There is nothing worse than trying to shoot a movie while rival gangs are trying to blow each others heads off in and around your set. That’s supposedly what is happening to the makers of Quantum of Solace, the next James Bond movie, while on location in Panama. Reportedly rival gangs and police are having running gun battles using Daniel Craig and other stars as human shields for their shootouts. The part about the human shields isn’t actually true, and if you believe the producers of the movie, neither is the part about gang gun battles.
The Daily Star, a British tabloid, first reported that there were gunfights on the set with Craig having to “dodge the crossfire.” At least one of the gangs was originally hired to protect the production from theft, but that resulted in rival gangs declaring, as the Daily Star puts it, “all out war.” The police shot and killed one man who the paper says was part of the gangs, causing what is described as a riot that may cause production to shut down. The paper says that “movie insurers are so worried about the danger facing the stars that they may order makers to suspend filming and completely rewrite the script to get them out alive.” No hyperbole there.
Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson released a statement saying that the newspaper was full of shit, but in a nicer way. Their statement says, "The filming of 'Quantum of Solace', with director Marc Forster at the helm, is on schedule and will continue as planned in Panama. None of the cast or crew have ever been in danger. Reports of troubles with gangs are untrue. The protests are to do with the fatal shooting of a construction worker in Colon and are unrelated to our filming activities. Our cast and crew have not been threatened and no thefts or muggings have occurred." I’d be shocked to find a British tabloid was not reporting the truth without any type of embellishment or overstatement.
