHANGED WORLD
As Bond's boss, M was always a likable officious chap until Judi Dench brought a touch of steel to the role in GoldenEye.
The producers obviously realised that women were having their doubts about Bond and his womanising ways and that even hardcore fans were wondering whether 007 was still relevant after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Dench's M quickly gave Bond, played by Brosnan for the first time, the mother of all dressings down, calling him "a sexist, misogynistic dinosaur; a relic of the Cold War" and questioning his "boyish charm". So that's how they do performance reviews in MI6.
THE BACK-SEAT CAR CHASE
Tomorrow Never Dies is one of the weakest Bond movies in terms of plot but it had two classic scenes.
In the first, Bond steals a jet carrying nuclear weapons from a terrorist arms bazaar.
Then comes a moment for back-seat drivers everywhere: a car chase with Bond steering his BMW by remote control through a car park - up and down ramps, firing rockets and dropping tacks while the car's female voice cheerfully reminds him that "unsafe driving will void warranty". After jumping to safety, Bond sends the car off the roof into - product-placement alert - an Avis office.
THE PARKOUR CHASE
After Bond earned his 007 licence with a couple of cold-blooded kills, Casino Royale really took off with the helter-skelter parkour chase - an acrobatic relative of free running - in Madagascar. Daniel Craig's Bond chased a bomb maker into a construction site, up a building, onto a crane then back to the ground again. As in the best Bond scenes, there is time for a sly joke when the bomb maker slides niftily through a high window and, instead of following, 007 just smashes through a wall.
After the villain reaches his embassy, Bond coolly kills him and blows up half the building to escape. "In the old days, if an agent did something that embarrassing, he'd have the good sense to defect," says a furious M. "Christ, I miss the Cold War."
(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
The British secret agent was off and running for the most enduring series in cinema history: 21 "official" movies before Quantum Of Solace this month, total box office almost $US4400 million ($7080 million).
Bond's impact on popular culture means you don't have to be a fan to know that 007 has a licence to kill, drinks vodka martinis shaken, not stirred, and has prompted the sigh "Oh, James" more times than James Brown, James Packer and Jamie Durie combined.
David Arnold, who has been scoring Bond films and co-writing themes for the past decade, has summed up the formula as "action, adventure, violence, girls, gadgets and guns". After watching the first 21 movies in 21 days it's hard to disagree, other than to add that the formula also includes exotic locations, over-the-top chases, countless fantasy villains with their nattily uniformed henchmen and 007's inevitable witticisms.
Then there are the conventions loved by fans, such as the MI6 agent's flirtations with Miss Moneypenny and Q's gadgetry advice.
When Daniel Craig took over the role in Casino Royale, the Bond story went back to the early days of his earning the 007 licence. Reflecting the impact of another spy with a similar name - Jason Bourne - the series became grittier, with more realistic action and emotion. For once, the blood and bruises from all those fights and near-fatal scrapes looked real. Quantum Of Solace carries on the new direction.
Yet every Bond - bar one - has had an impact. In six movies Connery established the character as suave, witty, unkillable, resourceful and endlessly attractive to women, especially if they had a provocative name such as Pussy Galore or Plenty O'Toole
For seven movies Roger Moore brought more comedy to the series, even to the surreal point of his Bond defusing a nuclear bomb while wearing a clown suit in Octopussy. Somehow he found time to get the make-up right before stopping the timer without a second to spare. With Timothy Dalton came more earnestness; with Pierce Brosnan, more gloss and high-tech action. Only George Lazenby, who played the character just once, failed to establish a distinctive Bond.
Over the years agent 007 has survived assassination attempts by such devious measures as deadly tarantula, snake, crocodile, burial in a pipeline, crushing by a lover's legs and, just to show how dangerous being a secret agent can get, exploding dessert.
Fans all have a favourite Bond (often Connery, though Craig racked up credit points in Casino Royale), a favourite Bond girl (lots of possibilities but rarely Grace Jones) and often a favourite adversary (especially for those who grew up with Blofeld, Goldfinger, Oddjob and Jaws in the early movies).
It's a series full of memorable theme songs, gadgets and droll lines. And the greatest of all Bond moments? Here are our 10 best.
THE QUINTESSENTIAL BOND GIRL
Ursula Andress emerged from the sea like a lustrous blonde goddess in a slinky white bikini in Dr. No. She was innocently collecting sea-shells - as you do - on a mysterious island with armed guards who happened to be protecting her father's killer.
It was an entrance made all the more memorable when she introduced herself as Honey Ryder and casually mentioned that she'd killed a man who had taken advantage of her by putting a black-widow spider under his mosquito net. It certainly caught Bond's attention, with Connery joining in the calypso song she was singing.
Watching it now, the scene seems much more modest than, say, a Pussycat Dolls music video. Other Bond movies have done more provocative takes on emerging from the sea, including Halle Berry in Die Another Day.
But in 1962, Honey's arrival on No's island was a very sultry moment. Forever remembered for wearing a bikini she provided herself - she didn't like the supplied version - Andress later posed for Playboy without it.
THE JETPACK
The opening moments of Thunderball provided one of Bond's most memorable gadgets - even better than the submarine car of The Spy Who Loved Me or the many modifications to the Aston Martin that kept the resourceful MI6 mechanics busy for years. Having dispatched a cross-dressing killer attending his own funeral - if you want logical plots, you've come to the wrong place - 007 flies away with a jetpack. "No well-dressed man should be without one," he quips as he tucks his portable rocket into the boot.
Generations of fans at the Royal Easter Show have marvelled at the handiness of a jetpack ever since.
DEATH BY LASER
Goldfinger is full of classic Bond moments: the lover killed with a coating of gold paint; the modified Aston Martin with ejector seat; Pussy Galore introducing herself to Bond (who cheerfully replies, "I must be dreaming"); the manservant Oddjob decapitating a statue with his lethal hat; and the defusing of a nuclear bomb with precisely 007 seconds to go.
But the great scene had Bond strapped down with a laser about to slice him in half. "Do you expect me to talk?" he asks. Bond fans can all join in for Auric Goldfinger's response: "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die."
Rather than using the traditional ingenious device supplied by Q, Bond bluffs his way out by pretending to know all about something called Operation Grand Slam. In the moment before being sucked out of plane window, after Bond has foiled a plan to blow up Fort Knox, Goldfinger lives to regret letting Bond survive.
SPEEDBOATS IN THE SWAMP
Roger Moore's first outing in Live And Let Die saw carnage on the Louisiana waterways. Having used crocodiles as stepping stones to escape a potentially ugly end, Bond steals a speedboat and is pursued by thugs, police and the annoying Sheriff J. W. Pepper.
Boats jump roads, go across lawns and end up in odd places - a swimming pool, a ship's hold and jammed through a police car. Twenty six boats were built for the scene; 17 were destroyed during rehearsals alone.
There was a speedboat chase up the Thames in 1999's The World Is Not Enough but this one is the classic.
SKIING OFF A CLIFF
Bond's big-wave surfing in Die Another Day was one of the lamest moments in the series thanks to unconvincing special effects. But his frequent chases on skis have always been memorable. The best was at the start of The Spy Who Loved Me.
Having left the bed of a beautiful woman spying on him - he never learns - Bond is pursued by a team of armed killers as he skis down a mountain.
Shooting one with a gun inside a stock, he backflips then skis off a cliff, tumbling towards a vast valley. After a long pause to contemplate 007's certain and very messy death, a Union Jack parachute opens. Cue the theme music.
TAKING OVER A PLANE
As Bond, Roger Moore never seemed much of an athlete. In A View To A Kill, he looked more likely to go to bed with a hot cocoa than Grace Jones. But in Octopussy his 007 had one of the great mid-air action scenes.
When the smooth villain, Kamal Khan, and his offsider, Gobinda, escape in a plane with the kidnapped Bond girl Octopussy, our hero arrives at the airstrip on horseback.
Jumping on the tail of the taxi-ing plane, he climbs on the roof as it takes to the air, then avoids being shaken off during a barrel roll. After dispatching Gobinda back to earth by neatly flicking an aerial into his face, Bond clambers inside the plane and, moments before it crash-lands, jumps to safety with Octopussy. To the stuntmen who made Moore look good, we salute you.
It's awkward when the air hostess you are kissing pulls a gun on you mid-flight. It's even trickier when you're pushed out of the plane without a parachute. If you are 007, though, you can get out of even that most impossible situation.
In Moonraker, Bond plummeted towards the plane's free-falling pilot and grabbed his parachute. Then he fought off the giant, steel-toothed villain Jaws, who had come after him, and landed safely.
The only glitch was that Jaws survived by landing on a circus tent, which meant Bond then had to battle him on a Rio cable car.
WELCOME TO A CHANGED WORLD
As Bond's boss, M was always a likable officious chap until Judi Dench brought a touch of steel to the role in GoldenEye.
The producers obviously realised that women were having their doubts about Bond and his womanising ways and that even hardcore fans were wondering whether 007 was still relevant after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Dench's M quickly gave Bond, played by Brosnan for the first time, the mother of all dressings down, calling him "a sexist, misogynistic dinosaur; a relic of the Cold War" and questioning his "boyish charm". So that's how they do performance reviews in MI6.
THE BACK-SEAT CAR CHASE
Tomorrow Never Dies is one of the weakest Bond movies in terms of plot but it had two classic scenes.
In the first, Bond steals a jet carrying nuclear weapons from a terrorist arms bazaar.
Then comes a moment for back-seat drivers everywhere: a car chase with Bond steering his BMW by remote control through a car park - up and down ramps, firing rockets and dropping tacks while the car's female voice cheerfully reminds him that "unsafe driving will void warranty". After jumping to safety, Bond sends the car off the roof into - product-placement alert - an Avis office.
THE PARKOUR CHASE
After Bond earned his 007 licence with a couple of cold-blooded kills, Casino Royale really took off with the helter-skelter parkour chase - an acrobatic relative of free running - in Madagascar. Daniel Craig's Bond chased a bomb maker into a construction site, up a building, onto a crane then back to the ground again. As in the best Bond scenes, there is time for a sly joke when the bomb maker slides niftily through a high window and, instead of following, 007 just smashes through a wall.
After the villain reaches his embassy, Bond coolly kills him and blows up half the building to escape. "In the old days, if an agent did something that embarrassing, he'd have the good sense to defect," says a furious M. "Christ, I miss the Cold War."
(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Why brands love Bond, by Joe Thomas - Brand Republic - 9th September 2008
LONDON - Coca-Cola's multimillion-pound deal with upcoming James Bond film 'Quantum of Solace' shows that the spy continues to be a huge draw for brands. The tie-up, for which Coca-Cola Zero will be rebranded as Zero Zero 7 to support the release of the second film in which actor Daniel Craig plays Bond, is the latest in a long line of collaborations.
Productions featuring the iconic naval officer-turned-spy have been bombarded with pleas for product placements since 1962's Dr No. The ultimate case of a jet-setting ladies' man, the glamour of Bond appeals to women as well as men, and brands want to associate themselves with it.
In the last Bond film, a remake of Casino Royale, the series was brought back to basics, and the result was a resurgence of the Bond brand. 'Ultimately, Bond's reinvention has made him more gritty and more accessible to people and this is the reason why brands want to be associated with him,' says Martin Smith, head of planning at Saatchi & Saatchi.
Andrew Knowles, co-founder of JKR, believes that brands and Bond work in concert. 'With 007, brand associations like Omega and Aston Martin both gain and contribute to the Bond charisma,' he says. 'More prosaic brands like Coke Zero initially feel a less comfortable fit, but remind us of the enduring appeal of simple myths and symbols,' he adds. The brand is trying to celebrate Bond's masculine image and his adventures.
Although most of the tie-ins are male-oriented brands, the appeal of Bond is collective. The memorable Halle Berry Bond-girl bikini seen in 2002's Die Another Day, as replicated by Marks & Spencer, was a top seller - although this, according to Smith, had much more to do with men wanting their partners to wear it than women buying the sexy numbers for themselves.
'The Bond franchise is wide open and, to date, it has used male products to drive the endorsement factor, but I think it could well open up a much wider market,' says Rune Gustafson, chief executive of Interbrand.
In the latest instalment, which premieres on 29 October, a Ford Ka will feature, albeit in a metallic gold version. Previously, BMW used Tomorrow Never Dies as the platform to launch the Z3 roadster.
