Daniel Craig: One liners back for new Bond Skyfall

Quote :

Prepare for a return to James Bond's more comic roots. That's the tantalising glimpse into the changing tone of 'Skyfall', the spy's 23rd adventure, offered by Daniel Craig as Yahoo! visits the film's Pinewood Studios set.

“You have to have a script that has the bones of comedy,” Craig tells us. “Comedy in Bond films, for me, comes out of the situations people get into. They're exciting, and hopefully heart-stopping, and the comedy comes out of one-liners and things. When Sam [Mendes] came in, it was key for all of us that there's a lightness of touch in the writing that's not been as evident in the past two.”

Producer Barbara Broccoli agrees. “It's got those situations where you think, 'You could only see this in a Bond movie,'” she adds. “That's where the wit comes into it.”

Funny side... Craig promises more 'one-liners' in 'Skyfall' (Credit: Sony)

Four years have passed since the character's last outing, 'Quantum of Solace', and Craig says the time has been well spent tightening 'Skyfall''s script. “We've all been working for at least two years, in some aspect of tossing ideas around, which you need to start playing around with those things, because you can't make them up on the day.”

It's a key change of pace for Craig's Bond, renowned for its darker, edgier approach to the character. But as the series celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year, the desire to honour that legacy is palpable amongst the cast and crew. “We all want this to be the best Bond ever,” declares Broccoli. “And I think it's going to be; I really feel that.”

It's a typically iconic moment we watch Craig shoot on set. In an impeccably recreated London Underground station – complete with moving tube trains – Bond faces off against the villainous Silva, played by Spanish actor Javier Bardem, by taking aim with his trusty Walther PPK. But before he can go for the kill, Silva detonates an explosion; sending debris flying as the smell of gunpowder fills the 007-Stage.

Craig says he recruited Bardem for the role at a party. “I met him at some fundraising function and I just went, 'Would you be in the next Bond movie?'” he says. “No-one told me that's not how it's meant to happen! He's an incredibly precious actor, but he's not precious about his acting and so he's thrown himself into what he's doing. I smile every time he's on set.”

For Bardem, becoming a James Bond villain meant dealing with his own aversion to guns and violence. On the set of 'No Country For Old Men', the Coen brothers dubbed Bardem “The Spanish Ballerina” because of his distaste for weaponry. “I like peaceful people,” he laughs. “I've worked 28 years and Skyfall will be only the third movie with a gun in my hand. But it's more than having a gun in my hand. It's about creating a profile of a person that would justify that, and that's the tricky part. There aren't many opportunities to construct something behind that violence.”

There are even fewer hints at the film's plot on offer – as Bardem put it, “it's a James Bond movie, everything is top secret” - and Dame Judi Dench is remaining especially tightlipped amidst rumours that her character, M, might die. “How can I possibly tell you that?” she laughs.

But she did say she'd shot her last scene for the film, noting that her final day was announced by the crew with a “Thank you, and seventeen years later...” Perhaps it signified a grand send off for the legendary thespian, who joined the franchise with 1995's GoldenEye. “Seventeen years is a long time,” Dench reflects. “And I don't like the thought that they're going on. If you're in a play at least you're all finished on the same night. Here they're all getting on perfectly well without me!”

Whatever happens, expect 'Skyfall' to be a roller coaster from the start. “We've got a great story, a great cast and a great director,” summarises Craig, “and we're making something that's exciting and is hopefully going to move people.”

http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/daniel-craig--one-liners-are-back-for-new-bond-skyfall.html

The pre-release press for this movie has annoyed me more than for any prior Bond.

Well, they better live up to it! I'm expecting something a bit more light-hearted, witty, humorous and something like a "Traditional" Bond film.

A world without an annoyed Oppers wouldn't be one worth living in.

Hopefully they outsourced, Purvis and Wade have proven pretty inept in this department imo.

The comedic tone has been quite different over the years of course but, for myself, it's best when used to underline or emphasise Bonds dark nature, his relative indifference to death and danger rather than a gratuitous joke for its own sake.

I hope the writers watched DAF, LALD and MR over and over and over. They are the ultimate primers in Bond humor.

Craig will sport eyeliner? I'm boycotting this film. The Babs era is killing off the character!

Looks like the window dressing is back. Hopefully, they're working hard on the window, too.

Salomé wrote:

The pre-release press for this movie has annoyed me more than for any prior Bond.

I agree, mostly because we don't get any details, just lots of vague promises. I don't know how many articles repeat that quote from Babs that the movie, "has things you only see in a Bond film", but I know it's been repeated a lot. What does it mean? Who knows. :| The secrecy surrounding this movie is, I suppose, meant to pique my interest, but I mostly find it insulting. I wish I could just tell EON to stop pretending they are working on advanced military hardware and let us start getting more of a glimpse at what they're up to. Because I'm so used to having my expectations let down (and not just by EON, but generally) that the secrecy mostly just makes me assume they are cooking up a giant vat of bat guano until or unless they prove otherwise.

The secrecy thing is even more annoying because much of what EON is trying to hide won't stay hidden for long, like

Spoiler:

. I remember how hard Spielberg and company tried to hide the plot twist that Shia's character was Indy's son in the last Indiana Jones movie, and yet everybody knew the truth before the movie came out. But at least we got plenty of official details about the sorts of scenes we were going to get in Crystal Skull. There are several characters in SF who are still just names - we have no idea who they are or what roles they play in the film. And that strikes me as absurd. If someone wants to avoid spoilers, they will. The rest of us would like to have some idea what sort of product is being made before we pay money to see it. I paid to see both CR and QOS in the theaters (I paid to see QOS twice to see if the shakecam was bad as I thought or if I had been exaggerating the problem in my mind - I hadn't). I won't pay to see SF unless I get a damn-sight better idea what sort of film it really is - and the promises of film producers and actors don't count in that regard.

