Quantum of Solace is generally considered one of the worst James Bond movies, but it was hardly the studio's fault, and was in large part a result of the 2007 writers' strike. Daniel Craig's second outing as Bond has a "fresh" 63% on Rotten Tomatoes and an acceptable 6.6 on IMDb, but time hasn't been kind to the movie, and the film looks even worse being sandwiched between Craig's best Bond Movies, Casino Royale and Skyfall. However, if the movie feels like the cast and crew were making it up as they went along, that's mostly because that's exactly what happened.
The Writers' Guild of America (WGA) has gone on strike after not being able to come to an agreement with movie studios for fair pay. As a result, a lot of movies will be put on hold, and movies that are currently in production could suffer too. Even if a movie's screenplay is complete, writers are often needed during production too, as the story and character arcs can change course in an instant. Quantum of Solace is the perfect case study of this very thing happening, and the director, producer, and Craig have all been extremely vocal about the stressful production over the years.
The 2007 Writers' Strike Meant Quantum Of Solace Didn't Have A Finalized Script
Quantum of Solace didn't work in large part because of the 2007 writers' strike, and Craig detailed how he and the crew struggled without a full script. The actor explained, "We had a writer's strike. We had a script; it wasn't completed, but it was nearly completed. The movie kind of works... Of course, we wanted to top Casino Royale, but, you know…” According to Indie Wire, the script arrived just two hours before the start of the strike. Longtime James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli believes there was even less of a script available during the production, noting, "We basically started shooting without a script, which is never a good idea."
However, Broccoli added that "the script was turned in, and I the writer who turned the script in picked up his check, and then picked up his placard and stood outside the studio striking." Quantum of Solace has three writer credits, so it isn't clear who Broccoli was referring to, but given that Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have writer credits on several other Bond movies, the producer was likely talking about Paul Haggis. It's safe to say that the studio wasn't happy with the script that Haggis turned in, and it could have been an early or even first draft that the studio simply had to deal with.
The Writers' Strike Ruined Quantum Of Solace
Even if the studio hired Haggis to write more drafts, once the 2007 strike happened it meant that no writer who was part of the WGA was allowed to work, which left MGM without a Quantum of Solace script it was happy with. That led to Daniel Craig's worst Bond movie, and the cast and crew had to make things up on the fly, including dialogue and even action sequences. Broccoli explained, "We were kind of screwed, and we all had to muddle in and try and make the story work, and it wasn't really working that great."
Craig wrote most of the movie with Marc Forster, and he seems like his own biggest critic, stating, "There was me trying to rewrite scenes – and a writer I am not. Me and Mark 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." (via original M plan would have killed her, so, in a way, Craig and Forster actually made some changes for the better.
Quantum Of Solace Sent Daniel Craig's James Bond Arc Off Track
Quantum of Solace didn't kill off M, which was a smart choice given that she had such an instrumental role in Skyfall and had an even more impactful death. However, outside of that, Quantum of Solace simply didn't work in the grand scheme of Bond's five-movie arc that began with Quantum of Solace. For the first time ever, MGM was making a series of Bond movies where each release followed on from the last and was all connected. Looking at the five movies, Quantum of Solace is the weak link in the chain, as even though Spectre was heavily criticized, it still propelled Craig's Bond arc forward.
Though part of what held the movie back was that MGM was in a sticky legal situation over the rights to Blofeld and Spectre (via The Guardian), there were fundamental flaws in the story. Following Casino Royale, which was a more grounded movie and was to James Bond what Batman Begins was to Batman, Quantum of Solace should have been the series' The Dark Knight. It should have been the first move where Craig's Bond is properly depicted as the iconic British spy, 007. However, Quantum of Solace saw Craig's Bond stall, failing to develop in any meangingful way from Casino Royale.
How Daniel Craig's Bond Arc Would Have Changed Without The 2007 Writers' Strike
If there was no writers' strike, Craig's Bond arc could have still ended with his death, but the journey to reach that point would have been way different. Given that M was originally planned to be killed, that death could have been kept in if the writers' strike never happened, which means that Skyfall would have been completely different. Raoul Silva's whole motive in Skyfall was to get revenge on M, and with M dead and without Silva having that motivation, the events in the movie would have never happened. However, the biggest change to Bond's arc would have been regarding how Bond meets (or doesn't meet) Madeleine in Spectre.
Madeleine is the daughter of Mr. White, one of Quantum of Solace's villains, but he somewhat redeems himself in Spectre and forces Bond to keep Madeleine safe when White is about to die. Bond then falls in love with Madeleine and even has a child with her in No Time to Die. However, Quantum of Solace's original ending saw Mr. White get killed, which would mean that Bond would never have met the love of his life. As a result of that, Bond might never have been able to escape the deadly life he led, which was encouraged by Madeleine.
Source: Indie Wire, NME, The Guardian
