The Death Collectors: Bond Films that Never Were

18. Quantum of Solace (2008)
QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008)
Henry Cavill IS James Bond


kiJGD1a.png


GRÜN: It was; how does one say? A mirage, Mr. Bond. That’s all it ever was.
BOND: It meant something to me.
GRÜN: Pity.”

Barbara Broccoli had a problem. Ever since she had him on the screen on the recent film Layer Cake (2004), she and others at EON had become convinced that English actor Daniel Craig was the right choice to replace Pierce Brosnan as Bond. In this they had to fight the skepticism of many others who, while judging Craig to be talented, just couldn’t picture him as Bond. More importantly, they also had to fight Craig’s own reluctance, as the actor also wasn’t enthusiastic about playing the role nor particularly interested on the script for Casino Royale, a reboot for the franchise after the perceived excesses of the previous era. And although Broccoli managed to finally drag Craig into a screen test, the actor had arrived so exhausted that director Martin Campbell – of GoldenEye fame – joined the chorus of those unconvinced by him. Allegedly, what pushed Craig over the edge was his distaste for the next drafts of the script, though it has been said he simply wasn’t willing to be Bond for what could have very well been a decade if things went absolutely right. This, of course, left a disappointed main producer without what she felt might have been the ultimate gamble.

On the brighter side, Craig was far from EON’s only choice for the role, and they had also tested or considered well over twenty or so actors, ranging from the longest of long shots to some reasonably popular or more established choices. And one by one they had discarded them, all the way to three finalists: Henry Cavill (22), Goran Visnjic (32), and Sam Worthington (28), all of them possessing their own clear strengths and weaknesses. In the end, the casting process culminated in a re-run of what was already the “gold standard” for Bond auditions, repeated by EON over and over again over the past few decades: the famous meeting between James Bond and Tatiana Romanova during From Russia with Love. Visnjic impressed many with his demeanor, and fell apart the moment he opened his mouth, his still accented voice dooming his chances. Worthington, while showing less charisma, didn’t display any evident weaknesses, but didn’t impress either. Cavill, almost inconceivably young, apparently excelled, and immediately won over director Campbell as his biggest cheerleader. There was a new frontrunner in place, but it took weeks – if not months – for Broccoli and other holdouts at EON to relent, finding Cavill’s young a near impassable barrier.

Still, none of the alternatives had dazzled as much or were willing to change their minds, and so they had been forced to make the announcement on October 2005. A passionate – and decidedly mixed – public frenzy followed, splitting the public and the fan base between those who felt he had the looks and the potential, and those who dismissed him – like a late night comedian put it - as “Bond, Baby Bond” on account of his age. The successful yet not triumphant start of his tenure in Casino Royale (2006) earned Cavill his fair share of supporters over his charismatic yet inexperienced portrayal of the secret agent, but it did not entirely clear doubts about his future. If anything else, it looked like audiences feared having to wait too long – longer than EON expected them to – to find Cavill credible as a James Bond in his prime. Still, the movie was a clear financial success and the far grittier take on the franchise well received, so shortly after the release a sequel was immediately greenlight for as early as mid-2008.

Unable to persuade director Campbell to return for a third Bond film – for he felt he had done about as much as he could with the character -, an internal debate soon took place regarding whether the franchise would benefit from an action-centered director, or whether less conventional choices might be worth a shot. And yet, the right choice seemed to elude Broccoli and her team in terms of the latter alternative, with Roger Michell, who wanted a high-stakes, nuclear-centered plot, ruling himself out due to misgivings about the script; and Marc Forster being unavailable. In the end, they went for experience in terms of action, and hired Tony Scott (Top Gun, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State). Having left Bond in a bitter, hurtful state after the death of Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, Broccoli and main scriptwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade decided to center the sequel as a direct follow up, tracking Bond’s revenge against the organization which employed Le Chiffre and orchestrated Vesper’s death.

Subsequent rewrites by Paul Haggis – who had also polished the Casino Royale outlines and scripts – caused controversy due to his proposed ending for the film, which – allegedly – were bitterly resisted by EON from a creative standpoint yet enthusiastically embraced by director Scott, who wanted to further explore Bond’s character. Haggis won the battle for the ending and his version of an unusual main heroine, yet lost the fight for the title after his suggestion of “Sleep of the Dead” went down in flames. For his part, and while lacking creative control, Cavill made an effort to move the rebooted Bond closer to Ian Fleming’s literary version of it, unsuccessfully pushing for unused scenes from the novels to be included in the script. Still, his suggestion of a Fleming title to be used paid off in an unexpected direction: rather than his preferred choice of “Risico”, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson picked the much derided and still unused “Quantum of Solace”, which they felt expressed Bond’s state of mind and soul during the film.

All these internal creative conflicts resulted in the film being pushed back to late 2008, a delay that could have gone even further – so it is speculated – had a potentially disastrous strike by the Writers Guild of America not been averted at the last moment in 2007. Moving into casting, and impressed by his performance as Adolf Hitler on Downfall (2004), EON signed up Austrian actor Bruno Ganz to play main villain Dominic Grün. Scott brought in Alexander Siddig to play secondary antagonist Yusuf Kabira, and Jasper Christensen became one of the few Bond villains to return via reprising the role of Mr. White. Virtually all of the remaining supporting cast returned in the sequel, including Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini, and Judi Dench. The search for Bond girl Camille Montes was exhaustive and extensive, and culminated on then 22-year old newcomer Gal Gadot surprisingly securing the role after being persuaded by a casting agent to audition. On the musical front, and after unsuccessful attempts to secure either Amy Winehouse and/or Jack White and Alicia Keys to perform the main title, composer David Arnold was able to recruit Dame Shirley Bassey to sing her fourth Bond song – the first since 1979 -, the Arnold-written “No Good About Goodbye”.

