Merrick here...
Here's Mastidon with the last in his series of reports from UK's QUANTUM OF SOLACE premier. You can find his spoiler-heavy review of the film HERE, and a different report from the premier HERE.
FOr tis installment, Mastidon got some micro interviews with Craig, Dench, Wright, and that creepy badguy dude.
Hi Guys,
Mastidon here with one last bit for you on QUANTUM OF SOLACE, interviews from the Red Carpet at the London Premier.
I covered a lot of Red Carpets for AICN and I can honestly say that this was by far the biggest of them all.
It was promoted as the biggest UK Premier in history. From the thousands of attending fans and hundreds of press people, I would say it probably was the case. This is the mess Merritcat had to deal with in the photographer pen in order to bring you all of these great photos. Keep in mind she is only 5'1"!
Because this was a Royal Premier due to the attending of Prince William and Harry, all press people had to be locked up about 2 hours before the arrival of the guests. This gave us some unusual sites like this one -
Dame Judy Dench arrived sporting a Bond tattoo!
MASTIDON: Hi. How is it playing Elizabeth versus M? They are both very strong women.
DAME JUDY: Different. Different frocks. Different women. Entirely different attitude.
MASTIDON: But both really strong and powerful.
DAME JUDY: Oh yes, but a lot of other people are strong that I play. Just a characteristic of her that is strong and bossy M.
MASTIDON: How do you like action?
DAME JUDY: I like it. I like getting a bit of the action myself. I don't like being just in the office all of the time.
REPORTER: What is it like working with Daniel Craig again?
DAME JUDY: It's lovely. The thing I like working with Daniel and Pierce is that they both have a huge sense of humor and you must not take yourself too seriously I think.
MASTIDON: Thank You Judy.
Jeffrey Wright arrived sporting an Obama button. The election was still a week away.
MASTIDON: Hey how are you? Have you voted yet?
JEFFREY: No, I have not. I will be back in the States to vote on November 4th.
USA Today REPORTER: So tell me about the character. The movie gives Americans a bad name until you came up.
JEFFREY: Some of us Americans deserve their bad name but fortunately the majority of us paint a better picture. I think Felix is of that number.
USA Today REPORTER: What is it like working with Daniel Craig.
JEFFREY: Its great. This was the 3rd movie Daniel and I have worked together. I like him as a man and a actor and think we work well together. We are creating a sense of kinship we create between these characters and I think audiences appreciate it.
MASTIDON: Are you going to be back for Bond 23?
JEFFREY: We'll see.
REPORTER: How do you feel returning?
JEFFREY: I feel like I felt the first time, only doubly so. It's a lot of fun. It's Bond. There is no bigger franchise in film. There is that element to it but there is also a level of intelligence about these films and a contemporary quality to them that audiences appreciate. When I was first asked to do this role in CASINO ROYALE, my agent sent me a script and said take a look at the CIA guy they want you to play that role. What do you mean the CIA guy? This is Felix Leiter man. Outside of Miles Davis in the 60s, for me Jack Lord was the badest cat on the planet. So to follow in his footsteps is a great thrill.
Mathieu Amalric arrived not looking too menacing but wearing a poppy for Remembrance Day .
USA Today REPORTER: I just saw the movie this morning.
MATHIEU: Oh, you're lucky. I didn't seen it.
MASTIDON: You're about to.
USA Today REPORTER: You're character is just pure evil What is your inspiration?
MATHIEU: Television. Just click on television and you see all of these people, very important and big smiles. They want to sell you the planet. They all love us. They aren't concerned by environmental issues. And we have a financial crisis. We don't know why and we don't know where the villains are. You don't know. You see? And people are going to lose their jobs. I love those people that have power.
MASTIDON: Do you see people using Global Warming as a way to try and get ahead?
MATHIEU: Yeah. Of course. We all know that what's very frightening about this film is that everything is true. Everybody knows that countries are selling the rights to pollute to other countries. That's the truth.
REPORTER: A lot of people had accidents on this film and everybody is saying that this film was cursed.
MATHIEU: No, there wasn't that much accidents, It is the spirit of the Bond films. All the stunts are real so it is dangerous. But we worked a lot. To be precise and violent at the same time. And with Daniel, it is great to work with him because you can hit him. He loves it. He loves it.
Mr. Bond arrived with his arm in a sling after having shoulder surgery a few weeks before.
MASTIDON: Hi Daniel.
DANIEL: Hey, how you doing?
MASTIDON: Real good. How is it for you to turn the character off when you leave the stage since you play such a cold Bond is it easy for you?
DANIEL: I find it very easy, yes.
MASTIDON: You don't find yourself looking at people funny or anything?
DANIEL: No I don't. No, no, no.
REPORTER: What do you say to those people who say your Bond is not as funny as it should be?
DANIEL: I don't know. I think he is hilarious.
REPORTER: Why do you think that?
DANIEL: Why, because I think it is. Because he gets into extraordinarily very funny situations.
After the cast, both Prince William and Harry came to speak to a crowd of veterans attending. They shook hands and talked to many of them for about 20 minutes. This is about the best non-blurry picture I could take of Price Harry with my camcorder.
With the departure of the Princes, my Bond adventure ended. I have now seen the film twice and I still love it. For me the key to enjoying this film is to make sure you see CASINO ROYALE as close to Quantum as possible otherwise you simply will miss key points. James Bond will return in the already announced Bond 23. Let's hope they can keep up the bar set by these two....
Ciao,
-Mastidon
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