An Open Letter to Marc Forster

I'd like to start by letting Marc Forster know, if he's reading this, that it's okay. We all forgive him. We understand what happened and we know that he will go on to make good movies. We understand that it was too soon to take on something like Quantum of Solace, in several senses of the word. It was too soon because you're primarily a drama director. You've never done a genre film and you probably never planned on it. You've never thought hard about action films, and you likely underestimated the visual complexity and the enormous amount of minutia that is pivotal to the success of such a film. You took Paul Greengrass's second unit director and had him film the car chase because the Bourne films are popular and they're the current trend in action films. We realize you didn't have a finished script because of the writer's strike, and to make matters worse, you had a strict timetable that didn't allow you as much control over the project as you needed.

To your credit, you created two brilliant sequences. One, the opera sequence (and not just for the portion without sound, which I would merely call a "nice touch") for the scene where Bond pushes the man off the roof. My god, I didn't know cameras could do that. Couple that with Mathieu Amalric's reaction shot and subsequent dialogue, and that's a great twenty seconds. The other being the "Oilfinger" scene, with more great dialogue and a rather jarring reveal, aided by some great lighting and Judi Dench's best scene in the film.

Then there are the little things that I liked a lot. The choreography in the scene where Bond throws the man through the glass door, when Bond punches the bike. That sort of thing.

Mathieu Amalric was an excellent choice. It's a pity his part wasn't better.

The plane chase was garbage. The boat chase was on the verge of bad. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. I understand your ambition to tie the environmental themes to the action, but sometimes these things don't work and we have to accept that. Although, given the writer's strike, I suppose you had to go with what ideas you had and, again, I don't blame you.

Hell, us action fans would be happy to have you back in the genre as long as you're willing to learn from your mistakes. Personally, I think you're a great choice for World War Z. We know you were brought on to the Bond franchise to help flesh out the character, and it's not fair that you were given such an action heavy film. You would have done a great job on Casino Royale.

Here's something you should have pitched EON and your producing partners: You direct everything but the action, while Martin Campbell has a second unit directing the action. You could have had the film you wanted released when you wanted. Or maybe, I don't know, wait out the writer's strike and have the movie out for summer 2009. Execs are scrambling for tentpoles and QoS could have been fast tracked for summer '09. In fact, that's a much more viable release. Did you punch anyone when they told you it would be coming out in November? Like a PA or something? That's stupid.

It's a shame that Quantum of Solace ended up being a good film with a great film peaking out, but the entire time I watched it I couldn't help feeling bad for you. You had all the pressure in the world on your shoulders to produce a sequel superior to Casino Royale, and I can almost imagine the studio executives:

EXEC 2 (through hysterical laughter): Remember that idea you had to stage a writer's strike? Throw that at him in the middle of scripting!

EXEC 1: Then we'll give him a ton of money! And we'll put it all on him when the movie tanks!

A bunch of strippers then walk in and put sashes around the executives that say "Screw you, Forster". One of the executives puts a lighter to the overhead sprinklers and cocaine starts spraying everywhere.

I'm sorry to hear that you won't be returning for Bond 23, but for whoever takes the reigns (Martin Campbell! Martin Campbell! Or Paul Haggis. I'll take either, but Martin Campbell has made the two best Bond films of the last 35 years and I think he's been being visited by an incorporeal Ian Fleming or something) has some stuff to fix. Here's what to do. I hope you'll reconsider, and if you do, here's what to do.

- Get another second unit director. Your current second unit director is PAUL GREENGRASS'. LET HIM MAKE BOURNE FILMS. You are making a Bond film, not a Bourne film. I understand that you're going in the same direction and that it makes sense to come to the same conclusion, but the Bond character is interesting because he exists in a stylized universe. The appeal of the Bourne films is their realism and their desire to throw you into fight scenes with Bourne. Greengrass can do that, but, I'm sorry, Mr. Forster, Bond cannot.

- Strike a balance between post-modernism and tradition. Casino Royale took the notion of that stylized universe and added realistic elements. But let's note that the Bond traditions are still there. The villain with the physical deformity that makes him more intimidating. The pre-credit action teaser. Bond seducing the villain's girlfriend. Bourne is the ultimate post-modern action hero, and Bond is a traditional hero. You can fit him into a post-modern world, but if you make him too post-modern, he loses his unique appeal. I want to see Bond in the next film, not Jason Bourne.

- Take some time to make the film. I'd rather have a film equal to Casino Royale in 2012 than a stripped-down film like this in 2009.

- Give Daniel Craig more to do. The guy is a great action star and is always convincing in a fight. But he's also a great actor who was sadly underused and just abused by the stunt team in this film.

That seemed a little harsh, so let me tell you the things you should keep, should you reconsider and come back for another film.

- The realistic reactions. Where Bond leaps onto a ledge and smacks into the wall. Where Bond steers a boat into another boat and gets thrown around the deck. When the door of Bond's car gets torn off, glass flies across his face and he appears to get a rather severe case of whiplash.

- Scenes like the opera scene. It fit very well with the realistic tone of the action, and was anonymous enough that anyone could have come up with it, allowing some continuity between films should other directors choose to try the same sort of thing.

- Peter Lamont as production designer. Yes, awesome.

If you don't come back, please make World War Z. You can redeem yourself for this. If Paul Haggis comes up with a good third film, your film could eventually be seen as an excellent part two of one of film's great trilogies. I hope you take my advice, because I don't see anything else working. I hope you get me a job, too. And a seven-figure salary. But for now I'll take you fixing the Bond film, your mistakes and the mistakes of the producers and executives.

But good try. You should know that no one could have done better under your ludicrous circumstances.