Cypher 007 Mobile Game Launches

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Cypher 007 is a new James Bond action-adventure mobile game available exclusively on Apple Arcade.  

In this top-down game, the player becomes Agent 007 and visits some of Bond’s most iconic moments. Blofeld, criminal mastermind and head of SPECTRE has hatched a plan to sabotage Bond.  This time he has utilised a brainwashing technique known as CYPHER, holding Bond captive in a trance like state in an attempt to turn him into the ultimate double agent. Bond’s mission is to escape the mind trap, defeat Blofeld and shut down the CYPHER program by gathering intel and using spycraft to overcome obstacles as threats get progressively more difficult.

Players embark on a refreshing yet nostalgic journey alongside beloved characters: M, Q, and Moneypenny. While the essence of the characters remains timeless, none of them mirror any specific cast from the films. The gameplay sees players interact with gadgets, collectables, and enemies and the missions all have multiple paths to completion.

“Alongside MGM and Tilting Point, we developed a narrative that explores the psychological depths of James Bond, a facet that Ian Fleming beautifully portrayed in his novels but is a challenge to visually represent,” Gregg Wilson, associate producer explains. “This game, with its unique storyline, provides an immersive way of experiencing the complex world of the character.”  

The narrative’s core concept – Bond retracing steps from his previous missions – provided an opportunity to handpick the most iconic and exhilarating locations from Bond’s cinematic history. The team collaborated closely with crew members such as Neal Callow from the films’ Art Department to ensure the game’s visual elements and gadgets aligned with the distinctive aesthetic of our franchise.

Players will receive a 007 ranking that may be improved by progression through the game as well as performance on specific missions. Each ranking will be visible on a leaderboard so players will be able to see how they perform versus other players worldwide.

Cypher 007, available exclusively on Apple Arcade. Click here to download and play today.

Q’s London Home

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How do you design the personal abode of a well-loved character, away from his work environment? That was the assignment for the production design team on No Time To Die who created Q’s home. 

The plot

Introducing Q’s house to the audience gave a glimpse into the personal life of the man behind the gadgets. Producer Michael G. Wilson explains, “After meeting M, Moneypenny asks Bond if they can go to dinner. He says, ‘Fine’, and they end up going to Q’s house. We see Q’s domestic situation for the first time, with his hairless cats, and he’s preparing for a friend coming for dinner. It is great to see Moneypenny, Bond and Q back together. It’s the usual banter and humour we’ve come to expect from these characters. Q reluctantly helps out Bond. He knows it’s not something sanctioned by M and MI6, but he senses something is wrong. Q gets into the database that Bond gives him and begins to see issues that affect the plot. It takes us on to the next phase of the film.” 

The London location

Art Director Sandra Phillips, who worked on No Time To Die and Quantum of Solace, gave Q a “lovely two up-two down,” based on a Victorian terrace in Roupell Street, a conservation area near Waterloo train station. While the real Roupell Street exterior was used for the scene where Bond and Moneypenny turn up unannounced, interrupting his dinner preparations, the interior of Q’s home was a set built on the Richard Attenborough Stage at Pinewood Studios, which featured an open-plan ground floor with interconnected living space, kitchen-diner and terraced garden. 

The interior design

“It was fun to create Q’s London home,” says Mark Tildesley, Production Designer on No Time To Die. “We’ve given him a house that’s in central London, not far from Waterloo station, so that he can cycle to work. He has a small cottage – a Victorian, old traditional cottage – just off of Waterloo, which is cosy. A bit Q really, a bit like his jumpers and various pieces. It was designed to be slightly quirky.” 

Revealing character through decor

“When we were thinking about him as a character, we were trying to make him very normal and domestic at home, not a crazy boffin,” explains Mark Tildesley. “We feature him cooking and taking care of his cats. It was fun to have time to see his personal life.” 

“He’s not a cold scientist,” adds set decorator Véronique Melery, who made her 007 debut with No Time To Die. “We decided he was a guy of great taste and warmth, perhaps warmer than the audience could imagine. Q’s a young person living in the world like anyone else but having a great curiosity about science and gadgets. He’s a kind person, loves music, is a great chef, and has a new potential relationship.”

Q’s home style

When it came to furnishings, it was important that every item reflected Q’s personality. “He’s very dapper, very smartly put together, so obviously cares about things,” notes Sandra Phillips. “His home is well looked after, even if it’s slightly chaotic. We had lots of Georgian influences, but tried to use a lot of dark blues and reds. It was a rich mixture of textures and colours, so it felt very lived-in. Lots of dark wood and low, moody lighting.” 

Q’s kitchen was purpose built from scratch. “It’s not one you could get from Ikea,” says Véronique Melery, who filled the culinary space with “interesting pots and things around the kitchen that I was buying in John Lewis or Peter Jones – the shops where you go to get good, quality stuff.” His furniture was procured mostly from second-hand shops and the sofa from a property store. The room was also filled with coasters and placemats that declared Q’s love for the royal family. “He is a royalist, a traditionalist,” Véronique explains. “He likes the tacky image these funny little knick-knacks convey.” And Q’s book shelves were curated carefully too. ​​”We talked about books that were related to his work: science, discoveries, physics and mathematics. Plus books about music, history and biographies,” Véronique says. 

Q the musician

Set decorator Véronique Melery envisaged Q as a composer of electronic music so looked to create a homemade keyboard. Help came from an unlikely source as Associate Producer Gregg Wilson, who, with Q like ingenuity, had built his own modular synthesiser. Veronique created a yellow three-dimensional structure hung on the wall to absorb and reverberate the sound. The work also played into Q’s taste in art which Veronique calls “not entirely mainstream. We thought he would like artists who are more instinctive than cerebral.” The idea of Q as a culture vulture came from his first meeting with Bond at the National Portrait Gallery in Skyfall.

Q’s pets

For Ben Whishaw, the at home scene was an opportunity to show a more rounded life of a Quartermaster. “He’s got two cats that we learn about in Spectre, but these cats are hairless cats and very, very beautiful actually,” Ben said. “They are highly intelligent, very charming and well behaved.” 

Véronique Melery felt the Egyptian Sphinx cats perfectly represented their owner. “They are a bit like him – slightly different,” she says. ”Q really takes great care of them. He’s built a little labyrinth on high so the cats can lie about and there are nests for them to sleep in. The cats were very well behaved on set and talkative – they liked to express themselves!” 

The Final Verdict

“I really loved seeing his home environment. Seeing what his habitat is like away from MI6 and how much there is still of him in it and some of the kind of quirky and peculiar things that are going on there,” says Ben Whishaw. “It’s still like a work environment really. I don’t think he’s someone who ever really stops working or thinking. I think it’s been growing in several of the recent films, the kind of tension between having a private life and having a family life; having a relationship and also your commitment to your work.”

Add some Quartermaster style to your home. Q’s bone china mug showing the periodic table in full colour, made by McLaggan Smith, as seen on his desk in No Time To Die is available to buy here priced £14.95.

The Style Of Skyfall And Spectre

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Jany, you’re a James Bond fan first and foremost…

I love it, love it, love it! 

When were you first introduced to 007?

The film I fell in love with was Octopussy. It was the first one I saw in a cinema in Paris, on a big screen on the Champs-Élysées. I was full of aspiration afterwards, it was so glamorous. 

