Bond on Set: Filming Quantum of Solace

by Greg Williams

A visual journey behind the scenes of the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, offers a photographic record of the making of the blockbuster film, along with portraits of the cast and crew, spectacular locations, set designs, special effects, movie stills, and more. Original. (An EON Productions Ltd. film, directed by Marc Forster, releasing November 2008, starring Daniel Craig, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, & others) (Performing Arts)

144 pages, Hardcover

Published October 20, 2008

About the author

Greg Williams is an English photographer and film director known for his work in film and editorial photography. He began his career as a war photographer before transitioning to high-profile editorial assignments for publications such as Vogue Italia, GQ, Vanity Fair, and Esquire. He serves as the official photographer for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and has worked on set and poster campaigns for major films, including Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, The Bourne Ultimatum, Robin Hood, and King Kong. His portrait subjects have included Kate Beckinsale, Daniel Craig, Megan Fox, Robert Downey Jr., and Sean Penn, and his advertising work features campaigns for Omega Watches.
As a filmmaker, Williams directed the short film Sgt. Slaughter – My Big Brother (2011), starring Tom Hardy. He is also developing his feature directorial debut, Samarkand, co-written with his brother Olly Williams, which explores the struggles of a Special Air Service soldier dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder in civilian life.
Williams has authored several photography books, including the Bond On Set series, documenting the productions of Die Another Day, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall. A pioneer in digital photography, he was the first to use a Red One digital camera to shoot a magazine cover, featuring Megan Fox for Esquire. He also created 'Motos' (Moving Photos), blending video and photography for digital platforms, with notable projects including a Dunhill campaign starring Jude Law and the cover of Los Angeles Times Magazine's first iPad-compatible digital issue.
He married model Eliza Cummings in 2019.

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a copy of this in every charity shop round my way at the moment, but I accidentally managed to buy a signed one, which was nice. Possibly my favourite of these Bond on Set books, which is strange because Quantum of Solace is easily my least favourite of the films covered. There's a real sense of everyday life on location.

Director Marc Forster goes on and on a bit, mind.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another beautiful book in this series of behind-the-scenes Bond books, in this case from the underrated Quantum of Solace, thoroughly recommended for Bond fans.

[Eric Keegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful photographic journey through my most watched James Bond film and one of my all time favorites in the series.

[Matthew Fleming · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent photographic documentation of the making of an unfairly-maligned Bond film. I love these type of books - keep them up for Denis' debut and beyond, Amazon!

[Parka · Rating 5 out of 5]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

I have here a limited collector's edition containing the book Bond on Set: Filming Quantum of Solace. Included additionally are three photo prints, which are chosen from images in the book.

The book itself is the same as those from standard release. It's hardcover and comes with a dust jacket. The pages are semi gloss, slightly soft but reproduce colours on the photos perfectly. It's well bind and constructed.

This is Greg William's third "Bond on Set" book and his fourth James Bond film. Given his experience, the quality of photos in the book is amazing. There are extremely high resolution photos of Daniel Craig, Gemma Arterton, Olga Kurylenko among other behind the scenes shots. Each photo is captioned and provides a glimpse into the production process, a look at how scenes are played out.

The photos are beautiful.

This is a wonderful photography book.

This review was first published on parkablogs.com. There are more pictures and videos on my blog.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in 2012, I read Williams’ book based around filming “Die Another Day” and really didn’t like it but when I saw this on sale in WH Smith for £1 (reduced by £24!), I decided to give it a chance and I’m glad I did. Whilst the film is not one of my favourites (in fact, I’d say it ranks up there with some of the series worst), the lay-out and quality of the photography is excellent, with Williams having apparently complete access to the production. I love behind-the-scenes stuff anyway and this also has director Marc Foster contributing several opinion pieces which are interesting (and his mention that they began without a finished script might explain some of the films muddled muddiness). Having said that, whilst it’s good to see actors smiling and having fun, there are no images of the visual effects or anything beyond the main production, which seems like a wasted opportunity and I can’t be the only person who would have found post-production interesting. Great photographs make this well worth a read, even if the film doesn’t work for you.

[Steve Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, there are not very many actual words to read in this book - and those that are written by Marc Forster are a little pretentious - but it is packed full of stunning photographs that any Bond fan or movie buff will love.