Looks like you can add Daniel Craig to the list of people who thought Quantum of Solace sucked, meaning he must’ve seen it.

From a recent interview in Time Out London:

It seems that the script is sometimes an after-thought on huge productions.

‘Yes and you swear that you’ll never get involved with sh*t like that, and it happens. On “Quantum”, we were f*cked. 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.’

You had to rewrite scenes yourself?

‘Me and the director [Marc Forster] were the ones allowed to do it. The rules were that you couldn’t employ anyone as a writer, but the actor and director could work on scenes together. We were stuffed. We got away with it, but only just. It was never meant to be as much of a sequel as it was, but it ended up being a sequel, starting where the last one finished.’

I tend to find it refreshing when actors admit certain movies they were in sucked, but the last time someone blamed the writer’s strike for a movie sucking it was Michael Bay on Transformers 2, and then he followed it up Transformers 3, which was just as sucky except for one scene with wingsuits, which doesn’t exactly seem like something you need Charlie Kaufman for. But it’s a lot easier to believe a movie will be better than its predecessor when the director is Oscar-winner Sam Mendes than it is when it’s Michael Bay, who won’t eat pancakes unless his personal chef makes them in the shape of explosions.

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As predicted a few weeks ago based on Sony’s domain name purchases, the 23rd Bond movie will indeed be called “Skyfall,” which was confirmed by EON pictures, Sony, and MGM during a press conference this morning.

The film, from Albert R. Broccoli’s Eon Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment, is directed by Academy Award® winner Sam Mendes and stars Daniel Craig, who returns for his third film as James Bond 007. The screenplay is written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan. SKYFALL, which goes into production on Monday, November 7th, will begin its worldwide roll-out in the UK and Ireland on October 26th 2012 and in North America on November 9th 2012.
Joining Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli and Director Sam Mendes were members of the cast of SKYFALL, including: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Dame Judi Dench, Naomie Harris and Berenice Marlohe. The filmmakers also announced Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney and Ben Whishaw.
In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. [via ComingSoon]

So it seems they went with another vague-sounding, inscrutable title in the vein of Quantum of Solace, which doesn’t exactly bode well. Come on, you can’t just smash some vaguely-related violent words together and call it a day! That’s not a title, at best it’s a failed portmanteau. Why not “Smashwreck” or “Bloodwound” or “Gasfart?” I liked it better when the titles were made out or real words, and gave you the distinct sense that you’d be seeing a James Bond movie. I’d feel much better about this if it was called something catchier, like The Slut Who Jet-packed Me, or The Island of Dr. Velociraptor. License to Skysurf.

Late yesterday afternoon it was widely reported that jandsome Spaniard Javier Bardem would play the villain in the next Yames Bond movie, and “Javier Bardem” even became a trending topic on Twitter. Which was news to me, as I was under the impression that we already knew this three months ago. Nonetheless, it did give me the opportunity to post this picture of Bardem enjoying a Daniel Craig popsicle, so all is forgiven. “Jugo de Bond? Delicioso.”

The film is scheduled to announce the beginning of production next month, with American Beauty‘s Sam Mendes on to direct, and Ralph Fiennes “strongly rumored” to co-star. Meanwhile, Fusible.com reported a few days ago that a company Sony uses to register domain names recently registered such names as “Skyfall” and “jamesbondskyfall,” leading to widespread speculation (still unconfirmed) that Bond 23 will be called “Skyfall.”

So I guess if the plan is to give glib critics their easiest headline in years, this should be perfect. Mmm, more like “Skyfail,” am I right? (*thumbs nose, eats Cheetos*). Easiest. Review. Ever.

With MGM’s financial woes in the back seat and production under way, the 23rd installment of the James Bond franchise is making up for lost time (and Quantum of Solace) by adding some big names to the cast, notably Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes. Bardem will play Daniel Craig’s newest villain while Fiennes will presumably play the head – or a very powerful figure of authority within – the Quantum organization.

But who cares about them? Producers have also cast Naomie Harris (28 Days Later) as Miss Moneypenny, a character that hasn’t appeared in a Bond film since Die Another Day, the last installment of the Pierce Brosnan era. The addition of Harris is shaking some martinis, though, as Moneypenny has been always been played by white actresses. So of course this is just some ploy by the producers to appease the mobs of angry ethnic Bond fans, right? RIGHT???

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Good news, everyone.  We have no idea how long it’s going to be before we get the next James Bond movie, but we do get to see James Bond dress like a woman and look sad in a new PSA for International Women’s Day.  No, really.  This was a great idea.

Daniel Craig walks in dressed like James Bond, while Dame Judy Dench’s M offers up “damning” statistics about the deplorable state of sexism, such as:

“It is 2011 and a man is still more likely to earn more money than a woman, even one doing the same job.  And men are far less likely to be judged for promiscuous behavior.  We’re afraid to walk the streets at night, but just as afraid to come home…”

And then about halfway through, James Bond comes in wearing a dress and looking sad, because as always, the best solution to the problems of discrimination is to feel really guilty about them.  Good one, James Bond.  You’ve opened my eyes at last.  Where do these statistics come from, anyway?  I’ve had quite a few jobs, most of them female dominated, and at none of them did I ever earn more than any of my female counterparts.  I certainly earned less a few times, which never stopped anyone from asking me to do anything that involved heavy lifting, or from staying late because my boss had to go pick up her dumb wiener kids from asthma camp or whatever.  I guess what I’m trying to say is, hey James, I liked you better when you were slapping a girl on the ass and telling her, “Run along, dear, men are talking,” you god d*mned traitor.  (*cracks beer, puts on “No, Ma’am” t-shirt*)

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