How did you become involved with the James Bond films?

Through Sam Mendes. He was looking for someone to work on the costumes for Skyfall. My agent told me that he was interested in seeing me, we had a meeting to discuss the work and that was it. I think Sam looked at my work on Harry Potter and liked it. 

What were your first steps when starting on a Bond film?

You have to respect what has been done before and at the same time innovate. It’s very hard to take on a legacy and do something more modern. This was the challenge, the balance between innovation and being respectful of the tradition of 007.

How do you find that balance of adding your own style and respecting the tradition?

There were 50 years of history when I started. I had to look at what sort of man Bond could be now, how he could hold the values of a modern English gentleman and spy, and show this in how he looks. I was very much helped by Daniel Craig who had a very good idea of what he wanted to look like. I went to see him in New York with a bunch of clothes. We created the shape of his suit together before seeing Tom Ford.  I was really happy to be with Barbara Broccoli because it’s quite intimidating, arriving in that temple of style. We told them Tom Ford is what we all wanted Daniel to wear as James Bond. They sent me their best tailor and some samples from Italy. The collaboration was brilliant. Tom Ford was also very happy that I wanted to have the tuxedo in dark blue instead of black.

The midnight blue dinner jacket – was that inspired by Sean Connery’s era in the 60s? 

No, I didn’t ever know that, I just thought blue was an interesting idea. I had a gentleman to create. I thought that there is a sense of tradition in Bond and I can bring what I think is new. But I discover with 60 years of history nothing is new. I chose midnight blue dinner jackets because it has an elegance and way of showing sophistication. 

Was getting the look of James Bond’s suits your main challenge as Costume Designer?

We wanted to have an athletic, strong, sporty man. The fact that the suits are tight is not just an aesthetic reason, it is because I wanted to see the body to show what he is physically capable of. You can see that 007 has legs to run. It was good to show fans that yes, you can wear a suit that looks cool and feels young. He is somebody dressed to have a martini in a bar and to fight. He is ready for action and the suit shows that. 

How much collaboration do you do with actors and the director? 

Everything we did was to fit the script and was looked at by Sam Mendes. We talked in the beginning and I mentioned ideas such as the style of (legendary French actor and filmmaker) Alain Delon, my inspiration through various designers and what characters could wear. Daniel had ideas for certain looks and things he was comfortable in but the physical suit, that was agreed between everyone but especially with Sam and Daniel.

In Skyfall, Q and Moneypenny are re-introduced. How important was it to modernise them?

Q’s quirky look was very much from Sam Mendes. He wanted Q to be someone who is incredibly intelligent.  So we thought of all those kids working in tech and social media. They were spending a hell of a lot of money on clothes and were fashionable in a very nerdy way. That’s what we wanted to show for Q. I sent an image pitching the idea to Sam and he said, “You’ve nailed it, you’ve got it, exactly how I wanted”.

Q had a statement mustard cardigan. How did that come about?

It’s from the menswear designer, Dries van Noten. Everything Q wears on screen is extremely expensive on purpose. It is sort of how a tech or computer millionaire will dress. I imagined Q going to a very expensive shop but to buy a cardigan because that’s what he likes to wear and at school he had one. 

Who’s costume did you spend the most time on?

After 007, the one character who was very difficult was Javier Bardem’s Silva. Javier came with one goal in mind and said, “I want to be as beautiful as Daniel”. Some might think that is vanity but Javier assured me that in the scene where they are both together, he wanted to be attractive even though underneath, his looks have been completely destroyed. Javier said to me, “I want to be a man with a certain level of attraction because if not, the scene where Bond is attracted to me will make no sense”. That was a very strong point. So we had to find a style but it took us a long time. For example, the policeman’s suit, people may think that was easy but it was a tailored suit just for Silva. We were shooting on the underground and we had real policemen who were looking at Javier in his uniform saying, “Oh my god, check it out. That jacket is so well cut. Is that the new uniform?” and I would say, “No, no no. The jacket was made by hand to look like a policeman’s uniform”.

Are there any other costumes that you enjoyed on Skyfall?

The black dress with the nude back worn by Bérénice Lim Marlohe as Sévérine. That was an idea from Sam who said, “I am going to start this shot with the back of the dress”. So I started looking into transparent material for the back of the dress. We had 10 of those dresses. It was so tight and difficult to wear and was in two pieces, so we had to sew Bérénice into it. You don’t see any of this on screen of course but the practicalities of the dress meant not going to the loo for many hours. So you put on the dress in the morning, get out of it at lunchtime and back into it for the afternoon.  I think Bérénice was quite happy to get rid of it at the end of the day.

The glamorous dresses are obviously also a big part of Bond history…

It is not just beautiful clothing, it’s a femme fatale dress. When I told Sam that Miss Moneypenny would be wearing gold in that scene he was worried the character would look like an Oscar statue. I said, “No, it won’t be that kind of gold, it will be more like anise”. We worked on it to find the final colour to make the dress stand out in the scene. It was wonderful working with Sam and I don’t think that I would have done such a good job without his guidance.

How important is it to work with other teams such as hair and make-up teams to keep the cast looking perfect?

Very important. You only get extremely beautiful results with tight collaboration between departments.  Nothing happens ‘par hasard’. Make-up designer Naomi Donne is great at sharing ideas and Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are excellent for encouraging this. They  really put people together and connect with the heads of department so people exchange ideas. This is reflected in the final film on screen.

In Spectre, the Day of the Dead opening sequence is such a big statement. How did you put together a vibrant sequence with all of the costumes?

It looks so good because we had plenty of time. When I started on Spectre, the script was not ready and that opening was the only part  that I could start on besides Daniel’s costume which was going to be with Tom Ford. For The Day of the Dead, we spent so many months on it and I had a workshop in Mexico with incredible people. It was just designing, designing, designing. We started working out shapes, patterns and arranging things so they could be mixed around to give us a range of outfits. Then the 10 shapes could be multiplicated by changing the colour, shape and patterns on the outfit. Quite cleverly, it gives you lots of designs and looks. That is why the opening scene looks so good, because we had time to prepare.

What a huge project to design an entire parade on this scale…
So many people but also key characters are involved. I had two choices for Daniel to wear based on the fact Bond enters the room, removes clothes, goes out of the window and straight on the roof in one camera movement. I had to get something that he could take off quickly. So I thought, “Give him a mask, poncho or coat and then a suit underneath”. Daniel chose the coat which looked perfect and the top hat was a nice addition. 

How did you get through so many people so quickly for that opening sequence?

A great team effort. My costume supervisor thought it was really a kick to have 4,000 people dressed up in the morning and he studied how they could be dressed, ready and available in four hours. It was fantastic but it was only because the system was very good.

I saw dresses made of paper, with paper napkins and paper plates in the Mexican Day of the Dead festival. Nothing is impossible in Mexico because they have this fantastic attitude of, “Oh you want it, that’s no problem. We can make an event with all those people”. They helped me tremendously to make dresses out of those paper flowers.  And we had whirling dancers in the street scenes and I thought it would be cool to make them look different again so we put them on wheels. The choreographer was up for the challenge and had seen a ballet in New York where they appeared on wheels. So we asked for those mechanisms to be made and it was met with a simple “No problem” by the crews in Mexico. 

In Spectre you filmed in the heat and the snow. How difficult is it to blend what the script requires with the character costumes?