Bond has always had an association with the luxurious, fast and exciting. Smith believes that demonstrating some bling simply lends brands some kudos. They will always strive to associate themselves with the celebrity and, after all these years, Bond is still the epitome of this. 'I'm not a fan of James Bond, but I can definitely see why brands would use him to create aspiration as most schoolboys and even grown men want to be him,' Smith adds.
Bond's tie-ins
* MGM earned $100m on product placements in The World Is Not Enough.
* BMW launched the Z3 roadster in Tomorrow Never Dies.
* The new Bond girl, Olga Kurylenko, will star in ads for Heineken.
* A metallic gold Ford Ka is used in Quantum of Solace.
* Daniel Craig stars as James Bond in a Sony ad to demonstrate the long-term distributor and commercial partner of the film franchise.
* Coca-Cola renames Coke Zero to Zero Zero 7.
* As Bond, Pierce Brosnan wore only Brioni suits.
* Originally a Rolex-wearer, Bond now wears Omega watches.
Greg Tingle comment...
Virgin, and specifically, Virgin Atlantic, has plugged into the Bond machine also. In 'Casino Royale', Sir Richard Branson \(the walking brand) got his cameo, and rubbed shoulders with the right top brass at the Bond franchise. This time around in 'Quantum of Solace.' Bond is priceless and little wonder its now know as 'Buy Another Day'. Richard Branson nailed this, and along with V's deal with HBO's Entourage, is currently enjoying a stellar run, or at least that is the media and public perception. Perceptions often become reality, financial crush, crash or not. Adapting to the times and relevance is what its all about. I will be touching on this Bond - Virgin connection at CAP Down Under also. Bond, 'Buy Another Day' indeed. PS: in some circles RB is known as Dr Yes, rather that Dr No... it sometimes pays to be a proud Bond fan, especially if you have aircraft at the ready...Bond likes phones also.. Sony Ericsson's to be specific. Coke 007 hey... I will be awaiting my carton to arrive then, stranger things have happened. What brand of video games does Bond like then?
(Credit: Brand Republic)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Productions featuring the iconic naval officer-turned-spy have been bombarded with pleas for product placements since 1962's Dr No. The ultimate case of a jet-setting ladies' man, the glamour of Bond appeals to women as well as men, and brands want to associate themselves with it.
In the last Bond film, a remake of Casino Royale, the series was brought back to basics, and the result was a resurgence of the Bond brand. 'Ultimately, Bond's reinvention has made him more gritty and more accessible to people and this is the reason why brands want to be associated with him,' says Martin Smith, head of planning at Saatchi & Saatchi.
Andrew Knowles, co-founder of JKR, believes that brands and Bond work in concert. 'With 007, brand associations like Omega and Aston Martin both gain and contribute to the Bond charisma,' he says. 'More prosaic brands like Coke Zero initially feel a less comfortable fit, but remind us of the enduring appeal of simple myths and symbols,' he adds. The brand is trying to celebrate Bond's masculine image and his adventures.
Although most of the tie-ins are male-oriented brands, the appeal of Bond is collective. The memorable Halle Berry Bond-girl bikini seen in 2002's Die Another Day, as replicated by Marks & Spencer, was a top seller - although this, according to Smith, had much more to do with men wanting their partners to wear it than women buying the sexy numbers for themselves.
'The Bond franchise is wide open and, to date, it has used male products to drive the endorsement factor, but I think it could well open up a much wider market,' says Rune Gustafson, chief executive of Interbrand.
In the latest instalment, which premieres on 29 October, a Ford Ka will feature, albeit in a metallic gold version. Previously, BMW used Tomorrow Never Dies as the platform to launch the Z3 roadster.
Bond has always had an association with the luxurious, fast and exciting. Smith believes that demonstrating some bling simply lends brands some kudos. They will always strive to associate themselves with the celebrity and, after all these years, Bond is still the epitome of this. 'I'm not a fan of James Bond, but I can definitely see why brands would use him to create aspiration as most schoolboys and even grown men want to be him,' Smith adds.
Bond's tie-ins
* MGM earned $100m on product placements in The World Is Not Enough.
* BMW launched the Z3 roadster in Tomorrow Never Dies.
* The new Bond girl, Olga Kurylenko, will star in ads for Heineken.
* A metallic gold Ford Ka is used in Quantum of Solace.
* Daniel Craig stars as James Bond in a Sony ad to demonstrate the long-term distributor and commercial partner of the film franchise.
* Coca-Cola renames Coke Zero to Zero Zero 7.
* As Bond, Pierce Brosnan wore only Brioni suits.
* Originally a Rolex-wearer, Bond now wears Omega watches.
Greg Tingle comment...
Virgin, and specifically, Virgin Atlantic, has plugged into the Bond machine also. In 'Casino Royale', Sir Richard Branson \(the walking brand) got his cameo, and rubbed shoulders with the right top brass at the Bond franchise. This time around in 'Quantum of Solace.' Bond is priceless and little wonder its now know as 'Buy Another Day'. Richard Branson nailed this, and along with V's deal with HBO's Entourage, is currently enjoying a stellar run, or at least that is the media and public perception. Perceptions often become reality, financial crush, crash or not. Adapting to the times and relevance is what its all about. I will be touching on this Bond - Virgin connection at CAP Down Under also. Bond, 'Buy Another Day' indeed. PS: in some circles RB is known as Dr Yes, rather that Dr No... it sometimes pays to be a proud Bond fan, especially if you have aircraft at the ready...Bond likes phones also.. Sony Ericsson's to be specific. Coke 007 hey... I will be awaiting my carton to arrive then, stranger things have happened. What brand of video games does Bond like then?
(Credit: Brand Republic)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Beyond routine Bond, by Jane Cornwell - The Australian - 7th November 2008
Director Marc Forster tells Jane Cornwell he wanted to go deeper into 007's psyche
AT the end of Casino Royale, James Bond declared: "The job is done and the bitch is dead."
Poor 007. Double-crossed by his first true love, Vesper Lynd, his tough old heart is broken and he just won't deal with it. There's no closure or consolation for the stubborn secret agent, none of the small comforts that his creator Ian Fleming dubbed a "quantum of solace". So this time -- in a sequel that picks up an hour from where 2006's Casino Royale left off -- Bond is hurt and out for revenge.
"Bond is in a very different place now," says Marc Forster, director of Quantum of Solace, the 22nd instalment in the series.
"What does it mean for Bond to lose someone when he himself takes other people's lives? All of this has made him psychologically more vulnerable and even a little cynical. He is unable to trust anyone. For me, the central theme of Quantum of Solace is trust."
It's certainly what Forster was riding on when he signed up to direct his first big-budget action movie. Casino Royale, directed by Martin Campbell, revived the flagging franchise with alterations to the formula and a new, rough-edged 007, Daniel Craig; it became the best box-office Bond in history, earning $US595 million.
Expectations for the follow-up have been high. But despite a resume that spans a range of intimate, character-driven dramas (The Kite Runner, Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball), not one of Forster's films boasts so much as a car chase. Can this "actor's director" and self-styled storyteller deliver?
The answer seems to be yes. With a cryptic title taken from a short story in Fleming's For Your Eyes Only collection and a new plot created while Casino Royale was still being shot, the latest Bond flick pushes the envelope even further. For all its heartbreak and trust issues, it is very much an action movie: there are crashes, explosions and stunts galore.
The film certainly looks exotic. The trademark globe-hopping takes him from London to Haiti -- where Bond meets the fiery Camille (Ukrainian actor Olga Kurylenko, who reportedly became Forster's girlfriend during filming) -- and to Austria, Italy and South America. Along the way there's a sinister plan, several MI6 traitors, a mysterious organisation called Quantum and the evil Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric, French star of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), a ruthless baddie posing as an environmentalist. Oh, and a climactic sequence in the wasteland of Chile's Atacama Desert, a place as isolated and lonely as Bond.
"I wanted to go deeper into Bond's psyche and reflect his state of mind," Forster says. "No Bond film had been done in the desert before. It's a great metaphor. There's this rough, hard shell around Bond, but inside he's just the opposite."
Forster admits he baulked at taking the job. Recommended to the producers by Craig, a fan of his films, he was eventually persuaded by the success of Casino Royale and their willingness to add depth to the Bond character.
"There are fewer studio hassles than you'd normally expect on a movie with a budget of $200million because it's their franchise. Everything starts and ends with them. They really tried to support my vision as much as they could."
Forster's vision involved shooting scenes at as many real locations as possible and restricting the use of Pinewood Studios sets to fight scenes, MI6 headquarters and Bond's Bolivian hotel suite. He'd hoped to make Bond wander alone in the Australian desert. But his vision had its limits: "The problem was the distance; I was told to find somewhere closer."
Forster is the youngest of three brothers born to a German doctor and Swiss architect, and his background certainly sounds like the stuff of 007: his family moved to a resort town in the Swiss mountains after learning they were blacklisted by the Baader-Meinhof terrorist gang. But he has also said his upbringing was idyllic. He didn't see a television until he was 12, in 1979, the same year he saw Apocalypse Now and was inspired to become a filmmaker.
His breakthrough film was 2001's Monster's Ball, the story of a black woman in the southern US who becomes involved with the man who executed her husband. Carefully directed and astutely acted (not the least by Heath Ledger as a sensitive prison guard), the starkly realistic film won a best actress Oscar for Halle Berry and gave Forster his A-list status in Hollywood.
"I always like to go through scenes with actors so that they have a basic understanding of what I would like to do," Forster says. "I can never turn the camera on and just let the actor go; ultimately I have to lead it slightly, verbally or non-verbally, to get what I want." He smiles. "Judi Dench said I was the first Bond director who'd ever met her before shooting."
Forster once declined $US500,000 to direct a film because he didn't like the script and thought it might harm his reputation, despite having no money at the time: "I can only do films I am passionate about." Offered the job of directing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), he opted instead for Finding Neverland, about children's author J.M. Barrie. "Harry Potter already had a vision in place. I couldn't extend that vision," he says.
His biggest challenge before Bond was directing the adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's mega-selling novel The Kite Runner, which follows an Afghan-American man who returns to war-torn Afghanistan to save the son of his best friend.
So how did it feel to shout "action!" on his first day on the 007 set? "I don't shout 'action'," he says. "My first AD (assistant director) suddenly started saying it, so I thought, 'OK, he enjoys it, so let him."'
Unlike earlier Bonds with cartoon Cold War villains, Quantum's baddies are neither black nor white. Nor are its good guys.
"It's very clear to me that times have changed. Things go back and forth. The bad guy is not pure evil any more and Bond is not pure good. But he is still a mystery to us, which is part of his continuing success.
"Bond isn't a character who will ever talk emotionally about himself, which is why I created the character of Camille as a sort of mirror image. She says the things that he won't say."
Would Forster direct another Bond? "No," he says firmly. "At this point I'd rather go back to doing something smaller. It was a good experience but it was exhausting and it took a long time. It's important to live life as well, you know, though I did really enjoy it."
So the job is done? "Yeah." He flashes a grin. "The job is done."
Quantum of Solace is released nationally on November 19.
(Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
AT the end of Casino Royale, James Bond declared: "The job is done and the bitch is dead."
Poor 007. Double-crossed by his first true love, Vesper Lynd, his tough old heart is broken and he just won't deal with it. There's no closure or consolation for the stubborn secret agent, none of the small comforts that his creator Ian Fleming dubbed a "quantum of solace". So this time -- in a sequel that picks up an hour from where 2006's Casino Royale left off -- Bond is hurt and out for revenge.
"Bond is in a very different place now," says Marc Forster, director of Quantum of Solace, the 22nd instalment in the series.
"What does it mean for Bond to lose someone when he himself takes other people's lives? All of this has made him psychologically more vulnerable and even a little cynical. He is unable to trust anyone. For me, the central theme of Quantum of Solace is trust."
It's certainly what Forster was riding on when he signed up to direct his first big-budget action movie. Casino Royale, directed by Martin Campbell, revived the flagging franchise with alterations to the formula and a new, rough-edged 007, Daniel Craig; it became the best box-office Bond in history, earning $US595 million.
Expectations for the follow-up have been high. But despite a resume that spans a range of intimate, character-driven dramas (The Kite Runner, Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball), not one of Forster's films boasts so much as a car chase. Can this "actor's director" and self-styled storyteller deliver?
