Statement from Amazon MGM Studios: “The search for the next James Bond is underway. While we don’t plan to comment on specific details during the casting process, we’re excited to share more news with 007 fans as soon as the time is right.”
James Bond Style Icons
James Bond has a strong claim to be the best-dressed character in movie history. From the well-tailored power suits to super tight rollnecks, from uber-fashionable linen suits to the best towel-wear imaginable (see Goldfinger), 007 has long set the standard for fashion in film. But surrounding the main man are female accomplices, villains and henchmen who allow the costume designers to really cut loose. Here are a cavalcade of characters whose look would be at home on any fashion catwalk or Met Gala staircase. Strike a pose.
Dr. No
Dr. No (1962)
Costume Designer: Tessa Prendergast
The first on-screen 007 villain, Dr. No’s (Joseph Wiseman) look is perhaps the most influential fashion choice from the whole Bond series. Too busy being a criminal mastermind to worry about choosing a suit and tie, No’s Mandarin-collared Nehru jacket is deeply influenced by the military uniforms and has become an inspiration for many Bond baddies and beyond, from Blofeld to No Time To Die’s Lyutsifer Safin.
Pussy Galore
Goldfinger (1964)
Costume Designer: Elsa Fennell
The head pilot of Goldfinger’s personal air force, Pussy Galore dresses for business and practically, but always with oodles of panache. Be it on board Goldfinger’s jet, wearing a black suit trimmed with, aptly enough, gold, to a purple wrap blouse that belies her skill at judo, her sartorial splendour is always a match for Bond.
Auric Goldfinger
Goldfinger (1964)
Costume Designer: Elsa Fennell
The original hipster, Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe), is a larger-than-life criminal with a dress sense to match. His wardrobe often mirrors his love of gold, clothes swathed in ambers, browns and honeys. But perhaps his most striking look comes when he takes on 007 (Sean Connery) on a golf course, sporting a striking woollen ensemble — a flat cap to put Peaky Blinders to shame, a preppy jacket, plus fours — so classy you could almost forgive him his cheating. Almost.
Tracy di Vincenzo
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
Costume Designer: Marjory Cornelius
From the first moment we meet Tracy di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg), wading out to sea in a gown boasting huge diaphanous sleeves, she is an instant style exemplar. In a film full of bold female fashion choices — also see Blofeld’s Angels Of Death — Tracy is the standout, be it showing off a crisp white gown in a casino or sporting a fedora hat while horse-riding with Bond (George Lazenby). In the film’s poignant finale, she is seen wearing a beautiful daisy-appliqué jumpsuit for her wedding, only to be Mrs. Bond for a tragically short period.
Solitaire
Live And Let Die (1973)
Costume Designer: Julie Harris
There are not many characters in the James Bond universe who get more colourful costume changes than Jane Seymour’s Solitaire. Her dreamy outfits redefine lavish, from an intricately detailed turquoise jumpsuit to an elaborate red and gold dress to a pink translucent night gown. Being an enigmatic tarot reader, she’s also not afraid to rock a headdress. It’s all incredibly ‘70s but completely unforgettable.
May Day
A View To A Kill (1985)
Costume Designer: Emma Porteous, Azzedine Alaïa
The bodyguard and lover of crazed industrialist Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), May Day (Grace Jones), oozes flamboyance, especially in her outrageous fashion sense. Created by Jones’ fashion designer friend Azzedine Alaïa. May Day’s signature look includes hooded capes, clingy dresses and touches of leather that were good for any occasion, be it a day at the races or diving off the Eiffel Tower. Iconic.
Pam Bouvier
Licence To Kill (1989)
Costume Designer: Jodie Tillen
Played by Carey Lowell, a former top model who walked Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein’s runways, Pam Bouvier has a dress sense that might not be the most outlandish but it does include one piece that warrants celebration: a dress that allows the hem to be ripped away, enabling Bouvier to quickly access the gun in her garter or run faster in a chase (the idea came from director John Glen). Utilising 160 fasteners and good old Velcro, the garment is also a thing of beauty, graced with beadwork that took a month of workmanship. Like Pam, it’s organised, efficient, sophisticated.
Xenia Onatopp
GoldenEye (1995)
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
“Cruella De Vil meets Morticia Addams” is costume designer Lindy Hemming’s snappy description of Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen)’s look. The Russian assassin’s look is dominated by razor-sharp suits, slinky gothic mini-dresses (black gloves a must), sometimes adorned with icy mirrored accoutrements. On board a military ship in Monaco, she kills two helicopter pilots; her dramatic, wide-brimmed hat covers a multitude of sins (the headwear was designed by Philip Somerville, who also created the striking fur hat worn by Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough’s ski sequences).
Vesper Lynd
Casino Royale (2006)
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
“I’m the money”, announces Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), wearing an Alexander McQueen overcoat, to James Bond (Daniel Craig) as she sits opposite him on a train bound for Montenegro. It’s an introduction that could easily describe her expensive, chic wardrobe. The star of the show is perhaps the deep purple Roberto Cavalli gown, complete with a plunging neckline and low open back, that Vesper wears at Casino Royale, designed to distract the other players in the high-stakes poker game.
Silva
Skyfall (2012)
Costume Designer: Jany Temime
When it comes to being well-dressed, Silva (Javier Bardem) gives 007 (Daniel Craig) a run for his money. On his introduction in the computer room of the dead city on his unnamed island, he sports a cream, single-breasted silk jacket, a Prada silk shirt, an olive waistcoat and Jeffery-West Marriott Brogue Cricket Chelsea Boots. It’s a well-tailored Mediterranean look that still perfectly conveys the character’s sensitive but unstable sensibility.
Paloma In Profile
A pivotal figure in 2021’s No Time To Die, Paloma is Bond’s guide through the colourful nighttime streets of Santiago de Cuba. Played by Ana de Armas, she is a naïve, gauche newbie who turns out to be a resourceful and deadly asset in Bond’s mission. Below is a deep dive, both on-screen and off, into one of 007’s most vibrant allies. Vamos!
THE CHARACTER: Paloma first encounters Bond, working under the auspices of the CIA, at the brightly lit El Nido Bar in Cuba. Bond reminds her of the code words — “Something about a hat? Paris?” — but the inexperienced agent is too preoccupied to care. “I forget things when I get nervous,” she says. “This is the biggest job I’ve ever had.”
Paloma leads 007 to a downstairs wine cellar and gives him his (Tom Ford) tuxedo. Working from Felix Leiter’s orders, the pair’s mission is to enter a swish SPECTRE party at the Hotel Olympiad to extract the scientist Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik), who had been kidnapped by the organisation from a MI6 Laboratory.
After Paloma reveals she has only done three weeks of training, further raising Bond’s doubts, the pair stroll into the party and Bond suggests a drink (two vodka martinis, shaken not stirred, naturally). From her lipstick tube, Paloma produces an earpiece (“So I can hear you”) and the pair toast Felix — Paloma downs her drink in one.
Bond and Paloma split up, communicating through the earpieces (“Have you ever been to a party like this?” asks 007. “How do you think I got this job?” replies Paloma). Paloma taps into SPECTRE’s technology, and Bond recognises the voice of Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), whom 007 had imprisoned in Belmarsh prison. Paloma spots Obruchev and starts tailing him.
The gathering is revealed as a ruse by Blofeld to trap and kill Bond by using nanobot technology, the former surveying the party from Belmarsh utilising his bionic ocular implant. Placing 007 in a harsh spotlight, Blofeld unleashes a mist containing deadly nanobots designed to kill him. But in a further twist, the nanobots have been reprogrammed by Obruchev to ignore Bond and kill only SPECTRE operatives.