When we got to Austria I was thinking it would be terrible because I cannot keep the actors warm and make them look stylish. I can dress Daniel Craig in ski clothes but I cannot dress Léa Seydoux in ski clothes because she is meant to be at work and then kidnapped. You cannot wait for her to get a coat on! I asked a colleague of mine, costume designer Jacqueline West, how she had kept Leonardo DiCaprio warm on the set of The Revenant. They were filming outdoors in the snow around the same time we were. She said all of the garments were kept warm on battery powered heaters on wire through the garments. So we immediately bought ourselves some and built them into the undergarments. They keep the actors warm for three hours and then you change the batteries. So Léa was warm because she had those clothes with heating devices. I was so grateful to Jacqueline West as she gave me that tip. 

What inspired Daniel’s look in those snow scenes?

I found that style by looking at the 1950s and 1960s. In France we have a special army called the Chasseurs Alpins, they are expert mountain skiers. I found a trouser in their uniform from the ‘60s and showed it to Daniel. He liked the idea so I went to Tom Ford and then they remade it for me in their unique style. We added the sweater with a sleeve, the sunglasses and the gilet to round out the look but it had to be practical for the actors as well as very stylish.

Do you have ideas ready if you were to work on another Bond film?

Yes, it would be brilliantly challenging. I would love to create a new Bond and find out what’s true for a new actor.  Seeing how you mix a gentleman who is also a spy but is also different from the Bond we know and love. 

What advice do you have for men to dress more like James Bond? 

Start to get fit. Even if you don’t look like Bond, people will notice the improvements. Train the body to look good and a great suit will sit better on you. Then get a tailored suit made for you. If you can afford it, get a great, expensive suit made for you. Great tailoring can make a difference and can correct a lot of things.

How important is it to get the right shoes and watch to match a tailored suit?
This is taken care of for Bond by OMEGA and people like Crockett and Jones. Their work brought the look of 007 together for Daniel Craig. I believe in men’s tailoring. I find the most beautiful bespoke suit is elegant, sophisticated and you keep it for years. You don’t need to have a lot. Three suits and a shirt made for you. Then you add the handmade shoes. It is better to start little and build your wardrobe with a few items that are of excellent quality.

The 007 London Walking Tour

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Use our Google map tours linked below or the pinned locations map here to explore 007’s London. 

Part 1 – Google map tour here (4 hours) 

Vauxhall 

Start south of the river at Vauxhall, home to the SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) site, Vauxhall Cross. This imposing building overlooking Vauxhall Bridge has played Bond’s MI6 HQ in a number of films since debuting in 1995’s GoldenEye. On screen it has come under attack in The World Is Not Enough, Skyfall, and Spectre. Vauxhall Cross also appears as an establishing shot in Die Another Day, and the film’s writers go on to acknowledge the building’s real-life name with scenes set below MI6 in the fictional Vauxhall Cross tube station. 

Victoria  

Head north across Vauxhall Bridge to take a look at the home of 007’s creator Ian Fleming at 16 Victoria Square. Nestled between Buckingham Palace and Victoria Station, the property was his London base from 1953 and is designed by early Victorian architect Sir Matthew Wyatt. 

Belgravia  

While GoldenEye in Jamaica is Ian Fleming’s most famous home, his flat at 22B Ebury Street just streets away in Belgravia played a prominent role in his younger years. The building was formerly the Pimlico Literary Institution and now features an English Heritage blue plaque commemorating Fleming’s time there from 1936 to 1941. 

Notting Hill 

Walk north west across Hyde Park to St. Sophia’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral on Moscow Road. The interior is filled with ornate Byzantine mosaics and doubled for the St. Petersburg church where Natalya meets Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye.  

King’s Cross  

Turn east and through Marylebone to St. Pancras Station on Euston Road. GoldenEye features St. Pancras Station, re-casting it as St. Petersburg Station for the scene where Natalya arrives by train and tries to elude the authorities.

Mayfair 

Go south into central London to DUKES bar on St. James’s Place in Mayfair, one of Ian Fleming’s favourite spots and which is sometimes linked with 007’s famous martini.

The Mall  

A short walk away is tourist favourite Buckingham Palace. Its surroundings can be seen in Die Another Day as Gustav Graves parachutes in to receive his knighthood from the Queen. Madeleine Swann is seen crossing the Mall and in St James’s Park on her way to her office in No Time To Die (2021). 

St James’s

Not far from the royal residence is Boodle’s Club in St James’s Street, said to have been part of Fleming’s inspiration for Blades Club, which appears prominently in his 1955 novel Moonraker. 

One of the many nods to Bond history in Die Another Day (2002) is the appropriation of the name Blades for the fencing club where Bond duels with Gustav Graves. Sited at The Reform Club, a private members club in nearby Pall Mall, it’s here that Madonna makes her cameo appearance. The Reform Club was also used in Quantum Of Solace (2008), doubling as the Foreign Office for the scene where M meets the Foreign Secretary.  

Just round the corner you’ll find the white stucco-faced buildings of Carlton House Terrace which are used as the exterior for Madeleine Swann’s office in No Time To Die. 

Part 2 – Google map tour here (1.5 hours)

The West End 

Head just north of Oxford Circus where you’ll find The Langham on Portland Place which doubled for Bond’s luxury Russian hotel in St. Petersburg in 1995’s GoldenEye.

Covent Garden  

Head along Oxford Street towards The Freemasons’ Hall on Great Queen Street which was used for the Spectre Foreign Office scene where C is anointed as the Head of Nine Eyes.

Walk through Covent Garden to Rules, said to be one of the oldest restaurants in London where M, Q and Moneypenny meet in Spectre. If you make a dinner reservation, you can request ‘M’s table’ for your meal.

Trafalgar Square 

Not far away is The National Gallery which memorably features in 2012’s Skyfall, hosting the first meeting between Bond and his new Q. They meet in Room 34 where a melancholy Bond is gazing at The Fighting Temeraire by J.M.W. Turner. Turner’s famous oil painting depicts one of the final great warships from 1805’s Battle of Trafalgar being towed away for scrap, mirroring Bond’s potential future following the closure of the double-O programme. 

Nearby Malaysia House, just off Trafalgar Square on Cockspur Street, appeared in 1987’s The Living Daylights as Universal Exports, the front for MI6. 

And just round the corner is 35 Spring Gardens, which acted as the exterior of the safe house where M, Q and Moneypenny meet in Spectre (2015).

The Strand 

Stroll down The Strand for the next two destinations. The real-life London Underground enjoyed a starring role in Skyfall when villain Silva escapes MI6. While much of the action was shot at Pinewood Studios, filmmakers captured vital scenes on a disused Jubilee Line platform at Charing Cross Station, although on screen the chase sequence unfolds between Temple and Embankment stations. Further along the road from the train station, Somerset House doubled as St. Petersburg in GoldenEye with the production importing 40 Russian cars to drive around the courtyard for the scene where Bond and CIA operative Jack Wade break down in their rusty blue car. Somerset House also enjoyed a role in 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies as Bond pulls up for a meeting with M in his iconic Aston Martin DB5. 

Part 3 – Google map tour here (2 hours)

Whitehall  

From Somerset House, head to The Department of Energy and Climate Change in Whitehall which features in 2012’s Skyfall. The production shot on the rooftop, capturing the scene in which Moneypenny gives Bond the ceramic bulldog that M bequeathed to him in her will. 

