Location, Location, Location

In his four-film tenure, Pierce Brosnan’s Bond visited iconic global locations, covering all terrains and temperatures. From sun-kissed beaches to freezing cold snowscapes, the beating heart of an urban metropolis to rugged mountain ranges, Brosnan’s 007 films have used impeccably researched locations to add touches of drama, glamour, romance and danger. Here are some of the best spots the fifth James Bond visited.

GoldenEye (1995)

Switzerland 

The mission: Bond and fellow MI6 agent Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) infiltrate a top-secret Soviet nerve gas facility in Arkhangelsk, Russia. Bond swallow-dives 640ft on a bungee, firing a piton gun into the facility’s roof and hauling himself down the remaining way. 

The Location: The scene was captured on March 11, 1995, at Verzasca Dam near Locarno, Switzerland, standing in for Russia. The record-breaking 640ft jump was performed by stuntman Wayne Michaels, who bruised his back and legs as winds pushed him into the concrete wall. 

Cuba

The mission: Bond and Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco) travel to Cuba in search of the Goldeneye satellite dish. The pair discover the dish, which is submerged in a lake in the middle of a jungle to avoid detection from spy satellites and aerial reconnaissance. Bond begins to set remote charges, getting captured and brought before a gloating Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) to buy Natalya time to reprogram the satellites with new codes. 

The Location: The set-piece was shot at the Arecibo observatory (aka National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center) in Puerto Rico. The dish, which is over 1000 metres across, has produced maps of Venus and, in 1974, beamed the Arecibo message, an interstellar radio message conveying information about humanity and Earth into space. Unsurprisingly, the radar radio telescope could not submerge underwater, so Derek Meddings’ model unit created a miniature replica on the backlot of Leavesden studios. 

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Russia

The Mission: A terrorist arms bazaar somewhere on the Russian border. Bond has infiltrated the sale to identify arms dealers and terrorists. Against M’s objections, the Royal Navy launch a missile strike, unaware that the terrorists have a military jet packed with two nuclear torpedoes. To avert environmental disaster, Bond steals the Russian plane and escapes, flying through the explosion after the missile impacts.

The Location: On January 20, the crew convened at Peyragude at Balcons de Peyresourde in the French Pyrenees to create the pre-credit sequence involving the arms sale. Chris Corbould’s crew blew up a missile launcher, a helicopter, a truck and a jeep. The cruise missile explosion consisted of 30 smaller explosions to make one big fireball. 

Saigon

The Mission: Bond and Chinese agent Wai-Lin (Michelle Yeoh) are captured and taken to media mogul Elliott Carver’s HQ in Ho Chi Minh City. But, before Carver’s henchman Stamper can torture them, the pair escape by jumping through a window and sliding down a huge banner of Carver. A furious chase begins with Bond and Wai-Lin escaping on a motorbike — at one point, Bond performs a death-defying leap over a helicopter to evade his pursuers. 

The Location: Both the first and second units travelled to Thailand to create Bond and Wai-Lin’s bike chase through Saigon. Action unit director Vic Armstrong opted for a heavy-duty BMW R1 200 C Cruiser to perform the jumps and stunts to add further jeopardy. The unit captured Bond and Wai-Lin’s death-defying leap forty-three stories up the Sinn Sathorn Tower, the jump performed by Mark Southworth and Wendy Leech. 

The World Is Not Enough (1999)

London

The Mission: Bond returns the ransom money for Elektra King to her father, Sir Robert King, at MI6 in London. The metallic strip in one of the notes sparks a huge explosion that blows a hole in the wall of MI6 HQ. Spotting an assassin on a boat taking aim at him, 007 jumps into an experimental Q Dept jet-powered boat and gives chase down the Thames, taking shortcuts down narrow streets and through a restaurant, destroying the boat near the Millennium Dome. Escaping in a hot air balloon, the killer escapes in a hot air balloon but decides on self-destruction rather than Bond’s offer of protection.

The Location: This 14-minute set-piece was the longest pre-credit sequence at the time. With the pull of the 007 franchise opening up doors to stage a full-on boat chase in front of the Houses of Parliament,  the action was staged over five weeks from March 29 to May 7 — on the first day, a burst of gunfire provoked a member of the public to call the police, not aware that the police were already present. 

Azerbaijan 

The Mission: Bond meets Elektra King in Baku, Azerbaijan, offering his services of protection. In the Caucasus Mountains, Elektra shows Bond her pipeline, but the pair come under attack from a crew of armed assassins piloting parahawks. Bond sees off the aggressor, sending the parahawks colliding into each other, causing an explosion that initiates an avalanche. 007 saves the day as Bond deploys a rapid-inflating sphere.   

The Location: The second unit shot the parahawks sequence in Chamonix, France. The Parahawks, skidoos suspended from parachutes, were part of the Russian Special  Services Atomic Energy Anti-Terrorist Unit. It was so cold that the cameras were tested in the fridges at Heathrow airport, and the weather disrupted the schedule via overcast skies, avalanche warnings, and diesel freezing in the trucks. 

Die Another Day (2002)

Cuba

The Mission: Bond heads to Cuba on the trail of General Zao (Rick Yune), who has been spotted as a patient at the Clinica Alvarez, a clinic that uses DNA-modifying technology that can modify a person’s physical appearance to create a brand new identity. Posing as a bird watcher on a beach, Bond meets Jinx, a tourist who banters with Bond, and the pair spends the night together. The next day, Bond gains access to Alvarez’s clinics and discovers Zao. The pair fight, but Zao escapes, and the clinic catches fire following sabotage by Jinx, who is revealed as a CIA agent.

The Location: With the script demanding sunny climes, the crew headed to Cadiz in Spain as a proxy for Cuba, expecting high temperatures. Instead, they were greeted with rain, wind and cloud cover. Pierce Brosnan hammed it up, sporting a pink hot water bottle, which he described.

Iceland

The Mission: On the invitation of Gustav Graves, Bond goes to Iceland to witness the unveiling of the Icarus project – a diamond-powered satellite with enough power to illuminate half the planet – at Graves’ spectacular ice palace. Reuniting with Jinx, the pair join forces — 007 saves her life from laser torture — as the real purpose of Graves’ satellite is revealed: a huge orbital space weapon transforms solar light into a huge destructive ray. Bond flees the powerful beam in Graves’ ice dragster. Bond returns in his Aston Martin in invisibility mode, taking on Zao in an epic car chase over icy wastes and into Graves’ fortress, the palace melting from the power of the heat ray.

The Location: To shoot the ballet between Bond’s V12 and Zao’s Jaguar XKR, the production found a spectacular lagoon near Vatnajökull, which not only freezes over but is also surrounded by icebergs. Unfortunately, Iceland went through unprecedented warm conditions, causing the lagoon to thaw. The unit looked at alternative locations in Alaska, but the cost was prohibitively high. Then the Iceland location experienced its coldest February for 60 years, and the ice froze to a depth that could host a hot pursuit. Still, the camera car was fitted with floatation devices in case the surface cracked.