In the melee that follows, Paloma spots Obruchev and, along with Bond, starts to hurry him out of the building, revealing herself to be a crack shot with a gun. Still, their bounty is stolen by rival MI6 agent Nomi (Lashana Lynch), who bungees through the glass ceiling (“May I cut in?”) and bounces out with Obruchev in her arms.
Bond gives chase while Paloma holds off the attackers with some deadly two-handed gunplay. Soon she runs out of ammunition but keeps Bond safe with a dazzling display of martial arts, kicking over, then shooting her attackers. In the eye of the storm, Bond and Paloma share a quick drink as 007 marvels at her prowess (“Three weeks training? Really?” he asks. “More or less” comes the reply)
As a refreshed Bond goes in search of Nomi and Obruchev, Paloma steals a classic car. Noticing Obruchev has stepped onto scaffolding to make his escape, she drives the vehicle headlong into the structure, bringing it and the scientist down on her bonnet. Bond arrives and takes Obruchev to Nomi’s plane and an escape route.
THE CREATION: “As a young actress, I looked at Bond Girls like a myth and never thought I could be one, because it was hard to relate to perfection,” de Armas told Mark Salisbury for the Being Bond book. “I was really flattered that Cary, Daniel, and the producers thought of me.”
De Armas, who had previously worked with Craig on Knives Out, was delighted that her induction into the world of 007 meant she could play a three-dimensional character rather than an untouchable icon.
“When I read the script, I was surprised, too, because Paloma has flaws, she’s not perfect, she’s messy and scared and tipsy and makes mistakes,” de Armas said. “On the other hand, she’s nothing close to the damsel in distress. She’s actually the opposite. She’s there to help James Bond get through the night alive. It’s her territory, and so, at least for the night, she’s in charge. That felt very powerful and very exciting.”
Even if Paloma was a new kind of Bond ally, she still had to invoke the glamour that is the series’ trademark. So, de Armas sported a navy blue, almost backless dress created by costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb that served both the story and the character’s high style.
“Paloma is basically earning her stripes,” said Larlarb. “We had discussions about women in these positions, who have to embed themselves in the situation when they’re being called to serve. In the case of Paloma, our introduction to her is at the extravagant SPECTRE party that’s happening in Cuba, which is a black-tie event. So, not to be singled out, she’s basically in this spectacular dress, and does incredible feats in this wisp of a thing. Especially on a franchise like this, it’s important when you turn up the volume, you turn it up really high.”
To portray Paloma as Bond’s partner in punch-ups, de Armas went through two weeks of intensive training, learning to handle weapons and thrive in hand-to-hand combat. The actor called the training “probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done” and, for stunt co-ordinator Olivier Schneider, the character’s fashion sense amped up the difficulty factor to the max.
“I understood she wanted that [a beautiful dress] because it’s her character Paloma and looks fantastic on the screen,” says Schneider. “But for Patrick [Vo], the fight coordinator and myself, it was a nightmare because she could break her ankle at any moment in high heels. And, because of the dress, I couldn’t put any pads on her because she had bare legs. We had to design a fight around all of that. Ana rehearsed very hard to make that happen. It was a pure pleasure doing it.”
When it came time to shoot the sequence, the Cuban born de Armas was wowed by the Cuban street scene recreated on the Pinewood backlot.
“It was really stunning,” she recalled. “I was shocked at the size and scale of the whole thing. It was pretty accurate: the colours, the textures, just the feeling of it.”
Still, she had one reservation, perhaps heightened by her spectacular, if flimsy, costume.
“The only thing that didn’t match was the weather,” she laughed, “but I guess you can’t tell that on camera.”
The Animals Of James Bond
Over its 25-film history, the James Bond films have often used animals as a storytelling tool, be it as a threat to 007 (Blofeld’s piranhas in You Only Live Twice), establishing character (Kincaid’s gundogs in Skyfall), adding exotic spectacle (the elephants and tiger seen on safari during Octopussy) or providing comic relief (the St. Bernard who brings Bond a tipple in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service). Here are ten great animal appearances from the 007 menagerie…
Dr. No’s Tarantula
As seen in: Dr. No (1962)
On-screen: Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) instructs Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson) to kill Bond (Sean Connery) with a deadly tarantula. In a tense scene, Bond lies in bed and feels the presence of the arachnid, watching it crawl slowly over his body. When the spider moves off the bed, Bond dramatically bludgeons it with his shoe.
Off-screen: After a plastic spider didn’t work, the team tried a real tarantula, but with a piece of perspex between the animal and the actor — the ruse was abandoned when the camera was constantly caught in the reflection. When director Terence Young decided the spider should be seen moving across 007’s body, Connery steadfastly refused, so stuntman Bob Simmons stepped in.
Blofeld’s Turkish Angora Cat
As seen in: From Russia With Love (1963)
On-screen: Played by a returning Anthony Dawson (but we never see his face), Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s introduction to the series — in a meeting where he hires Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) to steal the Lektor machine and kill 007 — is also our first glimpse of his now iconic cat, a white, blue-eyed Turkish Angora. The cat later appeared in Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever (wearing a diamond collar), For Your Eyes Only, and Spectre, where the cat jumps on Bond’s lap when Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) reveals his identity as Blofeld.
Off-screen: The only film that features Blofeld but not his cat is No Time To Die.
Bond’s Seagull
As seen in: Goldfinger (1964)
On-screen: In the pre-credit sequence, Bond (Sean Connery) approaches a Mexican port from the water as part of a mission to blow up a drug manufacturing complex. He sports a seagull atop his dry suit as a creative means of disguise.
Off-screen: In previous drafts of the screenplay, Bond avoided detection by wearing a dead dog in his head!
Largo’s Sharks
As seen in: Thunderball (1965)
On-screen: Bond (Sean Connery) infiltrates Emilio Largo’s (Adolfo Celi) compound at night, but, trying to make his escape, becomes trapped fighting an assailant under a metallic cover in a swimming pool. 007 kills his attacker but faces a new threat when sharks are let loose from a separate pool. Using his Q Dept. rebreather, Bond stays beneath the surface and opens the hatch allowing the sharks to glide past. He then swims through the tunnel and slips out of the empty pool.
Off-screen: For the shot of Connery watching the sharks swim by, the actor refused to get in the water with the animals, so production designer Ken Adam (once again) employed a plexiglass tunnel so the actor could be kept safe from the sharks. Connery insisted not only that director Terence Young tried the shot out first but also that he stayed inside the pool for the take. During one take, a shark breached the tunnel and ended up nose to nose with the star, meaning that, at one point in the sequence, Connery is clearly not acting.
Emilio Largo was not the only Bond villain to keep sharks. Dr. Kananga (Yaphet Kotto) in Live And Let Die, Karl Stromberg (Curt Jürgens) in The Spy Who Loved Me, and Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) in Licence To Kill all deployed the apex predators for nefarious reasons.
Mr Wint’s Scorpion
As seen in: Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
On-screen: Ordered by Blofeld (Charles Gray) to kill every link in a chain of diamond smugglers, assassins Mr. Wint (Bruce Glover) and Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith) confront dentist turned diamond smuggler Dr. Tynan (Henry Rowland) in the South African desert. While Kidd feigns a toothache, duping Tynan into staring into his mouth, Wint slips a scorpion inside the dentist’s shirt, the sting killing in seconds. “One of nature’s finest killers, Mr. Wint” says Kidd. “One is never too old to learn from a master,” replies Wint.
Off-screen: The scorpion scene was shot in two ways; firstly with the creepy critter shoved in Tynan’s mouth, as per Ian Fleming’s novel and the screenplay, and then with the scorpion dropped down Tynan’s back. The latter version made the final cut. A scorpion also features in Skyfall when Bond (Daniel Craig), drinking in the Calis Beach Bar, amps up the jeopardy by balancing a scorpion on the back of his hand. The scorpion used in the film was fully CGI, meticulously modelled from a live Blond Desert Hairy scorpion by the VFX team.
