Bond 22 Titlers Get All Brainy, Somber

VARIETY: New Bond film unveils title
'Quantum of Solace' shooting at Pinewood
By ALI JAAFAR - Posted: Thurs., Jan. 24, 2008, 7:22am PT

The new James Bond film is to be called “Quantum of Solace,” producers announced Thursday at Blighty’s Pinewood Studios.

The title comes from a short story published as part of a collection by Bond creator Ian Fleming in 1960.

Pic, previously known simply as “Bond 22,” follows on directly from “Casino Royale” with Daniel Craig reprising the role of British super spy and embarking on a revenge mission following his betrayal by Vesper Lynd — Eva Green’s ill-fated character in the previous film — that takes him to Austria, Italy and South America.

As previously announced, Gallic thesp Mathieu Amalric (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”) plays Bond nemesis Dominic Greene, a ruthless businessman and member of a shadowy org. seeking to control large portions of the world’s natural resources.

Ukrainian actress Olga Kurylenko plays Bond girl Camille, who leads the Martini-shaking spy to Greene, while Brit actress Gemma Arterton (“St Trinian’s”) will play MI6 Agent Fields.

Marc Forster helms Craig in his second outing as Bond.

Returning from “Casino Royale” are Dame Judi Dench as M, Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter and Giancarlo Giannini as Mathis.

Pic started lensing at Pinewood earlier this month.

Producers are Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of Eon Prods., Sony Pictures Entertainment and MGM.

Sony Pictures Releasing Intl. is releasing pic worldwide on Nov. 7.

After Ten Years, Francis Coppola Returns To Directing

VARIETY: Inside Move: Coppola tackles 'Youth'
Film is director's first since 1997
By ANNE THOMPSON

The new United Artists led by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner is in talks to acquire "Youth Without Youth," Francis Ford Coppola's first film since 1997's "Rainmaker." Move would reunite Coppola with Cruise, whom he cast as an unknown in his 1983 pic "The Outsiders." UA had no comment.

Coppola adapted, produced and directed "Youth Without Youth" from the 1976 novel by Romanian-born religious historian Mircea Eliade. Coppola screened the film on Feb. 22 for friends in the Bay Area, including Carroll Ballard and George Lucas.

He showed the pic to individual distributors in Los Angeles on Friday and over the weekend. Reaction has been mixed, but several distribs were pursuing the project, being shopped the old-fashioned way by Coppola attorney Barry Hirsch.

Inspired by his daughter Sofia to make a low-budget personal film, Coppola may have skipped the festival route of selling the movie after witnessing the stir that her pic "Marie Antoinette" faced at Cannes last May.

Financed independently with foreign pre-sales from Pathe Intl. and funds from Coppola's own winery, the $5 million film, which Coppola shot last winter in Romania, stars Tim Roth as a 70-year-old who is struck by lightning and suddenly gets younger and more brilliant. His quest: to understand the origin of language and consciousness. By movie's end, he and the love of his life (Alexandra Maria Lara) are literally speaking in tongues. Bruno Ganz also stars, and Matt Damon makes a cameo appearance.

"Youth Without Youth" is both "intellectually challenging and emotionally remote," said one acquisitions exec at a studio subsid. Another distrib likened the film to an arty "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Date in print: Tue., Mar. 20, 2007, Los Angeles

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Awesome! When you spend $5 million, making a profit gets a whole lot easier. Taking risks is easier too, I would imagine. Good for him!