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I'd argue a boring but beautiful town is an excellent idea. Bond should bring the action, not go to it. In George Clooney's The American, he goes to a small Italian village to try and escape his past. A little town where literally nothing but an annual Catholic parade takes place. It lets the film focus more on the tension, drama, and characters, and less on the actiony shoot, bang, explosion parts. Focusing on character is something ideal to do while we've got Craig, Whishaw, and Fiennes on board.
Very good point regarding 'The American'.
Though I would not go so far as to say a new Bond film needs to take it's queue & atmosphere from that movie - a bit more reflection and story/tension buildup would be welcome.
I think it's time for a character driven 007 adventure again, and Scandinavia is the ideal backdrop for such a screenplay...
I very much agree with you, some of my point was merely that it is not a beautiful town either. Only its surroundings are.
I would do it, but only if I got to kill Bond for real.
Bond is not a beautiful man, but is often in beautiful surroundings. There's a great plot metaphor already, now to start outlining..
Making Connections - Why Quantum Could Feature In Bond 24
My evidence:
In Quantum of Solace, Bond's efforts to avenge the death of Vesper Lynd run him into a shady organization under the name of Quantum. Apparently this group consists of everyone from low-level money-movers, to the upper-echelon of society and politics. Bond discovers a plot of the geologist Dominic Greene, of Greene Planet working for Quantum in Bolivia to acquire a majority of the nations water supply. Once the natural reservoirs of water the country relies on for fresh, clean, healthy water are purchased by Greene Planet, Quantum moves to install their own dictator in the country to obtain full control of the Bolivian government by blackmailing them with the country's water supply.
So we have a) Geologists, b) Governments, c) A wide network of members in Quantum d) Quantum meet at a Tosca Opera in Austria.
Recent news over in the Bond 24 Production Timeline reveals that a group of islands in Norway had the Bond team interested for filming of Bond 24. It just so happens that these islands are mainly used for geological research, with even NASA having an active facility on site. So, back to point a) Geologists.
We also learn that due to a script overhaul, the islands may no longer be used, with the Austrian Alps said to be the new target for the production team. So point d) Austria. NASA is a government agency for the U.S., and in the film QoS, Quantum was actively manipulating the CIA. So why not NASA, too? Point b) Governments.
Also in Quantum of Solace, we hear a brief mention of Quantum's plans about an oil pipeline in Canada, again likely requiring more goelogical study and resources and expertise for Quantum to effectively execute.
All of this is based off of a very small location rumor and pure coincidence that the Islands rumored are host of geological study. But this IS the speculation thread.
Also, the same writing duo that (briefly) worked on Quantum of Solace have just completed a rewrite of the Bond 24 treatment. I'm sure they may feel like they have an unfinished story with Quantum they'd like to complete.
Also, this awesome Bondian government building on the Island:
I also like The American - a whole lot, actually. I always recommend it.
The landscape, even without the buildings, is interesting. Bleak, cold ... yep it could figure in a small way or not so small way.
If Norway, though, at least give me some sweeping shot of the fjords, even just as an approach shot or something; I would appreciate that and it would be unique for a Bond film.
If only we could have had Max von Sydow in a Bond film! He would have been truly great. Is he still acting? (showing my ignorance here) If so, I doubt if he would have the stamina for a main villain, but what a great actor. I'd like him in any role in a Bond film.
Oh and I just look online and found this: On April 29, 2014, it was announced that von Sydow had been cast in Star Wars Episode VII. He's 85 years old.
So I say, dear Mendes and company, get Max on board for any kind of role. :) Do it now!
Ahem. Yes, I was forgetting NSNA. Pooh.
I'd still like Max in one of EON's production; perhaps that may not happen due to ... everything ... sigh.
But I can dream. :)
I know, Scandinavian actors is a different topic sorry. Got to mention Stellan Skarsgård, too, though; another favorite of mine.
Back to location in northern Europe and Quantum.
I do think that the Quantum connection could be brought in easily enough. I wonder is that is something P&W would have wanted all along to inject into this one. I think honestly maybe yes. And that would not have been so much in Logan's game plan. Just my gut feeling.
Either way, the insurance company is NEVER going to believe it.
Absolutely seconded FoxRox!!! :-bd
Let's do some quick counter-speculation.
John "Bond should always fight Blofeld" Logan's script is probably still the basis of the final script.
And well, in which setting do Bond and Blofeld meet in the novels ?
And about going back to QOS : Would the producers really go back to the movie that did less than CR ?
They don't have to remake QOS, they just have to finish the story that began with that movie.
Moreover, no one is gonna say "I heard that next Bond movie will feature the same organization introduced in QOS, so I'm not gonna watch it."
The simple fact that it's a Bond film will make it a success. They could add Quantum, an invisible car, or set it in the space. Nonetheless, it'll be a success.
Precisely. Quantum returning is a null point. Those that remember it should be interested to see them finish the story line, and those that don't will just be excited for the next Bond film. I doubt anybody of the main viewing audience could remember SPECTRE by name.
But the producers could say : ok, we tried to have a low-key villain, without blood in the eye or metal teeth, Amalric will play really the standard CEO, etc.