Tee Hee’s Crocodile
As seen in: Live And Let Die (1973)
On-screen: On the hunt for Dr. Kananga (Yaphet Kotto) in Louisiana, Bond is captured and taken to a crocodile farm — a sign warns ‘TRESPASSERS WILL BE EATEN’. Bond is led to a bridge as Kananga’s henchman Tee Hee (Julius Harris) points out Old Albert, the crocodile who severed his arm. As 007 steps onto an island, the bridge starts to retract, leaving Bond stranded as crocodiles start moving in for the kill. Bond uses his magnetic watch to draw a boat towards him, only to find it is tethered to a branch. All looks lost until Bond spots that the crocodiles are lined up like stepping stones, so he skips on top of the reptiles to safety.
Off-screen: The crocodile farm was owned by Ross Kananga, who also doubled for Roger Moore on the stepping stones stunt — in one of the takes, a crocodile tore the heel off Kananga’s shoe. Kananga also inspired the name of Live & Let Die’s chief villain.
Drax’s Reticulated Python
As seen in: Octopussy (1983)
On-screen: Searching for Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale)’s research facility in the heart of a Brazilian jungle, Bond (Roger Moore) follows one of Drax’s accomplices (Irka Bochenko) into a temple and discovers a bevy of beautiful women. Distracted, Bond steps on a rock that tips him into a pond that is home to a reticulated python. The snake wraps himself around 007, attempting to squeeze him to death, until Bond stabs the reptile to death with a hypodermic pen: “I discovered he had a crush on me.”
Off-screen: The underwater sequences were shot by cameraman Lamar Boren in Silver Springs, Florida yet much of the footage shot was deemed unusable as the colour of the real python didn’t match the colour of the fake snake that Roger Moore battled with on set.
Zorin’s Race Horse
As seen in: A View To A Kill (1985)
On-screen: Pegasus is the wonder horse of industrialist Max Zorin (Christopher Walken). After winning at Ascot in the last few seconds of the race, Pegasus becomes frantic but is calmed down by Zorin’s accomplice, May Day (Grace Jones). Suspecting Zorin’s is boosting his steeds through drugs, Bond (Roger Moore), accompanied by trainer Sir Godfrey Tibbett (Patrick Macnee), travels to Zorin’s stud farm in Chantilly, where the pair discover Zorin is using implanted microchips to release steroids, triggered by a riding crop or Zorin’s cane.
Off-screen: The horse racing element of the film was added because producer Cubby Broccoli had a passion for breeding and racing horses, owning an impressive stable himself.
Sanchez’s Iguana
As seen in: Licence To Kill (1989)
On-screen: If Blofeld’s pet of choice is a cat, Licence To Kill’s chief villain, Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), is often seen with an iguana on his shoulder. In one moment, the reptile is seen wearing a jewel-encrusted collar, a gaudy signifier of Sanchez’s criminality and decadence.
Off-screen: The character has another animal association: Sanchez uses a stingray tail to whip his mistress, Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto). The idea was taken from Ian Fleming’s short story The Hildebrand Rarity, where it is used by Milton Krest.
Q’s Cat
As seen in: No Time To Die (2021)
On-screen: Q (Ben Whishaw) is preparing for an intimate dinner when Bond (Daniel Craig) and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) interrupt his plans and enlist him to analyse files relating to Project Heracles. Looking around Q’s stylish apartment, Bond notices Q’s hairless Egyptian Sphinx cat and quips, “You know, they make them with hair these days?”
Off-screen: The cats were included as a callback to Q, referencing that he owned cats in Spectre. The cats were placed on set weeks before filming started to allow them to acclimatise and, come the filming, were very well behaved.
Bond By The Sea
An iconic shot in Bond’s history. Ursula Andress walking out of the sea in Dr. No has reverberated around the series in different ways, being explicitly referenced in Die Another Day and gender-swapped in Casino Royale. Here’s how the 007 films created and paid tribute to a moment of movie magic.
Dr. No (1962)
The Moment: Ferried by Felix Leiter’s accomplice Quarrel (John Kitzmiller), Bond (Sean Connery) arrives on Crab Key to investigate Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman). The following morning, Bond hears a female voice singing (“Underneath the mango tree, me honey and me…”). His interest piqued, he sees Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), a beautiful woman with wet hair, wearing a white bikini and a white webbing army belt, carrying a bunch of seashells and dumping them on the beach.
The Making Of: Producer Cubby Broccoli cast the then 25-year-old Swiss actor Ursula Andress solely from a photo of the actress in a wet t-shirt just two weeks before production. When Andress arrived on set, her costume had not been decided on, so Broccoli called United Artists executive David Picker in New York and asked him to buy three bikinis from Saks Fifth Avenue and send them to Jamaica.
The shot was captured on February 6 1962, at the privately owned Laughing Waters Beach in Ocho Rios, St Ann, Jamaica, near Fleming’s home, GoldenEye. The shot was witnessed by the author — his first visit to a 007 set — and his wife Ann, who were out for a stroll with poet Stephen Spender and journalist Peter Cornell — the group were forced to dive to the ground to avoid being seen on camera. The song Honey and Bond sing, ‘Underneath The Mango Tree’, was written by the film’s composer, Monty Norman, and sparked a war between the two co-stars. “Sean and I fought a bit trying to get the record player, trying to learn how to sing the song,” Andress recalled. “He used to steal it away from me and I would steal it back. He sings much better than I do. I can’t carry a tune.” In the end, Andress’s singing voice was replaced by German actor Nikki van der Zyl.
The moment has earned a unique place in pop culture, and in 2001, Andress’s white bikini sold for £41,000 at auction.
Die Another Day (2002)
The Moment: Bond is on assignment in Cuba on the trail of Korean terrorist Zao (Rick Yune), believing him to be staying at a clinic that is changing his facial appearance via DNA-modifying technology. From a seaside resort, Bond surveys the island that plays host to the clinic by posing as an ornithologist with binoculars. His vision is interrupted by Jinx (Halle Berry) — whom we will later learn is a CIA operative — emerging (in slow motion) from the sea and walking up to the beachfront bar “Magnificent view” ventures Bond. “Isn’t it?” replies Jinx. “Too bad it’s lost on everyone else.” Sharing a mojito, it’s the start of a beautiful, if intense, friendship.
The Making Of: On April 3rd, the Die Another Day production team travelled to Cadiz in Spain, which was doubling for Cuba. Expecting sunny climes, the team arrived to rain, wind, and cloud cover with no foreseeable break in the weather. “I was hamming it up with the hot water bottles,” recalled Pierce Brosnan. “It’s pretty pathetic really — sitting there with a big fluffy blue dressing gown and a pink hot water bottle. It’s not very Bond.”
The inclement elements also delayed the shooting of Jinx jumping out of the water, in a clear nod to Dr. No’s Honey Ryder entrance, which went further than just the action. “We wanted to pay homage to the Ursula Andress bikini,” said costume designer Lindy Hemming, “and we came up with this electric orange, very revealing and sexy bikini, and a very beautifully crafted diving belt made by a company called Whitaker Malem, which fits exactly on the top of her hips at the point where her bikini ends.” In February 2026, Berry revealed that she had kept the two-piece swimsuit for over two decades.