Filming took place across England, Italy, Austria, Albania, Switzerland, Tunisia and Morocco between late 2007 and early 2008, a prolonged and grueling process due to the complex action sequences involved and the wide variety of locations, quickly earning Quantum of Solace a budget which surpassed that of its predecessors. By all indications, neither Gadot nor Ganz were particularly comfortable – Gadot felt unready, and Ganz doubted whether the movie was worth the effort -, but relations on set were reported to be cordial as Gadot and Cavill in particular displayed convincing chemistry. For his part, Siddig, who had played a Bond-like version of a character of his on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, was reportedly very amused to participate on the film. Finally, much fan speculation surrounded the rumors which had Olivia Wilde appearing on set despite the death of her character in Casino Royale, in what turned out to be a limited return as a “hallucination”.

Quantum of Solace’s pre-title sequence starts a few hours after the ending to Casino Royale, with James Bond (Henry Cavill) recklessly driving across the streets of Rome at night while carrying the mysterious Mr. White (Jasper Christensen) on the back of his trunk while pursued by enemy operatives. Following a high speed chase, Bond successfully dispatches all of its pursuers, triggering the gunbarrel sequence after shooting the last of them.

At an MI6 safe house in Rome, Bond, M (Judi Dench) and her new Chief of Staff Tanner (Rory Kinnear) unsuccessfully interrogate Mr. White, whose mysterious organization has been recently identified as “Quantum”. Mr. White, who is to be transferred to CIA custody, refuses to give in and mocks 007 for his “ignorance” regarding Vesper Lynd’s betrayal. Bond then sabotages the transfer, allowing White to escape so he can follow the trail to Quantum. At the Palio di Siena horse race, Mr. White – well aware of his impending doom – is killed by Dante, a Quantum assassin (Anatole Taubman). While Bond is able to overpower and accidently kill the assassin, he has lost both of his leads. Unable to reign him in, M has 007’s travel means revoked, forcing Bond to go rogue. Moving into Tuscany, 007 seeks out the now freed René Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) – revealed to have been innocent – and enlists his assistance, planning to assume Dante’s identity to infiltrate the Quantum organization. He successfully retrieves the latter’s orders regarding his new target: Camille (Gal Gadot), a foreign operative that trades trafficked antiquities in Syria.

Entering Damascus thanks to Mathis’ local police contacts, Bond meets and verbally spars with Camille and her high profile contact and lover: businessman and environmentalist Dominic Grün (Bruno Ganz). Grün, it turns out, is the one who request the assassination, having learned that Camille intends to betray him. Camille, for her part, is revealed to be planning to assassinate Grün’s close associate Hamid (Amr Waked), a brutal general responsible for the murder of Camille’s family, and who Grün intends to install as dictator of an unnamed Middle-East country. Despite intense initial mistrust, 007 is able to save Camille from Grün and his leading henchman Yusuf Kabira (Alexander Siddig) in a violent chase, but he loses Mathis when he is betrayed and killed by his police contact. While recovering from a wound and suffering from a high fever, Bond hallucinates with Vesper (Olivia Wilde) and is nursed back to health by Camille, both agreeing to work with each other to stop Quantum. Camille has learned that Grün has obtained from general Hamid the cession of large tracks of land thought to contain oil.

Whilst Grün negotiates a non-interference agreement from the CIA to the muted distaste of agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) in return for a partnership on said oil, Bond leaves a trail for M and Tenner to follow regarding Grün, and he enters the unnamed country alongside Camille. Flying over the concerned lands in a private aircraft and being shot down, both learn the lands actually contain enormous reserves of water contained by a major secret dam, currently causing a severe drought. Seen by Kabira and other Quantum agents, Bond is captured and brought to the dam, where Grün is making the final preparations for the Hamid coup. Admitting his intentions to start controlling the water supply of vulnerable countries through puppet rules, Grün decides to emotionally torment Bond before his execution. Revealing that Vesper had actually been blackmailed after being seduced by a Quantum operative, Kabira rubs salt in the wound by gleefully identifying himself as the culprit. Grün departs via helicopter and leaves Kabira in charge, all while Camille – assisted by Leiter, unwilling to doom his friend – is able to infiltrate the subterranean dam and free 007 in time.

Bond confronts, beats and almost tortures Kabira for information before being stopped by Camille. After Kabira begs for mercy and makes an inaudible confession to a briefly unsettled Bond, he throws Kabira off the dam and they proceed to blow it up, ending the local drought. The couple then fly to Switzerland to assault Grün’s private resort atop the Alps, wreaking havoc on the Quantum security detail. Camille is able to avenge her family by dispatching General Hamid, and Bond successfully captures a now cowering Grün. Dragging him into the snow, 007 forces Grün to give up his comrades and proceeds to ask him: “where is she?”. Taking a suitcase with money from Quantum, Bond and Camille leave the mountain, leaving Grün stranded in the wilderness. Shortly after, at an opera house in Bregenz, Austria, the Quantum high command is meeting in plain sight at a Tosca performance via earphones. Savoring the moment, 007 mocks the Quantum leadership with a stolen earpiece, just before CIA and MI6 operatives enter the building to quietly take them into custody.

