A whole new batch of images from the next James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, have just arrived online. So, in honor of a badly beaten-up Daniel Craig, we've decided that now is definitely the right time to launch our official Quantum of Solace photo gallery -- complete with good guys, bad guys and women who may or not be good or bad. (Can I just say that I absolutely love this photo above. Obviously they've had a long night -- and even though he's all sorts of damaged, Bond has that "I bet I could still tap that" look on his face.)

What do we know about Quantum of Solace? Well, it picks up right where Casino Royale left off, and it follows 007 on a mission to figure out which moron came up with the name for this film. I kid, I kid. Actually, we're with Bond as he attempts to figure out more about the organization that blackmailed Vesper -- a mission that ultimately leads him to several countries and to a couple of men; one of which, Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), is conspiring to take total control of one of the world's most important natural resources. There's double the action, double the intensity and (we hope) double the love-making.

Quantum of Solace arrives in theaters on November 7. Check out our brand new gallery below.

Last weekend brought the tragic news that the Aston Martin featured in the upcoming 007 movie Quantun of Solace was wrecked beyond repair. It turns out that's not the only danger on the set of the film, currently shooting in Italy: On Wednesday, a James Bond stuntman crashed while performing a chase scene in the area, and is currently in critical condition. suffering minor injuries It's probably better that this stuff is happening now, considering how many people were ready to pounce on the last film in order to prevent Daniel Craig from taking the reins from Pierce Brosnan. Now that the franchise appears to have a newfound groove, Quantum has a lot of positive buzz. So why does it seem like the set is suddenly cursed?

Accidents of varying degrees are commonplace on large scale film shoots, but the sense of peril can impact the final result in different ways. In the Twilight Zone movie, the helicopter accident during the John Landis-directed sequence killed three actors, causing Hollywood to avoid similar stunts for many years to come. The stuntman who suffered burns on 60% of his body on the Mission: Impossible III set, however, couldn't affect that movie, even when he decided to sue Tom Cruise. In the case of Quantum of Solace, subversively, the accidents might be a positive indicator of the sheer intensity that director Marc Forster hopes to bring to the film.

We all know 007 hops continents with ease... so where is he finding action these days? Antofagasta, Chile, home to the driest desert in all the world. Moviefone sent a spy down to set of the new Bond flick Quantum of Solace (OK, fine, we were invited by Sony Pictures) to dig up dirt from Daniel Craig and company. You can find a full report from the set of Solace Tuesday on Moviefone.com -- including rumors confirmed and debunked, and a full Q&A with Craig -- but here are a couple nuggets to whet your appetite.

--Why Chile? Antofagasta is home to the headquarters of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), which stands as the lair of Bond's latest adversary, Dominic Green (Diving Bell and the Butterfly star Mathieu Amalric). But even the ESO's funky digs (a domed, modern building which will, thanks to special effects, be blown up in the finished film) take second billing to the gritty landscape. "I think what attracted us is the beautiful landscape, which contrasts with all the other landscapes in the film," producer Michael G. Wilson told our reporter. "It reflects Bond's inner feelings."

It wasn't Darby O'Gill and the Little People that brought Sean Connery to superstardom. It was his many gigs as James Bond, stretching from Dr. No in 1962 to Never Say Never Again in 1983. But that era is over. These days, Daniel Craig is 007, and he's gearing up for the 22nd Bond installment with Quantum of Solace. So, what's that have to do with Connery? Well, according to Ace Showbiz, a new press release says that the actor has considered returning to the franchise as the big baddie.

Connery is quoted as saying: "I wouldn't mind coming back as a Bond villain. But I don't think they would pay me enough. They don't pay the money for other parts, only for the Bond character, although that wasn't the case when I was doing it." Ouch! I would think they might want to add Connery in to at least save some face. Sure, things change, but what production wants to be considered penny pinchers that only care about Craig?

Ace goes on to say: "Allegedly, the 77-year-old Academy Award-winning actor has been involved in negotiations to land a villain role with the film's producers since Daniel Craig has been tapped to bring Ian Fleming's agent back to the big screen with Casino Royale."

