Daniel Craig’s reign as James Bond is officially over. The British actor last played the illustrious character in last year’s No Time To Die. He later revealed that that film would be his swansong in the role, as he looks forward to continuing his career in a different direction.
The clamor to know who will step next into the Bond shoes remains unresolved, with names like Tom Hardy, Rami Malek and Idris Elba continuously popping up as potential successors of Craig. As the current Bond incumbent reflects on his tenure in the franchise, he will carry many highlights with him.
Crucially, he will be especially proud of how he turned the narrative around, from being a controversial pick to become the new Bond in 2005, to redeeming himself and growing into an absolute fan-favorite.
In total, Craig’s body of work as Bond includes a total of six films, starting with Casino Royale in 2006, all the way through to No Time To Die.
One of the less memorable moments from the actor’s time as Bond will be a scene from his second film, Quantum of Solace, where an extra appeared to steal the limelight.
What Was The Premise Of Quantum Of Solace?
Daniel Craig’s James Bond debut in Casino Royale defied every doubter and exceeded all expectations. Franchise owner Eon Productions injected a budget of $150 million into the production of the film.
Despite the rampant questions over the studio’s choice of Craig as Pierce Brosnan’s successor, Casino Royale was received with widespread praise from critics and audiences around the world. The fans voted with their pockets, as the movie went on to gross well over $600 million at the box office.
On the back of this success, a sequel was set in motion and penciled in for a 2008 release. The project was titled Quantum of Solace, and granted a production budget of up to $300 million.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the plot summary for the picture reads: “Following the death of [his ex-lover] Vesper Lynd, James Bond makes his next mission personal. The hunt for those who blackmailed his lover leads him to ruthless businessman Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a key player in the organization which coerced Vesper.”
How Did An Extra Supplant Daniel Craig In Quantum Of Solace?
During one of the scenes in Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig’s James Bond is seated on a stationary motorbike, with a lot of seemingly normal activity going on in the background. It took eagle-eyed observers, however, to notice one extra whose actions stole the moment from the star of the story.
In the scene, a man appears to be using a broom to sweep the ground behind Bond. There is only one thing: the broom doesn’t touch the ground even once. And so what was meant to be a serious scene in the film became all about this man who was otherwise supposed to be all but invisible.
Fans immediately picked out on the moment, and began to dissect what was happening. “My theory is whoever instructed the extra told him to pretend he’s sweeping and he took it more literally than was expected,” one of them commented on YouTube.
Another social media user posited that the action would have been deliberately directed: “The only thing I can think of is that maybe the sound of the sweeping was overpowering the ambient noise recording, and so he was told to fake it.”
Quantum Of Solace Is Considered The Worst Of All Daniel Craig James Bond Movies
There is apparent consensus between fans and critics that while Daniel Craig has made a fantastic James Bond, he never quite rediscovered the heights that he hit with Casino Royale in 2006. In most people’s rankings, that first film remains firmly his best within the franchise.
On the other end of the spectrum, Quantum of Solace is usually put up against Sceptre – Craig’s penultimate Bond movie (2015) – in debates about which film takes the ignominy of being the worst from the bunch.
For most, Quantum of Solace is not just Craig’s poorest Bond film, it is simply a terrible Bond movie, period. This was attributed in great part to under writing for the sequel, with the Writers Guild of America in 2007/08 affecting progress on the scripting process.
The movie still managed to bring in nearly $590 million in box office earnings, and Craig’s performance was deemed by most to be largely flawless. Put against the light of Casino Royale, however, the Marc Forster directed project is seen as very underwhelming.
