Daniel Craig details mistakes made on Quantum of Solace, working without script; 'we were screwed', says producer

James Bond star Daniel Craig and his producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson spoke about what went wrong behind-the-scenes on Quantum of Solace, the actor's second film as Agent 007. Daniel Craig will appear as Bond for the fifth and final time in No Time to Die, which is due out next month.

Ahead of the film's release, a documentary titled Being James Bond was released. In the film, the actor spoke about how they started shooting Quantum of Solace without a script. He said that he would try and ‘bash things out’ with director Marc Forster on set, but because he wasn't a writer, he threw himself into the stunts more aggressively. In hindsight, he said, it was ‘a bad mistake’ because he got badly hurt.

He also admitted to being ‘overwhelmed’ by fame in the aftermath of his first Bond film, Casino Royale's success, and having his ‘world turned upside down’. “I can honestly say I was in a bit of a cloud cuckoo land,” he said.

“We had a writer's strike. We had a script; it wasn't completed, but it was nearly completed. The movie kind of works. It's not Casino Royale, and that was always going to be… It was like, literally, troubling second album syndrome. In a way, we could not top Casino… It's easy to say that. Of course, we wanted to top Casino Royale, but, you know…” the actor added.

Barbara Broccoli said, “So we basically started shooting without a script, which is never a good idea… We were kind of screwed, and we all had to muddle in and try and make the story work, and it wasn't really working that great. But I look back at the movie, and you know, it's still a good movie.”

Daniel Craig continued, “There are some really special moments in that film, very special. I don't know if the movie adheres together as well as it should, but that was just because the story wasn't solid.” 

Michael G Wilson said, “We just didn't get Bond's journey right in it, which was the key. It wasn't totally focussed on his journey, and sometimes we get too wound up on plot rather than keep to the story, which is an issue for these kind of films.”

Besides Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig has played Bond in Skyfall and Spectre. No Time to Die, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, will conclude his tenure as the iconic British spy.