Could this be true? Would they ever pay enough for this to really happen? We'll have to wait and see. But in the meantime, what do you think? Should Connery return to the world of James Bond?

Should Sean Connery be a James Bond villain?

Yes!!!No way. He should leave it in the past.I don't know...I don't care...Vote

If you were looking for a reason to go see Daniel Craig's next James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, in the UK, here's your reason -- BBC reports that the film's release date has been moved up from November 7 of this year, to October 31 -- Halloween. So far, however, this means no change for us in North America. Variety reports that the film is still scheduled to roll out on the 7th.

This time around, Bond sets out for revenge against those who took out the lovely Vesper Lynd (the gal who betrayed him in Casino Royale) and travels to Austria, Italy, and South America. In Haiti, he runs into Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who has her own vendetta and leads the superspy to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric). I guess Bond gets sidetracked by this dude, because he "discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the world's most important natural resources, is forging a dastardly deal with an exiled Latin American general (Joaquin Cosio)."

But what about the title? It seems to be sticking, but I can't say that I'm entirely into Craig's reasoning why. He says it's all about relationships: "When they go wrong, when there's nothing left, when the spark has gone, when the fire's gone out, there's no quantum of solace." I actually liked the title more before ...

Wow, so if this rumor is true it could potentially be very good or very bad for the Bond franchise, and, especially, Quantum of Solace. Now take this whole thing with a huge grain of salt because there is no proof or official word, but a scooper wrote into AICN with the name of an actor who might have snagged the chief villain role in the next James Bond film. No, I'm not talking about Mathieu Amalric -- who we already know is playing Bond's main opponent. And Anatole Taubman is apparently playing another baddie. I'm talking about the boss of all bosses -- the guy Bond was after in Casino Royale, and will be after in Quantum of Solace. The dude behind the entire operation -- the man behind the curtains -- the guy who reports to himself. Oh yes. Him. Well word has it Bond will finally meet up with this head boss at the end of the next film, and the actor currently rumored to be playing him is none other than -- drum roll please -- Al Pacino. Hoo-ahh!

Here's part of what the scooper wrote in to AICN: "But the big news that he leaked was that Al Pacino would be taking part in filming. I was a little shocked as the cast has been revealed already, but he said Pacino would play the head of the terrorist group introduced in CASINO ROYALE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE. Al is said to come to Pinewood in April-May to film what is said to be a brief cameo." Hmmm. Pacino? As the big villain in a Bond film? Keep in mind this is only a rumor right now, but if true, what do you think?

I think I'm ready to give up trying to figure out what's going on with this movie -- I'll just wait till November and judge it then. But here's the latest intangible -- Bollywood actress and British tabloid staple Shilpa Shetty has just joined the cast of Quantum of Solace in an as-yet undetermined role, along with moderately well-known supporting actor David Harbour, whose role is also undetermined. Although it's being touted by MI6, the source of this information appears to be that Harbour and Shetty's names both popped up on IMDB over the weekend, so I would wait for EON confirmation next week before this becomes really, really official. IMDB does have a name for her character, though -- Devi. This late casting of Shetty is a curiosity, since she was considered a prime candidate for a Bond girl during the initial casting phase, and the Bond producers were known to be interested in working a Bollywood favorite into the film to take advantage of the synchronous orbit of Bollywood and British cinema.

Surely they don't have room for three Bond girls, do they? Shetty is very popular in Britain and recently got worldwide press attention for a mini-scandal involving Richard Gere, so I think it's more than likely that this role will amount to a cameo, like Madonna in Die Another Day or like British actress Christina Cole's role as "Ocean Club Receptionist" in Casino Royale. Remember that little scene where Bond checks into the Ocean Club and has a momentary flirtation with a stop-you-in-your-tracks-gorgeous blonde behind the front desk? I'm thinking they invited Shetty to do one of those parts and she agreed, perhaps after quietly losing out on getting one of the main Bond girl parts. But what do I know -- I thought Arterton was Moneypenny. Meanwhile, filming continues to roll on, and more confusion is sure to follow.

