New York Magazine has a quote from Marc Forster saying at one point screenwriter Paul Haggis had the idea to add a little baby into the Quantum of Solace stew:
“Haggis had an idea they weren’t fond of, and I didn’t know if it would work or not,” says Forster. “The idea was that Vesper in the last movie, maybe she had a kid, and there would be an orphan out there. It wasn’t anything to insult the franchise. But they felt it wasn’t particularly Bond — him looking for the kid. I think Paul thought he just leaves the kid, he doesn’t deal with it. But [the producers] thought that would be really nasty, too, because Bond was an orphan himself. If he would find a kid, would he just leave it? They were so vehemently against it. That was the only time I saw, really, ‘No, we can’t do that.’ They said, ‘Once he finds the kid, Bond can’t just leave the kid. It’s not right.'”
Vesper was played by Eva Green in Casino Royale and was last seen getting some half-assed CPR from Bond (Daniel Craig) after drowning at the end of the film. If you read my review of Quantum of Solace (read here) you already know the film is hardly a touching family drama and had Bond ended up finding an orphan, especially Vesper’s, there is no telling what direction the character seen in Quantum would have gone with it. The film was definitely going for a hard edge so having him keep the kid would have softened it up way too much and having him leave it wherever he found it would have made it almost Dark Knight-Joker dark and Bond is hardly a villain as much as he is efficient. Let’s just say he isn’t one to leave loose ends.
You can read the complete “New York Magazine” profile on Quantum of Solace helmer Marc Forster right here, the film hits theaters on November 14.
