James Bond: The Real Story Of Skyfall's Cinematic Success
2. A Personal Story With An Intriguing Villain
Because of the symbiotic relationship between the writers and directors, Skyfall provided a compelling and well produced narrative, complimented with professionally written characters; another reason for its acclaim. The plot of Quantum of Solace was confusing to say the least. It had very little direction, motivation and was even hardly understood by its cast. However, with Skyfall, there was a clear idea and comprehension of what the movie was about.
Not much was released at the press conference for the movie in which the film’s title was announced other than that it would be a more personal story. Almost all cast members were able to give away small snippets of information about his or her characters without spoiling the entire movie and giving the media and fans enough knowledge of the plot. One new inclusion to the cast in the form of the film's antagonist caught the eye of many.
Javier Bardem was welcomed addition to the roster of Bond villains. Chosen by Mendes himself, Bardem was already a likely candidate for a rememberable character; he had previously won an Oscar for his role in No Country For Old Men in which his performance was terrifying and chilling. In MTV News’ interview with the main cast on set, Bardem described his character as ‘really complex’ indicating the desire to stray away from the conventional megalomaniac archetype of the Bond villain and approach the character with more understandable motivations and moral ambiguity.
Mendes and the writers were clearly determined to invest their movie in the exploration of both Bond and the other characters, something that had made Casino Royale such a success and something that Marc Forster had failed to accomplish against his wishes with Quantum of Solace.
And it all led to a revitalised audience and the promise of more to come.