The Ministry of Defence Main Building also in Whitehall took on the role of the MI6 offices for 2021’s No Time To Die. The building had previously played itself in 1981’s For Your Eyes Only. 

And nearby is the Old War Office Building, which doubles as MI6 in 1983’s Octopussy. 

Spectre’s final scene, which sees Bond and Madeleine drive off to a new life together in his DB5, was also shot in Whitehall, close to the Department for Business and Trade. 

Westminster 

The moment in Die Another Day when Bond enters Vauxhall Cross underground station ahead of meeting M, was filmed on the south side of Westminster Bridge. Walk to Big Ben and across Westminster Bridge which was also the backdrop to Spectre’s climax as Blofeld’s helicopter crashes and Bond has the opportunity to kill his nemesis but decides to let him live.  

Southwark 

Leaving Westminster Bridge, enjoy a long walk east as you head towards Southwark. Formerly the home of the Greater London Assembly and the Mayor of London, City Hall in Southwark appears in 2015’s Spectre as the home of the Centre for National Security.  

The City 

Enjoy the views from London Bridge as you go back over the river to The City. The Drapers’ Hall on Throgmorton Avenue was used to double as the Russian Council Chamber, St. Petersburg in 1995’s GoldenEye. Next stop is Blackfriars Pier on White Lion Hill next to the River Thames for the last part of your tour by water.

The River Thames & Docklands 

Take a boat trip along the Thames and take in some familiar sights both west and east. The river plays a prominent role in 1999’s The World Is Not Enough, which sees Bond pursuing the Cigar Girl assassin in the Q Jet Boat. The chase goes past the Houses of Parliament, through Tower Bridge to Docklands and the O2 Arena (or the Millennium Dome as it was known at the time) where Bond skids down the domed roof. Bond’s mid-air barrel roll in the Q Jet Boat was filmed at nearby Millwall Docks. 

Part 4 – Google map tour here (2 minutes)

Greenwich 

Your final destination is in east London. Disembark at Greenwich Pier and walk through the Cutty Sark Gardens to explore the Old Royal Naval College where Skyfall (2012) was filmed. It was also used for the scene where M attends the funerals of the MI6 agents killed in the terrorist attack. 

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Handcraft Your Very Own Aston Martin DB5

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With a monthly subscription from Agora Models, you can now enjoy building your very own museum-quality 1:8 scale Silver Birch DB5 from No Time To Die. The car is an exact replica of Bond’s Matera vehicle complete with LED changing number plates, tyre slashers, bulletproof glass, M134 mini-guns that extend from behind the headlights, mine dispenser with dropping mini-mines, full command control panel with slider smokescreen control, working ejector seat with button and roof markings. It also includes replicas of the distinctive side strakes that were used to eject shells from the mini-guns, chrome bumpers, and 12-inch crossbow wheels. You can even choose to reflect the extensive damage caused in the Matera attack, or keep the model in pristine condition!

Agora Models have worked closely with Aston Martin and EON Productions to create these specialist model kits designed from the original plans, photography and intricate laser scanning. There are over 500 pieces, all body parts arrive pre-painted and the car will be completed in 12 months. No painting and very little gluing is required, just a screwdriver that comes in Box 1.

Agora Models offer premium quality kits and ship globally from USA, UK, Australia, EU and Japan hubs. The DB5 subscription is available to pre-order now at 007Store.com.

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Brian Cox To Appear In 007: Road To A Million

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Emmy and Golden Globe winning Scottish actor Brian Cox (currently on screens as Logan Roy in Succession) has been cast as ‘The Controller’, the enigmatic character who controls the fate of the contestants in 007: Road To A Million.

007: Road To A Million will see contestants competing in teams of two on a global adventure to win the ultimate prize of up to £1 million. Filmed in iconic Bond locations – from the Scottish Highlands to Venice and Jamaica – this cinematic format will be a test of intelligence, endurance and heroism. In addition to conquering obstacles, the contestants, who will compete in two-person teams, must correctly answer questions hidden in the different locations around the world to advance to the next challenge.

The Controller revels in the increasingly difficult journeys and questions the contestants must overcome. He has millions of pounds to give away, but he doesn’t make it easy. Whilst he lurks in the shadows, he is watching and controlling everything.

Brian Cox said, “I got to see how ordinary people would cope with being on a James Bond adventure. As they travel the world to some of the most iconic Bond locations, it gets more intense and nail-biting. I enjoyed my role as both villain and tormentor, with license to put the hopeful participants through the mangle.”

007: Road To A Million is a unique collaboration between Amazon Studios, EON Productions, 72 Films and MGM Television. The unscripted series will launch exclusively on Prime Video later this year.

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From The Make-Up Chair

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BAFTA and Academy Award nominated make-up designer Naomi Donne, shares her memories of working on five of the Bond films: The Living Daylights, Licence To Kill, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre.

You’ve had an incredible career so far, where did it all begin?

I was doing a foundation course at Art school wondering where it might take me and it suddenly hit me that I could be a make–up artist. My mother rang the BBC to see if it was even a job and after a 3 year course at the London College of Fashion I managed to beg my way into the BBC to get on their training course. I left after an incredible 7 years to go on tour with Tracey Ullman as her make up artist. A year later I was working on a Bond film!

How was the move from TV and touring to Bond? 

Film was never on my horizon and I didn’t think there was any way I could ever get into it. Tracy [Ullman] was offered a film for Channel Four which I did with her and the producer asked me to do a feature film. It was called The Doctor and The Devils starring Timothy Dalton. It was my first film. Then I went off to work with The Comic Strip gang: Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French and Rik Mayall and Ade Edmonson. One day, I saw the headline ‘Timothy Dalton is the new James Bond’ and I said as a joke, “Wouldn’t it be fun if Tim asked me to be his personal make-up artist”. We all laughed. That night, the Bond producers rang and asked if I could come in for an interview. You have to understand it was so outside my realm of experience to even be working in film, let alone a Bond film. 

Were there major differences between working in TV and Bond?

At that time, all the make-up artists who worked in television were women but in film it was all men. There were some female hairdressers, but they had never seen a woman make-up artist before. But I got the job. I joined the Bond family and it has defined my career.

What were your first impressions working on The Living Daylights?

First of all, the make-up tests were terrifying because you have the whole team inspecting the look of the new 007. All the producers were there and I had never been in that situation before with producers giving me notes and asking what we can do. I was terrified!

What went into creating a look for Timothy Dalton as Bond?

Tim was very keen that there was a huge reality to his character. That might sound obvious now but that was a big change, not just in Bond films but for films in general. Films were moving away from heavily made up people who looked perfect and into a portrayal of expressing what the characters were going through. Many people said that Tim was ahead of his time with Bond. He was incredibly handsome so it wasn’t really a push to make him look good. I helped create a Bond that was good looking with a reality to him. So you see him sweat, his wounds, dirt on him after fighting, his hair becoming a bit messy, and all of the things Tim really wanted his 007 to be. You’re telling a story and the make-up has to fit that story. In the old Bond films, you’d never see Sean Connery with two-day beard growth so he’d always be clean shaven. But with Tim, you would go, “Well, he’s been up all night, so maybe we won’t shave today”. It was a big deal in those days. 