Casino Royale (2006)
The Moment: A beach in the Bahamas. Bond, taking a break from his hunt for bomber Mollaka (Sébastien Foucan), rises out of the twinkly-blue Caribbean sea and, sporting powder-blue, tight-fitting swimming trunks, strides confidently out of the surf and toward the shore. He catches the eye of a beautiful woman dismounting from a horse — we will come to know her as Solange (Caterina Murino), the wife of criminal operative Alex Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian) — and the pair share a moment. It won’t be the last.
The Making Of: It looks a clear-cut homage to the Ursula Andress/Dr No. moment but both screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade and director Martin Campbell claim that paying tribute was not on their mind. “No matter what anybody says, I needed a wide shot,” Campbell told Mark Salisbury. “That’s it. There was no ‘Let’s do a Dr. No shot.’ It was only once the film was shown that that got picked up on but it was entirely accidental in the sense we needed a wider shot of Daniel standing up, coming out of the sea.”
Still, costume designer Lindy Hemming had Andress in mind when thinking about the scene and knew it would be memorable. She went through numerous pairs of trunks with Craig, a selection of looser board shorts alongside a tighter pair of blue trunks — Craig, who’d spent months working out, immediately went for the blue made in Italy by La Perla and labelled GrigioPerla. The trunks later sold for £44,450 at an auction of Bond memorabilia at Christie’s to mark the 50th anniversary of the series in 2012. Dame Judi Dench presided over the bidding and quipped, “All I’m going to tell you is they’re unwashed.”
Co-producer Barbara Broccoli saw immediately the impact of the look on set. “Of course, when we were shooting it and he walked out of the sea, all the women were out of their minds. The men were too. Like Ursula Andress, that image was something men and women could appreciate. Daniel exemplified the kind of man every man would like to be. Strong, powerful and beautiful.”
The moment had PR benefits too. Shooting the moment, a paparazzi photographer snapped Craig coming out of the sea. The image was sold to British tabloid The Sun, and subsequently the image circulated around the world. While the Casino Royale team was initially angered, it served to heighten awareness about the film and transformed opinion on initial, unfair reservations about Craig as Bond.
“In a way, it was the turning point,” said executive producer Anthony Waye. “Daniel Craig had been too blonde and blue-eyed for the media but suddenly he was the perfect Bond.”
Diamonds Are Forever: 55th Anniversary Edition 2-CD Release
Introducing the remastered and expanded 2-CD re-issue of composer John Barry’s original motion picture score to Diamonds Are Forever. Part of a limited edition of just 5,000, this edition showcases the film’s music with improved sound and never-before-released material. Included within this 2-CD set is the iconic title song “Diamonds Are Forever” by Barry and lyricist Don Black performed by Shirley Bassey in English and Italian.
Diamonds Are Forever is the seventh James Bond film, released in 1971, and produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. The film stars Sean Connery, after a one picture absence, as 007, and is directed by Guy Hamilton, returning for his second film in the series.
Available to pre-order on 007Store.com, shipping mid-late April 2026.
Inside Quantum Of Solace’s Unforgettable Fire
Quantum Of Solace ends in a fiery showdown at an eco-hotel in the Bolivian desert, where eco-industrialist Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) and the former Bolivian dictator General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio) are meeting to discuss the overthrow of the current Bolivian government. 007 has long dealt in flame-filled sequences — the destruction of the Liparus super tanker in The Spy Who Loved Me, the fireball in the bunker in The World Is Not Enough — but the inferno at the climax of Quantum upped the ante on complicated, extensive, and explosive set-pieces.
Doubling for the hotel is the spectacular European Southern Observatory and hotel complex in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, roughly three hours from the nearest town and situated at an altitude of 6000 feet. The location was the idea of set decorator Anna Pinnock, who had visited the Observatory and suggested it to Dennis Gassner. The production designer Google-searched the location and, by the third image, was bowled over, so immediately sent the images to director Marc Forster.
“When Dennis showed me that location, I was in awe,” Forster told Mark Salisbury. “I had never really seen anything like it. It’s such a fascinating building, and even now, looking back to it, you felt like you’re on a different planet.”
Gassner took the idea to executive producer Callum McDougall, who approached the German management company behind the complex. The owners stipulated that the production could shoot in the daylight but couldn’t use lights after dark, as it would interfere with the observatory’s monitoring of the night sky. “I said, ‘The bigger thing is, in the script, we blow this place up,’ and they went, ‘Ah,’” said McDougall. “I said, ‘It’s fine. We’ll build our own version of it’.”
Shipping a crew of 200 to the remote location, the production recreated portions of the hotel in the exterior, which was subsequently set on fire. For the interiors, the production returned to Pinewood Studios, building six interior sets, the largest filling Pinewood’s mammoth 59,000ft 007 stage from floor to ceiling with three levels of walkways and staircases. Bond shooting through the skylight was captured on March 28, then the unit shot the firestorm for four weeks in May, setting the garage and stairwell set, the lobby and restaurant, the walkways, and Medrano’s bedroom ablaze.
“We did many explosions, fire and collapsing-ceiling tests prior to filming,” said special effects supervisor Chris Corbould. “We built a full-size replica of the bedroom at Longcross Studios in Surrey to test for the dramatic end sequence where the walls are blown out to enable Bond and Camille to escape.”
As such, the cast and crew underwent multiple rehearsals with fire, Daniel Craig and Olga Kurylenko visiting Corbould’s workshop to get a sneak preview of the pyrotechnics, helping them feel confident so they could focus on the emotion of the scene. For the showdown between Bond and Greene, stunt coordinator Gary Powell rehearsed Daniel Craig and Mathieu Amalric separately with stunt doubles and then brought them together.
“People assume that as soon as you see fire you can’t get within 20 feet of it, but you can actually get quite close if the heat is going in the right direction,” said stunt coordinator Gary Powell.
When it came to shooting, the actors sported Nomex fire-resistant material soaked in retardant gel under their costumes to protect them from burns.
“The hotel was eco-friendly, so we thought it would have biofuel cells for the heating. Dennis wanted to reflect that with an unusual look to the flames,” said Corbould. “We filmed the sequence using directional steel pyrotechnic pots with mixtures of petrol, isopropanol and green/blue flame fluid imported from the US. This concoction gave an orange core explosion with green and blue tinges around the outside.”
With complex choreography and huge spectacle, the filmmakers didn’t risk anything. “We had six cameras carefully placed to cover the fire and explosions, because there would be no second chances,” said cinematographer Roberto Schaefer. No second chances. Sounds like a motto Bond might live by.
The Vehicles Of Timothy Dalton’s 007
Timothy Dalton’s 007 adventures traversed the gamut of exciting vehicles. From gadget-laden cars to high-tech ships to heavy-duty aircraft (not to mention one unforgettable cello case), Bond’s many modes of transport have added different textures and colour to the drama. Here are seven of the Dalton era’s most dynamic rides.
LAND ROVER 88 SERIES III
AS SEEN IN: The Living Daylights
THE VEHICLE: The Land Rover 88 Series III is a munitions truck, part of a series designed by the Rover group. The series I was designed as a response to the American jeep during World War 2.
THE ACTION: Bond is participating in a training exercise penetrating radar installations in Gibraltar with fellow MI6 agents 004 and 002. During manoeuvres, 004 is killed by an assassin who steals a Land Rover and speeds off. 007 gives chase and leaps onto the roof. When the Land Rover crashes through a checkpoint, a soldier fires at the vehicle, igniting crates filled with explosives stacked in the back. With the burning vehicle careering around the cliffs, Bond cuts through the canvas roof with a combat knife and begins tussling with the driver.
The increasingly out of control Land Rover crashes through newsstands, alfresco restaurants, and a Volkswagen Beetle before flying off the cliff edge towards the sea. Bond escapes by engaging his parachute and flying out of the rear compartment as the jeep spectacularly blows up in a mid-air explosion.
