One of the things that has been sorely missing from the revamped, harder edged take on James Bond that we've seen since Daniel Craig took over is the presence of Q, the gadget meister of the British Secret Sevice. In other words he's the guy who gives Bond his cool pen guns, invisible cars, bulletproof ties, and so forth. But with the Bond films being less campy and more gritty, Q has been missing from the last two movies. Until now that is, as THR reveal that Ben Whishaw(who worked with Daniel Craig in Layer Cake) will be the latest in the lineage of Quartermasters.
Q has appeared in 19 of the 22 Bond films, and I probably won't be surprising anybody to say that my favorite Q of the bunch was Desmond Llewelyn, who played the character for over 35 years. His last Bond film was 1999's The World is Not Enough, and his farewell to the secret agent he had been aiding for so many years was one of the franchise's most touching moments. Too bad the movie isn't very good. Anyway, John Cleese's character, who had been Q's assistant previously, took over the job until now.
It'll be interesting to see what they do with it. Whishaw's presence in the film was one of the most curious things to me, because he's a supremely talented actor and deserving of a major role. But with Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, and Craig already in place there didn't seem to be much room. This is the perfect place for Whishaw to fit in, as it promises he'll be a part of the franchise for years to come if he so chooses.
Directed by Sam Mendes, filming on Skyfall is currently under way, with plans for release on November 9th 2012.