What surprised you working on Bond? 

The press. Someone would always be watching so I didn’t want to do make-up checks on Tim and get Bond caught on camera having his make-up done. So we were on a tram in Vienna and to avoid the press getting a photo I said, “Get under their seats and I will fix your make-up”. We crawled under a seat and I adjusted Timothy’s make-up!

What are the demands of doing make-up on location? 

When it’s your first Bond, like The Living Daylights, you’re battling the conditions but it was all fun. Bond films are always going to extreme locations which are exotic, remote, hot, tropical or freezing. Scenes in the desert with the heat, the sand, the dust is challenging. On Spectre, we were up in the mountains in freezing cold conditions and brilliant sunshine so the actors were cold but could burn in the sun. 

Working in the desert must have been difficult? 

I made Tim up, he looked a bit bronzed and gorgeous but the make-up was just dripping on his white shirt. It’s a battle all the time not to mess up costumes with make-up. There are lots of things I would do differently now.  There are so many new products but none of them existed in the 1980s. 

In Licence To Kill, there’s some big moments for make-up and hair. What do you remember?

With Carey Lowell, who played Pam Bouvier, she started out in disguise and we were trying to work out what hairstyle she should have. I had a wig made and I decided to cut it into a bob. I cut it, blow dried it and styled it on Carey’s head in front of Cubby and Dana Broccoli, who were watching the whole thing. It was so stressful! That was a huge pressure but it worked out. In many ways I felt very supported.

Why did you have such a big gap between the Bond films you worked on?

I did two Bond films and then I moved to the US to live. I didn’t do any more Bond films until Quantum of Solace when I was asked to do the hair and make up for all of the women on screen. I was very happy to come back.

What had changed in that time?

We had all changed. I was much more experienced but it felt like coming home. In 2008, people had embraced the reality of how people look in those gritty situations. We had Bond women like Olga Kurylenko as Camille Montes looking like she’d been through hell. Paul Engelen was doing Daniel Craig’s make-up on Quantum of Solace. Daniel had a huge reality to his portrayal as Bond, he was sweating and bloody. It was great. 

Strawberry Fields dies in a visually dramatic way when Gemma is covered in oil. How did you put that look together?
Gemma is brilliant. I had black oil made by special effects, obviously non toxic and tested, and she just laid there while I poured it on her. There’s an amazing photo of me pouring it all over her body in one of Greg Williams’ books showing Bond behind the scenes. 

Did Gemma have to stay still in between shots?

Gemma is just incredible, such a pro and very highly trained. She was a dancer and so disciplined. She just didn’t say a word. The oil went everywhere – up her nose, in her hair and her eyes – and she just didn’t move.

You went on to be responsible for the overall make-up design for Skyfall…

I had met Sam Mendes socially but we’ve never worked together before. On Skyfall, we developed a professional relationship and it’s grown over the years. He gives you a lot of freedom to try out ideas. Skyfall was the beginning of a great collaboration with Sam.

Donald Mowat was Daniel Craig’s personal make-up artist on Skyfall. How did you work together?

I’m very aware of that dynamic between someone who’s designing a film and someone who is fitting into that vision because I’ve also been a personal make-up artist. I always ask the designer , “What world are you creating? How do you want the character to look?” You have to be in the same world. Donald is so experienced and is very aware of that. 

You worked with a team to create prosthetics for Skyfall for Javier Bardem as well?

Chris Lyons designed the teeth to look perfect on Javier and then created the special effects steel jaw. He also had contact lenses and a wig designed by Zoe Tahir. It was quite an achievement. I was involved because Javier’s personal make-up artist Alessandro Bertolazzi wasn’t around at the beginning of filming so we collaborated to make it work. We’re friends so I was very happy to do that. 

Where did the idea for Javier’s blonde hair come from?

Javier came in with a picture of a criminal who had white hair and he loved the idea. His hair is heavy and very dark so it’s quite a thing to turn him into a blond. He played it brilliantly and is so creepy.  Javier’s got a great sense of humour and is really good fun. 

In Spectre you returned to Mexico for the iconic Day of the Dead sequence… 

It was an incredible achievement to make-up all of those people in Mexico City. We prepped for weeks. I was shooting at Pinewood so I sent a team of people out led by Nikita Rae who knew how I worked and was able to fulfil my ideas. They would fit 25 people a day and paint their faces. At the end of my day, all these images would start coming through to me while I was filming at Pinewood. I would give notes on every single person. 

It must have taken some organising! 

It was run like an army! When I got to Mexico, we had 150 make-up artists and 150 hairdressers all working together in this massive stadium conference centre. They’d been doing those looks for six weeks so they were very prepared. We did 1,500 extras in two hours which is mind-blowingly fast. When we got to the set everyone looked so amazing and I just burst into tears!

It’s an incredible opening few minutes…

Sam had very strong ideas about what he wanted these moments to look like. The opening of Spectre influenced Sam’s work going forwards. 

How did you ensure the authenticity of Mexico shone through?

By employing local artists and giving people freedom to be creative. You give references for all the looks and freedom to interpret. That’s how the local flavour comes by giving people a safe place to create. They’d never had a Day of the Dead parade on the scale we had in the film there in Mexico City and since then it’s become a big event.

Where’s your starting point then for creating the look of a lead actress in a Bond film? 

It’s a collaboration. You sit with the director, the actor and the costume designer, and come up with ideas. I do a series of make-up tests. You have that luxury on Bond films as you have the actors for quite a while before shooting, so you can try different things. Bérénice playing Lim Marlohe in Skyfall wanted a smokey eye look. When Javier’s character Silva shoots Severine, she’s lying there with make-up dripping down her face and it adds emotion to the scene. It’s all smudged and that’s a moment where you can see the reality.

Do you have a favourite make-up look?

It was great creating the Bond actresses because they go through so many changes – natural, in a shower, dressed up to go to the casino and in action. There’s lots of hidden details for Severine in Skyfall. We had a link up with OPI nails and they allowed me to design a nail colour called Skyfall. I took the colour straight from very warm burgundy-type reds on set. So we designed a nail varnish and I put gold leaf on the very long nails for Severine. Things like that are very exciting to me. 

Were there other hidden details?
We designed this little tattoo on Severine. She had been held captive and been tattooed in the same way that you brand cattle. I spent days looking at types of branding and in the end we went with a number-like symbol on her wrist. When Bond sees the number tattoo on her wrist he realises her past. It was a very pivotal moment in telling that story. I think the detail was probably missed, because it was a very quick moment but I spent weeks looking for reference, because you want to be accurate. 

What advice do you have for the actors to look good on screen?

I like them doing a lot of prep work with their skin. I send them to have facials to get their skin in really good condition which means less make up is needed and their skin has a natural glow.

What is your favourite memory from your work with 007 so far?

I’ve done over 100 films and nothing compares to working on a Bond. When I think of my time on these films, it’s the fun we had mixed with all the hard work. People always say that you are never cared for as much as when you work on a Bond. It’s truly a feeling of being part of a family and it’s that caring that pushes you to do your best work.

Live And Let Die At 50

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Live And Let Die was released in the UK 50 years ago on July 12, 1973. To celebrate, read essential facts about the film below.

1. While 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever was filming, producers selected Live And Let Die to be adapted as the eighth 007 film.