ASTON MARTIN V8 VANTAGE VOLANTE
AS SEEN IN: The Living Daylights
THE VEHICLE: Aston Martin returned for the series for the first time since On Her Majesty’s Secret Service with the V8 Vantage, the production sourced three Vantages for use in the filming.
THE ACTION: Pursued by the KGB and Slovak police, Bond (Timothy Dalton) and cellist Kara Milovy (Maryam d’Abo) speed to the border between Bratislava and Austria. During the chase, Bond unleashes a plethora of Q Dept’s hidden gadgets; a laser beam installed in the hubcap (which removes a police car from its axel), retractable skis and spiked tyres to help movement across the ice; bulletproof windows, front mounted rockets (hidden behind the fog lights) and a rocket booster to give the car an extra lift. The car also has a self-destruct mechanism that Bond activates when the Slovak police approach.
CELLO CASE
AS SEEN IN: The Living Daylights
THE VEHICLE: The girlfriend of the villainous Koskov (Jeroen Krabbe), Kara Milovy, is a world-class cellist. Her bulky cello and its case might initially have been a hindrance — “Why didn’t you learn the violin?” quips Bond — but it proved to be a lifesaver.
THE ACTION: Heading for the Austrian border, Bond’s Aston Martin loses its skis and comes to a sudden stop in the snow. Exiting the car, Bond and Kara come under heavy fire, so 007 takes the cello case and improvises into a toboggan, using the cello as a rudder. Reaching the Austrian border, Bond tosses the cello over the barriers, quipping, “Nothing to declare!” It’s no way to treat a Stradivarius.
LOCKHEED C-130 HERCULES
AS SEEN IN: The Living Daylights
THE VEHICLE: A four-engine cargo aircraft, the Hercules appeared in You Only Live Twice before its starring role in The Living Daylights. The aircraft appears twice, firstly as the RAF plane used to drop the 00 agents into Gibraltar but takes a more substantial role during the siege at the Soviet airbase in Afghanistan.
THE ACTION: Helped by the Mujahideen, Bond and Kara infiltrate an air base to plant a bomb in a Hercules carrying a large shipment of opium waiting to be sold by Koskov and Whitaker (Joe Don Baker). Bond hijacks the plane, and Kara assumes control as he defuses the bomb. Meanwhile, mercenary-for-hire Necros (Andreas Wisniewski) has stowed away onboard and charges at Bond. The threat is heightened when Kara accidentally opens the cargo doors. The two men are sucked out of the plane, hanging onto the net holding the opium for dear life — as Necros hangs from 007’s boots, Bond cuts the laces, and the assailant plunges to his death.
But the danger isn’t over, even after Bond manages to utilise the bomb to drop it on Soviet soldiers fighting the Mujahideen. Machine gunfire from the ground battle punctures the fuel tank, and the Hercules plummets to the ground. Bond quickly improvises an escape. Pulling the release chute on a jeep in the hold, Bond and Kara exit the aircraft as it crashes into Pakistan airspace. When the dust and the vehicle settle, 007 suggests he knows a good restaurant in Karachi, and the pair head off for dinner.
THE WAVEKREST
AS SEEN IN: Licence To Kill
THE VEHICLE: First appearing in the Ian Fleming short story The Hildebrandt Rarity as a luxurious cruiser, the Wavekrest in Licence To Kill is a drug emporium masquerading as a marine research vessel.
THE ACTION: The Wavekrest is owned by the businessman and drug smuggler Milton Krest (Anthony Zerbe). The ship contains a luxurious state room and pieces of oceanographic research equipment used to mask its purpose of smuggling cocaine. The vessel also plays host to an unmanned, remotely-controlled underwater vehicle that is deployed to transfer narcotics and money in concealed compartments.
On the trail of drug kingpin, Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), Bond infiltrates the ship and scuppers the drug lord’s latest shipment, stealing five million dollars. Later, Bond reboards the Wavekrest and sets up Krest by placing the missing millions into the ship’s hyperbaric chamber. When Sanchez discovers the money, he entraps Krest in the chamber and, with an axe, rapidly depressurises the chamber, dispatching Krest to a grisly demise.
THE KENWORTH W-900
AS SEEN IN: Licence To Kill
THE VEHICLES: A fleet of trailer trucks used by Franz Sanchez to hide and transport illegal drugs. Sanchez uses a clandestine drug lab to dissolve 20 tonnes of cocaine into petrol shipments — the drug lord provides a process to separate the drugs from the petrol and solidify them for resale.
THE ACTION: After Bond destroys the lab converting the cocaine to petrol, Sanchez orders four trucks to transport the narcotics, joining the procession in a Maserati. In a Piper Super Club, flown by CIA agent Pam Bouvier (Cary Lowell), Bond tracks the trucks, leaping from the plane onto the top of a Kenworth trailer. Ejecting the driver from the cabin, Bond sets out to disrupt the convoy. Evading a Stinger Missile by jacking the vehicle on its side, Bond then takes out the next Kenworth by decoupling the tanker and rolling it down the hill so it collides into the third tanker, causing a huge explosion.
Driving through the resulting fire by lifting the engine in the air, Bond is on the tail of Sanchez, who has commandeered the remaining truck. Bond scrambles onto Sanchez’s tanker, opening the valve to let the diluted drug stash pour out onto the road, creating a trail of fire. As 007 climbs towards the truck’s cabin, Sanchez’s henchman slams on the brakes, forcing Bond to fall forward. The truck moves off again, with Sanchez chasing Bond with a machete. The pair fight as the Kenworth, with its driver having bailed, topples over down a steep bank, leaving Bond and Sanchez dazed but ready for a final duel.
PIPER SUPER CUB
AS SEEN IN: Licence To Kill
THE VEHICLE: A two-seat single-engine monoplane flown by CIA agent Pam Bouvier that plays a pivotal role in helping Bond stop Sanchez’s convoy.
THE ACTION: During the hunt for Sanchez, Bond and Bouvier arrive in Isthmus in a Beechcraft B55 Baron aircraft, which is later dismantled by Sanchez’s men to stop the CIA agent following Bond to Sanchez’s cartel operation. Bouvier steals the Piper Super Cub to continue the chase, and after Bond destroys the lab, gives him a ride to pursue the tanker convoy.
During the pursuit, she saves Bond’s life by dropping dust on Sanchez’s men as they move in for the kill. Later in the chase, Sanchez blows a hole in the Piper’s tail, forcing the plane to crash into the rocks, breaking off the wings. Showing her facility with a very different kind of vehicle, Pam shows up in the last remaining Kenworth tanker truck to pick up an exhausted Bond after he has defeated Sanchez.
How Daniel Craig Became James Bond
In 2005, James Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli decided the series needed a reboot. Following Die Another Day, it was, in Wilson’s words, “very important to bring it back to Earth.” The decision was solidified when the rights to Casino Royale, Ian Fleming’s first James Bond book, became available, and the filmmakers grabbed the opportunity to return 007 to his realistic roots.
“It’s really the first mission that Bond has,” said Wilson. “It’s right after he got his 00 status and is about what he goes through, the physical ordeal, the mental pressures he has and then the love affair he has.”
A fresh start needed a new Bond. Casting Director Debbie McWilliams, who had participated in casting both Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, was tasked with finding the new 007 and initially focused her search on young actors to match the story of a new agent earning his stripes. Yet when it was decided to widen the age range of the actors, Barbara Broccoli had one name at the top of her list: Daniel Craig. It was an iconic role that had never been on the Cheshire-born actor’s wish list.
“When I became an actor, I never fantasised about playing James Bond,” said Craig. “As a kid, yeah, but that was being James Bond, that was something else, that was fantasy.”