The answer seems to be yes. With a cryptic title taken from a short story in Fleming's For Your Eyes Only collection and a new plot created while Casino Royale was still being shot, the latest Bond flick pushes the envelope even further. For all its heartbreak and trust issues, it is very much an action movie: there are crashes, explosions and stunts galore.
The film certainly looks exotic. The trademark globe-hopping takes him from London to Haiti -- where Bond meets the fiery Camille (Ukrainian actor Olga Kurylenko, who reportedly became Forster's girlfriend during filming) -- and to Austria, Italy and South America. Along the way there's a sinister plan, several MI6 traitors, a mysterious organisation called Quantum and the evil Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric, French star of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), a ruthless baddie posing as an environmentalist. Oh, and a climactic sequence in the wasteland of Chile's Atacama Desert, a place as isolated and lonely as Bond.
"I wanted to go deeper into Bond's psyche and reflect his state of mind," Forster says. "No Bond film had been done in the desert before. It's a great metaphor. There's this rough, hard shell around Bond, but inside he's just the opposite."
Forster admits he baulked at taking the job. Recommended to the producers by Craig, a fan of his films, he was eventually persuaded by the success of Casino Royale and their willingness to add depth to the Bond character.
"There are fewer studio hassles than you'd normally expect on a movie with a budget of $200million because it's their franchise. Everything starts and ends with them. They really tried to support my vision as much as they could."
Forster's vision involved shooting scenes at as many real locations as possible and restricting the use of Pinewood Studios sets to fight scenes, MI6 headquarters and Bond's Bolivian hotel suite. He'd hoped to make Bond wander alone in the Australian desert. But his vision had its limits: "The problem was the distance; I was told to find somewhere closer."
Forster is the youngest of three brothers born to a German doctor and Swiss architect, and his background certainly sounds like the stuff of 007: his family moved to a resort town in the Swiss mountains after learning they were blacklisted by the Baader-Meinhof terrorist gang. But he has also said his upbringing was idyllic. He didn't see a television until he was 12, in 1979, the same year he saw Apocalypse Now and was inspired to become a filmmaker.
His breakthrough film was 2001's Monster's Ball, the story of a black woman in the southern US who becomes involved with the man who executed her husband. Carefully directed and astutely acted (not the least by Heath Ledger as a sensitive prison guard), the starkly realistic film won a best actress Oscar for Halle Berry and gave Forster his A-list status in Hollywood.
"I always like to go through scenes with actors so that they have a basic understanding of what I would like to do," Forster says. "I can never turn the camera on and just let the actor go; ultimately I have to lead it slightly, verbally or non-verbally, to get what I want." He smiles. "Judi Dench said I was the first Bond director who'd ever met her before shooting."
Forster once declined $US500,000 to direct a film because he didn't like the script and thought it might harm his reputation, despite having no money at the time: "I can only do films I am passionate about." Offered the job of directing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), he opted instead for Finding Neverland, about children's author J.M. Barrie. "Harry Potter already had a vision in place. I couldn't extend that vision," he says.
His biggest challenge before Bond was directing the adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's mega-selling novel The Kite Runner, which follows an Afghan-American man who returns to war-torn Afghanistan to save the son of his best friend.
So how did it feel to shout "action!" on his first day on the 007 set? "I don't shout 'action'," he says. "My first AD (assistant director) suddenly started saying it, so I thought, 'OK, he enjoys it, so let him."'
Unlike earlier Bonds with cartoon Cold War villains, Quantum's baddies are neither black nor white. Nor are its good guys.
"It's very clear to me that times have changed. Things go back and forth. The bad guy is not pure evil any more and Bond is not pure good. But he is still a mystery to us, which is part of his continuing success.
"Bond isn't a character who will ever talk emotionally about himself, which is why I created the character of Camille as a sort of mirror image. She says the things that he won't say."
Would Forster direct another Bond? "No," he says firmly. "At this point I'd rather go back to doing something smaller. It was a good experience but it was exhausting and it took a long time. It's important to live life as well, you know, though I did really enjoy it."
So the job is done? "Yeah." He flashes a grin. "The job is done."
Quantum of Solace is released nationally on November 19.
(Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Bond seduces o'seas B.O. with 'Quantum', By Pamela McClintock, Archie Thomas - Variety - 7th November 2008
Latest 007 movie breaks U.K. record
James Bond has made Harry Potter disappear.
The latest Bond installment "Quantum of Solace" grossed a socko $24.4 million from 1,150 runs in its opening in the U.K. over the Oct. 31-Nov. 2 weekend, breaking the record launch of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and claiming a staggering 70% of the market.
The Sony and MGM pic also made the history books in France and Sweden. The $10.6 million Gallic launch was the best ever for a Bond title. In Sweden, the Daniel Craig starrer grossed $2.7 million, the fourth best bow ever in that territory.
Combined with its launch in France and Sweden, Sony and MGM's "Quantum" ended the frame with a gross of $39 million from a total 2,123 playdates two weeks before its North American bow. That put the film at the top of the international box office chart.
In the U.K., "Solace's" boffo performance was powered by advance ticket sales and buzz from the Oct. 29 world premiere in London. "Solace" got off to a lightening start on Friday, collecting a whammo $8 million, the biggest opening day ever and 20% ahead of "Goblet of Fire."
Heading into the weekend, bookers predicted that "Quantum" would open to roughly $21 million. Part of the reason it might have done better is the weekend's persistently rainy weather.
Reviews were mixed in the U.K., so Sony will be looking for good word-of-mouth.
French critics were kinder, with both crix and auds won over by the somber Bond fashioned by director Marc Forster.
Coming in No. 2 for the weekend at the international box office was Disney sensation "High School Musical 3: Senior Year." The Disney pic grossed $29.2 million from 3,805 in 32 markets, pushing its foreign cume to a weighty $90.2 million. Combined with a domestic cume of $62 million, the film's worldwide total is $152.2 million.
"HSM3" dominated cinema trade in other key Euro markets, opening tops in Italy at a stellar $5.1 million and holding pole position in Germany and Spain. The film also has done well in France, which has been a tricky market in the past for tuners.
It was a good weekend for Hollywood. DreamWorks Animation and Paramount sequel "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" turned golden it its first launches, grossing $18.1 million at 635 in Russia and the Ukraine. The film scored the best-ever openings in both territories. The toon opened in North America on Nov. 7, and will wait until later in the month to unspool in other major foreign markets.
The European heat of the frame was Gallic laffer "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" (Welcome to the Sticks,) which enjoyed strong openings in Germany and Italy. The film was a blockbuster in France earlier this year, but fell flat in the U.K. Positive response in German and Italy was welcomed.
"It's a great lighthearted comedy, and German audiences can really relate to regional differences -- Berliners, Bavarians, Saxons and northern Germans all make fun of each other in similar fashion," notes one exhib.
"Les Ch'tis" grossed $1.3 million from 160 in Germany, giving it an impressive per-location average of $7,789. In Italy, the comedy got a warm welcome, with $1.3 million from 325.
More serious fare didn't do so well.
Oliver Stone's George W. Bush biopic "W." opened to a muted $750,000 at 200 in France, its first major foreign market.
Early results for Warner Bros.' CIA thriller "Body of Lies" also are only so-so. "Body of Lies" opened to $10.8 million in 10 markets, mostly from Australia and South Korea.
Archie Thomas in the U.K., Ed Meza in Germany, Emilio Mayorga in Spain, Nick Vivarelli in Italy and David Hayhurst in France contributed to this report.
(Credit: Variety)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
James Bond has made Harry Potter disappear.
The latest Bond installment "Quantum of Solace" grossed a socko $24.4 million from 1,150 runs in its opening in the U.K. over the Oct. 31-Nov. 2 weekend, breaking the record launch of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and claiming a staggering 70% of the market.
The Sony and MGM pic also made the history books in France and Sweden. The $10.6 million Gallic launch was the best ever for a Bond title. In Sweden, the Daniel Craig starrer grossed $2.7 million, the fourth best bow ever in that territory.
Combined with its launch in France and Sweden, Sony and MGM's "Quantum" ended the frame with a gross of $39 million from a total 2,123 playdates two weeks before its North American bow. That put the film at the top of the international box office chart.
In the U.K., "Solace's" boffo performance was powered by advance ticket sales and buzz from the Oct. 29 world premiere in London. "Solace" got off to a lightening start on Friday, collecting a whammo $8 million, the biggest opening day ever and 20% ahead of "Goblet of Fire."
Heading into the weekend, bookers predicted that "Quantum" would open to roughly $21 million. Part of the reason it might have done better is the weekend's persistently rainy weather.
Reviews were mixed in the U.K., so Sony will be looking for good word-of-mouth.
French critics were kinder, with both crix and auds won over by the somber Bond fashioned by director Marc Forster.
Coming in No. 2 for the weekend at the international box office was Disney sensation "High School Musical 3: Senior Year." The Disney pic grossed $29.2 million from 3,805 in 32 markets, pushing its foreign cume to a weighty $90.2 million. Combined with a domestic cume of $62 million, the film's worldwide total is $152.2 million.
"HSM3" dominated cinema trade in other key Euro markets, opening tops in Italy at a stellar $5.1 million and holding pole position in Germany and Spain. The film also has done well in France, which has been a tricky market in the past for tuners.
It was a good weekend for Hollywood. DreamWorks Animation and Paramount sequel "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" turned golden it its first launches, grossing $18.1 million at 635 in Russia and the Ukraine. The film scored the best-ever openings in both territories. The toon opened in North America on Nov. 7, and will wait until later in the month to unspool in other major foreign markets.
The European heat of the frame was Gallic laffer "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" (Welcome to the Sticks,) which enjoyed strong openings in Germany and Italy. The film was a blockbuster in France earlier this year, but fell flat in the U.K. Positive response in German and Italy was welcomed.
"It's a great lighthearted comedy, and German audiences can really relate to regional differences -- Berliners, Bavarians, Saxons and northern Germans all make fun of each other in similar fashion," notes one exhib.
"Les Ch'tis" grossed $1.3 million from 160 in Germany, giving it an impressive per-location average of $7,789. In Italy, the comedy got a warm welcome, with $1.3 million from 325.
More serious fare didn't do so well.
Oliver Stone's George W. Bush biopic "W." opened to a muted $750,000 at 200 in France, its first major foreign market.
Early results for Warner Bros.' CIA thriller "Body of Lies" also are only so-so. "Body of Lies" opened to $10.8 million in 10 markets, mostly from Australia and South Korea.
Archie Thomas in the U.K., Ed Meza in Germany, Emilio Mayorga in Spain, Nick Vivarelli in Italy and David Hayhurst in France contributed to this report.
(Credit: Variety)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Friday, November 07, 2008
New Bond breaks records - The Sydney Morning Herald - 6th November 2008
The new James Bond film Quantum of Solace, which opens in the US on November 14 and Australia on November 19, is already breaking international records.
Daniel Craig's second tour of James Bond duty made an estimated $US38.6 million ($A56.45 million) overseas in the weekend ending November 3, despite playing in only three markets.
According to media reports, Quantum of Solace made a whopping $US25.3 million ($A37.0 million) in the United Kingdom, easily breaking the three-day premiere record held by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
In France, Quantum of Solace added another $US10.6 million ($A15.5 million) and in Sweden, the film's $US2.7 million ($A3.95 million) take was the fourth biggest launch ever.
(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Daniel Craig's second tour of James Bond duty made an estimated $US38.6 million ($A56.45 million) overseas in the weekend ending November 3, despite playing in only three markets.
According to media reports, Quantum of Solace made a whopping $US25.3 million ($A37.0 million) in the United Kingdom, easily breaking the three-day premiere record held by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
In France, Quantum of Solace added another $US10.6 million ($A15.5 million) and in Sweden, the film's $US2.7 million ($A3.95 million) take was the fourth biggest launch ever.
(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Daniel Craig bio
Biography
Daniel Wroughton Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English actor. His early film roles included The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert. He went on to star in his breakthrough performance Layer Cake and also Lara Croft: Tomb Raider opposite Angelina Jolie.
Craig became the sixth actor to portray the fictional secret agent James Bond in the long-running Eon Productions film series. He made his debut as the character in the 2006 film, Casino Royale to critical acclaim and was nominated for a BAFTA award. Grossing US$593 million worldwide, it became the highest grossing James Bond film (not adjusted for inflation). He recently finished filming the 22nd James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, released in the UK on 31 October 2008 and due for release in the US on 14 November 2008.
