Daniel Craig is two weeks into the shoot of Quantum Of Solace when we meet him on set at Pinewood Studios. He's back into the non-stop schedule of a Bond movie. We've already seen some early footage of Craig swinging around one of the newly built sets on a high wire. But today he is composed and comfortable. He even smiles as he dons his latest Italian silk.

Q:  Good to be back in the designer suits?
DC: I never got out... It's nice to be back in general.

Q: What does title of the film - Quantum Of Solace - mean to you?
DC: We talked long and hard about it. We could have gone for a snappier title, but that wasn't really part of the deal. We wanted to suggest something that was part of where he (Bond) was when we left him at the end of the movie. There's a short story that this comes from: Ian Fleming says that if there's no quantum of solace left in your relationship, it's over. And that's where he was at the end of the movie. He didn't get any. And he doesn't have that level of comfort in himself, the answers to his questions: Who killed his girlfriend? Who's responsible as far as her death's concerned? But also who is head of the organisation that he wants to go looking for. So there's an element of revenge there, which tidies up, but also luckily enough, it implies something very important in the plot as well, there's a tie in, so it's not just some random name that we plucked out of the air. Believe me, we worked quite hard on the name.

Q: What's different about this one so far?
DC: Well look, we've got a new director who's taking the movie, as far as I'm concerned, to a very good place. We've got a new art director, who's making the movie look very different. Every time we do one of these films, we're spending a lot of money to put something on the screen and it should be the best we can make it. Getting Mark Forster involved was part of that process. The emotion we got with the last movie we want to put into this, but we also realise that this has to be a huge action movie. And that has to tie in with the story, and we have to top it. We have to top it and that's all I have to say!

Q: More Gadgets this time?
DC: Maybe a few, but not many. They're part of the story - the world's full of gadgets. Reinventing gadgets in this movie I just don't think is interesting. What gadgets we have are in the plot, and they drive the story along.

Q: And the car?
DC: The car's still there, yeah, that's the best gadget.

Q:  Does the character arc continue in this one?
DC: Yes, I think so. I mean I'm not looking to find a conclusion, but we're certainly getting to a better place. He's applying his emotions into his professional life which probably isn't always the right thing to do. His emotion drives him, and his anger drives him, and his passion drives him, and I think that's interesting. So I am gonna apply that in this one and, luckily, we have a great script. But that doesn't mean it's going to be any less of a Bond movie than the last one, in fact I think it's more of a Bond movie, and maybe more of a classical Bond movie than the last one was.

Q: Why is it more of a classical Bond movie?
DC: because of the way we're making it look. There is a touch of Ken Adam in there, a touch of the sixties' classic spy movies. But you know, we're being subtle. There's no big, broad brush strokes here.

Q: Is this going to be a more mature Bond?
DC: He probably misbehaves more in this one than the last one. He's mature, at times. But not all the time.

Q: Dan Bradley (Second unit Director and Bourne franchise stunt coordinator) is on this, is that an indication this movie is going to get even more Bourne-like?
DC: Did you think it was Bourne-like before? Dan's here to do exactly what he's good at doing. He's just come of Indiana Jones so you might as well ask if we're going to be more Indiana Jones-like. I'm certainly not going to get into a pissing competition with the Bourne franchise. We're making a Bond movie.

Q: You were battered and bruised a fair amount in the last movie. We've been told there's twice as much action in this?
DC: Twice as much action!? Someone's got to be writing these figures down! There's a ton more action. It's beginning to be more physical than it was before. We've got a ton more action. I got involved last time and they seem to think I can do it now so I'm at it again. Like I said before, if it doesn't hurt you're not doing it right.

Q: so you've never looked at a page on the script and thought that it might be too much?
DC: I don't read those bits! I only read the lines, I leave the rest because otherwise I realise (Laughs)! No, that's not true. We planned it out and I've been rehearsing since before Christmas. You just have to hit the ground running with it...

Q. Tell us about your preparation.
DC: Before Christmas I was doing about five days a week in the gym. But then, that would be in the evenings and then two months before Christmas I was here every day weapons training, rehearsing, script discussions, talking with the director, doing things that you do when you're planning to do a movie this size. I mean, preparing as much as possible because once you start you can't stop.

Q: There was a great response to Casino Royale. Is there even more pressure this time round?
DC: Definitely. This one's going to be as good if not better, that's really the bottom line. What I'm not doing is looking back. We've done it there, we've done Casino Royale, I couldn't be prouder. We've now got to make another. And that's really all there is to it.

I am a Big Thinker...apparently

I don't see any of your guys winning the Rumble, you've got an outside chance with Daddy V, Finlay and Kane but I don't see them realistically winning it. I'd say P&G has the best chance of picking up major points, HBK, Kennedy and Batista are all potential rumble winners. Atari has Undertaker who's as likely to win as anyone and then has more of an outside shot with CM Punk. I've got one possible winner in HHH but the way he's been built up for the Rumble this year I think him winning it is too obvious, I've got outsiders in Mark Henry and Khali (should they be in it, I haven't checked). I don't think either James or CC has a Rumble winner in their picks but they'll probably pick up points in other matches. The only other possible Rumble winner is someone unknown who'll enter as a surprise type of thing, in which case none of us get any points.

It could well be P&G that's top after the Rumble.

I agree about Brosnan, Goldeneye was great but all the other films were pretty poor. I loved Casino Royale though, thought it was a great film, really back to what Bond should be all about imo, I've watched it countless times.