A graduate of the National Youth Theatre and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Craig had caught the eye in the BBC drama Our Friends In The North. He subsequently proved his range in a succession of diverse, critically acclaimed roles, all collaborations with major filmmakers; as the muse of artist Francis Bacon in John Maybury’s Love Is The Devil, as Paul Newman’s son in Sam Mendes’ Road To Perdition, and as a Mossad agent on the trail of Palestinian terrorists in Steven Spielberg’s Munich. While it is often cited that Craig’s lead performance in Matthew Vaughn’s Layer Cake was his calling card for 007, it was his performance as Jesuit priest John Ballard in Shekhar Kapur’s 1998 period drama Elizabeth that grabbed Broccoli’s attention.
“He defines his generation of actors,” she said. “He’s got everything that is required — he has that toughness but he has that vulnerability, he’s incredibly sexy, he’s very charismatic, and he’s very, very versatile and agile as an actor.”
While Craig had been in discussions with Broccoli and director Martin Campbell, even reading Paul Haggis’ Casino Royale script, the actor still had to do a screen test. The testing process for Casino Royale started in July 2005 under the code-name Destiny, with a second phase taking place in September using the faux title Alcatraz.
Bond screen tests are elaborate affairs involving hair and make-up, costumes, sets, and other actors. Under the guidance of Martin Campbell, the would-be 007s were led through a scene from From Russia With Love, where Bond first meets Tatiana Romanova. On September 27, Henry Cavill donned the tux. The following day, Sam Worthington stepped in front of the camera, and then on September 29th, it was Craig’s turn. The actor was scheduled to do the whole day, but by lunchtime decided he had had enough. “I was like, ‘This is crazy’,” Craig told Mark Salisbury for the book Being Bond. “I started the way I meant to go on – being a pain in the arse!”
Despite Craig being perfect in the role, it was still not a done deal. The actor was wary of the huge responsibility of the role and the potential of being typecast. He sought advice from family, friends, and colleagues, including former Bond Pierce Brosnan, who just said, “Go for it.” To help allay Craig’s concerns and give him greater control over his own destiny, Broccoli gifted him creative input into the development of the script, the choice of director, and the key cast.
Craig learned he had won the role on a phone call while out shopping, during a day off shooting The Invasion opposite Nicole Kidman in Baltimore.
“It’s a bit anticlimactic, really, because your expectations go so high, and then, suddenly, they go, ‘Yes, it’s yours’,” he remembered. “And you never really know what to do with yourself. I went out and got very drunk on my own — I was filming in Baltimore and everybody else was working. Of course, I couldn’t really tell people in the bar I was sitting in getting very drunk, ‘I’m James Bond’. I think I would have been thrown out on my ear or sent off to a mental hospital.”
The actor was announced to the world as the next 007 in a media event on the River Thames on October 14, 2005. Having flown back from the US, he was escorted to the press conference by a convoy of Royal Marine Rigid Raider Speedboats.
“I’m just glad I didn’t fall off the boat.” He laughed. “I mean, that’s really the only thing that really matters. If I had fallen off, I would have swum to the other shore and said, ‘Thanks. Goodnight. I had a go but it didn’t work.’ The Royal Marine next to me just said, ‘If you fall off, you’ll probably be dead anyway, so don’t worry about it.’”
The initial response was mixed. The actor was derided for being too short — he’s 5ft 11” — and for not having the dark hair described by Ian Fleming in the novels. He was even criticised for sporting a life preserver, which naval health and safety regulations demanded he wear at the last minute. “Apparently it was a sign I couldn’t swim or something,” he said. “I should have worn orange arm bands — it would have been a much better look.” Some of the Bond veterans had seen all this sniping before.
“When Sean Connery was hired everyone said, ‘Oh disaster!’ because he wasn’t a David Niven type,” observed Broccoli.
“It was the typical tabloid bullshit that goes with any new Bond,” chimed Martin Campbell, who directed Pierce Brosnan’s first 007 mission, GoldenEye. “You’re guilty until proven innocent.”
With characteristic good humour, the actor took all the brickbats in his stride.
“Some of the stuff that’s been said is as close to a playground taunt as you are going to get,” he laughed at the time. “‘You’ve got big ears!’ Fucking hell! Well, the only way I can do that is to get it right. Believe me, no one cares more about this than I do.”
Of course, opinions changed immediately after Casino Royale premiered on November 14, 2006. Craig became the first actor to earn a BAFTA nomination for playing Bond and took the character in new directions over four more films. Not bad for a kid who grew up playing James Bond in the playground.
And The Award Goes To…
The first Bond film, Dr. No, won ‘New Star Of The Year’ award at the Golden Globes for Ursula Andress’ portrayal of Honey Ryder.
The first 007 film to win an Academy Award was Goldfinger. Norman Wanstall won the Best Sound Effects Oscar the first time the series was nominated. “When Angie Dickinson announced I’d won I just couldn’t believe it,” recalled Wanstall. “After the presentation, you have to go outside where you’re interviewed. When I returned to my seat, I remember my wife saying to me, ‘Do you realise you’ve missed Judy Garland live?’ She always remembers that as the highlight of the whole affair, the fact that she saw Judy Garland sing live.”
Thunderball won the following year in the Best Special Visual Effects category for John Stears. The award came as a complete shock to its winner, who didn’t even attend the ceremony. “I had a call from a friend in Wisconsin who said, ‘I’ve just seen Jordan Klein receive an Oscar from Bob Hope for you in your absence. You’ve won the Special Effects Oscar for Thunderball,’” remembered Stears. “I thought he was kidding but he wasn’t. Later I had a call from the customs people at Heathrow Airport to go over and collect a package, which I did on a wet and windy day and I had to pay import duty too.”
The first 007 BAFTA went to Ted Moore for From Russia With Love. The award was for Best Cinematography — Colour.
The Bond film with the most Oscar nominations? That would be Skyfall with five, for Best Cinematography, Original Score, Original Song, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. It won for Sound Editing (Per Hallberg, Karen Baker Landers) and Original Song (Adele, Paul Epworth).
The Bond film with the most BAFTA nominations is Casino Royale, nominated for Outstanding British Film, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Original Music, Production Design, Sound, Visual Effects and Best Actor In A Leading Role for Daniel Craig, the first actor to be BAFTA nominated for playing James Bond.
Skyfall became the first 007 film to win in the BAFTA Outstanding British Film category, also winning Best Original Music for Thomas Newman.
At the Saturn Awards, created to recognise the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres, Casino Royale and Skyfall have won for Best Action Or Adventure Film. Pierce Brosnan has won for Best Actor in Tomorrow Never Dies.
Production designer Ken Adam has been nominated for four BAFTAs, for Best British Art Direction — Colour (Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice) and Production Design (The Spy Who Loved Me). He also was Oscar nominated for the Best Art Direction Academy Award for The Spy Who Loved Me.
Speaking of The Spy Who Loved Me, composer Marvin Hamlisch was nominated for Best Original Score at the Oscars, BAFTAs and Grammys but was pipped at the post by John Williams for Star Wars at the Oscars and Grammys, and by John Addison for A Bridge Too Far at the BAFTAs.
The first James Bond song to be Oscar-nominated was ‘Live And Let Die’. The category went on to become the series’ most fruitful hunting ground, gaining six nominations and three wins (‘Skyfall’, ‘The Writing’s On The Wall’ and ‘No Time To Die’). The year the song ‘For Your Eyes Only’ was nominated, Sheena Easton performed the song in an elaborate staging featuring Richard Kiel as Jaws and Harold Sakata as Oddjob.
The only James Bond actor to ever win an Academy Award (to date) for acting is Sean Connery, who won Best Supporting Actor for The Untouchables. He began his speech: “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen…friends… a few enemies.”