Outside the opera, Camille expresses her hope that Bond will be able to overcome his demons, and they bid farewell to each other after sharing a kiss. The agent disappears like a shadow, and then travels to an old religious orphanage in Albania, where he finds a little girl revealed to the audience as Vesper’s child: her real reason for betraying Bond. 007 gives the orphanage nuns the recovered money he won from Le Chiffre to ensure the child will be cared for, and walks away. M is waiting for him outside the orphanage, and after discussing the issue of Vesper’s daughter and Bond’s forgiveness of her, she informs him that Grün was found dead atop the mountain. After asking him to return to active service, Bond replies: “With pleasure.”

Quantum of Solace premiered on November 2008 to significant commercial and critical success, surpassing Casino Royale’s already impressive box office returns and sparking some debate as to whether CR or QOS were the better entry. As some noted, it appeared that those who were more unconvinced about Cavill’s portrayal and his previous romance with Olivia Wilde’s Vesper (which not everybody found believable) were likelier to prefer QOS and his expanded background on the previous film, whereas those more favorable to CR felt the direct sequel was arguably unnecessary. And while immediate praise was directed at the action sequences, the pacing, Dame Shirley Bassey’s return and the performances of Cavill, Dench and Siddig in particular, others criticized Gadot or Grün’s portrayals while praising their characters, the extremely high level of violence, and the dark tone of much of the film. Indeed, even critics who spoke highly of it expressed their hope that Bond would leave his more “depressing” phase in future adventures, rather than double down on the gritty take on the franchise.

Faced against those expectations, Cavill would seemingly flounder in his less than successful third entry – the lowest point of his tenure – before making a triumphant return in 2013’s Risico. Despite a record seventeen years on the role, Cavill has not yet reached Sean Connery and Roger Moore’s record of seven Bond movies (if one counts Never Say Never Again), but his six entries in, and possibly a seventh depending on contract negotiations and his remarkable youth – only 38 this year – he has certainly left his mark as a prolific 007. Still, having expressed frustration after having played the secret agent for such a large part of his life, there are those who expect him to quit the role after finally vanquishing Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Blofeld in All the Time in the World (2021). Highlights of the film include the pre-title sequence, the Palio di Siena scenes, Bond’s tortured journey, Camille’s relationship to Bond, and the opera scene.

Author’s Notes: It’s a combination of factors here, some of which are probably mutually exclusive. Cavill instead of Craig in Casino Royale (thus a lesser success), Scott instead of Forster (no excessive Shaky Cam), some of the alternate casting in action (Ganz, Gadot), and, of course, many of the unused story ideas, including the infamous proposed ending by Haggis. “No Good About Goodbye” was apparently never considered because the song wasn’t written until after “Another Way to Die” was selected… but I couldn’t resist. Just assume Arnold wrote it earlier in TTL. Whether Dominic Greene would have retained the name had they cast Ganz I don’t know, so I shifted it to “Grün” on account of his background. It’s almost certain Camille Montes wouldn’t be named Camille in this version, but I couldn’t think of a name. Thus we get a “better” Quantum of Solace, but that’s because TTL’s Casino Royale was not as successful as in OTL.​

THE DEATH COLLECTORS will return in
“THE SPY WHO LOVED ME”
 
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Henry Cavill as Bond is almost cliche at this point with how much people talk about it, but honestly you manage to still make it interesting.
Kudos!
 
QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008)
Henry Cavill IS James Bond


kiJGD1a.png


GRÜN: It was; how does one say? A mirage, Mr. Bond. That’s all it ever was.
BOND: It meant something to me.
GRÜN: Pity.”

Barbara Broccoli had a problem. Ever since she had him on the screen on the recent film Layer Cake (2004), she and others at EON had become convinced that English actor Daniel Craig was the right choice to replace Pierce Brosnan as Bond. In this they had to fight the skepticism of many others who, while judging Craig to be talented, just couldn’t picture him as Bond. More importantly, they also had to fight Craig’s own reluctance, as the actor also wasn’t enthusiastic about playing the role nor particularly interested on the script for Casino Royale, a reboot for the franchise after the perceived excesses of the previous era. And although Broccoli managed to finally drag Craig into a screen test, the actor had arrived so exhausted that director Martin Campbell – of GoldenEye fame – joined the chorus of those unconvinced by him. Allegedly, what pushed Craig over the edge was his distaste for the next drafts of the script, though it has been said he simply wasn’t willing to be Bond for what could have very well been a decade if things went absolutely right. This, of course, left a disappointed main producer without what she felt might have been the ultimate gamble.

On the brighter side, Craig was far from EON’s only choice for the role, and they had also tested or considered well over twenty or so actors, ranging from the longest of long shots to some reasonably popular or more established choices. And one by one they had discarded them, all the way to three finalists: Henry Cavill (22), Goran Visnjic (32), and Sam Worthington (28), all of them possessing their own clear strengths and weaknesses. In the end, the casting process culminated in a re-run of what was already the “gold standard” for Bond auditions, repeated by EON over and over again over the past few decades: the famous meeting between James Bond and Tatiana Romanova during From Russia with Love. Visnjic impressed many with his demeanor, and fell apart the moment he opened his mouth, his still accented voice dooming his chances. Worthington, while showing less charisma, didn’t display any evident weaknesses, but didn’t impress either. Cavill, almost inconceivably young, apparently excelled, and immediately won over director Campbell as his biggest cheerleader. There was a new frontrunner in place, but it took weeks – if not months – for Broccoli and other holdouts at EON to relent, finding Cavill’s young a near impassable barrier.

