Martin Cambell may have let us down this summer with Green Lantern but there's no debating his masterful job in rejuvenating the James Bond franchise with Daniel Craig as the new 007 in 2006's Casino Royale. It not only earned the love of fans new and old with a grounded take on the British super spy, but it earned a sequel, one that wasn't so well received.

Titled Quantum of Solace, the more action-focused sequel earned the same success at the box office as its predecessor, but it did not earn the same respect from fans and critics. As it turns out, star Daniel Craig wasn't too fond of it either and promises better with his third outing: Skyfall.

In a chat with Time Out last week, Craig explained the situation that played into the lowered quality of Quantum of Solace and how he was involved with its story, although not entirely by choice. It's yet another victim of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, one that also diminished Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

"On Quantum, we were f***ed. We had the bare bones of a script and then there was the strike and there was nothing we could do. We couldn't employ a writer to finish it. You swear you'll never get involved with s*** like that, and then it happens!"

Craig even took part in writing some of the scenes with director Marc Forster, admitting ,"and a writer I am not..." He explains that it wasn't originally meant to be a direct sequel that takes off from right when Casino Royale ended although that wasn't really the issue surrounding the sequel. Craig promises that with his third take on James Bond, which we now know is titled Skyfall, we can go in with much higher expectations.

"I really think this one is better even than Casino Royale". [Director] Sam Mendes has lived with Bond all his life, and he grew up with Bond in the same way I did. We have exactly the same reference points, we both like the same Bond movies, and we both like the same bits in the same Bond movies we like. We sat down and we just rabbited for hours about Live And Let Die or From Russia With Love, and talked about little scenes that we knew from them. That’s how we started talking about it. That’s what we tried to instill in the script. He’s been working his arse off to tie all these things together so they make sense... in a Bond way!"

While the writer's strike held back the second film for Craig, it was MGM's bankruptcy woes which held back Skyfall. Fortunately for those involved and Bond fans, production is on track with Craig joined by the talent of Javier BardemRalph FiennesBen WhishawNaomie Harris, Albert Finney and Judi Dench.

Skyfall opens in theaters on November 9, 2012.

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Source: Time Out