Another Bond actor, Roger Moore, played a significant role in Oscar history. Presenting the Best Actor award alongside Liv Ullmann in 1973, the third actor to play 007 was supposed to give the statuette to Marlon Brando for The Godfather. Refusing the award, Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather to deliver a speech, criticising Hollywood’s representation of Native Americans on-screen.
In his autobiography, Moore recounted that the rejected award wasn’t retrieved from him, so he took it home, crowds outside the Dorothy Chandler pavilion shouting congratulations as he carried the little gold man home. The Academy later sent a representative to pick up the prize.
To mark 50 years of the franchise, the 85th Academy Awards paid special tribute to the franchise, the year after the golden anniversary in 2013 (the year Skyfall was eligible for awards). Bond actor and Oscar winner Halle Berry introduced a montage of clips, while Shirley Bassey performed ‘Goldfinger’ and Adele sang ‘Skyfall’. BAFTA also commemorated the 60th anniversary of the series.
In 1982, EON co-founder and series originator Albert R. Broccoli was presented with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, which honours creativity in producing, at the 54th Academy Awards. The same honour was bestowed on Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli at the 2025 ceremony, receiving an Oscar statuette rather than the traditional bust of Thalberg. The series was also celebrated with a medley of songs sung by Lisa (‘Live And Let Die’), Doja Cat (‘Diamonds Are Forever’), and Raye (‘Skyfall’). The sequence started with actor Margaret Qualley dancing to the James Bond Theme.
The Making Of Thunderball — A Timeline
“LOOK OUT! HERE COMES THE BIGGEST BOND OF ALL!”
So ran the tagline for Thunderball, the fourth adventure to star Sean Connery as 007. Directed by Terence Young, the filmmaker behind the first two missions, Dr. No and From Russia With Love, Thunderball sees Bond travel to the Bahamas to retrieve two nuclear warheads stolen by SPECTRE number two Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), used to hold NATO to ransom for the sum of £100 million. Full of exotic locales and spectacular action (often underwater), the shoot was the most ambitious in the series to date. Here is a timeline detailing how the film was made…
February 16 1965
Filming on Thunderball began at the Château d’Anet, west of Paris, with the pre-title sequence. Bond attends a service for a dead spy, Jacques Bouvar, 007 meeting his widow in a living room. The grieving wife turns out to be Bouvar himself, and a fist fight to the death erupts. The widow was played by stuntman Bob Simmons, who was awoken in his hotel room at 6 am and dressed in a blonde wig, stockings, and high-heeled shoes by the crew.
“They marched me out in full drag in broad daylight, making me cross the hotel foyer crowded with people and down the hotel steps into the car,” recalled Simmonds. “I felt a right Charlie and the last glimpse I had of Terence and Sean was as they collapsed into two huge chairs in the foyer, gulping for air in barely controlled hysterics.”
After filming for two days, the crew moved on to shooting Bond’s escape from the Château via a Q dept. jet pack. The US Air Force had been experimenting with jet packs, so the production contacted Bell-Textron for a demonstration. “It actually worked and was very dangerous because you could only fly for 20 seconds,” said production designer Ken Adam. “Then you ran out of fuel and had nothing.” Close-ups of Sean Connery didn’t show 007 sporting a protective helmet, but when jet pack pilot Bill Suitor insisted on wearing headgear, the close-ups were reshot.
February 25 1965
The production returned to the series’ spiritual home of Pinewood Studios. Scenes shot here included Bond undercover at the Shrublands health clinic, seducing physiotherapist Patricia (Molly Peters), fighting with a SPECTRE pilot, and a love scene with SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi).
March 24th 1965
Departing on March 22, the crew relocated to Nassau in the Bahamas. Filming began with Bond discussing the aphrodisiac properties of Clam Chowder with Domino (Claudine Auger), continuing with the Bond-Domino dinner at the Casino filmed at the Café Martinique on Paradise Island.
April 12 1965
The crew assembled to start filming on Largo’s yacht, the Disco Volante. Designed by Ken Adam, the vessel needed to separate from the hull and become a hydrofoil to outrun the US Navy. Envisaged as 160 ft long and capable of travelling at 50 knots, Adam bought an old hydrofoil and built a catamaran at the back to increase the size; the two hulls held together by two one-inch slip bolts. A week before the shoot, the team was still struggling to get the two hulls to separate. On the day of filming, Young recalled, “Everybody got ready; we had a helicopter following, we had this fast speedboat, and three cameras mounted on this enormous great Mississippi barge. The boat came by, and clean as a whistle the front came off, the back remained, and that was it! We had nothing else to do, so Sean and I went off and played golf!”
April 26 1965
On a recce, the production decided on a villa at Rock Point to double as Largo’s villa. The abode, belonging to Mr. Livingston Sullivan, hosted two swimming pools, which the crew filled with approximately 16 live sharks ranging from seven to 15 feet long. To achieve shots of Sean Connery in the water with the sharks safely, Ken Adam created a plexiglass corridor so the actor was on one side and the sharks on the other. On the third take, a shark got through, and Connery found himself face-to-face with a predator. “I got out of the water so fast I was dry when I touched the side,” recalled the actor. According to Young, “The shot we have in the picture of Sean Connery is not acting.”
May 10 1965
Shooting the big climactic underwater battle started with close-ups on Connery and Celi. While the main unit returned to the UK, the underwater unit continued working on the sequence, employing 45 divers. With so many stunt people carrying dangerous weapons, rehearsals were undertaken onboard a huge barge and then replicated below the waves.
“You can only retain so much in your mind before you need to talk again,” remembered underwater cameraman Ricou Browning. “And in those days, we didn’t have underwater communication so we had to use hand signals. When it got so complicated you couldn’t use hand signals, you just came topside and rehearsed it again, and went back again. It was time consuming.”
May 31 1965
Shooting the destruction of the Disco Volante. The scene started with special effects supervisor John Stears and his team revamping a floating hull of a boat to resemble Largo’s vessel. Shot at Rose Island, 30 miles from Nassau, the boat was primed with pyrotechnics and sent into the rocks. The subsequent explosion was spectacular, but after a five-minute delay, the debris started raining down on the crew. Stears recalled there was “40 tons of boat coming down on top of us…The engine was the biggest piece, came down in one, and crashed into the coral. The miraculous thing is nothing hit us.”
June 21 1965
Following a week of shooting the fight on the bridge of the Disco Volante, the production moved to Silverstone racetrack on June 21 to shoot the chase between Bond in the Aston Martin and Count Lippe (Guy Doelman) in a Ford Fairlane Skyliner, which ends with Lippe being killed by Fiona Volpe firing rockets from a Lightning BSA motorbike. With the Ford Fairlane prepped to explode, the cars were doing speeds of 70mph, with stunt supervisor Bob Simmons driving for Lippe.
“The rockets were fired on the motorbike,” recalled John Stears. “It all happened perfectly: the car exploded, went off the track, down the ditch, and we cut. We raced up the track with the ambulances and a fire engine. Bob wasn’t there. We thought he was under the car. Terence and everybody were really panicking, then a voice behind Terence said, “How was that, guv?” and it was Bob. He’d crawled out of the car, up the bank and come around the back of us. Terence said, “You bastard! Don’t you ever do that to me again!”
July 8 1965
The film completed production with key Largo scenes such as the SPECTRE boardroom and torturing Domino. The tank at Pinewood was also employed for close-ups of the Vulcan cockpit — heat from the underwater lights threatened to crack the glass of the tank — and for Maurice Binder’s title sequence. The production wrapped on July 8.