Still, none of the alternatives had dazzled as much or were willing to change their minds, and so they had been forced to make the announcement on October 2005. A passionate – and decidedly mixed – public frenzy followed, splitting the public and the fan base between those who felt he had the looks and the potential, and those who dismissed him – like a late night comedian put it - as “Bond, Baby Bond” on account of his age. The successful yet not triumphant start of his tenure in Casino Royale (2006) earned Cavill his fair share of supporters over his charismatic yet inexperienced portrayal of the secret agent, but it did not entirely clear doubts about his future. If anything else, it looked like audiences feared having to wait too long – longer than EON expected them to – to find Cavill credible as a James Bond in his prime. Still, the movie was a clear financial success and the far grittier take on the franchise well received, so shortly after the release a sequel was immediately greenlight for as early as mid-2008.

Unable to persuade director Campbell to return for a third Bond film – for he felt he had done about as much as he could with the character -, an internal debate soon took place regarding whether the franchise would benefit from an action-centered director, or whether less conventional choices might be worth a shot. And yet, the right choice seemed to elude Broccoli and her team in terms of the latter alternative, with Roger Michell, who wanted a high-stakes, nuclear-centered plot, ruling himself out due to misgivings about the script; and Marc Forster being unavailable. In the end, they went for experience in terms of action, and hired Tony Scott (Top Gun, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State). Having left Bond in a bitter, hurtful state after the death of Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, Broccoli and main scriptwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade decided to center the sequel as a direct follow up, tracking Bond’s revenge against the organization which employed Le Chiffre and orchestrated Vesper’s death.

Subsequent rewrites by Paul Haggis – who had also polished the Casino Royale outlines and scripts – caused controversy due to his proposed ending for the film, which – allegedly – were bitterly resisted by EON from a creative standpoint yet enthusiastically embraced by director Scott, who wanted to further explore Bond’s character. Haggis won the battle for the ending and his version of an unusual main heroine, yet lost the fight for the title after his suggestion of “Sleep of the Death” went down in flames. For his part, and while lacking creative control, Cavill made an effort to move the rebooted Bond closer to Ian Fleming’s literary version of it, unsuccessfully pushing for unused scenes from the novels to be included in the script. Still, his suggestion of a Fleming title to be used paid off in an unexpected direction: rather than his preferred choice of “Risico”, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson picked the much derided and still unused “Quantum of Solace”, which they felt expressed Bond’s state of mind and soul during the film.

All these internal creative conflicts resulted in the film being pushed back to late 2008, a delay that could have gone even further – so it is speculated – had a potentially disastrous strike by the Writers Guild of America not been averted at the last moment in 2007. Moving into casting, and impressed by his performance as Adolf Hitler on Downfall (2004), EON signed up Austrian actor Bruno Ganz to play main villain Dominic Grün. Scott brought in Alexander Siddig to play secondary antagonist Yusuf Kabira, and Jasper Christensen became one of the few Bond villains to return via reprising the role of Mr. White. Virtually all of the remaining supporting cast returned in the sequel, including Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini, and Judi Dench. The search for Bond girl Camille Montes was exhaustive and extensive, and culminated on then 22-year old newcomer Gal Gadot surprisingly securing the role after being persuaded by a casting agent to audition. On the musical front, and after unsuccessful attempts to secure either Amy Winehouse and/or Jack White and Alicia Keys to perform the main title, composer David Arnold was able to recruit Dame Shirley Bassey to sing her fourth Bond song – the first since 1979 -, the Arnold-written “No Good About Goodbye”.

Filming took place across England, Italy, Austria, Albania, Switzerland, Tunisia and Morocco between late 2007 and early 2008, a prolonged and grueling process due to the complex action sequences involved and the wide variety of locations, quickly earning Quantum of Solace a budget which surpassed that of its predecessors. By all indications, neither Gadot nor Ganz were particularly comfortable – Gadot felt unready, and Ganz doubted whether the movie was worth the effort -, but relations on set were reported to be cordial as Gadot and Cavill in particular displayed convincing chemistry. For his part, Siddig, who had played a Bond-like version of a character of his on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, was reportedly very amused to participate on the film. Finally, much fan speculation surrounded the rumors which had Olivia Wilde appearing on set despite the death of her character in Casino Royale, in what turned out to be a limited return as a “hallucination”.

Quantum of Solace’s pre-title sequence starts a few hours after the ending to Casino Royale, with James Bond (Henry Cavill) recklessly driving across the streets of Rome at night while carrying the mysterious Mr. White (Jasper Christensen) on the back of his trunk while pursued by enemy operatives. Following a high speed chase, Bond successfully dispatches all of its pursuers, triggering the gunbarrel sequence after shooting the last of them.

