It’s a well-worn tactic for promoting and discussing franchise movies for filmmakers and actors to bend-over-backwards “owning” the shittiness of the last movie. A few examples? Bay’s done it with Transformers, Spielberg with Indy, and even (or especially) when the big guys do it there’s always an edge of desperation to the so-called honesty.

Maybe it’s so easy to sense because they never say this shit while the movie in question is still making lots of money!

In any event, I say all this because Daniel Craig is ostensibly pulling that trick with Quantum Of Solace to set the stage for Skyfall, and trotting out the (admittedly fair enough) writer’s strike excuse in an interview with Timeout…

‘Yes and you swear that you’ll never get involved with shit like that, and it happens. 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? There was me trying to rewrite scenes – and a writer I am not.’

He also emphasizes how original the scrip for Skyfall is, and that it dragged him back from the precipice of indecision about continuing on as the classic spy.

“…they showed me the script and I thought: Fuck, I’ve got to do this. And I think this one is better. I really do. It’s a totally original story. I read it and it just works as a story. It sounds like a simplistic thing to say, but you read it and you go: “Oh yeah, I get that, yeah, and oh, yes, yes, okay,” and that’s unusual.’”

Don’t get me wrong: I have no reason to think Daniel Craig is cynically engineering his comments as part of an overall effort to wipe the slate clean for Bond and get everyone excited about a false “return to form.” Craig has always seemed a straight-shooter, but it just gets a little tiring to constantly here the same excuses and see the same basic stuff happen with sequel after sequel. Frankly, I don’t think anyone needs to go out of their way to justify Quantum– the film isn’t a terrible Bond flick, and it works as an interesting addendum to it’s predecessor, sort of a Casino Royale 1.5. It’s not what anybody wanted from a Bond film following such a great reboot (and the action was a step down), but it’s not some painful abomination and I’d prefer to see the focus on Skyfall being a great film independent of being contrast against some perceived failure.

Naturally Craig also discusses Dragon Tattoo and his career in general, and he’s a great interview. Make sure to check out the full piece.

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(via Dark Horizons)