New James Bond villain gets subprime twist

CERRO PARANAL, Chile, Saturday (Reuters) - Gone are the days of James Bond villains with bleeding eyes or scars and fluffy cats -- the fictional super-spy's latest adversary has been given a contemporary twist for the subprime era.

Daniel Craig as James Bond 007 during a scene from the movie Quantum of Solace being shot at Paranal Chile. AP

Mathieu Amalric, who plays nefarious businessman Dominic Greene in the new Bond adventure 'Quantum of Solace', will have no physical villain traits and says his evil character's anonymity makes him all the more real -- and frightening.

“It's so difficult to know who the villains are today. They look like wallpaper,” Amalric, one of Frances leading screen stars, said during an interview with Reuters on a remote desert mountainside in northern Chile that will serve in the movie as as an eco-tourism hotel and his lair.

“Maybe they're in banks, maybe they are the insurance companies, maybe they're in labs, even in the subprime crisis,” he said.
The villain in the Bond film has always been almost as important as the world's most famous fictional spy himself, and has often reflected fears of the day, whether of nuclear war, food stability or of concentrated power.

Amalric's character is part of a sinister organization helping to restore a dictator to power in Bolivia in exchange for land rich in natural resources. The film is set in the context of global warming and growing water shortages.