At an MI6 safe house in Rome, Bond, M (Judi Dench) and her new Chief of Staff Tanner (Rory Kinnear) unsuccessfully interrogate Mr. White, whose mysterious organization has been recently identified as “Quantum”. Mr. White, who is to be transferred to CIA custody, refuses to give in and mocks 007 for his “ignorance” regarding Vesper Lynd’s betrayal. Bond then sabotages the transfer, allowing White to escape so he can follow the trail to Quantum. At the Palio di Siena horse race, Mr. White – well aware of his impending doom – is killed by Dante, Quantum assassin (Anatole Taubman). While Bond is able to overpower and accidently kill the assassin, he has lost both of his leads. Unable to reign him in, M has 007’s travel means revoked, forcing Bond to go rogue. Moving into Tuscany, 007 seeks out the now freed René Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) – revealed to have been innocent – and enlists his assistance, planning to assume Dante’s identity to infiltrate the Quantum organization. He successfully retrieves the latter’s orders regarding his new target: Camille (Gal Gadot), a foreign operative that trades trafficked antiquities in Syria.

Entering Damascus thanks to Mathis’ local police contacts, Bond meets and verbally spars with Camille and her high profile contact and lover: businessman and environmentalist Dominic Grün (Bruno Ganz). Grün, it turns out, is the one who request the assassination, having learned that Camille intends to betray him. Camille, for her part, is revealed to be planning to assassinate Grün’s close associate Hamid (Amr Waked), a brutal general responsible for the murder of Camille’s family, and who Grün intends to install as dictator of an unnamed Middle-East country. Despite intense initial mistrust, 007 is able to save Camille from Grün and his leading henchman Yusuf Kabira (Alexander Siddig) in a violent chase, but he loses Mathis when he is betrayed and killed by his police contact. While recovering from a wound and suffering from a high fever, Bond hallucinates with Vesper (Olivia Wilde) and is nursed back to health by Camille, both agreeing to work with each other to stop Quantum. Camille has learned that Grün has obtained from general Hamid the cession of large tracks of land thought to contain oil.

Whilst Grün negotiates a non-interference agreement from the CIA to the muted distaste of agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) in return for a partnership on said oil, Bond leaves a trail for M and Tenner to follow regarding Grün, and he enters the unnamed country alongside Camille. Flying over the concerned lands in a private aircraft and being shot down, both learn the lands actually contain enormous reserves of water contained by a major secret dam, currently causing a severe drought. Seen by Kabira and other Quantum agents, Bond is captured and brought to the dam, where Grün is making the final preparations for the Hamid coup. Admitting his intentions to start controlling the water supply of vulnerable countries through puppet rules, Grün decides to emotionally torment Bond before his execution. Revealing that Vesper had actually been blackmailed after being seduced by a Quantum operative, Kabira rubs salt in the wound by gleefully identifying himself as the culprit. Grün departs via helicopter and leaves Kabira in charge, all while Camille – assisted by Leiter, unwilling to doom his friend – is able to infiltrate the subterranean dam and free 007 in time.

Bond confronts, beats and almost tortures Kabira for information before being stopped by Camille. After Kabira begs for mercy and makes an inaudible confession to a briefly unsettled Bond, he throws Kabira off the dam and they proceed to blow it up, ending the local drought. The couple then fly to Switzerland to assault Grün’s private resort atop the Alps, wreaking havoc on the Quantum security detail. Camille is able to avenge her family by dispatching General Hamid, and Bond successfully captures a now cowering Grün. Dragging him into the snow, 007 forces Grün to give up his comrades and proceeds to ask him: “where is she?”. Taking a suitcase with money from Quantum, Bond and Camille leave the mountain, leaving Grün stranded in the wilderness. Shortly after, at an opera house in Bregenz, Austria, the Quantum high command is meeting in plain sight at a Tosca performance via earphones. Savoring the moment, 007 mocks the Quantum leadership with a stolen earpiece, just before CIA and MI6 operatives enter the building to quietly take them into custody.

Outside the opera, Camille expresses her hope that Bond will be able to overcome his demons, and they bid farewell to each other after sharing a kiss. The agent disappears like a shadow, and then travels to an old religious orphanage in Albania, where he finds a little girl revealed to the audience as Vesper’s child: her real reason for betraying Bond. 007 gives the orphanage nuns the recovered money he won from Le Chiffre to ensure the child will be cared for, and walks away. M is waiting for him outside the orphanage, and after discussing the issue of Vesper’s daughter and Bond’s forgiveness of her, she informs him that Grün was found dead atop the mountain. After asking him to return to active service, Bond replies: “With pleasure.”

Quantum of Solace premiered on November 2008 to significant commercial and critical success, surpassing Casino Royale’s already impressive box office returns and sparking some debate as to whether CR or QOS were the better entry. As some noted, it appeared that those who were more unconvinced about Cavill’s portrayal and his previous romance with Olivia Wilde’s Vesper (which not everybody found believable) were likelier to prefer QOS and his expanded background on the previous film, whereas those more favorable to CR felt the direct sequel was arguably unnecessary. And while immediate praise was directed at the action sequences, the pacing, Dame Shirley Bassey’s return and the performances of Cavill, Dench and Siddig in particular, others criticized Gadot or Grün’s portrayals while praising their characters, the extremely high level of violence, and the dark tone of much of the film. Indeed, even critics who spoke highly of it expressed their hope that Bond would leave his more “depressing” phase in future adventures, rather than double down on the gritty take on the franchise.