According to Men's Vogue, Craig is now the highest paid actor in Britain.
Early life
Daniel Craig was born in smethport, PA the son of Olivia (née Williams), an art teacher, and Timothy John Wroughton Craig, who served as a midshipman in the Merchant Navy and worked in various occupations when he came ashore. He is the cousin of spy-thriller novelist Joe Craig. Craig was brought up on the Wirral, Merseyside where his father was landlord of the pubs "Ring 'O Bells" and "The Boot". He and his brother Adam attended Hilbre High School and Calday Grange Grammar School in West Kirby. He played for Hoylake Rugby Club. Craig moved to London when he was sixteen to join the National Youth Theatre after a brief stay at Calday.
Breakthrough: 1990s
Craig studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 1991, and appeared in several minor roles including Sharpe's Eagle and an episode of Drop The Dead Donkey in 1993. His first leading role on screen was as a co-star in the 1996 BBC Television serial Our Friends in the North. He continued his work with the BBC by starring in the 1997 Francis Bacon biopic Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon, portraying Bacon's jilted lover George Dyer. 1997 also saw the broadcast of a TV mystery drama, from the Minette Walters novel The Ice House, in which Craig played DS Andy McLoughlin.
Following an introduction to international audiences as Angelina Jolie's rival and love interest in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), he continued his career in the United States in Sam Mendes's movie Road to Perdition (2002), with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. Craig played Connor Rooney, the son of an Irish mob boss (played by Newman) and a conniving murderer who hides behind his mobster father's shadow. Other leading film roles include Sword of Honour (2001), The Mother (2003) with Anne Reid, Sylvia (2003) with Gwyneth Paltrow, Layer Cake (2004) with Sienna Miller, Enduring Love (2004) with Rhys Ifans, Steven Spielberg's Munich (2005), and Infamous (2006).
James Bond (2005–present)
On 23 October 2005, Craig signed a five-film contract with EON Productions to portray James Bond. He stated that he "was aware of the challenges" of the James Bond franchise which he considers "a big machine" that "makes a lot of money". He aimed at bringing more "emotional depth" to the character.
Although the choice of Craig was controversial, numerous actors publicly voiced their support. Most notably, four of the five actors who had previously portrayed Bond — Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Sean Connery, and Roger Moore — called his casting a good decision. Clive Owen, who had been linked to the role, also spoke in defence of Craig.
The first film, Casino Royale, premiered on 14 November 2006, and grossed a total of US$594 million, which makes the film the highest grossing Bond film.
After the film was released, Craig's performance was highly acclaimed. Critic Paul Arendt of BBC Films, Kim Newman of Empire[10] and Todd Carty of Variety all described Craig as the first actor to truly embody the original James Bond from Ian Fleming's novels: "ironic, brutal, and cold". He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor on January 2006, and won the Best Actor award at the Evening Standard British Film Awards on 2 February 2007, both firsts for an actor in the role of James Bond.
A widely circulated report on several news channels and newspapers claimed that Craig had lost two teeth filming a fight scene; Craig later said it was just a crown that had come loose. Producer Barbara Broccoli also denied other rumours in an interview with Variety.
As production of Casino Royale reached its conclusion, producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announced that pre-production work had already begun on the 22nd Bond film. After several months of speculation as to the release date, Wilson and Broccoli officially announced on 20 July 2006 that the follow-up film, Quantum of Solace,will be released on 7 November and that Craig plays Bond with an option for a third film. On 25 October 2007, MGM CEO Harry Sloan revealed at the Forbes Meet II Conference that Craig had signed on for four more Bond films, through to Bond 25.
In 2006, Casino Royale became the #5 best-selling Bond film of all time; however, with recent DVD and box office sales, it rose to the #2 best-selling Bond film of all time as of 2007. The same year, Craig was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
On 12 June 2008, Craig sliced the top of one of his fingers off while filming the latest James bond film, "'Quantum of Solace". The accident was the latest in a string of incidents surrounding the shoot, including a fire at one of the sets in Pinewood Studios, UK, a car crash that left the stunt driver in a serious condition, and an Aston Martin skidding off the road while filming in heavy rains in the north of Italy and plunging into Lake Garda.
Craig describes his portrayal of Bond as an antihero: "Am I the good guy or just a bad guy who works for the good side? Bond’s role, after all, is that of an assassin when you come down to it. I have never played a role in which someone’s dark side shouldn't be explored." The audience should question his actions during the films, but never be in doubt as to what he is by the end of the story.
Other projects
In 1999 Daniel starred as Richard in a one off tv drama called Shockers: The Visitor. In 2007, Craig moved on to portraying the character of Lord Asriel in the The Golden Compass, the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's novel Northern Lights. Eva Green, who played Bond girl Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, also starred in the film, although she did not appear in any scenes with Craig. In a stage version of the book, Asriel had previously been played by Timothy Dalton, one of Craig's predecessors in the role of James Bond.
In early 2007, Craig expressed an interest in being a part of the Star Trek franchise, professing his love of the series to the World Entertainment News Network and a desire to have a "stint in the TV show or a film. It's been a secret ambition of mine for years." On 16 March 2007, Craig made a cameo appearance as himself in a sketch with Catherine Tate who appeared in the guise of her character Elaine Figgis from The Catherine Tate Show. The sketch was made for the BBC Red Nose Day 2007 fundraising program.
Personal life
In 1992, Craig married Scottish actress Fiona Loudon, with whom he has a daughter, Ella. However, the marriage ended in a divorce in 1994. After his divorce he was in a seven-year relationship with German actress Heike Makatsch. In the last few years, Craig has been in a long term relationship with American film producer Satsuki Mitchell. He is a fan of Liverpool FC.
In October 2008, Craig paid £4 million for an apartment close to Regent's Park, London. (Credit: Wikipedia)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Daniel Craig
James Bond
Daniel Wroughton Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English actor. His early film roles included The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert. He went on to star in his breakthrough performance Layer Cake and also Lara Croft: Tomb Raider opposite Angelina Jolie.
Craig became the sixth actor to portray the fictional secret agent James Bond in the long-running Eon Productions film series. He made his debut as the character in the 2006 film, Casino Royale to critical acclaim and was nominated for a BAFTA award. Grossing US$593 million worldwide, it became the highest grossing James Bond film (not adjusted for inflation). He recently finished filming the 22nd James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, released in the UK on 31 October 2008 and due for release in the US on 14 November 2008.
According to Men's Vogue, Craig is now the highest paid actor in Britain.
Early life
Daniel Craig was born in smethport, PA the son of Olivia (née Williams), an art teacher, and Timothy John Wroughton Craig, who served as a midshipman in the Merchant Navy and worked in various occupations when he came ashore. He is the cousin of spy-thriller novelist Joe Craig. Craig was brought up on the Wirral, Merseyside where his father was landlord of the pubs "Ring 'O Bells" and "The Boot". He and his brother Adam attended Hilbre High School and Calday Grange Grammar School in West Kirby. He played for Hoylake Rugby Club. Craig moved to London when he was sixteen to join the National Youth Theatre after a brief stay at Calday.
Breakthrough: 1990s
Craig studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 1991, and appeared in several minor roles including Sharpe's Eagle and an episode of Drop The Dead Donkey in 1993. His first leading role on screen was as a co-star in the 1996 BBC Television serial Our Friends in the North. He continued his work with the BBC by starring in the 1997 Francis Bacon biopic Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon, portraying Bacon's jilted lover George Dyer. 1997 also saw the broadcast of a TV mystery drama, from the Minette Walters novel The Ice House, in which Craig played DS Andy McLoughlin.
Following an introduction to international audiences as Angelina Jolie's rival and love interest in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), he continued his career in the United States in Sam Mendes's movie Road to Perdition (2002), with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. Craig played Connor Rooney, the son of an Irish mob boss (played by Newman) and a conniving murderer who hides behind his mobster father's shadow. Other leading film roles include Sword of Honour (2001), The Mother (2003) with Anne Reid, Sylvia (2003) with Gwyneth Paltrow, Layer Cake (2004) with Sienna Miller, Enduring Love (2004) with Rhys Ifans, Steven Spielberg's Munich (2005), and Infamous (2006).
James Bond (2005–present)
On 23 October 2005, Craig signed a five-film contract with EON Productions to portray James Bond. He stated that he "was aware of the challenges" of the James Bond franchise which he considers "a big machine" that "makes a lot of money". He aimed at bringing more "emotional depth" to the character.
Although the choice of Craig was controversial, numerous actors publicly voiced their support. Most notably, four of the five actors who had previously portrayed Bond — Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Sean Connery, and Roger Moore — called his casting a good decision. Clive Owen, who had been linked to the role, also spoke in defence of Craig.
The first film, Casino Royale, premiered on 14 November 2006, and grossed a total of US$594 million, which makes the film the highest grossing Bond film.
After the film was released, Craig's performance was highly acclaimed. Critic Paul Arendt of BBC Films, Kim Newman of Empire[10] and Todd Carty of Variety all described Craig as the first actor to truly embody the original James Bond from Ian Fleming's novels: "ironic, brutal, and cold". He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor on January 2006, and won the Best Actor award at the Evening Standard British Film Awards on 2 February 2007, both firsts for an actor in the role of James Bond.
A widely circulated report on several news channels and newspapers claimed that Craig had lost two teeth filming a fight scene; Craig later said it was just a crown that had come loose. Producer Barbara Broccoli also denied other rumours in an interview with Variety.
As production of Casino Royale reached its conclusion, producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announced that pre-production work had already begun on the 22nd Bond film. After several months of speculation as to the release date, Wilson and Broccoli officially announced on 20 July 2006 that the follow-up film, Quantum of Solace,will be released on 7 November and that Craig plays Bond with an option for a third film. On 25 October 2007, MGM CEO Harry Sloan revealed at the Forbes Meet II Conference that Craig had signed on for four more Bond films, through to Bond 25.
In 2006, Casino Royale became the #5 best-selling Bond film of all time; however, with recent DVD and box office sales, it rose to the #2 best-selling Bond film of all time as of 2007. The same year, Craig was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
On 12 June 2008, Craig sliced the top of one of his fingers off while filming the latest James bond film, "'Quantum of Solace". The accident was the latest in a string of incidents surrounding the shoot, including a fire at one of the sets in Pinewood Studios, UK, a car crash that left the stunt driver in a serious condition, and an Aston Martin skidding off the road while filming in heavy rains in the north of Italy and plunging into Lake Garda.
Craig describes his portrayal of Bond as an antihero: "Am I the good guy or just a bad guy who works for the good side? Bond’s role, after all, is that of an assassin when you come down to it. I have never played a role in which someone’s dark side shouldn't be explored." The audience should question his actions during the films, but never be in doubt as to what he is by the end of the story.
Other projects
In 1999 Daniel starred as Richard in a one off tv drama called Shockers: The Visitor. In 2007, Craig moved on to portraying the character of Lord Asriel in the The Golden Compass, the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's novel Northern Lights. Eva Green, who played Bond girl Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, also starred in the film, although she did not appear in any scenes with Craig. In a stage version of the book, Asriel had previously been played by Timothy Dalton, one of Craig's predecessors in the role of James Bond.
In early 2007, Craig expressed an interest in being a part of the Star Trek franchise, professing his love of the series to the World Entertainment News Network and a desire to have a "stint in the TV show or a film. It's been a secret ambition of mine for years." On 16 March 2007, Craig made a cameo appearance as himself in a sketch with Catherine Tate who appeared in the guise of her character Elaine Figgis from The Catherine Tate Show. The sketch was made for the BBC Red Nose Day 2007 fundraising program.
Personal life
In 1992, Craig married Scottish actress Fiona Loudon, with whom he has a daughter, Ella. However, the marriage ended in a divorce in 1994. After his divorce he was in a seven-year relationship with German actress Heike Makatsch. In the last few years, Craig has been in a long term relationship with American film producer Satsuki Mitchell. He is a fan of Liverpool FC.
