Daniel Craig may have bought a new level of suave to the Bond franchise but he too, like so many other little boys, grew up watching (and dreaming of being) Bond.

What is Quantum of Solace about?
Quantum of Solace is a heart-stopping, action packed thriller, says Craig. “It’s fast as hell. It’s like a whack in the face and I think that’s what we needed. It takes the story on, it deals with all the unfinished business from Casino Royale plus we’ve booted it up – the stunts look amazing, the locations look fantastic and there’s not a lot of time to breathe. Next time we’ll do something more lyrical,” he laughs.

Quantum of Solace takes place immediately after Casino Royale finished and Bond is hell bent on revenge and is determined to discover who murdered the woman who captured his heart, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green).

As M – Dame Judi Dench – tries to reign him in, he discovers that a mysterious organisation called “Quantum”, run by the charismatic Dominic Greene (Matieu Amalric), is a corporate front for a group of eco terrorists, had been blackmailing Lynd.

“He’s a loose canon,” says Craig. “In fact, it could be called Closure because that’s what he’s looking for.”

The title has been the subject of much debate. It’s actually taken from an Ian Fleming short story although the film itself, number 22 in the first sequel in the Bond franchise.

“I can’t remember who first suggested it but I was intrigued by it. What do you call a Bond movie? You can’t call it Die 'Yet Another Day' or 'This Is The Dying We Do' or whatever because they don’t hold the attention. It certainly wasn’t a cynical attempt to go ‘you won’t forget this...”

“I read the short story and there’s a paragraph or two in it where Fleming talks about the moment a relationship is over, it’s just finished, and there’s nowhere to go and there’s no more quantum of solace. And that’s what this is about.”

Craig says it’s important that the new films honour the tradition. Back when he was a youngster and first watched Bond movies like From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, he loved the glamour and danger of 007 and being transported to exotic locations around the world.

“I think our films have to have what Bond films always had – a strong central character, to state the obvious, and they have to take you somewhere else. What defined those early movies was that they went on location as much as they did and they went to incredible places – Tokyo, the carnival at Rio. And that tradition carries on in our films. On 'Quantum' we were in Panama and Chile, and lots of other places and that’s important.”

“I remember being a kid and looking at the films and going ‘that’s why I want to be James Bond’ – plus the girls and the cars, of course.”

Craig has put his body on the line for the role and he has the scars to prove it – post filming he needed surgery on a labral tear in his right arm – a rip in the tissues around the shoulder joint.

The injury, he believes, was an old one exacerbated by the physical demands of working on two Bond movies – his debut in Casino Royale and now Quantum of Solace – in just under three years.

He first noticed the pain in his shoulder back on Casino Royale and put it down to over exertion. By the time he was working on 'Quantum', it was impossible to ignore.

“I couldn’t pinpoint when I actually did it and it could go back to playing cricket or rugby when I was a kid. Obviously making two Bond movies hasn’t helped and it was badly torn. It was serious - I don’t do anything by halves. But it’s fine now, thanks.”

You picked up a few injuries making Quantum of Solace. Does that sort put you off?
"No, not even slightly (laughs). Actually that sounds a bit macho but it doesn’t put me off. And the weird thing with these things – like the stitches I had in my face – were done mostly during fight sequences and fight sequences are the things we rehearse the most. We rehearse it thoroughly because we have to get the angles right.

But it’s always the silly things, like a stray bootstrap or something, that cause an injury and really, there’s no way you can plan for that. If you are doing a big stunt – like hanging from the top of a building or jumping from a rooftop – we are meticulous in planning it. You know, I’ve got a wire on, there are mats there and everybody is a bit nervous about it but, touch wood, it’s covered. So it’s the silly little things that catch you and suddenly you have a boot in your face because you stopped concentrating for a second."

What, in your view, makes a modern Bond? What do the films have to have these days?
"I think they have to have what they’ve always had – and that is a very strong central figure. That’s an obvious thing to say and I also think that they have to take you somewhere else, to transport the audience. I maintain that.

I was thinking about this earlier and what defined those early movies was the fact that they went on location as much as they did. They maybe faked a few places – as we still do and we have to – but those early ones they went to some incredible places. I can’t remember which one it is, but on one of those early ones they went to Tokyo. Imagine getting a film crew to Tokyo!

I mean, it’s hard enough now but doing it back then and the locations were so important – you looked at the film and you thought ‘he’s there, that’s Tokyo, that’s the Rio carnival..’ those were the things that really defined Bond. "

Do you remember that from watching the Bond films when you were young?
"Oh yes. Those were the things that I remember looking at as a kid, amongst other things, looking at it and going ‘that’s why I want to be James Bond’ you know - plus the girls and the cars.

They are taken as read now but really it was the way that Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman (the original Bond producers) decided to make them. They decided to spend the money getting the cast and crew out to those places and you saw that up there on the screen – and that tradition is still going on.

This time we were in Chile, we were in Panama and that was at Marc’s (director Marc Forster) instigation as much as anything – he insisted on it and he was right. We all talked about what we remembered from the earlier Bond films and that’s what stayed with us – the fact that you were transported to somewhere you wouldn’t normally see.

And the world is so well travelled now, it’s harder to do but I think we succeeded because we went to some extraordinary places."

How would you describe the style of Quantum of Solace?
"Well, I’d say it’s fast. It’s as fast as hell. It’s fast and it’s like a whack in the face and I think that’s what we needed because actually, where do you go from Casino Royale?

