A video blog from the set of "Skyfall," the upcoming 007 film, has made its way online, where director Sam Mendes expresses his desire to make his Bond movie as good as "Casino Royale." (There's no mention of, say, another Daniel Craig 007 project -- the critical disappointment known as "Quantum of Solace").
"I was geniuinely blown away by 'Casnio Royale.' I thought ... [director] Martin Campbell did a brilliant job," exclaimed Mendes, later adding that "it was not that difficult of a decision [to direct 'Skyfall']. It struck me that it is still possible to make a big fabulous, glamourous, escapist movie, and yet, at the same time, to say something about the world we are living in."
Despite Mendes' exclusion of "Quantum" -- which could very well have been incidental -- critics, fans and even people who worked on the film have not been kind to the previous 007 flick. As Craig said in an interview with Time Out London, "On 'Quantum' we were fucked ... We had the bare bones of a script and then there was a writers' strike and there was nothing we could do. We couldn't employ a writer to finish it. I say to myself, 'Never again,' but who knows?"
Luckily, Mendes' untainted enthusiasm toward Bond stretches farther back than the Craig films. As he says in the video, "The roots of me doing this Bond movie started way before anyone approached me because I, like everyone else, have my own personal relationship with Bond, which began when I suppose I was about 9 or 10 years old."
"Skyfall," starring Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney, is being directed by Sam Mendes. It's set to hit theaters November 9.
[via Vulture and 007 YouTube Channel]
"SKYFALL" PHOTOS