In October 2008, Craig paid £4 million for an apartment close to Regent's Park, London. (Credit: Wikipedia)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Daniel Craig
James Bond
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Quantum Of Solace game review, by Nick Cowen - The Telegraph - 3rd November 2008
The latest attempt at adapating James Bond to the video game format is more fun than a lot of its predecessors, says Nick Cowen
*Quantam Of Solace is now available for Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii
Quantum Of Solace is one of the best movie-based video games ever. To those who know movie-based games, this will sound like faint praise. But developers Treyarch deserve applause for a respectable adaptation of the last two Bond films - as Quantam Of Solace works in plotline both the latest Bond film and Casino Royale. After all, QoS would probably sell very well if it was terrible due to the fact it has the 007 logo on the cover. Instead, this is first time since the highly acclaimed Goldeneye that Bond fans won't get horribly stung if they decide to bring Bond home to their console.
Essentially, QoS is a first-person-shooter (FPS) crammed with a number of on-the-fly mini-games. In between gun battles, players will have to hack computers, dismantle security cameras and occasionally sneak up to opponents and silently dispatch them. There are also times when players will have a fistfight with an opponent, and then the action switches to a third-person-viewed mini-game in which timed button bashing sees Bond dole out brutal punishment.
But the lion's share of Bond's activities involves dishing out flying lead. Just as the film franchise eschewed zany gadgets and camp humour in favour of pugnacious grit and lead-pipe brutality, so the video game follows suit providing run and gun action built on the Call Of Duty 4 engine. The fire-fights come fast and furious, complete with a booming soundtrack and an adaptive AI. The gunplay also puts a premium on finding cover and Bond doesn't last long out in the open. A lot of the environments also contain handy gas cylinders and other explosive devices which players can used to decimate large numbers of opponents with a well-placed shot.
Cast members have been digitally captured, and the voice work, as you'd expect from the likes of Daniel Craig and Dame Judy Dench, is uniformly excellent. Bond fans will also be pleased to know chronicles events from both QoS and Casino Royale (possibly to pad out the action). The game also offers an online multiplayer similar to the mode offered in Call Of Duty 4, except with Bond skins
What makes QoS so appealing is the way the action switches so seamlessly from FPS carnage, to puzzle solving, to brief cinematic and then back again. Treyarch has taken every effort to make QoS look and feel like the player is starring in a Bond film and the end result is exciting to play, if not an instant classic.
The only other problem facing the game is its date of release. This month has seen the release of some absolutely amazing games (Dead Space, Far Cry 2 and Fable II to name three) and even more are on the way. In spite of being tied to one of the most loved and respected film franchises of all time, QoS may battle to find an audience beyond James Bond's fan base..
*Quantam Of Solace is now available for Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii0
(Credit: The Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Games
Gaming
Virtual Worlds
*Quantam Of Solace is now available for Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii
Quantum Of Solace is one of the best movie-based video games ever. To those who know movie-based games, this will sound like faint praise. But developers Treyarch deserve applause for a respectable adaptation of the last two Bond films - as Quantam Of Solace works in plotline both the latest Bond film and Casino Royale. After all, QoS would probably sell very well if it was terrible due to the fact it has the 007 logo on the cover. Instead, this is first time since the highly acclaimed Goldeneye that Bond fans won't get horribly stung if they decide to bring Bond home to their console.
Essentially, QoS is a first-person-shooter (FPS) crammed with a number of on-the-fly mini-games. In between gun battles, players will have to hack computers, dismantle security cameras and occasionally sneak up to opponents and silently dispatch them. There are also times when players will have a fistfight with an opponent, and then the action switches to a third-person-viewed mini-game in which timed button bashing sees Bond dole out brutal punishment.
But the lion's share of Bond's activities involves dishing out flying lead. Just as the film franchise eschewed zany gadgets and camp humour in favour of pugnacious grit and lead-pipe brutality, so the video game follows suit providing run and gun action built on the Call Of Duty 4 engine. The fire-fights come fast and furious, complete with a booming soundtrack and an adaptive AI. The gunplay also puts a premium on finding cover and Bond doesn't last long out in the open. A lot of the environments also contain handy gas cylinders and other explosive devices which players can used to decimate large numbers of opponents with a well-placed shot.
Cast members have been digitally captured, and the voice work, as you'd expect from the likes of Daniel Craig and Dame Judy Dench, is uniformly excellent. Bond fans will also be pleased to know chronicles events from both QoS and Casino Royale (possibly to pad out the action). The game also offers an online multiplayer similar to the mode offered in Call Of Duty 4, except with Bond skins
What makes QoS so appealing is the way the action switches so seamlessly from FPS carnage, to puzzle solving, to brief cinematic and then back again. Treyarch has taken every effort to make QoS look and feel like the player is starring in a Bond film and the end result is exciting to play, if not an instant classic.
The only other problem facing the game is its date of release. This month has seen the release of some absolutely amazing games (Dead Space, Far Cry 2 and Fable II to name three) and even more are on the way. In spite of being tied to one of the most loved and respected film franchises of all time, QoS may battle to find an audience beyond James Bond's fan base..
*Quantam Of Solace is now available for Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii0
(Credit: The Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Games
Gaming
Virtual Worlds
Monday, November 03, 2008
James Bond finds overseas 'Solace' 'Quantum' breaks records at foreign box office, by Dave McNary - Variety - 2nd November 2008
James Bond returned with a record-setting blast at the international box office as Sony/MGM's "Quantum of Solace" gunned down a socko $38.6 million at 2,123 playdates in the U.K., France and Sweden, two weeks ahead of the domestic launch.
British biz for the pic dazzled on Bond's home turf with $25.3 million at 1,150, breaking the three-day launch record held by "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and taking in a jaw-dropping 70% of the market. The Daniel Craig vehicle also set a Friday record with $8 million, 23% higher than "Goblet."
The $10.6 million French launch for "Quantum of Solace" set a Bond pic record over three days, topping the five-day mark of "Casino Royale" by 16%. And the $2.7 million Swedish debut was the fourth biggest ever in that market after the final "Lord of the Rings" pic, "Goblet" and the third "Pirates of the Caribbean."
Bond saw a stellar $18,181 per-location average for "Quantum of Solace" from the trio of territories -- portending massive biz next weekend when it expands into 57 additional markets including Germany, Italy and Russia. Sony's international distrib topper, Mark Zucker, noted that the pic benefits by coming into a market that hasn't seen an actioner with mass appeal in several months. �
With "Casino Royale" having topped $425 million offshore and a high-powered worldwide promo campaign, "Quantum of Solace" may wind up topping "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," with $467 million, as the top 2008 international title.
But it wasn't all Bond on the foreign front. With Halloween having little impact outside the U.S., the frame also saw continued impressive teen and tween support for Disney's second frame of "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" as it danced its way to a solid $25.9 million at 3,805 in 32 markets.
"HSM3" kicked in its top gross in Italy with a $4.9 million opening -- Disney's fifth highest in that market -- while the U.K. followed with $4.3 million, off 56%, and France with $3.5 million, down a mere 7%. The tuner's already taken in $85 million outside the U.S.
The frame also saw Paramount's "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" turn golden in its first launches with a stunning $17.8 million at 635 in Russia and Ukraine -- the top openings ever for both markets and an early indication that the sequel could outperform the original's $340 million overseas cume. The sequel took in $16 million in the red-hot Russian market, breaking the record for local smash "The Very Best Movie."
Par's opted for a gradual foreign release on the "Madagascar" sequel, with only Hungary and the Philippines launching next weekend and most key territories open by the end of the month.
By contrast, international audiences showed only modest support for serious political fare as Oliver Stone's "W." opened with a moderate $750,000 at 200 in France, its first major market. Similarly, Warner's early foreign results for Middle East thriller "Body of Lies" have been muted with $10.8 million in 10 markets, mostly from Australia and South Korea.
"Burn After Reading" continued to generate respectable foreign numbers with $6.7 million at 1,705 in 20 markets, eclipsing its domestic total with $58 million overseas. "Saw V" scared up $5.8 million in 17 territories -- but with Mexico the only major market -- to lift its early foreign total to $14.3 million, and "Eagle Eye" grabbed $4.5 million at 2,276 in 54 markets to push international cume to $65.5 million.
And "Mamma Mia!" stayed a player with $3.4 million at 2,700 in 46 territories to raise its foreign total to $414.8 million and edge past "Kung Fu Panda" as 2008's third best international grosser after "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and "The Dark Knight.
Greg Tingle comment...
The Bond franchise still appears both unstoppable and recession proof, the world over. Buy Another Day still sets the standard. Just about any brands associated with Bond are going to do alright out of it, be it Virgin, Sony, Omega or Aston Martin. Richard Branson must be amongst those rubbing his hands with glee. Bond, the spy who loved media and advertising, and whom advertising and media loved back! From UK to Bondi Beach, the Bond love affair continues.
(Credit: Variety)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
British biz for the pic dazzled on Bond's home turf with $25.3 million at 1,150, breaking the three-day launch record held by "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and taking in a jaw-dropping 70% of the market. The Daniel Craig vehicle also set a Friday record with $8 million, 23% higher than "Goblet."
The $10.6 million French launch for "Quantum of Solace" set a Bond pic record over three days, topping the five-day mark of "Casino Royale" by 16%. And the $2.7 million Swedish debut was the fourth biggest ever in that market after the final "Lord of the Rings" pic, "Goblet" and the third "Pirates of the Caribbean."
Bond saw a stellar $18,181 per-location average for "Quantum of Solace" from the trio of territories -- portending massive biz next weekend when it expands into 57 additional markets including Germany, Italy and Russia. Sony's international distrib topper, Mark Zucker, noted that the pic benefits by coming into a market that hasn't seen an actioner with mass appeal in several months. �
With "Casino Royale" having topped $425 million offshore and a high-powered worldwide promo campaign, "Quantum of Solace" may wind up topping "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," with $467 million, as the top 2008 international title.
But it wasn't all Bond on the foreign front. With Halloween having little impact outside the U.S., the frame also saw continued impressive teen and tween support for Disney's second frame of "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" as it danced its way to a solid $25.9 million at 3,805 in 32 markets.
"HSM3" kicked in its top gross in Italy with a $4.9 million opening -- Disney's fifth highest in that market -- while the U.K. followed with $4.3 million, off 56%, and France with $3.5 million, down a mere 7%. The tuner's already taken in $85 million outside the U.S.
The frame also saw Paramount's "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" turn golden in its first launches with a stunning $17.8 million at 635 in Russia and Ukraine -- the top openings ever for both markets and an early indication that the sequel could outperform the original's $340 million overseas cume. The sequel took in $16 million in the red-hot Russian market, breaking the record for local smash "The Very Best Movie."
Par's opted for a gradual foreign release on the "Madagascar" sequel, with only Hungary and the Philippines launching next weekend and most key territories open by the end of the month.
By contrast, international audiences showed only modest support for serious political fare as Oliver Stone's "W." opened with a moderate $750,000 at 200 in France, its first major market. Similarly, Warner's early foreign results for Middle East thriller "Body of Lies" have been muted with $10.8 million in 10 markets, mostly from Australia and South Korea.
"Burn After Reading" continued to generate respectable foreign numbers with $6.7 million at 1,705 in 20 markets, eclipsing its domestic total with $58 million overseas. "Saw V" scared up $5.8 million in 17 territories -- but with Mexico the only major market -- to lift its early foreign total to $14.3 million, and "Eagle Eye" grabbed $4.5 million at 2,276 in 54 markets to push international cume to $65.5 million.
And "Mamma Mia!" stayed a player with $3.4 million at 2,700 in 46 territories to raise its foreign total to $414.8 million and edge past "Kung Fu Panda" as 2008's third best international grosser after "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and "The Dark Knight.
Greg Tingle comment...
The Bond franchise still appears both unstoppable and recession proof, the world over. Buy Another Day still sets the standard. Just about any brands associated with Bond are going to do alright out of it, be it Virgin, Sony, Omega or Aston Martin. Richard Branson must be amongst those rubbing his hands with glee. Bond, the spy who loved media and advertising, and whom advertising and media loved back! From UK to Bondi Beach, the Bond love affair continues.
(Credit: Variety)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Stripping the Spy Down to His Manners, by Sarah Lyall - The New York Times - 31st October 2008
It took two years of high-level negotiations to arrange a meeting with Daniel Craig. In an era when MI6 — the agency that employs his best-known character, James Bond — blithely advertises for agents on the Internet, Mr. Craig may well be the world’s most elusive pretend spy.
The long wait allowed plenty of time for disturbing rumors to marinate. For instance: He is surly and defensive, a reporter-averse utterer of combative monosyllables. Or this, from two women working on his publicity: He has more sexual magnetism than anyone we have ever met.