British jazz singer Amy Winehouse, who is known internationally more for her drug problems and wild antics -- in my five seconds of research, I see that she apparently heckled Bono while he was giving a speech, which makes me think she's good people -- has reportedly been offered the chance to sing the theme song for the new James Bond film. If British rag The Sun is to be believed, the producers of Quantum of Solace have gotten themselves involved in Winehouse's personal drama by offering the singer the theme song on the condition that she get herself clean and sober by April. "That's when the Bond people make a final decision on who sings the theme," the source said. "If Amy is clean then, it's hers." I don't know who this source is -- craft services guy, maybe -- but I also wouldn't put it past the crafty Bond producers to try to stir the media into a frenzy by putting Winehouse on the payroll in such a manner. For his part, Daniel Craig has already commented on this whole drama, saying "It's just way, way off that. Everyone's speculating about it but we've got other things to deal with -- there's no point in writing the song for a movie when we haven't got a movie." Yikes.

In other Bond news, there isn't any, really, but Craig did get into another tiff with journalists over his reputation for being difficult when it comes to press, which I didn't know he had. I met Craig during the junket for Casino Royale and found him to be as warm and as forthcoming as you could expect. On that so-called reputation, Craig says "I don't think it's true, it's just lazy journalism; they want to paint me as someone difficult. I think I'm quite nice, but maybe I'm delusional. There's no point in doing Bond if you're not going to sell it."

[via MI6]

Shortly after I first saw Casino Royale, someone asked me what I thought about it and I blurted out "B-." How could I, a Bond fan, give the movie such a low rating, they wanted to know, to which I replied that it seemed more like a movie-movie than a Bond movie and it should have gone further in its realism, and been R-rated. "If they had made this as a sort of R-rated version of Majesty's Secret Service, it might have actually been a great film," I said at the time. All of this is a long-winded way of leading up to mentioning that Daniel Craig is apparently keen on executing an explicit nude scene in Quantum of Solace, according to reports, which would seem to necessitate an R-rating this time around. Access Hollywood recently asked Jeffrey Wright about the rumors that Craig was trying to work some full-frontal into the movie this time around, to which he replied "The world is ready for anything, but I'm not licensed to reveal that." He also conceded that the title of the film was "pretty exotic."

Meanwhile, for those of you who have completely given up on trying to remain spoiler-free, there are now many details of a key car chase that will occur in the film. The Italian press has been all over this one, with an Italian Bond fansite detailing that the chase will take place along the banks of Lake Garda, between the resort towns of Navene and Malcesine and that the cars are expected to top speeds of 125 mph. According to them "the pursuit will feature spectacular and reckless maneuvers in a series of tunnels, culminating with a scene where a truck brings the action to an abrupt halt and a huge explosion." I don't know about you, but hearing that makes me immediately depressed because I have zero confidence that Marc Forster can pull it off. I mean, really, this is the guy who couldn't even make kite-flying seem realistic.

Finally, thanks to some advance toy marketing, we know that there will be a character in this film known as 'Elvis.' There's no confirmation on who this character is supposed to be, but since he's prominent enough to be toy-worthy, expect yet another casting announcement soon.

[Via MI6]

Is Gemma Arterton feeling the heat for having recently (apparently) blurted out a key plot point involving her character in Quantum of Solace? Seems that way. "You have to work out what you can say and cannot say," Arterton tells Reuters in a recent article. "It's quite hard for me who has a bit of a motor mouth. I've been learning for the last six months to think before I speak." As she continues to work on her problem, Arterton also continues to give away more plot details for the upcoming film, intimating in the same Reuters piece that oil -- "a lot of oil" -- is what the villains are after this time, and South America is apparently where they're looking for it. Arterton also tells IGN in another new interview that her character does become sexually involved with Bond -- there's a kiss, at least -- and that something happens to her in a "scene which is an homage to something iconic, but I cannot tell you what that is. But it will be remembered."