Faced against those expectations, Cavill would seemingly flounder in his less than successful third entry – the lowest point of his tenure – before making a triumphant return in 2013’s Risico. Despite a record seventeen years on the role, Cavill has not yet reached Sean Connery and Roger Moore’s record of seven Bond movies (if one counts Never Say Never Again), but his six entries in, and possibly a seventh depending on contract negotiations and his remarkable youth – only 38 this year – he has certainly left his mark as a prolific 007. Still, having expressed frustration after having played the secret agent for such a large part of his life, there are those who expect him to quit the role after finally vanquishing Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Blofeld in All the Time in the World (2021). Highlights of the film include the pre-title sequence, the Palio di Siena scenes, Bond’s tortured journey, Camille’s relationship to Bond, and the opera scene.

Author’s Notes: It’s a combination of factors here, some of which are probably mutually exclusive. Cavill instead of Craig in Casino Royale (thus a lesser success), Scott instead of Forster (no excessive Shaky Cam), some of the alternate casting in action (Ganz, Gadot), and, of course, many of the unused story ideas, including the infamous proposed ending by Haggis. “No Good About Goodbye” was apparently never considered because the song wasn’t written until after “Another Way to Die” was selected… but I couldn’t resist. Just assume Arnold wrote it earlier in TTL. Whether Dominic Greene would have retained the name had they cast Ganz I don’t know, so I shifted it to “Grün” on account of his background. It’s almost certain Camille Montes wouldn’t be named Camille in this version, but I couldn’t think of a name. Thus we get a “better” Quantum of Solace, but that’s because TTL’s Casino Royale was not as successful as in OTL.​

THE DEATH COLLECTORS will return in
“THE SPY WHO LOVED ME”
Kal-El, no!
 
THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (1987)
Pierce Brosnan IS James Bond


bNRKlQm.png


But James! We could have had the world!
Maybe. (Smiles) But the world is not enough.”
(Betje Bedwell to James Bond, 1987)​

The Bond franchise was in serious trouble. Roger Moore’s departure from the role back in 1982 had signaled the start of a new era for the secret agent, marked by the surprise casting of the first American actor to take on the role. James Brolin’s task would have already been difficult on account of the challenge of having audiences accept an American Bond (something the franchise had previously shied away from), but the unexpected return of Sean Connery for Warhead had tremendously raised the stakes. Having clearly lost the “Battle of the Bonds” at the box office and having personally found Octopussy to be an unpleasant experience, Brolin nonetheless fulfilled his contract and geared up for the sequel, with Cubby Broccoli and the EON team attempting something of a course correction for the grittier 1985’s A View to a Kill. Once again, audiences failed to respond favorable. This, in turn, led to a debate on whether the leading actor himself was problem: whereas many criticized Brolin for being “too stiff” and “too American” for the role, his supporters countered the scripts gave him too little to do, and the films – with the exception of For Your Eyes Only – had all been stale ever since The Spy Who Loved Me.

Whatever the case, after the premiere of A View to a Kill Brolin informed Broccoli that he wanted to be released from his contract, and the producer obliged him. Having run out of Fleming novels to adapt and with both a narrative and casting blank slate, Broccoli came under intense pressure – both by MGM/UA and by his own family – to shake up the franchise before it became box office poison, resulting in a number of crucial decisions to be made. Initially starting from the point of view of finding someone different to both Moore and Brolin, auditions were held with satisfactory results with actors Antony Hamilton and Sam Neill, both of which had many advocates within EON. Still, Cubby Broccoli was not sold on either: one for the risks posed by his personal life, the other for his suitability and lack of enthusiasm for the role. Remembering he had been impressed with a particular actor a couple of years ago, and having noticed his growing popularity on television with US audiences, Broccoli wondered if he might not prove the more appealing alternative. He was, after all, the right age for the role.

Pierce Brosnan – then basking in the popularity of Remington Steele - was both publically interested and privately ecstatic. Benefiting from Moore’s public blessing and Broccoli’s increasing enthusiasm for signing him up for the role, one major stumbling block remained: the negotiations between MGM/UA and NBC, the latter of which had cancelled Remington Steele while still toying with the prospect of its revival due to the renewed interest surrounding Brosnan. Talks went on for weeks and even months as NBC attempted to wrestle as many conditions as possible, with the increasingly frustrated producer increasingly resigned to walk away from the table and take a gamble, casting Hamilton on the role. There was even a rumor flying around which suggested NBC had been minutes away from just renewing Remington Steele on the last possible day to strong-arm Cubby Broccoli, all while Brosnan agonized over the prospect of losing his dream role. To the actor’s luck, a last minute breakthrough on the negotiations was finally achieved under advantageous conditions for the American network, allowing Brosnan to be announced to the world as the next James Bond in early 1986. He was now the fifth actor to take on the role.

In the meantime, an equally crucial decision had to be made in creative terms. Recognizing the franchise’s concept and approach to Octopussy and A View to a Kill had not been liked by audiences, veteran Bond screenwriter Richard Maibaum and producer Michael G. Wilson started toying with a notion other important franchises were secretly considering for themselves: the prequel concept. In Maibaum and Wilson’s mind, a prequel movie starring a younger Bond could very well be the dramatic shake up the franchise seemed to require, a jolt that might just revive the audience’s interest on the British secret agent. Before and during the Brosnan negotiations drama they wrote a number of scripts, the final draft of which left them confident they had something good. To their disappointment, Broccoli turned them down at first. On his reasoning, audiences did not care for a younger, more vulnerable Bond. They wanted the spy as he was, with full command of his abilities.