2. Roger Moore had no qualms when taking over the James Bond role from Sean Connery and George Lazenby commenting, “Four or five thousand actors have played Hamlet. Everyone had their own interpretation on that!”

3. Filming began on Friday 13th October 1972 in the Irish bayou in Louisiana with the boat chase between 007 and Mr. Big’s henchmen.

4. Roger Moore described director Guy Hamilton as ‘General Hamilton’. This was not only due to his leadership style, but his role during WW2 – Hamilton ran covert high-speed motor gun and torpedo boats and even went undercover after being dropped in occupied France. Roger described him as “very much a James Bond character himself”.

5. The massive boat chase was never detailed in the script – it just said ‘the most terrific boat chase you’ve ever seen’. The stunts were developed on location.

6. Twenty six boats were built by the Glastron boat company for the speedboat stunt sequence. Seventeen were destroyed during rehearsals.

7. On the 16th of October 1972, stuntman Jerry Comeaux raced his Glastron speedboat at 75 miles per hour towards a specially built ramp to perform a record-setting 95-foot leap.

8. Roger Moore was involved in an accident while filming the speedboat chase – he suffered a fractured tooth and a concussion. He recovered after several days and resumed filming.

9. Roger Moore trained and then performed a substantial portion of driving the double decker bus with guidance from the stunt crew. Roger Moore said, “Before we started shooting, I was sent to London Passenger Transport, to their skid pan, to learn how to skid a bus, which I have to admit is rather scary.” The double decker bus featured was an AEC Regent III.

10. Live And Let Die was the first 007 film not to feature Q. The novel of the same name was also the first to mention Q Branch.

11. Early in the production, Roger Moore was hospitalised with kidney stones which resulted in him having to wear a special harness during the speedboat chase scene to support his back.

12. Jamaica, part-time home of James Bond creator Ian Fleming, was used as the filming location for the fictitious country of San Monique.

13. As well as providing his crocodile farm as a filming location, Ross Kananga took the role of a stunt double for Bond – jumping across five crocodiles to avoid being eaten. In one attempt he had the heels bitten off his crocodile loafers.

14. Kananga also gave his name to Mr Big’s alter ego Dr. Kananga, who was originally named Jakata.

15. Many of the alligators and crocodiles that featured in these scenes had names and were well loved by Kananga – the star being ‘Daisy’ whom he had owned for over 20 years and trained since she was eight years old.

16. This is the first Bond film to feature swearing. Mrs Bell, whose flying lesson is hijacked by Bond, utters the words “holy s**t” while Sheriff J.W. Pepper also begins to say another word but is cut off when Bond jumps over him in a speedboat.

17. Roger only said his first lines 14 days into filming, which were “Hello Felix, What are you doing here”?

18. Jane Seymour went to have her Tarot cards read in New Orleans in preparation for her role. Many of the cast received tarot card readings on set, Roger Moore’s cards said he would have a son and become a humanitarian, both became true.

19. Live And Let Die gave us a second look at the interior of Bond’s townhouse since we saw a glimpse in Dr. No, 11 years before. The next time we see his home is in Spectre.

20. The film’s rushes shot in New York were transported back to London by Harry Saltzman’s secretary Sue Parker. In JFK airport, customs confiscated her luggage and put the film canisters through x-ray machines, almost destroying the footage.

21. Geoffrey Holder, former dancer, played henchman and ‘voodoo god of cemeteries’ Baron Samedi. He not only helped design the costume of his character, but choreographed the dances he performed during the ritual scenes.

22. Live And Let Die was the first James Bond movie that Daniel Craig watched.

23. Mrs Bell, the trainee pilot whose flying lesson is hijacked by Bond, is named after Bell Helicopters.

24. Real snakes were used in many scenes, and during the pre-credits sequence, the actor Dennis Edwards, who played a captured British agent about to be sacrificed using a snake, was so scared that he fainted during filming. This footage was used in the finished film to represent Baines’ death from the snake’s venom.

25. Roger Moore’s favourite gadget was the magnetic watch which could skillfully snatch lightweight metallic items when activated.

26. This was the first film score not to involve John Barry. Paul McCartney was suggested by George Martin for the title song. Producer Harry Saltzman was interested in having Shirley Bassey or Thelma Houston perform it instead of Wings but McCartney would only allow the song he had written with Linda McCartney to be used if Wings performed it.

27. ‘Live And Let Die’ was the first Bond theme to make the US Billboard Top Ten. The song was nominated for an Academy Award. The winning song, ‘The Way We Were’ had its music written by Marvin Hamlisch, who later co-wrote ‘Nobody Does It Better’.

28. David Bowie and his wife Angie attended the premiere. Bowie was later considered to do the theme for Moonraker.

29. The film holds the record for the most viewed film on television in the United Kingdom by attracting 23.5 million viewers when it premiered on ITV on 20th January 1980.

30. The film was a resounding success at the box office, earning over $161 million worldwide against a budget of $7 million, making it the highest-grossing Bond film at the time of its release.

Albert R. (Cubby) Broccoli honoured in Italy

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Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli has been honoured with two days of celebrations in Carolei, Calabria, Italy in recognition of his Italian ancestry.   

“We are honoured that Carolei in Calabria, Italy is celebrating our father’s heritage,” Michael G. Wilson commented on behalf of the family. “It is especially meaningful as today marks the 27th anniversary of Cubby’s passing. We are therefore delighted to continue his legacy by launching the Cubby Broccoli Scholarship with the Universita Della Calabria in Cosenza and the UK’s National School of Film and Television (NFTS) as part of our shared commitment to nurture and empower up-and-coming filmmakers.” 

The Mayor of Carolei, Francesco Lannucci, granted honorary citizenships to Michael G. Wilson, Tony Broccoli, Tina Broccoli and Barbara Broccoli to commemorate the family’s connection with the village. 

A bronze bust of Cubby sculpted by Dominco Sepe, renowned Italian sculptor, was also unveiled which will be placed in the village of Carolei in the coming weeks.

A film festival included a selection of Cubby’s films and the documentary, Everything or Nothing, The Untold Story followed by a Q&A with Barbara Broccoli and Italian producer Enzo Sisti.

Italian actors Giancarlo Giannini (Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace) and Caterina Murino (Casino Royale) attended the celebrations.

How Daniel Craig Became Bond

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Being Bond, A Daniel Craig Retrospective, written by Mark Salisbury is out now. The 256-page hardback book takes us on Daniel Craig’s journey from 2006 to 2021.

Readers will go behind the scenes of Daniel Craig’s five films as James Bond with exclusive on-set photography, concept art, costume designs, stunt breakdowns and more, accompanied by cast and crew interviews. The extract below tells the story of casting Daniel Craig as 007. 

“We wanted to do a twenty-first-century Bond and redefine what a classic male hero should be,” says Broccoli. “Casino Royale gave us the opportunity to get into Bond’s inner life. It tells you why he became the man he became, so we wanted an actor who could be an iconic image of the twenty-first-century man and who had the acting chops to be able to deliver the emotional inner life without a lot of dialogue, because Bond is a very internal character. It was a very, very tall order, and there were hundreds of people being discussed.”