What is she talking about? Let's speculate. Given what Arterton has already let slip about her character's destiny and given that in this IGN interview she mentions Diana Rigg more than once -- noting her as one of her favorite Bond girls and saying "my hair is reminiscent of Diana Rigg's hair" the most obvious answer is that perhaps the "homage scene" is a climactic one for her and is something similar to the climactic scene in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. That would fit in with everything she's saying, but it wouldn't seemingly fit in with Bond's journey at this point, since it would be so similar to the ending of Casino Royale. Although, it might work if Arterton's Agent Fields is only a minor character, which she appears to be. A minor character could be resolved in such a way. Gemma, you're making my head hurt!

Yes, I know what the actual title of this film is, but I think it's so eye-poppingly awful that there's a very good chance it will be changed at some point before release, so I see no need to mention it now. We're talking about a film that has to be marketed internationally -- surely cooler heads at Sony will step in and demand a title that's reasonable? What was their second choice, by the way? James Bond in Footpounds of Complacency? Either way, someone needs to start minding the store over there because now the actors are going around giving away major plot details. It's not often that I have to issue a spoiler warning over something an actor said while out promoting their film, but consider this that spoiler warning and beware. Speaking to BBC Newsround, Gemma Arterton, who I had incorrectly figured for a Moneypenny early on, says that her character, an MI6 agent named Fields, is tasked with trying to "keep Bond under control" in Bolivia, but for her trouble the character "sort of comes to a sticky end." Thanks, Gemma.

Meanwhile, Mathieu Amalric is also talking up his character, the main villain, and says (another spoiler alert) that he's going to get into physical training for a big fight scene with Bond that will come at the end the picture. Is Bond in the habit of engaging in fisticuffs with his main adversaries? Not really. Anyway, that's also much more than I wanted to know, since for all we know this guy could have exited halfway through, like Le Chiffre. Based on the flurry of details that have emerged in the last week, I already think I have a good handle on exactly what will happen in this film, structure-wise, and that's too much info. In other, less spoiler-filled news, Detroit News is also running a piece on the set design for the film, and informs us that a massive MI6 set -- "a two-story suite of steel-gray furniture and frosted glass offices" -- will be featured this time around.

[Via MI6]

Well, it's official. After referring to the latest Bond movie as Bond 22 for what seemed like forever, BBC News reports that producers of the 22nd installment of the Bond franchise say the official title will be...wait for it...Quantum of Solace. To be honest, my first reaction was -- huh? Then, however, I found out that the title was taken from a collection of short stories published by Bond creator Ian Fleming back in 1960, so I guess it has some retro charm in spite of the fact that it sounds kind of awkward; don't you think? (Once again, Daniel Craig might have been messing with us all, just a little, with hints that "007" was the official title.)

The announcement came during a press conference at the new Pinewood Studios, where the film has begun shooting. Journalists were shown some clips of Bond swinging out of an explosion of an art gallery in Italy, as well as a meeting between Bond (Daniel Craig) and M (Judi Dench) in a snowy locale.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that they finally announced their new Bond Girl, Olga Kurylenko. So sure, the production has taken it's time assembling the cast around Daniel Craig; but now that it is all said and done, they have managed to put together a pretty interesting ensemble. There are some familiar faces from Casino Royale returning -- Giancarlo Giannini as Mathis and Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter. Plus, there are also some first-timers to the Bond franchise including critically acclaimed French actor Mathieu Amalric as our bad guy and Gemma Arterton as MI6 Agent Fields. We've gotten a couple of images from the film, but so far, most of the details about the story are still being kept under lock and key. So, if you can't wait for November 7th when Quantum of Solace hits theaters, stay tuned for any updates that come our way.

UPDATE: After the jump, you will find the film's synopsis, courtesy of Columbia Pictures. Read at your own risk!