The more secrecy, the better. This is a spy film series, after all.

;)

I'm sure that even if some levels of levity are introduced into Skyfall, it won't detract too much from what we've heard about it so far.

Hell, Moonraker was overflowing with gags but then there are those intense moments which jerk you back...like the scene where Drax released the dogs on Corrine DuFour.

Mrs Aural Sects wrote:

I'm sure that even if some levels of levity are introduced into Skyfall, it won't detract too much from what we've heard about it so far.

Hell, Moonraker was overflowing with gags but then there are those intense moments which jerk you back...like the scene where Drax released the dogs on Corrine DuFour.

Good point. MR has its serious moments, just as mostly hard-edged DN has moments of hilarity. I always burst out laughing when Sean drives up to Government House with a corpse in his back seat, leaps out of the car and says, "Sergeant, make sure that man doesn't get away!"

lachesis wrote:

Hopefully they outsourced, Purvis and Wade have proven pretty inept in this department imo.

The comedic tone has been quite different over the years of course but, for myself, it's best when used to underline or emphasise Bonds dark nature, his relative indifference to death and danger rather than a gratuitous joke for its own sake.

They ought to outsource to this forum. I'd love to be the guy who sits in the back as the writers type away and throw in lines.

Screenplay by John Logan & Neal Purvis and Robert Wade

Special Dialogue by Tux, Ambler, and Sharky

Mr. Craig's balls waxed by Barbara Broccoli and Tom Ford

Perilagu Khan wrote:

I hope the writers watched DAF, LALD and MR over and over and over. They are the ultimate primers in Bond humor.

Naw, those are like Burt Reynolds movies. FRWL is where it is at with great comic relief punctuating the action.

Ideally I probably like DN's level of humor the best.

But I enjoy DAF for it's sheer weirdness.

trevanian wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

I hope the writers watched DAF, LALD and MR over and over and over. They are the ultimate primers in Bond humor.

Naw, those are like Burt Reynolds movies.

The Buster Keaton Vegas car chase? Sure, but there's nothing like Mankiewicz's dialogue in a Burt Reynolds film.

THUNDERBALL has some winners, too.

"What sharp little eyes you've got."
"Just wait till you get to my teeth."

For all the flak that the forums get, I do remember the members of CBn brainstorming a good one-liner for Craig when it became apparent that the Underground was going to be extensively featured.

The short version is that Bond chases Silva through the station. He works out where Silva is going, and manages to get ahead of him. Silva boards a train, thinking he's lost Bond. He turns around, only to be met with Bond's fist, and Bond quips "mind the gap".

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

The short version is that Bond chases Silva through the station. He works out where Silva is going, and manages to get ahead of him. Silva boards a train, thinking he's lost Bond. He turns around, only to be met with Bond's fist, and Bond quips "mind the gap".

Fits Brosnan better than it does Craig, I'd say.

Sounds more like Ahnold.

Interesting that a mere 6 years after so many were fapping over the whole gritty reboot thing we're all desperate to have the elements we had for the first 20 films.

CJB wrote:

Interesting that a mere 6 years after so many were fapping over the whole gritty reboot thing we're all desperate to have the elements we had for the first 20 films.

I want a balanced approach, like the 60's films had. Save YOLT. We've never really had that since. I don't want gritty, I want harder-edged mixed with sophistication (which seems to be passe anyway). I want a dose of humour, but I don't want joke after joke.

CJB wrote:

Interesting that a mere 6 years after so many were fapping over the whole gritty reboot thing we're all desperate to have the elements we had for the first 20 films.

I wouldn't say it's desperation. More a demand that the series gradually moves back towards the established norm. When Craig was first introduced as Bond and CASINO ROYALE was announced, the pitch was that the films would start out with the whole "gritty reboot" angle with a Bond who was rough around the edges, but as the films went on, Craig's Bond would eventually be refined into something akin to the established Bond. And you can see that start within the film. QUANTUM OF SOLACE, however, arguably went in the opposite direction to that.

I think Thunderball hit the perfect balance humour wise, there are plenty of gags tossed in but they generally have a sharp edge, one that emphasises the rather cruel side of the man we're following.

Another aspect, one I hope we don't see, is gags aimed soley at the audience....the early series had Bond joking to himself or to those nearby so you felt you were being allowed to peek into that world, rather than just being set up for a punchline.

Certainly I think sticking to these limits would be better suited to todays tone and Craigs form of delivery. Ultimately I just want to regain the sense that Bond, rightly or wrongly, is comfortable with his life not feeling it has to be continually excused or explained etc.

right idea, wrong pussy wrote:

Mrs Aural Sects wrote:

I'm sure that even if some levels of levity are introduced into Skyfall, it won't detract too much from what we've heard about it so far.

Hell, Moonraker was overflowing with gags but then there are those intense moments which jerk you back...like the scene where Drax released the dogs on Corrine DuFour.

Good point. MR has its serious moments, just as mostly hard-edged DN has moments of hilarity. I always burst out laughing when Sean drives up to Government House with a corpse in his back seat, leaps out of the car and says, "Sergeant, make sure that man doesn't get away!"

Meh. I rate DN the second most humorless Bond film after QOS. It's still a very good Bond film though. Obviously.