Casting director Debbie McWilliams, whose association with the series dates back to the days of Roger Moore and who had been involved in the casting of Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, was given the herculean task of finding this new Bond. “The whole process was several months from me setting off with my backpack and passport going here, there and everywhere to when they actually chose him,” she recalls. “There are always the usual suspects, but I like to find people who aren’t well known or are slightly more unusual or a bit offbeat.” Initially she was looking for “young actors, much younger than Daniel was at the time, because it was about him becoming James Bond. I went to all the English-speaking territories and I met lots of people, and a lot of them have become very famous.” However, when it was decided that Bond should be young, but not that young, “we went up a level age wise, and it brought in a different group of people.”

One name had been on Broccoli’s list from the very beginning: Daniel Craig. A graduate of the National Youth Theatre and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Cheshire-born Craig had originally broken through with the BBC drama serial Our Friends in the North in 1996, before going on to prove his versatility in a succession of acclaimed film and television roles, with his taste erring towards the arthouse rather than the overtly commercial, be it as George Dyer, alcoholic lover and muse of artist Francis Bacon, in Love Is the Devil, the pampered son of Paul Newman’s mobster in Sam Mendes’s Road to Perdition, philandering poet Ted Hughes in Sylvia, or as a Mossad agent hunting down Palestinian terrorists in Steven Spielberg’s Munich.

Broccoli remembers first seeing Craig in Our Friends in the North. “Everything he did, he always became the character and disappeared into the role,” she recalls, “but he also had an unbelievable amount of charisma. I always say, ‘He’s lit from within,’ because whatever scene he’s in, whether it’s on the stage or on screen, he’s completely captivating. He is a great character actor, but in the body of a movie star, and it’s a very unique thing.”

While many critics saw Craig’s 2004 role as the nameless drug dealer determined to go straight in Matthew Vaughn’s Layer Cake as his “audition piece” for Bond, Broccoli insists it was his performance as Jesuit priest John Ballard in Shekhar Kapur’s 1998 period drama Elizabeth that convinced her Craig was the one. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, he’s the guy,’ when he was in Elizabeth, walking down the corridor. I know that sounds crazy, but that was the moment I felt it in my gut. When your whole life is James Bond, some part of you is always looking for, Who could play the role? Daniel just eats up the screen. He’s a truly remarkable actor.” 

McWilliams had her doubts. Not about Craig’s ability, but rather about his desire to take on such a high-profile role as James Bond. “I thought he probably wouldn’t be that interested, because he was a rather serious actor and did independent films and had never seemed to venture into the commercial side of things, apart from Layer Cake,” she reveals. “He’d been classically trained and it was hard to categorise him, although the stuff he’d done showed how versatile he was. We got in touch with his agent and she was rather doubtful as well, but mentioned to him what we were up to. He immediately went out and bought a copy of Casino Royale, and within about twenty-four hours was in the office at Eon, which confirmed his interest.”

“I got a telephone call, ‘Barbara would like to meet,’” recalls Craig, “and I thought, She’s probably seeing fifty people. I’m on a list. I’ll go in, do the interview, say, ‘Hello,’ and that’ll be it. I’d be that old bloke in the pub: ‘Yeah, I was considered for Bond once.’ So, I wasn’t excited or anything, didn’t feel particularly nervous. I’d met Barbara, sadly, at someone’s funeral long before and we had a couple of friends in common, and we just chatted. I don’t know what happened in the first meeting, but they said, ‘We want you to do this.’ I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ It was not on my radar. Genuinely. Of all the people in the world I would have expected to play James Bond, it was not me. So, I went, ‘Well,

I better read the script.’ Then I went away and thought, This is ridiculous. I can’t do this. It felt so far removed from anything I was about, who I was, or what I was doing at the time. It’s not like I was snobbish about Bond. I’m a Bond fan. I love Bond.” In fact, Craig had been a fan ever since his father took him to see Live And Let Die (1973) when he was five. “But it wasn’t me.”

Broccoli sent the script on to Craig for his thoughts. “At a certain point it was, ‘We’ve got a script,’” he remembers. “I was like, ‘Okay, great,’ because I thought, I’m going to read it and go, ‘Thanks very much. It was lovely, but I can’t do this,’ and that’ll be the end of it. We all move on. Very nice. Then I read the script and was blown away. It was everything I would have wanted it to be. It was a resetting. It was witty. It was thrilling. It was dangerous. It ticked all the boxes I thought needed to be ticked if you were going to do James Bond.”

More than anything, Craig loved the attitude of the character. “The line that made me want to do the bloody film was, ‘Can I get a vodka martini?’ ‘Shaken or stirred?’ ‘Do I look like I give a damn?’ which in the script was, ‘Do I look like I give a f*ck?’” he continues. “I was like, That’s the reason I want to do the part. That was it, because that meant they were trying to break from a tradition. They were trying to disconnect and reset, and as far as I was concerned that meant resetting everything: resetting the toughness, resetting the gags, resetting the gadgets, starting again, reinventing it. I was like, ‘If we can do that, I’m f*cking in.’”

“He fitted right into that tone,” says Casino Royale director Martin Campbell. “Apart from being a fine actor, he had that rugged, tough look. It’s what Fleming wanted. He always said [American singer and actor] Hoagy Carmichael was the perfect looking guy to play Bond, and Daniel completely slotted into that concept.”

Discover more great stories and behind the scenes photos in Being Bond, A Daniel Craig Retrospective, written by Mark Salisbury, available now from 007store.com

Movie Magic With John Richardson – Part 2

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In part two of our conversation with Academy Award-winning special effects supervisor John Richardson, we discover how he created incredible explosions, futuristic gadgets and turned a cello case into a fast-moving getaway vehicle for James Bond.

There are a lot of special effects shots in A View to a Kill – how did you create the shot of the blimp going over the Golden Gate Bridge?

It’s a classic demonstration of model work. We had to build four different sizes of airships: a small one, 10 ft one, and 40 ft one. We built them so the bigger one could either hang under a crane to blow it up with air or we could fill it full of hydrogen and tether it from underneath. Whichever shot we were doing, it made it much easier to lose the wires. That was all part of the trickery of model work. CGI can paint wires out so much easier now but we had to be very inventive and every shot was a different model. We had a background of San Francisco, which was a photographic cut out, with real sky behind it which was in the bottom of frame. Everything above that was real with a model and the Pinewood backlot. We did similar things on The Living Daylights with a bridge that was supposed to be 200 ft high over a river. On the real location, it was six ft high over a muddy, dusty floor so we built a foreground miniature to make it possible.

Tell us about getting to the top of the Golden Gate Bridge?

I did all of the filming up on the bridge. The most interesting thing was getting up there! There was a lift that went up in the middle of the tower but the problem was the lift was very small. It was literally only big enough for three of us when crushed together and a seven minute journey. So you’re squeezed in the metal coffin in the middle of the bridge and we’ve got all the camera boxes in there with us too. On your way up you think, “What would happen if there was an earthquake now or if all the power went out?” One occasion we got to the top and we were so crushed that none of us could reach the door handle to open it to get out! That was fairly amusing for a few minutes.

What did you capture while on top of the bridge?

I shot all the background plates of San Francisco so that you could have the actors in front of them with smoke and mirrors on the Pinewood backlot. I shot all the live action stunt work and the helicopter shooting while we were there. To do a lot of the plates we had to go 100 ft down one of the main cables and set up a camera on the cable itself. Now the cables are at an angle, it was the crack of dawn when we were going up there and it was wet too. What you don’t realise is that even though it’s a four ft wide cable on the bridge, there’s still a hell of a gap down the side. So as you walk down the bridge, the cable is bouncing as the lorries go over the bridge. It was very scary!