Dec 9 1965
Thunderball premiered in Tokyo on December 9, with a US release following on December 22. As a marketing stunt, certain cinemas were open 24 hours a day for audiences to experience the new 007. With a budget of $9 million, the film went on to gross £142 million worldwide, with over 58 million admissions in the US alone. Once adjusted for inflation, the film is among the highest-grossing Bond films of all time. Next up: You Only Live Twice.
The Loves Of James Bond
As a jet-setting secret agent, James Bond has been surrounded by women, some fleeting dalliances, others more lasting. To mark Valentine’s Day, let’s take a look at the complex, compelling relationships of 007: his first true love, the mother of his child, and the woman he married.
Tracy di Vicenzo
Played by: Diana Rigg
As seen in: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
The Back Story: Contessa Teresa ‘Tracy’ di Vicenzo is the only daughter of Marc Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti), the head of Europe’s biggest crime syndicate, Union Corse. Perhaps as an act of rebellion against her father’s wealth and status, Tracy lived life in the fast lane, causing her father to withdraw her allowance. An ill-fated marriage gave her the title of Countess. She prefers the name Tracy to Teresa, saying, “I am not a saint.”
The Love Story: Bond (George Lazenby) first meets Tracy at her lowest ebb, saving her from attempted suicide, wading into the sea in Portugal. Tracy speeds away in her Red Cougar but Bond catches up with her at Hotel Palacio Estoril’s casino, where he bails her out of a bad bet. Bond returns to his suite to be held at gunpoint by Tracy with his own Walther PPK. Bond disarms and seduces her but, in the morning, Tracy leaves Bond in bed, repaying her gambling debt in full.
The act of saving Tracy’s life puts 007 on the radar of Draco, who kidnaps Bond and offers him information on SPECTRE leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas) in return for marrying his daughter. Still, Bond starts courting Tracy. Once Tracy learns of 007’s arrangement with her father, she breaks off the relationship, heartbroken. Bond reveals that his feelings were sincere, and the pair slowly fall in love.
The Height of Passion: Tracking Bond down in Switzerland, Tracy helps 007 escape in a frantic car chase on ice. The couple takes refuge from a blizzard in a remote barn, where Bond not only professes his love for Tracy but proposes marriage. She accepts.
Love Language: “I love you. I know I’ll never find another woman like you. Will you marry me?”
The Long Goodbye: Having defeated Blofeld at Piz Gloria, Bond and Tracy marry at Draco’s estate. The pair set off on honeymoon in 007’s Aston Martin festooned with flowers. As Bond pulls over to remove the garlands, Blofeld and his number two, Irma Blunt (Ilse Steppat), pull up and shower the car with bullets. Tracy is killed, leaving a bereft, disbelieving Bond to mutter, “We have all the time in the world.”
Vesper Lynd
Played by: Eva Green
As seen in: Casino Royale
The Back Story: Vesper Lynd works for the Financial Action Task Force of Her Majesty’s Treasury and has a deep understanding of illicit banking practices. Unknown to Bond (Daniel Craig), Vesper was in a clandestine relationship with French-Algerian QUANTUM operative Yusef Kabira (Simon Kassianides), who had been held hostage by his bosses, forcing Vesper to betray 007.
The Love Story: Bond first meets Vesper in a dining car on a train bound for Montenegro, their smart, flirtatious banter signalling an instant attraction. She has been assigned to bankroll 007 in a high-stakes game of Texas Hold ‘Em at Casino Royale, with the aim of engaging Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a banker who finances international terrorism.
As the game begins at Casino Royale, Vesper reluctantly poses as Bond’s trophy girlfriend and refuses to stake him in the game as he begins to lose money. She aids Bond in a titanic struggle with Ugandan Warlord Steven Obanno (Isaach de Bankolé) but the tussle leaves her shaken, Bond comforting her later in their hotel shower, both fully clothed, a moment of intimacy that draws the pair closer together.
She then saves Bond’s life after he drinks a drugged shaken-not-stirred vodka martini (a drink Bond dubs a Vesper) by plugging in a defibrillator that saves his life at the last moment. After winning the poker game, Bond chases after a kidnapped Vesper, swerving to miss her in his Aston Martin as she is left tied-up in the middle of the road.
The Height of Passion: While recuperating in hospital, Bond and Vesper admit their love for each other, causing Bond to resign and head for a romantic break in Venice.
Love Language: “I have no armour left. You’ve stripped it from me. Whatever is left of me – whatever is left of me – whatever I am – I’m yours.”
The Long Goodbye: After Vesper embezzles the Casino Royale winnings to save Kabira, Bond gives chase to try to stop her from handing over the money. Vesper is thrown in an elevator and, as the antiquated Venetian building begins to sink in the melee, locks herself in. Bond does his best to save her, finally getting her out of the sunken lift but unable to revive her through CPR.
As a final act of love, Vesper leaves her phone for Bond to discover a vital clue to infiltrating QUANTUM. It also starts a trail that leads him to the next and possibly biggest love of 007’s life.
Madeleine Swann
Played by: Léa Seydoux
As seen in: Spectre, No Time To Die
The Back Story: The daughter of high-ranking SPECTRE member Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), Madeleine renounced her father and his lifestyle, going into hiding, working for Médecins Sans Frontières, and then as a psychiatrist at the Hoffler Klinik near Sölden in the Austrian Alps. A traumatic event in her childhood — being attacked by terrorist Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek), who murdered her mother — gave her a lifelong fear and hatred of violence and weapons.
The Love Story: Following the suicide of Mr. White, Bond seeks out Madeleine at the Hoffler Klinik. She leads him to the L’Americain Hotel in Morocco, where White has left a secret stash of information that leads them to the nerve centre of SPECTRE and Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) in the middle of the desert. With the help of an exploding watch, Bond and Madeleine escape, destroying SPECTRE HQ and head to London. Madeleine is kidnapped by SPECTRE but Bond rescues her, the pair escaping by speedboat, then taking down Blofeld in a helicopter. The following morning, Bond and Madeleine leave in 007’s Aston Martin for a new life.
In No Time To Die, Bond and Madeleine are travelling through Matera, Italy. The couple comes under attack from SPECTRE, Bond believing Madeleine has set him up. He sends her away by train, unaware she is carrying his child. Swann comes back into 007’s orbit five years later when, under the orders of Safin, she is instructed to kill Blofeld via nanotech biological weapon, Heracles, while he is imprisoned at Belmarsh prison. Her hand inadvertently touches Bond’s, transferring the Heracles virus to 007, who kills Blofeld but not before the agent learns Madeleine didn’t betray him in Matera.
The Height of Passion: Bond tracks Madeleine to her home in Norway — the site of her childhood run-in with Safin — and the pair begin to open up (Madeleine: “I understand you’re not built to trust people”; Bond: “Neither are you.”) As they move in for a kiss, they are interrupted by Swann’s five-year-old daughter Mathilde (Lisa-Dorah Sonnet), Madeleine denying the child is Bond’s. The makeshift family unit is interrupted by Safin’s henchman. After a furious car chase, Bond hides Madeleine and Mathilde but they are captured by Safin.
Love Language: “We have all the time in the world.”
The Long Goodbye: Madeleine and Matilda are taken to Safin’s hideout on Poison Island, where Bond mounts a rescue mission and kills Safin, opening the island’s missile silos allowing the warship HMS Dragon to destroy the island. In a heart-breaking farewell, Bond radios Madeleine, who has been escorted off the island by Nomi (Lashana Lynch), to say goodbye and declare his love for her and Mathilde. Bond dies as the missiles strike the island but not before Madeleine confirms that Mathilde is his daughter, Bond admitting he knew all along.
Later, Madeleine drives Matilda to Matera, telling her daughter. “I’m going to tell you a story about a man. His name was Bond, James Bond.”
