Quantum of Solace
Daniel Craig plays the leading role of James Bond. Craig's physical training for his reprise of the role placed extra effort into running and boxing, to spare him the injuries he sustained on his stunts in the first film.[2] Craig felt he was fitter, being less bulky than in the first film.[3] He also practised speedboating and stunt driving. Craig felt Casino Royale was [physically] "a walk in the park" compared to Quantum of Solace,[4] and required a different performance from him because Quantum of Solace is a revenge film, not a love story like Casino Royale.[3] While filming in Pinewood, he suffered a gash when kicked in his face,[5] which required eight stitches, and a fingertip was sliced off. He laughed these off, noting they did not delay filming, and joked his finger wound would enable him to have a criminal career (though it had grown back when he made this comment).[3] He also had minor plastic surgery on his face.[6] The actor advised Paul Haggis on the script and helped choose Marc Forster as the director.[7]
Olga Kurylenko plays Camille Montes, a Russian-Bolivian agent with her own vendetta regarding Greene and Quantum. Forster chose her because out of the 400 women who auditioned, she seemed the least nervous.[8] When she read the script, she was glad she had no love scene with Craig because it would have distracted viewers from her performance.[9] Kurylenko spent three weeks training to fight with weapons, and she learnt a form of indoor skydiving known as body flying.[10] Kurylenko dislikes stunts,[11] but overcame her fears because she found Craig helpful.[12] She was given a DVD box set of the films since the Bond franchise was not easily available to watch where she grew up in Ukraine.[10] Kurylenko found Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies inspiring "because she did the fight scenes by herself."[8] The producers had intended to cast a South American actress in the role.[13] Kurylenko trained with a dialect coach to perform with a Spanish accent,[14] which was easy as "I have a good ear, so I can imitate people", and because her accent was not made heavy.[11] When reflecting on her experience as a Bond girl, she stated she was most proud of overcoming her fears in performing stunts.[15]
Mathieu Amalric plays Dominic Greene, a leading member of Quantum posing as a businessman working in reforestation and charity funding for environmental science. Amalric acknowledged taking the role was an easy decision because, "It's impossible to say to your kids that 'I could have been in a Bond film but I refused.'"[10] Amalric wanted to wear make-up for the role, but Forster explained that he wanted Greene not to look grotesque, but to symbolise the hidden evils in society.[5] Amalric modelled his performance on "the smile of Tony Blair [and] the craziness of Sarkozy," the latter of whom he called "the worst villain we [the French] have ever had [...] he walks around thinking he's in a Bond film."[16] He later claimed this was not criticism of either politician, but rather an example of how a politician relies on performance instead of a genuine policy to win power. "Sarkozy, is just a better actor than [his presidential opponent] Ségolène Royal – that's all," he explained.[17] Amalric and Forster reconceived the character, who was supposed to have a "special skill" in the script, to someone who uses pure animal instinct when fighting Bond in the climax.[18] Bruno Ganz was also considered for the part,[13] but Forster decided Amalric gave a pitiful quality.[18]
Judi Dench plays M. Forster felt Dench was underused in the previous films and wanted to make her part bigger, having her interact with Bond more because she is "the only woman Bond doesn’t see in a sexual context", which Forster finds interesting.[19]
Gemma Arterton plays MI6 Agent Strawberry Fields, who works at the British consulate in Bolivia. Forster found Arterton a witty actress and selected her from 7000 candidates.[15] One of the casting directors asked her to audition for the role, having seen her portray Rosaline in Love's Labour's Lost at the Globe Theatre.[20] Arterton said Fields was "not so frolicsome" as other Bond girls, but is instead "fresh and young, not [...] a femme fatale".[21] Arterton described Fields as a homage to the 1960s Bond girls, comparing her red wig to Diana Rigg, who played Tracy Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Rigg, alongside Honor Blackman, is one of her favourite Bond girls.[20] The character's first name is never actually uttered on screen; when Bond asks her for her name, she replies, "Just Fields."
Jeffrey Wright plays Felix Leiter, Bond's ally at the CIA. This marked the first time the same actor played Leiter twice in a row. Only David Hedison had previously played the character twice, in Live and Let Die (1973) and Licence to Kill (1989), but these performances were not consecutive.[10] Early script drafts gave Leiter a larger role, but his screentime was restricted by on-set rewrites.[22]
Anatole Taubman plays Elvis, Greene's second-in-command. His name was chosen by Paul Haggis,[11] while Taubman chose the bowl cut.[23] Amalric and Taubman improvised a backstory for Elvis: he is Dominic's cousin and once lived on the streets before being inducted into Quantum. He called Elvis "a bit of a goofball. He thinks he's all that but he's not really. [...] He's not a comic guy. He definitely takes himself very serious, but maybe by his taking himself too serious he may become friendly."[24]
Joaquín Cosío plays General Medrano, whom Greene is helping the exiled general get back into power, in return for support of his organisation. He is responsible for the murder of Camille's entire family when she was a young girl.
Giancarlo Giannini plays René Mathis, Bond's ally who was mistakenly believed to be a traitor in Casino Royale. Having been acquitted, he chooses to aid Bond again.
Jesper Christensen plays Mr. White, whom Bond captured after he stole the money won at Casino Royale in Montenegro.
Rory Kinnear plays Bill Tanner, M's aide, while Tim Pigott-Smith plays the British Foreign Secretary. Neil Jackson plays Edmund Slate, a henchman who fights Bond in Haiti. David Harbour portrays Gregg Beam, the CIA Section Chief for South America and a contact of Felix Leiter. Simon Kassianides plays Yusef, who has a confrontation with Bond in Kazan towards the end of the film, while Stana Katic cameos as Canadian spy Corinne Veneau. Although she filmed no scenes for the film, a photograph of Eva Green as Vesper is prominently shown in several scenes. Similarly, a photograph of Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre is visible on a computer screen.
Directors Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón are friends of Marc Forster and while filming he asked them to cameo, providing voices in the Spanish language. Cuarón appears as a Bolivian helicopter pilot, while del Toro provides several other voices.[25