'Quantum' takes the story on and it deals with the unfinished business from Casino Royale. Plus we booted it up – the stunts look amazing, the locations looking fantastic and there’s not a lot of time to breathe. Next time we’ll do something a bit more lyrical."

How has Bond as a character developed for these times?
"I think the language of film has changed and I think the audience perception has changed. Have you seen that terrific series "Mad Men"? It’s great and I look at that guy (Jon Hamm) and he’s got such a great look.

If you doing the film of Sebastian Faulks’ Bond book (Devil May Care) that look would be perfect. If you were doing a one off film I would say that’s the way you would go. But that’s not where we are. The intention was always to make more than one of these so we have to move it forward because in two years time when hopefully we’ll do another one, we’ll still be pushing it forward. "

In other words, it can’t be retro?
"Exactly. If we’ve gone for some cute idea of what it was in the past, some kind of retro thing, it just wouldn’t move it on. I think style is important and I hope that when people see what we’ve done with 'Quantum' – by getting in a new director, a new costume designer, we’ve added something that was of the old movies, paid homage to that, but at the same time we’ve moved it along.

There are big sets, big wide camera angles, big shots, and it’s kind of that more old fashioned way of doing it. But it’s not looking back, it’s the modern way of doing it but at the same time, knowing itself. But if it becomes too self-knowing it becomes a piss take of itself. And we have to be careful about never doing that. "

How has playing Bond changed you?
"Me personally? I’ve got so many good things in my life because of doing this and it’s obviously helped but it doesn’t change life itself. Life itself is still the most important thing and the most important thing about life is family and friends – they are the ones who keep you grounded and make sure you remember who you are.

And I have to look after that because that is the most important thing. But I get to do some pretty great things. I mean, whether it’s the travel that I do or whether it’s the bonuses that happen when I can jump the queue to a few things occasionally. I mean, like private viewings of the Sistine chapel, stuff like that, is obviously fantastic and a great privilege, which I really appreciate. And you have to do it, if you don’t do it you have missed out.

One of the things I’ve got to do this year is go and see Liverpool play at Anfield and go to one of the (rugby union) internationals at Twickenham - they have invited me to go and I have to accept the offer because it’s a great thing to do. And you know, they might not invite me again so I’d better make the most of it."

Are there things you would have found difficult about playing Bond in an earlier less politically correct era? Like his attitude to women?

"No, because I would have been living in that time. Obviously I get asked the question about whether I think he is less misogynistic and the answer is no, I think he’s as misogynistic as he always was.

But the difference is there is Judy (Dench) and we try and cast girls who play the women in his life who if he misbehaves would turn around and tell him to **** off. I think it’s interesting that instead of it being nothing but a giggling girl in a bikini – and there nothing wrong with a girl in a bikini, sometimes it’s quite nice (laughs) – there are women who challenge him. And you know in some of the earlier movies, Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg played women who had more about them, they were really great characters and I just think that we have to maintain that. Gemma Arterton who is in Quantum is just gorgeous and lovely and plays a really sweet role and she just nails it. "

What do you like about Bond the character?
"He’s this apolitical civil servant who knows exactly what he is doing and is very good at his job. Within our political system we potentially have this organisation, the civil service, where you hope that there are good people making decisions for us, the people.

Even though Fleming was an aspiring upper class person, he invented this man for everybody – and I think Sean (Connery) playing him on screen added to that. Somewhere inside Bond he believes he is doing the right thing even though he kills people all the time! But I love that element about him – that somewhere inside him he knows what is morally right. "

I know that you first watched Bond movies as a kid growing up…
"Yeah, on TV mostly."

What do you remember about those films?
"Well, that would have been with Sean (Connery). Live and Let Die (with Roger Moore) was the first one I went to see in the cinema. But From Russia With Love is great. Goldfinger I think is the most stylish because they married everything together – the clothes, the Ken Adams sets I think became something else but Sean Connery and Robert Shaw in From Russia With Love, I mean it’s not a bad pairing is it? And it stands up still and it was seriously cool. "

What about the humour in the films? Do you think there is a place for it?
"It has to come naturally. I’m very nervous of when a gag is on the page because we are not making broad comedy so you shouldn’t shoe horn them in. But I hope that there are a few moments of light relief.

But 'Quantum' is so quick, so rapid, that there’s not a lot of time - but you should be laughing because something spectacular has happened and then there’s an escape. But I’m not known for broad comedy."

There are plenty of spectacular action sequences. Let me ask you about one of them – the one in Siena where you are on the rooftops and hanging from a balcony …
"That was very high! The balconies were false so they had to be reinforced so they were stuck on the side of the building, it was about 30 feet up even more, I don’t know. I don’t know what to tell you except that there is a lot of me there and I’m wired up for safety obviously but I’m still doing the leaps and the jumps and it was interesting to say the least.

The weird thing was there were moments when I was standing up there ready to jump and obviously there was no going back, I mean apart from anything else, we were ready to shoot and had five cameras going and a crane, an aerial camera set up - and then there was a ****** audience.

We were in Siena and it’s full of tourists and lots seemed to have gathered right there, going ‘oh look, what’s he about to do?’ So I was standing up there going ‘I can’t come down now? I’ve got to do this...’ But you know, I always say this, the stunt team we have are just extraordinary, I work incredibly closely with them, we get drunk together and hopefully we look after each other and without them nothing happens. I do as much as humanly possible and they had me doing a lot up there. "

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