It produces the movie of Craig's that did the less.
Next movie, they bring back a flamboyant character, we even have a scene to show he is physically different, thanks to CG, a bit for the sake of it. They did a billion.
And now you think they'll bring back the "Mr White / Mr Greene kind of villains" type ? Normal people in normal suits using normal weapons working for a shadowy gritty organisation ? You wouldn't have had Silva in a Bourne movie, and I think they took care to do that.
Silva's abnormality earned Skyfall a billion dollars?
Scaramanga had a third nipple, yet The Man with the Golden Gun performed poorly.
Besides, Quantum did perfectly fine at the box office, perhaps not as much as Casino Royale, but still very good.
I really don't get your argument here?
Personally, I really liked Dominic Greene, there was something very unsettling about him.
Who says the villains of Quantum have to be the average Joe?
I don't think the producers look at 70s movie. They rather look at the current trend.
Makes you wonder why they did not continue with Quantum in the next one then :)
I don't expect another Bourne/Bond movie with a "realistic" villain.
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I read often here that it seems that the days of Blofeld-like villains are over and that a gritty Bond should rather fight a real-life threat with ground-based realistic plots, etc. Just after a movie featuring a difformous semi-Godly hacker playing "Boom Boom" in a chopper to make his entrance. That did almost twice what the Bond/Bourne movie with a villain straight from a French auteur movie did :)
Most Bond villains have some sort of abnormality, Scaramanga is just an example. This has always been present.
And what is the current trend? Because to be honest, most villains I have seen in recent films are bland, generic, I'll never remember them in a few weeks time. Should the producers be following this trend?
Makes you wonder why they did not continue with Quantum in the next one then
Not because of the box office performance.
I don't expect another Bourne/Bond movie with a "realistic" villain.
I don't expect one, too. Who says just because you use Quantum, it means you have to have a "realistic", down to earth plot in the form of QOS? You can do so much in terms of plot with the Quantum organisation. Isn't this what happened with SPECTRE? Dr No's and FRWL's plots were very simple, straightforward affairs. Then came the more grand plots in the form of TB and YOLT etc. history repeating itself?
And I'm all for a more Thunderballesque Craig Bond film, with a villain in vain with Blofeld or Silva, for that matter.
And just because Quantum are used, doesn't mean we have to have a repeat of Quantum of Solace.
I think people forget LeChiffre, Domitrios, Mr. White, and Mallaka all worked for Quantum on some level. Two of which, are physically deformed. Wait.. Three counting the guy with the nail in the eye at the end of CR with the glasses.
So let's turn the other way round : do you think the new movie will have a larger than life physically deformed villain ?
And after that, does it match the "We're everywhere and you suspect nothing about us" ? Quantum is described as an organization that the closest assistant of the MP may be part of. Now if you try to use a twist in which some larger than life physically deformed person turns out to be part of Quantum... well, not much of a twist, in Bond movies, they are villains from the start. In the opera scene, they made it clear Quantum could be part of any opera audience and you would not know it. It was even a bit heavy-handed the way they showed us that. It was very Bourne-minded, I'd say. I'm happy they did not continue that way with Skyfall, at least.
And finally, this movie will be done by the same team that did not use Quantum, don't forget it :)
Exactly. Le Chiffre especially had a physical oddity of course, but most of the others had "benign bizarre" elements.
Are you saying just because somebody has a deformity that they are immediately suspected at being a player in a worldwide criminal organisation?
@Ludovico that's a great way to put. Greene certainly had an element of the benign bizarre. Those eyes!
Give a smoking to someone and he would look like part of an opera audience, whether he is a thug in real life and look like it or not. Silva managed to walk around London in a police uniform to stay unnoticed, in spite of his rather strange face. Even in the SPECTRE of old many of its members looked like ordinary people. In the movies at least. I don't think Quantum has in its membership criterias "not having any physical or distinctions whatsoever". Why was Gettler wearing these odd glasses with only one side with shades? Why was Le Chiffre's eye bleeding? Dominic Greene was meant to look like everyone because it was a decision of Forster and I think Amalric. Nothing more. And even Amalric's face is rather ratty and somewhat striking. Maybe not Krosteen like, but not that far. And if it was not enough, they gave him a subordinate with a bleeding wig! Silva's deformities were done with subtlety in SF, an addition of traits rather than one big scar, he had a striking appearance yet he could blend in a crowd if needed be. The same could work if they give deformities to the villain of Bond 24.
Do you mean he was meant to look weird in the script ?
Do we at least agree that as seen in QOS, Quantum was an organization that would not been out of place in a Bourne movie ? And that Silva would have been out of place in a Bourne movie ?
Me, I don't know if it was really Forster who did not want any special features, or if it was at a higher level that they went for "Bourne realism with the villains". But 'I don't know' is not a popular opinion :)
I note that the toupee of Elvis could be a not so subtle hint about what Forster think of Bond baddies physical difformities, but well, some will say it was a meaningless quip...
SPECTRE is Blofeld. Quantum is... ?
I think that those who think Quantum is important to Bond movies, are often those who don't want Blofeld back, mostly because of Austin Powers.