Perhaps nothing short of Mr. Craig’s materializing in his snug powder-blue bathing trunks from “Casino Royale” and offering to shake the martinis himself could have realistically lived up to all that anticipation.
But there he was in normal jeans, his arm in a sling from recent shoulder surgery. He was wearing a thick cardigan that, truth be told, walked a sensitive line between doofusy and stylish. He was, of course, unfairly attractive anyway, in his craggy, lived-in, blue-eyed way, but not so much as to render anyone speechless or unable to operate a notebook.
He was polite to a fault. He stood up when his publicist’s assistant brought in a cup of tea. He apologized several times for being five minutes late. He acted as if he were not sitting in a soulless conference room, which he was, and as if he had all day to chat about Bond and other interesting topics, which he didn’t. (He had an hour.)
Unlike many movie stars who come to believe the myth of their superiority, Mr. Craig, 40, tends to mock his own celebrity. Now that he is too famous to go to the movies without being recognized, he said, he might be forced to install a screening room at home. Not. “I could stick it next to the indoor swimming pool,” he said sarcastically.
Passing beneath two celebratory posters of himself as James Bond in his publicist’s office here, he grimaced and muttered, “That’s my Dorian Gray portrait.” Asked whether he saw himself as a natural leading man, he said, “Fat chance.” And then, “There’s not a skin-care product in the world that would have made that happen for me.”
When he was cast as Bond, filling the position most recently vacated by Pierce Brosnan, Mr. Craig did not seem like an obvious choice. He was an actor’s actor known for his intensity of focus and his wide range of challenging, counterintuitive roles. He has played, among other things, a sharp-lapeled pornography baron from Manchester in the BBC mini-series “Our Friends in the North”; a college professor pursued by a male stalker in “Enduring Love”; a builder sleeping with his girlfriend’s sexagenarian mother in “The Mother”; a drug-dealing businessman in “Layer Cake”; a killer full of murderous rage and heartbreaking tenderness in “Infamous”; and the poet Ted Hughes in “Sylvia.”
“Everybody said, ‘Oh, aren’t you afraid you’ll be typecast?’ ” he recalled of taking the Bond role. “And I said, ‘Of course I am,’ but if it has to be this — well, that’s not too bad.”
Traditionalists were appalled. The British tabloids, whose writers possibly had not seen Mr. Craig in his other films, sniped that he was too short, too blond, too actory, too potentially Lazenbyesque; they spread the rumor that he didn’t know how to drive a stick shift, let alone one attached to an Aston Martin.
But from the first scene in “Casino Royale” (2006), in which Bond brutally kills a man with his bare hands and then coolly shoots and kills his own corrupt boss, Mr. Craig proved to be a rare combination of plausibility, physicality and charisma. He got rave reviews, and not just from Bond’s traditional fan base.
(Full disclosure: Mr. Craig’s mix of emotional vulnerability and cocky insouciance discomfited to an alarming degree many a journalistic associate. One saw “Casino Royale” five times in two months. Another received an e-mail message from a flustered pal: “What are we going to do? About Daniel Craig, I mean.” Efforts to find a way for interested outside parties to pose as a reporter’s assistant during the interview or to dress as plants and hide on the windowsill proved unsuccessful.)
The latest movie, “Quantum of Solace,” which opens Nov. 14, is full of the usual Bondian big guns, big explosions, big-busted women and big, improbable, high-testosterone stunts, many of them performed by Mr. Craig. While he bulked up for “Casino” — he wanted to “look as if he could kill people just by looking at them,” his personal trainer, a former Royal Navy commando, said recently — in this film he focused on building up his stamina, going for lean and mean over brawn.
(Mr. Craig was recently quoted in The Times of London as saying, “I am not an athlete, although I have always enjoyed keeping fit between bouts of minor alcoholism.”)
Mr. Craig said that he had been determined to ensure that the story made logical and emotional sense. “Quantum” begins moments after “Casino” ends, with Bond, wielding an enormous firearm, on the island where he has just shot one of the men responsible for the death of Vesper Lynd, the treacherous love of his life.
“They’re two separate movies, but if you were to punish yourself by watching them back to back, you’d see a through line,” Mr. Craig said. He particularly wanted Bond to have to contend with the emotional repercussions of Vesper’s death.
“It was very important that we deal with that,” he said. “I just felt that you can’t have a character fall in love so madly as they did in the last movie and not finish it off, understand it, get some closure. That’s why the movie is called ‘Quantum of Solace’ — that’s exactly what he’s looking for.”
He added: “By the end of ‘Solace,’ there’s a conclusion that I’m hoping will set us up, if all goes well, for a third movie. And we can set it someplace warm and quiet.” (He was kidding, he said, about the “quiet” part.)
Last fall he and the director of “Quantum of Solace,” Marc Forster, set out to fill in the gaps in the script, left incomplete because of the Hollywood writers’ strike. Mr. Forster said he was struck by how much Mr. Craig wanted to get the story right and ensure that his interpretation of Bond was “not just a cliché, but a character that people can connect to.”
He added: “He’s very shy and slightly modest and humble, and he doesn’t like to be the center of attention. It’s more like, ‘Let’s make good movies and tell a good story and do a good job.’ ”
Along with “Quantum,” Mr. Craig is appearing this fall in “Defiance” (set to open Dec. 31), based on the true story of the Bielskis, a trio of freedom-fighting Jewish brothers in World War II. Defying the Nazis (and the odds), they set up an unlikely community of tough, armed refugees in the punishing Belarussian forest. Mr. Craig plays Tuvia, their complicated leader — sometimes hot-headed, sometimes coolly rational; now seeking revenge, now preaching restraint.
The shoot was tough. The actors had to speak Russian in a number of scenes; they also had to live more or less in the woods, in sometimes extreme frigid conditions, for three months. Most of the cast came down with some sort of bronchial flu, Mr. Craig said, “but when we started drinking more, it seemed to get better.”
The director of “Defiance,” Edward Zwick, said it was interesting to watch Mr. Craig take on the role, with all its ambivalence and inner conflict, in tandem with playing the self-assured Bond.
“You see very clearly his ambition as an actor; he refuses to be just one thing,” Mr. Zwick said in a telephone interview. “What you have to understand about Daniel is that he is a working actor who considers himself that. He began in the theater and did all sorts of ensemble work, and in some ways this was a territory in which he’s more comfortable than in being the star who’s out in front of the movie.”
Mr. Craig grew up in Liverpool and spent much of his spare time watching movies, sometimes by himself, in a small cinema down the street from his house. He left home as a teenager to seek his fortune as an actor in London. He worked with the National Youth Theater, went to drama school and began being cast as romantic leads, a designation he brushes aside.
With each part, he explained, “I said to myself: ‘Romantic lead — what is he? Is he an alcoholic? What’s his deal? What’s his problem?’ For me, that has always been the way. That’s what I did for Bond and what I try and do with everything.”
He is determined to continue pursuing extra-Bond roles.
“I’ve been so fortunate to land this amazing role in a huge franchise,” he said. “It’s set me up in a really good way for life, and that’s wonderful. But I love acting, and I genuinely think it’s an important part of what life is about. I get a kick out of it, and I’m not good at sitting around.”
Mr. Craig, who has a teenage daughter from an early marriage, genuinely seems more interested in talking about other topics — the books of Philip Pullman; the exciting-to-him proposition of Barack Obama being elected president; movies he likes — than he does in talking about himself.
But he mentioned his longtime American girlfriend, Satsuki Mitchell, with whom he lives in Los Angeles and London. He wears a silver necklace inscribed with a quotation “about taking your heart wherever you go,” he said when asked, sounding suddenly shy.
Recently, he said, the two drove up the American West Coast, through to the Pacific Northwest. They ducked into a small-town movie theater to see the Guillermo del Toro movie “Hellboy II: The Golden Army.”
Someone approached Mr. Craig.
“Has anyone ever told you you look like Daniel Craig?” the man asked.
“No,” Mr. Craig answered, and walked on.
(Credit: The New York Times)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
The long wait allowed plenty of time for disturbing rumors to marinate. For instance: He is surly and defensive, a reporter-averse utterer of combative monosyllables. Or this, from two women working on his publicity: He has more sexual magnetism than anyone we have ever met.
Perhaps nothing short of Mr. Craig’s materializing in his snug powder-blue bathing trunks from “Casino Royale” and offering to shake the martinis himself could have realistically lived up to all that anticipation.
But there he was in normal jeans, his arm in a sling from recent shoulder surgery. He was wearing a thick cardigan that, truth be told, walked a sensitive line between doofusy and stylish. He was, of course, unfairly attractive anyway, in his craggy, lived-in, blue-eyed way, but not so much as to render anyone speechless or unable to operate a notebook.
He was polite to a fault. He stood up when his publicist’s assistant brought in a cup of tea. He apologized several times for being five minutes late. He acted as if he were not sitting in a soulless conference room, which he was, and as if he had all day to chat about Bond and other interesting topics, which he didn’t. (He had an hour.)
Unlike many movie stars who come to believe the myth of their superiority, Mr. Craig, 40, tends to mock his own celebrity. Now that he is too famous to go to the movies without being recognized, he said, he might be forced to install a screening room at home. Not. “I could stick it next to the indoor swimming pool,” he said sarcastically.
Passing beneath two celebratory posters of himself as James Bond in his publicist’s office here, he grimaced and muttered, “That’s my Dorian Gray portrait.” Asked whether he saw himself as a natural leading man, he said, “Fat chance.” And then, “There’s not a skin-care product in the world that would have made that happen for me.”
When he was cast as Bond, filling the position most recently vacated by Pierce Brosnan, Mr. Craig did not seem like an obvious choice. He was an actor’s actor known for his intensity of focus and his wide range of challenging, counterintuitive roles. He has played, among other things, a sharp-lapeled pornography baron from Manchester in the BBC mini-series “Our Friends in the North”; a college professor pursued by a male stalker in “Enduring Love”; a builder sleeping with his girlfriend’s sexagenarian mother in “The Mother”; a drug-dealing businessman in “Layer Cake”; a killer full of murderous rage and heartbreaking tenderness in “Infamous”; and the poet Ted Hughes in “Sylvia.”
“Everybody said, ‘Oh, aren’t you afraid you’ll be typecast?’ ” he recalled of taking the Bond role. “And I said, ‘Of course I am,’ but if it has to be this — well, that’s not too bad.”
Traditionalists were appalled. The British tabloids, whose writers possibly had not seen Mr. Craig in his other films, sniped that he was too short, too blond, too actory, too potentially Lazenbyesque; they spread the rumor that he didn’t know how to drive a stick shift, let alone one attached to an Aston Martin.
But from the first scene in “Casino Royale” (2006), in which Bond brutally kills a man with his bare hands and then coolly shoots and kills his own corrupt boss, Mr. Craig proved to be a rare combination of plausibility, physicality and charisma. He got rave reviews, and not just from Bond’s traditional fan base.
(Full disclosure: Mr. Craig’s mix of emotional vulnerability and cocky insouciance discomfited to an alarming degree many a journalistic associate. One saw “Casino Royale” five times in two months. Another received an e-mail message from a flustered pal: “What are we going to do? About Daniel Craig, I mean.” Efforts to find a way for interested outside parties to pose as a reporter’s assistant during the interview or to dress as plants and hide on the windowsill proved unsuccessful.)
The latest movie, “Quantum of Solace,” which opens Nov. 14, is full of the usual Bondian big guns, big explosions, big-busted women and big, improbable, high-testosterone stunts, many of them performed by Mr. Craig. While he bulked up for “Casino” — he wanted to “look as if he could kill people just by looking at them,” his personal trainer, a former Royal Navy commando, said recently — in this film he focused on building up his stamina, going for lean and mean over brawn.
(Mr. Craig was recently quoted in The Times of London as saying, “I am not an athlete, although I have always enjoyed keeping fit between bouts of minor alcoholism.”)
Mr. Craig said that he had been determined to ensure that the story made logical and emotional sense. “Quantum” begins moments after “Casino” ends, with Bond, wielding an enormous firearm, on the island where he has just shot one of the men responsible for the death of Vesper Lynd, the treacherous love of his life.
“They’re two separate movies, but if you were to punish yourself by watching them back to back, you’d see a through line,” Mr. Craig said. He particularly wanted Bond to have to contend with the emotional repercussions of Vesper’s death.