Thus, the prequel concept may have even been shelved were it not for the disastrous box office of the Brolin era, which added enormous pressure on Broccoli and suggested a simple change in actor would not be enough. In the end, Wilson and Maibaum – backed by the studio - prevailed on the reluctant main producer: the franchise needed to offer something new to audiences. Broccoli, however, took it upon itself to ensure the coming film– titled The Living Daylights, after a Fleming short story – would only go so far in embracing the prequel concept: to the disappointment of both screenwriters, elements such as an appearance by Bond’s grandfather and the original ending – in which Bond was to be assigned the Dr. No mission – were shelved. Long time regulars John Glen and John Barry returned (respectively) to direct and to compose the film’s soundtrack, with Pet Shop Boys producing the main theme. Strong disagreements between Barry and the English duo – who desired to compose the actual soundtrack – almost led to the latter’s replacement, only averted after a last minute intervention by EON, terrified of bad publicity for the movie.

With Brosnan cast as Bond, an unofficial tradition of bringing back actors in different roles – something Glen strongly supported – was followed in regards to Kwang, the film’s villain, played by Soon-Tek Oh (previously Lt. Hip in The Man From the Golden Gun). Other key roles were filled by Ian MacShane as Bond’s MI6 mentor, and newcomer Amanda Donohoe as the main Bond girl. Although most of the MI6 cast – including Desmond Llewellyn and Robert Brown – would end up making the transition to the prequel, the Moneypenny role was recast with Caroline Bliss, marking the end of the last character played by the same actor since Dr. No. Filming took place in England, Austria, Hong Kong and Thailand during late 1986, allowing the movie to be released on the summer of 1987, the 25th Anniversary of the Bond franchise.

The Living Daylights’ pre-title sequence is set in Austria, with James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) – a Royal Navy lieutenant and military attaché – seducing the girlfriend of corrupt nobleman Graf Siegfried von Rahm (Jeroen Krabbé). Narrowly surviving an assassination attempt by von Rahm in a glider, Bond is arrested at the Vienna State Opera after attempting to take revenge on the Austrian aristocrat. Back in the United Kingdom, and about to be court martialed, Bond returns to his family house in Scotland and is contacted by Admiral Messervy (Robert Brown) – or M -, the head of MI6. Meeting M at the Blades Club in London, Bond is told he could have a promising career in MI6, and is offered to have the Vienna incident forgotten if he enters the British secret service. After some reflection, Bond decides to take up M’s offer and is placed under the orders of Burton Trevor (Ian MacShane), an older, more experienced operative.

After getting familiarized with the equipment from Q Branch, Trevor and Bond are forced to urgently fly to Singapore to follow the trail of French assassin La Font (Christopher Lambert), a hunt that leads them to be acquainted with the mysterious Betje (Amanda Donohoe), concubine to the powerful arms and opium dealer Kwang (Soon-Tek Oh). Following La Font’s trail to an enormous clandestine arms bazaar, Trevor and Bond obtain information on Kwang and engage La Font on an intense gunfight, after which both agents fly a plane into the gulf of Siam. To Bond’s declared disgust, he learns they are meant to assist Kwang on his operations. At Kwang’s fortified compound, Bond gains the warlord’s trust after saving him from an assassination attempt, only to be informed by Trevor – who reveals himself as a 00 agent with a licence to kill - that their actual mission is to capture or assassinate Kwang, suspected by MI6 and the CIA to be in the process of turning the Golden Triangle into a base of operations to export drugs into America, supported by an unnamed communist power.

Bond familiarizes himself with Betje and continues to gain Kwang’s trust by assisting with the capture of a rival warlord alongside Trevor. However, during a party at the compound, Bond and Betje are caught together by fearsome bodyguard Kow Tow (Nathan Jung). Kwang sentences Bond to death and has him tortured, only for Trevor to help Bond and Betje make a daring escape. Trevor is killed after a desperate chase, leaving Bond determined to foil the warlord’s plans. Returning to an airfield at the compound, Bond and Betje chase Kwang’s cargo plane in a small aircraft to an undisclosed part of Southern China, where Kwang – with La Font’s assistance - intends to plunder a local temple filled with treasures. Disabling the warlord’s plane and alerting Trevor’s American contact, CIA agent Felix Leiter (John Terry), Bond chases Kwang into the temple, kills Kow Tow and successfully drowns the warlord in a sea of golden coins after a prolonged fight, thus avenging his mentor.

Having destroyed Kwang’s plane – leaving a distraught Betje unable to take the treasure with her -, an attempt by the couple to leave the area in the small plane is almost thwarted by La Font, who is eventually thrown off the plane by Bond. Back in London, Betje mourns the loss of Kwang’s enormous treasure, but reveals she has taken an enormous diamond for herself. Returning to the MI6 HQ and being welcomed by M’s secretary Miss Moneypenny (Caroline Bliss), Bond is congratulated on his success by M, promoted to the 00 section, and receives Trevor’s codename: 007. The film ends with Bond taking on a new assignment.

With the film premiering in June 1987, Broccoli and EON were ecstatic to see TLD immediately surpassing Octopussy and A View to a Kill on its opening weekend, showing clear signs of improvement in the United States – something which, accurately or not, was attributed to Brosnan’s appeal – and holding steady elsewhere. Although The Living Daylights was nowhere near the box office sensation of the most successful Bond films, it turned up to be a clearly profitable enterprise, and critics were unusually complimentary of the balance between humor and action, Brosnan’s charming demeanor as Bond, and Soon-Tek Oh’s threatening villain. Aspects which received some criticism included the prequel concept, Bond girl Betje, and the limited scope of the plot.