Granted, Daniel Craig has already made sure that he won't be playing James Bond for the rest of his career; but that hasn't stopped him from signing up for a variety of parts that are as far as you can get from the suave super spy. Paramount Vantage has just released the trailer for the WWII drama, Defiance. The film is the latest from 'bleeding-heart' action director Ed Zwick, whose last feature, Blood Diamond, managed to snag the director an Oscar nomination. Judging by the orchestral swell in this trailer and tag lines like "from desperation comes defiance," it would seem like he might be angling for another nomination this year.

Defiance is based on the true story of three Jewish brothers who escaped Nazi-occupied Poland to join up with the Russian resistance in the forests of Belarus. Zwick's screenplay is based on Nechama Tec's book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans. Tuvia, Zusia, and Asael Bielski established a large partisan camp in the forests of Belarus during World War II and ultimately helped to save the lives of over 1,200 Jews. Craig will play Tuvia Bielski and he is joined by Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell as Zusia and Asael.

Despite my lack of love for some of Zwick's previous work, I'll admit that so far this one looks pretty good. Although to be fair, it might have a lot to do with the talents of Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber rather than Zwick's skill behind the camera. Defiance has yet to find a release date, but is expected to arrive sometime in '08.

[via ComingSoon.net]

With filming less than a week old, an entire mini-gallery of photos have arrived from the set of Bond 22. Some of those are 'out of the office' shots of M, played of course by Judi Dench. In the shots that leaked out we see M and one of her confederates walking down some London street -- the kind of scene that will probably comprise two to three seconds of screen time in the finished film, if at all. Some snaps of Daniel Craig were also obtained by JustJared this week and picked up by MI6, when the actor showed up to film some scenes at Burwood Place, London. According to the report on MI6, some are saying that the local fire department was on hand to help the production create fake rain for the location shoot, but this isn't confirmed. The only other thing to be said about the shots is that they are completely unrevealing of anything about the film, other than the fact that it's actually shooting.

Meanwhile, MI6 is also reporting that according to their sources, Gemma Arterton's role in the new Bond film is "not the major role," meaning the real Bond girl has yet to be cast. They stress that "extensive" casting searches have focused on finding a Latin American actress for that position and they also say that Moneypenny is not thought to figure into this film -- so who is Arterton playing? The fact that her given name is "Fields" instead of something like Baroness von Whoever, I now think it's likely to assume that she's some new MI6 recruit who either gets killed early on or turns out to be a villain later in the piece like Rosamund Pike in Die Another Day.

Variety is reporting that Jeffrey Wright will reprise his role as CIA operative Felix Leiter in Bond 22, after first putting his stamp on the popular supporting character in Casino Royale. I say 'popular' only in the sense that Leiter has been recreated innumerable times in the Bond films and novels -- if you go to the Wikipedia page for the character you'll see an entire picture set of different actors, of different ages, builds and races, who have portrayed him through the years. I personally find it stupid and distracting to keep shoving some new, completely different character in our faces every few years and have him simply be referred to by the same name as the last guy. And yeah, I know, you could say the same thing about James Bond himself, but that's sort of a necessity. Just because Bond must be played by a new actor every once in a while doesn't mean that his supporting cadre of sidekicks are owed the same kind of longevity.

In other Bond news, the Vanity Fair spread on Indiana Jones -- specifically the Q&A with Spielberg -- contains some interesting musings by The Beard on what separates Bond from Jones and vice versa. I especially liked the interviewer's noting that Alison Doody's character in the third Indy was a lot more in the mold of a traditional Bond girl than a Jones woman. Spielberg agreed, noting that "She was more like a Bond girl, but she was also a betrayer. She betrays Indy, but she's more like a Bond girl. But not Kate. Kate wasn't a Bond girl at all. When push came to shove, she could stand alongside Indy and knock out thuggies." He actually said thuggees! Too bad VF spelled it wrong.

UPDATE: Variety has also just confirmed that Mathieu Amalric has been cast as the Bond 22 villain (as previously rumored), meanwhile Variety also claims producers and the studios are on the verge of casting a female lead with an announcement coming within the next two weeks.