“It was very important that we deal with that,” he said. “I just felt that you can’t have a character fall in love so madly as they did in the last movie and not finish it off, understand it, get some closure. That’s why the movie is called ‘Quantum of Solace’ — that’s exactly what he’s looking for.”
He added: “By the end of ‘Solace,’ there’s a conclusion that I’m hoping will set us up, if all goes well, for a third movie. And we can set it someplace warm and quiet.” (He was kidding, he said, about the “quiet” part.)
Last fall he and the director of “Quantum of Solace,” Marc Forster, set out to fill in the gaps in the script, left incomplete because of the Hollywood writers’ strike. Mr. Forster said he was struck by how much Mr. Craig wanted to get the story right and ensure that his interpretation of Bond was “not just a cliché, but a character that people can connect to.”
He added: “He’s very shy and slightly modest and humble, and he doesn’t like to be the center of attention. It’s more like, ‘Let’s make good movies and tell a good story and do a good job.’ ”
Along with “Quantum,” Mr. Craig is appearing this fall in “Defiance” (set to open Dec. 31), based on the true story of the Bielskis, a trio of freedom-fighting Jewish brothers in World War II. Defying the Nazis (and the odds), they set up an unlikely community of tough, armed refugees in the punishing Belarussian forest. Mr. Craig plays Tuvia, their complicated leader — sometimes hot-headed, sometimes coolly rational; now seeking revenge, now preaching restraint.
The shoot was tough. The actors had to speak Russian in a number of scenes; they also had to live more or less in the woods, in sometimes extreme frigid conditions, for three months. Most of the cast came down with some sort of bronchial flu, Mr. Craig said, “but when we started drinking more, it seemed to get better.”
The director of “Defiance,” Edward Zwick, said it was interesting to watch Mr. Craig take on the role, with all its ambivalence and inner conflict, in tandem with playing the self-assured Bond.
“You see very clearly his ambition as an actor; he refuses to be just one thing,” Mr. Zwick said in a telephone interview. “What you have to understand about Daniel is that he is a working actor who considers himself that. He began in the theater and did all sorts of ensemble work, and in some ways this was a territory in which he’s more comfortable than in being the star who’s out in front of the movie.”
Mr. Craig grew up in Liverpool and spent much of his spare time watching movies, sometimes by himself, in a small cinema down the street from his house. He left home as a teenager to seek his fortune as an actor in London. He worked with the National Youth Theater, went to drama school and began being cast as romantic leads, a designation he brushes aside.
With each part, he explained, “I said to myself: ‘Romantic lead — what is he? Is he an alcoholic? What’s his deal? What’s his problem?’ For me, that has always been the way. That’s what I did for Bond and what I try and do with everything.”
He is determined to continue pursuing extra-Bond roles.
“I’ve been so fortunate to land this amazing role in a huge franchise,” he said. “It’s set me up in a really good way for life, and that’s wonderful. But I love acting, and I genuinely think it’s an important part of what life is about. I get a kick out of it, and I’m not good at sitting around.”
Mr. Craig, who has a teenage daughter from an early marriage, genuinely seems more interested in talking about other topics — the books of Philip Pullman; the exciting-to-him proposition of Barack Obama being elected president; movies he likes — than he does in talking about himself.
But he mentioned his longtime American girlfriend, Satsuki Mitchell, with whom he lives in Los Angeles and London. He wears a silver necklace inscribed with a quotation “about taking your heart wherever you go,” he said when asked, sounding suddenly shy.
Recently, he said, the two drove up the American West Coast, through to the Pacific Northwest. They ducked into a small-town movie theater to see the Guillermo del Toro movie “Hellboy II: The Golden Army.”
Someone approached Mr. Craig.
“Has anyone ever told you you look like Daniel Craig?” the man asked.
“No,” Mr. Craig answered, and walked on.
(Credit: The New York Times)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
James Bond: An Everlasting Brand, by Angus Loten - Fast Company
Will the blond Bond -- Daniel Craig -- live up to the brand?
In 1962's Dr. No, a tuxedo-clad Sean Connery subdues assassins, foils the world domination plans of an evil genius, and seduces pretty women, all with an occasional bon mot thrown in. Forty-four years, 20 films and five leading men later, the James Bond film franchise continues to flourish by relying on that same basic formula -- and with good reason, film and marketing experts say.
On Nov. 17, Casino Royale, the 21st film in the series, will be joining a $3.2 billion box office juggernaut spanning the Bay of Pigs to the Iraq War. And despite sweeping social and geopolitical changes over the years -- least of all the end of the cold-war spy era -- the Bond films, like the man himself, seem indestructible. How? Just as 007 relies on nifty gadgets to beat the odds, the films themselves are armed with a secret weapon: branding.
"Bond is timeless because the essence of James Bond is timeless," says Annie Jennings, an international branding expert and head of Annie Jennings PR. "You can update him with fancy cars and the newest gadgets, but you don't change what makes James Bond tick."
So what makes James Bond tick? Paul Kyriazi, a Hollywood producer and author of The Complete James Bond Lifestyle: A Serious Course To Upgrade Your Life, says Connery, along with the writer-producer-director team of Ian Fleming, Terence Young, and Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, firmly established Bond's persona from the start. A runaway low-budget hit -- in at least two sequences you can see the sound and lighting crew -- Dr. No 's mix of wit, sophistication, action, and sex had instant appeal in the cold war years of the early 1960s, Kyriazi says.
"Before Bond, the big male icons of the day were Frank Sinatra and the rat pack," Kyriazi says. "The reason we loved Bond back then, and now, is the same reason we loved Sinatra. He's cool. And who doesn't want to be cool?"
If that seems far-fetched, consider the range of similarities between 007 and 'Ole Blue Eyes, what Kyriazi calls essential Bondisms: both men wore tuxedos, drank martinis, gambled, and had a way with the women. Kyriazi himself admits to taking Judo lessons after seeing Dr. No, hoping to someday become a home-grown gentleman spy.
But beyond cool, Bond is also a man of leisure and prosperity, always enjoying a round of golf or a skiing trip before being called to save the planet, he adds. "Underneath all the action, that in itself hits us at a subconscious level. It's very attractive."
Still, it wasn't until the release of Goldfinger, which premiered two years later and sparked riots in London's downtown theatre district, that the full Bond brand really took hold, he says.
"With Goldfinger, you had Shirley Bassey belting out that great opening song, the Austin Martin, the golden girl dancing in the title sequence. Then there was the great villain and his sidekick, and the gadgets, everything was there," Kyriazi says.
Karen Post, a branding consultant based in Tampa, Fla., says the music of the Bond films, like Bassey's classic Goldfinger theme, is as integral to the brand as the visuals. "Branding is about leveraging all the senses. If you were to shut your eyes while the movie was playing, you'll still know it was a James Bond film," she says. That's because the Bond filmmakers have been very careful not to mess too much with formula once is was firmly established, Post says. "If you look at Target, they've always had a consistent flavor, whether today or years ago. When you go to Target, you know what to expect every time," Post says.
Jennings agrees. "The branding formula is what people come for," she says. "In the case of Bond, viewers come for the suave, sophisticated, dangerous man with all the attributes that are appealing to men. Men want to be Bond and Bond is the man women dream of being in love with."
At the same time you don't want people to stop expecting surprises.
When Connery first left the Bond series after 1967's You Only Live Twice, producers kept the identity of his replacement, George Lazenby, a secret right up until the premiere of On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Enduring brands must be able to maintain a crucial, yet delicate balance between fulfilling expectations without losing an innovative edge, Post says. Any long-standing branding strategy is in danger of appearing formulaic, uncreative, and uninspiring without the occasional, unexpected tweak to push it forward, she says. It’s a fine balancing act, given that marketers can be equally chided for messing with a good thing. Just take New Coke or Pepsi Clear.
Some brand-savvy marketers have already attacked Casino Royale, which features Daniel Craig as a tougher Bond before his civil service days, for down-playing 007's beloved spy gadgets, while writing Q, MI6's secret weapons man, right out of the script.
"Might as well give Donald Trump a hair cut," Scott White wrote in his Boston, Mass.-based Brand Identity Guru blog. "Or heck, Nike doesn't need the swoosh. While you're at it change the Coke cans to blue."
White called the gadgets, which made their first real appearance in From Russia with Love in 1963, an integral part of Bond's brand image, and predicted the new film will be a bust.
Yet, Kyriazi points out most Bond aficionados now consistently rank Lazenby's 007 as one of the best, even though the one film he made flopped at the box office in 1969, prompting Connery's short-lived and costly return to the title role two years later in Diamonds Are Forever. Sounding much like early reviews of Craig's performance, Lazenby's Bond offered a rare look at the inner workings of the gentleman spy, and as such was at once more human and more menacing, Kyriazi says.
"Even Connery said you have to play Bond with a sense of danger. I've heard that Daniel Craig worked out for months before filming, not to look good with his shirt off, but to look like he could hurt someone," Kyriazi says. "As long as there's that global threat, and all the Bondisms. That's what we want."
Greg Tingle comment...
About the only movie that was going to eclipse 'Casino Royale' was the sequel, and it would appear that 'Quantum of Solace', Bond 007, 2008 style has done just that. 'Buy Another Day' is right. Bond, the spy who loved news media, and who news media loved back. Whether your Virgin's Richard Branson, the owner of Aston Martin, an Omega fan, Sony top brass or Crown Casino's James Packer, your going to love Bond.
(Credit: Fast Company)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
In 1962's Dr. No, a tuxedo-clad Sean Connery subdues assassins, foils the world domination plans of an evil genius, and seduces pretty women, all with an occasional bon mot thrown in. Forty-four years, 20 films and five leading men later, the James Bond film franchise continues to flourish by relying on that same basic formula -- and with good reason, film and marketing experts say.
On Nov. 17, Casino Royale, the 21st film in the series, will be joining a $3.2 billion box office juggernaut spanning the Bay of Pigs to the Iraq War. And despite sweeping social and geopolitical changes over the years -- least of all the end of the cold-war spy era -- the Bond films, like the man himself, seem indestructible. How? Just as 007 relies on nifty gadgets to beat the odds, the films themselves are armed with a secret weapon: branding.
"Bond is timeless because the essence of James Bond is timeless," says Annie Jennings, an international branding expert and head of Annie Jennings PR. "You can update him with fancy cars and the newest gadgets, but you don't change what makes James Bond tick."
So what makes James Bond tick? Paul Kyriazi, a Hollywood producer and author of The Complete James Bond Lifestyle: A Serious Course To Upgrade Your Life, says Connery, along with the writer-producer-director team of Ian Fleming, Terence Young, and Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, firmly established Bond's persona from the start. A runaway low-budget hit -- in at least two sequences you can see the sound and lighting crew -- Dr. No 's mix of wit, sophistication, action, and sex had instant appeal in the cold war years of the early 1960s, Kyriazi says.
"Before Bond, the big male icons of the day were Frank Sinatra and the rat pack," Kyriazi says. "The reason we loved Bond back then, and now, is the same reason we loved Sinatra. He's cool. And who doesn't want to be cool?"
If that seems far-fetched, consider the range of similarities between 007 and 'Ole Blue Eyes, what Kyriazi calls essential Bondisms: both men wore tuxedos, drank martinis, gambled, and had a way with the women. Kyriazi himself admits to taking Judo lessons after seeing Dr. No, hoping to someday become a home-grown gentleman spy.
But beyond cool, Bond is also a man of leisure and prosperity, always enjoying a round of golf or a skiing trip before being called to save the planet, he adds. "Underneath all the action, that in itself hits us at a subconscious level. It's very attractive."
Still, it wasn't until the release of Goldfinger, which premiered two years later and sparked riots in London's downtown theatre district, that the full Bond brand really took hold, he says.
"With Goldfinger, you had Shirley Bassey belting out that great opening song, the Austin Martin, the golden girl dancing in the title sequence. Then there was the great villain and his sidekick, and the gadgets, everything was there," Kyriazi says.
Karen Post, a branding consultant based in Tampa, Fla., says the music of the Bond films, like Bassey's classic Goldfinger theme, is as integral to the brand as the visuals. "Branding is about leveraging all the senses. If you were to shut your eyes while the movie was playing, you'll still know it was a James Bond film," she says. That's because the Bond filmmakers have been very careful not to mess too much with formula once is was firmly established, Post says. "If you look at Target, they've always had a consistent flavor, whether today or years ago. When you go to Target, you know what to expect every time," Post says.
