Dominic Greene is the main villain in Quantum of Solace (2008), and is part of the same organisation, Quantum, as Mr. White (who hired Le Chiffre in the prior film). His legitimate business is called Greene Planet, which is supposedly devoted to buying up large sums of land for ecological preservation. He was portrayed by Mathieu Amalric.
Film biography
Background
Greene runs an organisation called Greene Planet, which is supposedly devoted to buying up large sums of land for ecological preservation.
But Greene is secretly a member of Quantum, a criminal organization which accrues power and influence through world finance and geopolitics. He is spearheading their Tierra Project in Bolivia.
When showing Camille the body of her informant, he relates the story of how when he was 15, he had a crush on one of his mother’s piano students. He overheard this girl saying mean things about him. Angry, he presumably killed her with an iron.
Scheme
Greene Planet is a front for his real plan, to control various commodities such as oil and water, the latter having to do with his current plot. Greene plans to control the supply of water in Bolivia, which if successful will put his organization in control of the country's most vital asset. To make the transaction, "legal," Greene approaches the president of Bolivia with an offer - a large sum of money for 60% control of the water. The president refuses, so Greene takes his offer to the exiled dictator of Bolivia, General Medrano. He makes the general an offer to return him to power in exchange for a large region of apparently barren land. Medrano accepts, thinking the barren region to be worthless. It is only after the transaction has been made that Greene reveals his extortionate plans.
Greene's mistress, Camille Montes, Has been wanting to see Medrano for a very long time. The general had murdered her family some years previous, and Montes has been looking for him ever since. When she found out that Medrano was in business with Greene, she became involved with the villain, in order to get to Medrano. Greene knows this, and arranges for Montes to be killed. She is saved, however, by James Bond. She confronts Greene, who turns her over to Medrano, asking him to throw her overboard when he's done with her. Medrano takes her on a speedboat to his yacht, but Bond intervenes. Just as she is about to kill Medrano, Bond pulls her into a separate boat. After a long chase, Bond leaves Her on the warf. Bond inadvertently helped Greene's plan by saving Medrano's life.
Greene then moves forward with his plan. He meets with Quantum at a performance of Tosca. When Bond infiltrates the meeting, Greene leaves in a hurry. When Greene gets to his car, a henchmen falls out of the sky and onto the car. He has his henchman Elvis shoot the wounded man, then speeds away from the scene, blaming the man's death on Bond.
He then hosts a party, celebrating the conservation of land in Bolivia. He uses this party as an opportunity to make new deals, one of which is interrupted and terminated by Camille Montes. Greene, furious, takes to a balcony and tries to push her to her death. Bond intervenes, and leaves with Montes. Greene sends Elvis after them, but he's injured by Strawberry Fields, who trips him and sends him tumbling down a staircase. Greene later has Fields murdered by drowning her in oil.
Downfall
He then leaves to make his deal with Medrano, and the duplicitous Chief of Police, who earlier had Bond's contact Rene Mathis killed. He meets with Medrano and the chief, giving the chief his money first. When Medrano inquires after his own cash, Greene explains a little side deal. In order for Medrano to get the money to overthrow the government, he has to sign over 60% of all Bolivian water. When Medrano refuses, Greene explains that he had first gone to the current president, and offered him the same deal, and met with the same answer. Medrano reluctantly signs it over, in order to get the money.
Everything seems alright - until 007 breaks in. There's also a nasty little surprise. Bond has killed the chief of Police, and in doing so set the building on fire. Medrano has already left for his room, which leaves Greene, Bond, and Elvis in the conference room. Greene orders Elvis to kill Bond, but before he can do so, the explosions reach the three opponents. Bond and Greene race for cover, but Elvis is incinerated. In the hallway, Greene attacks Bond with a fire ax. They battle over the flames on a catwalk which eventually collapses. Bond leaps for dry land, but Greene starts to plummet towards the flames. Bond grabs Greene by the hair, saving his life.
Meanwhile, in Medrano's room, Montes and the General battle. While Bond attempts to pull Greene onto firm ground, they hear a shot. Greene laughs, thinking that the general has murdered Montes.
