Then the 39-year-old filmmaker added: "I didn’t want to do it for a while. I really loved the old Bond movies from the 60s, particularly Dr No and Goldfinger, but I felt like it wasn’t me. I couldn’t identify with it."

It took a meeting with 007 himself – or, to be more accurate, his current incarnation, Daniel Craig – to change Forster’s mind. "I think the producers felt that the last time they took a chance was with Daniel and look at how well that turned out. So this time they thought, let’s take this further by taking a chance with the director."

Any concerns that Forster had about being able to find the right take on the Bond franchise vanished as soon as he committed to Quantum of Solace, then known as Bond 22.

In Casino Royale, Campbell and Craig had already reinvented the character, moving him away from the hi-tech hijinks of the Pierce Brosnan era to a rougher, more realistic breed of secret agent man.

Forster knew that he wanted to continue along that path, making a film that would be, as he describes it, "a 70s conspiracy thriller with a little Hitchcock thrown in".

The script by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis certainly gave him plenty of material to work with. Picking up a mere 20 minutes after Casino Royale left off, the new film finds Bond in hot pursuit of the men who killed his first (and, quite possibly, only) true love, Vesper Lynd.

His quest for vengeance brings him into contact with villainous tycoon Dominic Greene (played by Diving Bell and the Butterfly star Mathieu Amalric), who has constructed an elaborate plan to seize control of a crucial natural resource by funding a coup in a Latin American country.

"I wanted to confront issues that we’re dealing with right now in the real world," Forster says. "And I liked that the film takes off so close after the last one ended.

"Bond is in a very vulnerable place at this point. He just lost someone he loves and it makes him very vulnerable, which in turn makes him more interesting."

His leading man was equally interested in exploring the emotional pain that exists below Bond’s tough exterior. "Daniel is deeply passionate about the character and wants to make sure what he does is right. He’s a perfectionist and we worked on the script intensely together. Our visions of Bond were in sync – I could tell him what felt phony to me and vice versa."

One area where they were in complete agreement was finding an emotionally honest way to work the obligatory Bond Girls (played by Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton) into this darker version of the 007 universe.

"His relationship with the two girls is very different," Forster explains, adding that this Bond is closer to the commitment-phobic lothario that Ian Fleming described in his books. "His emotional core is not yet healed, and at the same time, he’s got this very hard shell. We realised we could go a little deeper into the dark side of his character and feel his pain."

A vulnerable Bond may be a more compelling Bond, but Forster is well aware that moviegoers flock to the super-spy’s adventures expecting to see a man of action rather than a man of angst.

To that end, he worked closely with his second-unit team to craft two major action sequences – a spectacular car chase that opens the film and an aerial dogfight between a Douglas DC-3 and a Savoia-Marchetti that serves as its centrepiece.

Although Forster only directed the interior shots of these two sequences (the second unit filmed the exteriors in Mexico and Italy), he did personally oversee the rest of the film’s numerous action scenes, which include a boat chase, lots of gun-play and some good old-fashioned hand-to-hand combat.

Of course, accidents can happen on even the safest of sets and the production experienced two incidents that made headlines earlier this year.

In April, a stuntman sustained serious injuries while filming the opening car chase in Italy. And in June, newspapers reported that Craig had been sent to the hospital after injuring his hand on set.

"That was a small injury and we were shooting the next day," Forster says now. "And the accident in Italy was tragic, but fortunately the stuntman is fine and out of the hospital."

Although Forster always knew he was signing on to be part of something bigger than himself, he doesn’t hesitate in saying that the finished film will completely reflect his creative vision.

"The producers were so supportive and I pretty much had a free hand. They fought for my vision and agreed to let me bring my own crew of key people, including my regular director of photography [Roberto Schaefer] and my editor [Matt Chesse].

That said, there was at least one area where Forster didn’t have much input: the Sony release’s controversial title, Quantum of Solace. Since it was announced in January, more ink has been spilt about those three words in newspapers, magazines and blog posts than most entertainment stories this year.

"The title was basically presented to me by Barbara and Michael," Forster says. "At first, I didn’t know what to make of it, but after a while, it grew on me. Now I love it."

The producers are clearly happy that their risky choice paid off – according to Forster, they already offered him the chance to direct Bond 23, which is set to be released in 2010.

But back-to-back blockbusters aren’t in the director’s future right now, although he doesn’t rule out re-teaming with 007 somewhere down the road.

"I feel like I need to breathe a bit first," he confides. "I’m going to take some time off and then do something smaller next and go from there. I’ve always wanted to explore different genres; I like science fiction and would maybe want to do a musical one day. I feel I have to try all these things. I might fail, but to try is always the exciting part." – VNU

Quantum of Solace is now showing in cinemas nationwide.