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May 13, 2008
When the publicity director for the Bregenz Festival received a phone call
from a movie producer two years ago inquiring about the historic lakeside opera
house, the English-speaking gentleman wasn't forthcoming about what film he
represented. Considering how many musical acts inquire about the stage on the
water throughout the year, the publicity director joked with her co-workers that
the call was probably for a James Bond film.
Four months later, when the same producer called again, she discovered she
was right. After my visit to the venue last week as it was taken over by the "Quantum of Solace" crew, it's hard to imagine why it's taken
22 films for EON Productions to take advantage of such a perfect Bond locale.
Trivia game: Test your knowledge of award-winning films
Situated in Bregenz, Austria, the annual monthlong summer festival presents
an opera on a gigantic, semipermanent set built on a boathouse. Originally, the
Bond producers were interested in the set for its previous production, Verdi's
"The Masked Ball," which featured a giant skeletal hand turning pages of a book.
Unfortunately, once a Bregenz opera finishes its two-year run, the sets are
destroyed. Luckily, the designs for the current production of Puccini's "Tosca,"
featuring a gigantic moving eye, sparked the interest of director Marc Forster. In fact, it convinced him to take the
directing gig.
"I just loved the location, and I think the eye just has a great metaphor for
Bond," Forster says. "Eyes and titles of Bond films and the gun barrel in the
circle at the beginning. And I liked that it was 'Tosca.' And Puccini's opera is
also a metaphor of what is going on as well. I thought the whole thing was
convenient."
During my April visit to the Chilean set of "Quantum," Daniel Craig and the cast were shooting a portion of the
film's climax. The scenes in Bregenz take place much earlier in the story when
Bond is still uncovering the conspiracy behind the death of his beloved, Vesper
Lynd (Eva Green), that occurred in "Casino Royale."
Our first night on set finds more than 300 extras in formal wear braving
chilly weather as they watch the real cast of "Tosca" perform on the floating
stage. In the movie, the performance is also the backdrop for a meeting of the
secret organization Bond is tracking. Bond, back in his trademark black tuxedo,
after realizing that the organization is speaking to each other through
earpieces, steals one and brazenly tips off his foes that he can hear them. As
the performance continues, Bond heads inside the opera house as Mr. White
(Jesper Christensen) remarks to his guest, "'Tosca' isn't for everyone."
The next day, the crew has moved inside the recently renovated opera house
(which is European minimalism at its best) where a confrontation occurs between
Bond and the film's central villain, environmental mogul Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric).
After a month of shooting in Panama and 10 hectic days in Chile, these
sequences seem like a breeze to the German-born Forster. With only four weeks
left back at historic Pinewood Studios in England, he can finally see that the
grueling six-month filming schedule is ending. However, he's excited about
putting "Quantum" together in the editing room.
Forster says, "I saw the trailer the other day and went, 'Wow. Did we do
that?' So, I'm feeling good."
"Quantum of Solace" opens nationwide Nov. 7.
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