Jennings agrees. "The branding formula is what people come for," she says. "In the case of Bond, viewers come for the suave, sophisticated, dangerous man with all the attributes that are appealing to men. Men want to be Bond and Bond is the man women dream of being in love with."
At the same time you don't want people to stop expecting surprises.
When Connery first left the Bond series after 1967's You Only Live Twice, producers kept the identity of his replacement, George Lazenby, a secret right up until the premiere of On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Enduring brands must be able to maintain a crucial, yet delicate balance between fulfilling expectations without losing an innovative edge, Post says. Any long-standing branding strategy is in danger of appearing formulaic, uncreative, and uninspiring without the occasional, unexpected tweak to push it forward, she says. It’s a fine balancing act, given that marketers can be equally chided for messing with a good thing. Just take New Coke or Pepsi Clear.
Some brand-savvy marketers have already attacked Casino Royale, which features Daniel Craig as a tougher Bond before his civil service days, for down-playing 007's beloved spy gadgets, while writing Q, MI6's secret weapons man, right out of the script.
"Might as well give Donald Trump a hair cut," Scott White wrote in his Boston, Mass.-based Brand Identity Guru blog. "Or heck, Nike doesn't need the swoosh. While you're at it change the Coke cans to blue."
White called the gadgets, which made their first real appearance in From Russia with Love in 1963, an integral part of Bond's brand image, and predicted the new film will be a bust.
Yet, Kyriazi points out most Bond aficionados now consistently rank Lazenby's 007 as one of the best, even though the one film he made flopped at the box office in 1969, prompting Connery's short-lived and costly return to the title role two years later in Diamonds Are Forever. Sounding much like early reviews of Craig's performance, Lazenby's Bond offered a rare look at the inner workings of the gentleman spy, and as such was at once more human and more menacing, Kyriazi says.
"Even Connery said you have to play Bond with a sense of danger. I've heard that Daniel Craig worked out for months before filming, not to look good with his shirt off, but to look like he could hurt someone," Kyriazi says. "As long as there's that global threat, and all the Bondisms. That's what we want."
Greg Tingle comment...
About the only movie that was going to eclipse 'Casino Royale' was the sequel, and it would appear that 'Quantum of Solace', Bond 007, 2008 style has done just that. 'Buy Another Day' is right. Bond, the spy who loved news media, and who news media loved back. Whether your Virgin's Richard Branson, the owner of Aston Martin, an Omega fan, Sony top brass or Crown Casino's James Packer, your going to love Bond.
(Credit: Fast Company)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Virgin Atlantic launches campaign to highlight James Bond film tie - Brand Republic - 30th September 2008
LONDON - Virgin Atlantic will support its partnership with James Bond movie Quantum of Solace with a national integrated drive.
The press, outdoor, online and promotional activity will highlight a Virgin Atlantic flight that the fictional spy is seen taking in the film, which will be released on 31 October.
The 'You Only Live Once'-themed ad for the airline's economy class seats promotes its latest fares and features Bond actor Daniel Craig. Ads for its Upper Class service emphasise check-in and security procedures, using the strapline 'Fastly superior'. Virgin Atlantic will also introduce pricing incentives with the travel trade.
Greg Tingle comment...
Virgin, and specifically, Virgin Atlantic, beats them to the punch again. The Bond franchise is priceless and little wonder its now know as 'Buy Another Day'. Richard Branson nailed this, and along with V's deal with HBO's Entourage, is currently enjoying a stellar run, or at least that is the media and public perception. Perceptions often become reality, financial crush, crash or not. Adapting to the times and relevance is what its all about. Charles Darwin said, "In the long history of humankind \(and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed". Murdoch went on, "Big will not beat small anymore, It will be the fast beating the slow", and Australia's James Packer, "Internet is like electricity". I will be speaking of this article at CAP Down Under also. Brand Republic is quick and like electricity I see!
(Credit: Brand Republic)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Virgin Atlantic
The press, outdoor, online and promotional activity will highlight a Virgin Atlantic flight that the fictional spy is seen taking in the film, which will be released on 31 October.
The 'You Only Live Once'-themed ad for the airline's economy class seats promotes its latest fares and features Bond actor Daniel Craig. Ads for its Upper Class service emphasise check-in and security procedures, using the strapline 'Fastly superior'. Virgin Atlantic will also introduce pricing incentives with the travel trade.
Greg Tingle comment...
Virgin, and specifically, Virgin Atlantic, beats them to the punch again. The Bond franchise is priceless and little wonder its now know as 'Buy Another Day'. Richard Branson nailed this, and along with V's deal with HBO's Entourage, is currently enjoying a stellar run, or at least that is the media and public perception. Perceptions often become reality, financial crush, crash or not. Adapting to the times and relevance is what its all about. Charles Darwin said, "In the long history of humankind \(and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed". Murdoch went on, "Big will not beat small anymore, It will be the fast beating the slow", and Australia's James Packer, "Internet is like electricity". I will be speaking of this article at CAP Down Under also. Brand Republic is quick and like electricity I see!
(Credit: Brand Republic)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Virgin Atlantic
BR Video: Bond's back but which brands are most associated with 007?, by Nikki Sandison - Brand Republic - 31st October 2008
LONDON - Aston Martin and Omega watches are the brands most associated with James Bond according to members of the public interviewed in the latest Brand Republic Video -- watch it now.
Website
Ahead of the release of the latest film today, 'Quantum of Solace', Brand Republic challenged people to name brands they link to the spy franchise and say which one they thought was the most successful in exploiting the 007 association.
The products they most associated with the films were cars and watches, in particular Aston Martin and Omega. Other brands to get a mention included Rolex, Sony Ericsson and 7Up.
There has been intense marketing activity for all manner of products around the sequel to 'Casino Royale' over the last few weeks, from televisions to mobile phones, perfumes and soft drinks, with Avon, Ford, Sony, Heineken, and Coca Cola all getting in on the 007 Bond act.
Poll
What brands do you most associate with Bond? Vote *now* in our poll
The products they most associated with the films were cars and watches, in particular Aston Martin and Omega. Other brands to get a mention included Rolex, Sony Ericsson and 7Up.
There has been intense marketing activity for all manner of products around the sequel to 'Casino Royale' over the last few weeks, from televisions to mobile phones, perfumes and soft drinks, with Avon, Ford, Sony, Heineken, and Coca Cola all getting in on the 007 Bond act.
Earlier this month, Sony Ericsson launched a global digital campaign to promote its C902 Titanium Silver Cyber-shot phone, which is used by Daniel Craig in the film.
The campaign includes an interactive game that puts a player's secret agent skills to the test across four missions. Upon successful completion of each level, the site delivers a code, which players can use to unlock exclusive mobile phone applications.
Fallon has created a Sony HD TV spot to tie in with the film, which sees Daniel Craig attempting to remain in one spot while debris hits him from a series of dramatic explosions. It ends with the strap line "Bond in Sony High Definition".
Other tie-ins with the latest movie include Coke Zero which launched a Zero Zero 7 Bond ad, featuring an instrumental version of the new theme tune by Jack White from The White Stripes.
The TV and cinema ad, created by Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam, pays homage to the classic Bond film intro sequence, with the gun barrel tracking Bond across the screen.
(Credit: Brand Republic)
Greg Tingle comment...
Casino owners and operators around the world must be thinking in overdrive at the moment. Casio Royale and the Bond series has become known as Buy Another Day in media and advertising circles. Las Vegas casino owners, Crown, Richard Branson, James Packer, Donald Trump, Mark Burnett and Steve Wynn and a few others will be eyeing this off closely. Casino reality TV themes will be on the agenda, and Mark Burnett's already on the ball with his upcoming Rouletter. Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic and Aston Martin are going to do ok out of this, and just wait for the video games to run off the shelves come Christmas or so. Sony are going to be bombarded by casino owners and entities, you can bank on it. The Bond media, publicity and money machine still appears unstoppable. Bond is recession proof!
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Website
Ahead of the release of the latest film today, 'Quantum of Solace', Brand Republic challenged people to name brands they link to the spy franchise and say which one they thought was the most successful in exploiting the 007 association.
The products they most associated with the films were cars and watches, in particular Aston Martin and Omega. Other brands to get a mention included Rolex, Sony Ericsson and 7Up.
There has been intense marketing activity for all manner of products around the sequel to 'Casino Royale' over the last few weeks, from televisions to mobile phones, perfumes and soft drinks, with Avon, Ford, Sony, Heineken, and Coca Cola all getting in on the 007 Bond act.
Poll
What brands do you most associate with Bond? Vote *now* in our poll
The products they most associated with the films were cars and watches, in particular Aston Martin and Omega. Other brands to get a mention included Rolex, Sony Ericsson and 7Up.
There has been intense marketing activity for all manner of products around the sequel to 'Casino Royale' over the last few weeks, from televisions to mobile phones, perfumes and soft drinks, with Avon, Ford, Sony, Heineken, and Coca Cola all getting in on the 007 Bond act.
Earlier this month, Sony Ericsson launched a global digital campaign to promote its C902 Titanium Silver Cyber-shot phone, which is used by Daniel Craig in the film.
The campaign includes an interactive game that puts a player's secret agent skills to the test across four missions. Upon successful completion of each level, the site delivers a code, which players can use to unlock exclusive mobile phone applications.
Fallon has created a Sony HD TV spot to tie in with the film, which sees Daniel Craig attempting to remain in one spot while debris hits him from a series of dramatic explosions. It ends with the strap line "Bond in Sony High Definition".
Other tie-ins with the latest movie include Coke Zero which launched a Zero Zero 7 Bond ad, featuring an instrumental version of the new theme tune by Jack White from The White Stripes.
The TV and cinema ad, created by Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam, pays homage to the classic Bond film intro sequence, with the gun barrel tracking Bond across the screen.
(Credit: Brand Republic)
Greg Tingle comment...
Casino owners and operators around the world must be thinking in overdrive at the moment. Casio Royale and the Bond series has become known as Buy Another Day in media and advertising circles. Las Vegas casino owners, Crown, Richard Branson, James Packer, Donald Trump, Mark Burnett and Steve Wynn and a few others will be eyeing this off closely. Casino reality TV themes will be on the agenda, and Mark Burnett's already on the ball with his upcoming Rouletter. Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic and Aston Martin are going to do ok out of this, and just wait for the video games to run off the shelves come Christmas or so. Sony are going to be bombarded by casino owners and entities, you can bank on it. The Bond media, publicity and money machine still appears unstoppable. Bond is recession proof!
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Bond film opens with guns blazing in Britain - Reuters - 1st November 2008
LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - The new James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," debuted in Britain on Friday to record one-day ticket sales of 4.94 million pounds ($8 million), distributor Columbia Pictures said on Saturday.
The total tops "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the previous record holder with an opening day haul of 4.025 million pounds ($6.5 million) in 2005, and it also beat the 2.9 million pounds ($4.72 million) first-day total for the last Bond flick, "Casino Royale" (2006), Columbia said.
In "Quantum of Solace," British super spy Bond (Daniel Craig) is on a mission across South America and Europe to stop an eco-terrorist from controlling precious natural resources, and he wants to learn why the woman he loved in "Casino Royale" betrayed him.
"Casino Royale," was a huge box office success with a global haul of $594 million.
Friday's British opening of "Quantum of Solace" in 542 theaters will be followed by a Nov. 14 debut of the film in the United States and Canada.
Columbia Pictures is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the media wing of Japan's Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). (Reporting by Bob Tourtellotte, editing by Vicki Allen)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
The total tops "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the previous record holder with an opening day haul of 4.025 million pounds ($6.5 million) in 2005, and it also beat the 2.9 million pounds ($4.72 million) first-day total for the last Bond flick, "Casino Royale" (2006), Columbia said.
In "Quantum of Solace," British super spy Bond (Daniel Craig) is on a mission across South America and Europe to stop an eco-terrorist from controlling precious natural resources, and he wants to learn why the woman he loved in "Casino Royale" betrayed him.
"Casino Royale," was a huge box office success with a global haul of $594 million.
Friday's British opening of "Quantum of Solace" in 542 theaters will be followed by a Nov. 14 debut of the film in the United States and Canada.
Columbia Pictures is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the media wing of Japan's Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). (Reporting by Bob Tourtellotte, editing by Vicki Allen)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Bond
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