Overjoyed at the apparent success of the movie after having desired the role for so long, Brosnan was unfortunately hit with bad news only a few weeks after the film’s release. His wife Cassandra Harris – who had strongly supported Brosnan taking the Bond role, and had played Countess Lisl in For Your Eyes Only - was diagnosed with cancer. She would pass away after a long and difficult struggle in 1991, having lived long enough to see Pressure Point (1989), Brosnan’s second outing as James Bond. With the actor memorably resigning from the role due to personal issues related to his wife’s passing, the unexpected arrival of a complex and extended legal fight between Danjaq/EON and MGM placed any future projects in development hell, and prevented the hiring of a replacement. In a strange turn of events, the inability to produce another Bond film until 1993-1994 allowed for Brosnan to be persuaded to return to the role, resulting in – depending on whether one counts the hiatus – one of the longest, if not the longest tenures in the franchise.

At the time, The Living Daylights was widely credited with helping revitalize the franchise during a dark moment in the 80’s, as well as for serving at the starting point of a “prequel craze” extending into the early 1990’s and involving franchises like Rambo, Star Trek and Indiana Jones. Highlights of the film include the bazaar fight in Singapore, Bond’s torture by Kwang’s men, Trevor’s sacrifice and the pre-title sequence. Ironically, the film’s reputation has suffered in later years, with a number of fans and critics arguing the film fails to make full use of the potential offered by the Burton Trevor character, and that its reluctance to fully embrace the prequel concept makes it more of a “soft prequel” or a “soft reboot” than anything. As a result, it tends to be seen amongst the middle ground of Bond films, neither bad nor truly great.

Autor’s Notes: The plot is adapted from an outline of an actual script by Richard Maibaum written for the prequel concept, as apparently reported by Helfenstein in “The Making of the Living Daylights” (I had to rely on a website summary).​

THE DEATH COLLECTORS will return in
“WARHEAD”
Found on Youtube: Living Daylights gunbarrel if Brosnan was in it :)
 
I kinda wish we'd gotten this version of Quantum of Solace. Not sure about the Siddig casting, feels a little too old for the role.
 
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I like that version of Quantum of Solace and a young Cavill makes a great Bond.

Wonder what other roles Cavill took around making Bond movies?
 
Well, with QOS filming in 07/08, it precludes him from doing The Tudors, Immortals and Cold Light of Day. We know there's a third movie in 2010/11 before Risico in 2013. This probably rules him out of Superman.

But between 13 and 21, there's only one more movie to slot in. He could fit in Man from Uncle, but I expect EON would probably veto him taking on the role, but we could still see him doing The Witcher and Enola Holmes, explaining the big gap between films 5 and 6.
 
I loved Cavill in the 2015 THE MAN FROM UNCLE movie. The fact that Napoleon and Ilya don't get along is really a hoot. And the marina scene is just an absolute laugh fest.
 
Heads up, the next entry features the most controversial - while vaguely plausible - Bond actor I could think of. It's certainly going to be interesting to write, if a more depressing read than Antony Hamilton's entry.

Henry Cavill as Bond is almost cliche at this point with how much people talk about it, but honestly you manage to still make it interesting.
Kudos!

Thanks! I agree that Cavill is entering cliche territory lately, but I suppose I couldn't pass on the opportunity. I did toy with using Goran Visnjic instead, but didn't find the scenario compelling enough.

I kinda wish we'd gotten this version of Quantum of Solace. Not sure about the Siddig casting, feels a little too old for the role.

Siddig is probably a bit too old, but I couldn't quite think of another recognizable actor for the role (I'm sure there are loads, I just didn't think of one). Plus I'm a DS9 fan, so I couldn't pass up the reference to "Our Man Bashir".
 
I wish the Bond parody on DS9 wasn't so badly treated, OUR MAN BASHIR was fun and I would have loved for there to have been more...
 
The New Frontier in the Double Helix novel series is also a Bond homage with Captain Calhoun as an agent of Starfleet Intelligence
 
God, that alternate QoS is FANTASTIC. Although I'm sad to see a TL in which the Craig run doesn't happen, I'm sure I would've grown to love Cavill as my boyhood (and well, early adulthood) Bond. Having Superman and Wonder Woman work together in this capacity is fun to see, and I hope that this TL's Gadot evolves beyond her "Kal-El, Noooo" level of acting. I honestly would love to see the rest of Cavill's Bond tenure fleshed out.
 
Toby Stephens who played Gustav Graves in Die Another Day was shortlisted to play Bond... Recently I have been listening to BBC Radio 4 Bond radio stories where he voices Bond... I think he did a great job. If only he really became Bond in the films... I think he might pull it off.
 
Toby Stephens who played Gustav Graves in Die Another Day was shortlisted to play Bond... Recently I have been listening to BBC Radio 4 Bond radio stories where he voices Bond... I think he did a great job. If only he really became Bond in the films... I think he might pull it off.
This is news to me...
 
Toby Stephens who played Gustav Graves in Die Another Day was shortlisted to play Bond... Recently I have been listening to BBC Radio 4 Bond radio stories where he voices Bond... I think he did a great job. If only he really became Bond in the films... I think he might pull it off.
I think he'd be a good choice but I wonder if he isn't too old
 
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