You must need a head for heights for that?

I must admit I did spend one night lying in bed wondering whether it was going to take more courage to go out and walk down the cable on the bridge or go into the production office and say I couldn’t do it! I decided at the end of the day, it was easier to go up there and do the filming than let people down so I just got on with it. It’s only when you’re on terra firma you appreciate not everybody gets to do these things.

You’re briefly on screen in A View To A Kill aren’t you?

Yes, in Zorin’s office. I’m on the front page of a mock-up of People magazine when Roger Moore looks at a painting. There’s a big photo of Zorin on the cover and a small one of me in the top corner with a caption saying ‘A real-Life JR’. I have Jerry Juroe (EON’s former marketing director) to thank for that.

The next 007 film you worked on was The Living Daylights. What are some of your favourite memories from that film? 

We had the famous royal visit towards the end of filming which was an unexpected highlight. We set up a thing in Q’s workshop where a rocket had to be fired out of a ghetto blaster to blow a dummy’s head off. So we’d rigged it up for Prince Charles, as he was back then, to fire the missile and explode the head. That was the fun part for me on the day and Charles was brilliant. He fired it right on cue.

The Aston Martin V8 was laced with gadgets – was that your work? 
It was fun to work with Aston Martin and have those cars around. We shot a lot of the scenes out in Weissensee in Austria. It was great because we had the Aston Martin V8 out on the ice and set off explosions. We had the skis out the side and tires that blew themselves up and let themselves down. There was an Aston Martin that we fired out of an air cannon to jump over the dam when a roadblock was in place. Just working on that lake was interesting. It was frozen over so we used to drive across it in the mornings to get to the location. It was quicker than going all the way around. But as you drive across, the ice would crack and break, and it made these extraordinary noises that echoed right across the lake with the cracks. It can be quite unnerving and was certainly an interesting place to shoot.

How did you prep the cello case for what was needed in the snow scenes?

We built the cello case. I built one for Timothy (Dalton) to steer. It had two steering handles so as he came down the hill he could safely steer it. Tim was great and up for anything. So he and Maryam d’Abo got on and went straight down the hill. They enjoyed it, it was great fun and worked perfectly. A funny thing happened when I went on to work onWillow afterwards. Another actor was supposed to get on a similar sledge we built out of a shield for him to ski down an easy snow slope in New Zealand. This actor turned up, looked at it and said, “I’m not getting on that thing and riding down the slope”. He said it was too dangerous and walked off. Then a young Warwick Davis saw it, got on and did the stunts and thought it was great. These stunts aren’t for everyone I guess. Tim was great at the physical side of the role and he wanted to take it more seriously and so didn’t have too many outlandish gadgets.

Do you actually have a favourite Bond scene?

They are all pretty unique so it is hard to pick a favourite. We sank a replica of Cubby Broccoli’s Rolls Royce in the gravel pit in Denham for A View to a Kill and that was quite fun. The V8 was the only Aston I was involved with that had to do anything unusual. We had the famous Land Rover vehicle which came out of the back of the Hercules plane with Tim and Maryam on and landed on a pallet. We shot it coming out of the back of the model aeroplane full speed with a long lens. It took 65 takes to get that in camera because you’ve got a model plane flying at probably 70 or 80 miles an hour, a cameraman on the long lens, a parachute pulling a vehicle out and you’re trying to get all of it in shot, with the desert and nothing else, all at the same time. Because you’re filming at five times normal speed, rushes just went on forever and used to drive everybody mad but we got some good takes in the end.

What are some of the other sequences you were involved in?

The Living Daylights had a vast array of different effects in it. The opening alone started out in Gibraltar for the chase sequence. We ended up having to fire a Land Rover off the top of Beachy Head with a dummy inside and a parachute coming out. We blew it up before it hit the sea. When we were doing that, we had the stunt guy coming off it with a parachute. Then for a sequence near the end of the film we built a lightweight Land Rover, travelled with it out to the Mojave Desert, took it up 10,000 ft under a helicopter and dropped it with the stunt man on top. So that was interesting. Apparently it made a wonderful noise when it hit the desert. I wasn’t there, I was up in the helicopter, but I can tell you it was as flat as a pancake! We also had all the stuff in Morocco, which was supposed to be Afghanistan, and the foreground miniature bridge, which was a real bridge but only 10 feet off the riverbed. So we built a foreground miniature to make it look 200 ft. Nobody who saw the film should realise that it was a miniature.

Is there any one moment that encapsulates your time on Bond?

There are so many! I’ve got wonderful stories from my time on the Bond films. I’ve included a story in my book about a model submarine that was bobbing along the ocean floor and towards a drop off of around 1,000 ft. The model was about to go barreling over the edge and down into the Pacific Ocean! That was scary. The prospect of having to phone Barbara Broccoli and say we couldn’t film anything as we’d lost the submarine was unthinkable. It made half a dozen guys get into their diving gear very quickly! But to answer your question, there are so many wonderful stories to tell. The question I’m asked all the time is, “What’s your favourite film” and it’s too hard to choose, every film is different. They’re fun for a myriad of different reasons. If you ask me what my favourite film is, then it would be all the Bond films.

What makes working on the 007 films so special?

I mean, obviously with the Bond films what everybody echoes is that you’re part of the family. It’s the family working environment. Barbara’s lovely, Michael is lovely and Cubby was lovely. I have an old autograph book my father started for me in the 1930s which is filled with greats. Can I read you something from it? It’s from 20th April 1988, “Dear John, thank you for your magic, but mainly for your friendship, for all the 007 years. Fondly, Cubby Broccoli.” Now that is special to me. He was just such a lovely man and told great stories.

What is your favourite Bond film to actually watch?

I have two. I enjoy watching Moonraker because it brings back the whole experience of what I went through on the waterfall. But for a stand alone short sequence, the opening of Octopussy because it encompasses every piece of movie magic that you can pull together. I have nine Bond films on my CV and I remain incredibly proud of them all.

John Richardson’s books Making Movie Magic and Making Movie Magic – The Photographs are available from 007store.com.

Black Tomato’s Bond Travel Experience Revealed

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Today (March 30), Black Tomato have released details of their limited edition travel experience. ‘The Assignment’ is an immersive journey to signature destinations inspired by the world of James Bond. The United Kingdom, France, Monaco, Italy and Austria are the five countries which feature in the trip. 

In addition to stays in world renowned hotels such as London’s Corinthia and Hotel Metropole in Monte Carlo, ‘The Assignment’ features a hand-picked itinerary of Bond experiences created exclusively for this unique journey.

Travellers can train with stunt coordinator Lee Morrison in London, be given unprecedented access to Champagne Bollinger’s Chateau and Estate in France, board a private yacht to explore Monaco’s Côte d’Azur with Octopussy and A View To A Kill actress Carole Ashby, and even water-ski on Italy’s Lake Como.

Another highlight of the trip will see clients attend the 007 ELEMENTS exhibition in Sölden, Austria, accompanied by Oscar-winning special effects supervisor Chris Corbould OBE who has worked on 15 Bond films.

Full details of Black Tomato’s Bond-theme travel experience ’The Assignment’ can be found on their website.