According to reports at Voralberg.orf.at and Monsters & Critics, Daniel Craig arrived along with several other cast and crew members to begin filming earlier today.

Austrian town hit by James-Bond-fever

Residents in the western Austrian town of Bregenz were keeping their eyes peeled Tuesday for actor Daniel Craig who is shooting several scenes for the upcoming James Bond movie in the town. A film crew will be in town until May 9 to shoot scenes for Quantum of Solace, the latest instalment in the movie series featuring the British secret agent.

Filming Tuesday started with a chase scene in the city’s festival hall, a spokesman for the Bregenz opera festival said.

The city’s annual opera festival, with its signature floating stage on Lake Constance, will play a prominent role in the movie.

In the evening several streets in the medieval town, with a population of 30,000, will be closed off for filming, before filming on the floating stage Wednesday.

For James Bond to chase his adversaries across the huge stage, which is dominated by elaborate props and a huge eye, festival organizers set up a complete performance of Puccini’s Tosca, complete with audience.

The movie’s plot remains a closely-guarded secret until it hits cinemas in November.

In addition, a brief video of stuntmen preparing for filming at the opera stage can be viewed here.
Festival House in Bregenz

As previously noted on CBn, Feldkirch is expected to be doubling as Bregenz in the finished film.

At the floating stage (first brought up as possible shooting location in July 2007) in Bregenz, Bond will reportedly be interrupting an opera performance as he pursues one of the film’s villains across the grandstand and through the audience. The chase is expected to continue in the Bregenz Festival House.

As reported by Commanderbond.net

ROME (AFP) — The shooting of the latest James Bond film "Quantum of Solace" is proving dangerous for stuntmen after a second crash Wednesday in just five days left one daredevil in intensive care.

The accident happened when the car used by two stuntmen rammed into a filming lorry and then into a wall on set near the picturesque Lake Garda in northern Italy, ANSA news agency reported.

One of the two men, a Greek national, ended up in intensive care in a hospital in the nearby town of Verona.

This was not the first accident to befall the crew in recent days after a Bond stunt driver crashed 007's famous Aston Martin DBS into Lake Garda ahead of filming on Saturday.

The unnamed driver was taking the car on to the set when he lost control of the vehicle for reasons yet to be established and plunged into the lake.

Sky Italia TV pictures later showed the car being winched back on to dry land, with ANSA reporting that the stuntman -- quickly rescued by firemen -- escaped with only minor bruising.

A source said the car was the only one available for shooting, which has so far seen the crew move from England to Panama, Chile and Mexico. A further location trip to Spain is planned.

"Quantum of Solace", the second Bond film to feature 40-year-old British actor Daniel Craig as the suave secret agent is set to be released later this year. The film picks up where the last instalment "Casino Royale" left off.