- "Sounds like you just lost another one!"
- ― Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric).
Bond responds by lifting Greene up to the catwalk and rushing away to save Camille. He walks in to find Medrano dead, and Camille attempting to escape from the inferno. They manage to escape, and Bond sees that Greene survived, and is currently trying to escape on foot with a leg injury.
Fate
Greene stranded in the desert.
Bond captures Greene, who reveals everything he knows about Quantum. In exchange, Bond doesn't kill him. He leaves him in the middle of the desert that Greene had just bought, and gives him a can of motor oil, betting that he'll make it twenty miles before he's tempted to drink it. Later, M tells Bond that Greene was found dead in the desert, with two bullets in the base of his skull and motor oil in his stomach. Greene was executed by Quantum for leaking information.
Personality
An intelligent, ambitious, cunning and manipulative sociopath, Dominic Greene shows a highly opinionated and callous personality. He is quite a social climber, well-respected for his wealth, intellect and so-called ambitions. However, underneath it all, he is a cruel, malicious and arrogant man. He covers his tracks splendidly and knows quite a bit about how the Secret Services of the world work.
He was highly well-connected, and was able to side with the Bolivian chief of police and also General Medrano. Greene was quite cunning and manages to blackmail Medrano into signing over the money that Greene demanded (Double of what they had previously agreed), at the same time showing to Medrano how ruthless Quantum can be and that Medrano, whether he likes it or not, is completely expendable to them.
Dominic Greene was extremely devious and nobody can predict what his next move is going to be. Unfortunately, he has a habit of picking the wrong people to side with: He loses General Medrano to Camille, and beforehand he loses the Bolivian chief of police to James Bond. He was sadistic, taunting Bond when the latter believes Camille to have been killed by General Medrano. This shows him to be quite reckless, as Greene was about to fall to his death when he taunted Bond, who could have easily killed him for that remark. Greene was a coward, and did whatever he could to escape Quantum, and the wrath of James Bond, after he revealed every last secret of his secret organisation.
Henchmen & Associates
Behind the scenes
Mathieu Amalric acknowledged taking the role was an easy decision because, "It's impossible to say to your kids that 'I could have been in a Bond film but I refused.'"[1] Amalric wanted to wear make-up for the role, but Forster explained that he wanted Greene not to look grotesque, but to symbolise the hidden evils in society.[2]
Amalric modeled his performance on "the smile of Tony Blair [and] the craziness of Sarkozy," the latter of whom he called "the worst villain we [the French] have ever had ... he walks around thinking he's in a Bond film."[3] He later claimed this was not criticism of either politician, but rather an example of how a politician relies on performance instead of a genuine policy to win power. "Sarkozy, is just a better actor than [his presidential opponent] Ségolène Royal—that's all," he explained.[4]
Amalric and Forster re-conceived the character, who was supposed to have a "special skill" in the script, to someone who uses pure animal instinct when fighting Bond in the climax.[5] German actor, Bruno Ganz was also considered for the part,[6] but Forster decided Amalric gave the character a "pitiful" quality.[5]
Images
References
- ↑ Mark Brown. "Everything changes but Bond", The Guardian, 24 January 2008. Retrieved on 24 January 2008.
- ↑ Benjamin Svetkey. "Bond is back!", Entertainment Weekly, 30 October 2008. Retrieved on 1 November 2008.
- ↑ "Bond villain spills the beans", Metro, 24 January 2008. Retrieved on 31 January 2008.
- ↑ Karl Rozemeyer. "Mathieu Amalric on Being the 'Bond 22' Villain", Premiere, 18 March 2008. Retrieved on 19 March 2008.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Williams, Murphy. "Quantum of Solace: Mathieu Amalric on playing James Bond's nemesis", The Daily Telegraph, 2 October 2008. Retrieved on 23 October 2008.
- ↑ "Bond 22 Pre-Production Diary (22)", MI6-HQ.com, 30 December 2007. Retrieved on 31 December 2007.