No Time To Die To Feature New Defender

No Time To Die is the first movie to feature Land Rover’s New Defender it was announced today. The New Defender, will appear in a chase sequence and has been tested by the 007 expert stunt team in the most extreme off-road conditions, demonstrating its unstoppable nature. Footage captured during filming of the upcoming movie gives a unique, behind-the-scenes view of stunt coordinator Lee Morrison and stunt driver Jessica Hawkins at work.

Lee Morrison, James Bond Stunt Coordinator, said: “Designing and coordinating the action sequences for the Bond franchise requires a non-compromising mindset. We needed an unstoppable vehicle to help us battle against the elements, steep descents and river crossings so we chose the new Defender. I’m beyond impressed that the Defender is not only back but much, much better!” 

Land Rover’s design team worked closely with Special Effects and Action Vehicles Supervisor Chris Corbould on the specification of the Defenders in the film. Based on the Defender X model in Santorini Black, with darkened skid pans, 20in dark finish wheels and professional off-road tyres, they were the first Defenders to be built at Jaguar Land Rover’s new production facility in Nitra, Slovakia.

Richard Agnew, Global Communications Director for Land Rover, said: “No Time To Die is a brilliant way to showcase the New Defender’s capabilities in the latest jaw-dropping James Bond car chase. It’s been hugely exciting to continue our relationship with EON Productions and work with their teams to deliver a spectacular sequence.”

Britain’s biggest vehicle manufacturer has a long-standing partnership with EON Productions on the Bond films, which began in 1983 when a Range Rover Convertible appeared in Octopussy. Alongside the Defenders, No Time To Die also features the Range Rover Sport SVR, Series III Land Rover and Range Rover Classic.

Champagne Bollinger Celebration

Champagne Bollinger last night hosted an event at the Hôtel de Crillon, to mark the 40th anniversary of their partnership with 007. Producer Michael G. Wilson attended as the guest of honour. The evening paid tribute to the shared history of the two brands dating back to 1979, when Champagne Bollinger became the Official Champagne of 007 upon the release of Moonraker. The occasion was marked with the global product launch of ‘The Moonraker Luxury Limited Edition, the latest product offering from Champagne Bollinger to commemorate the 40 year partnership. 

No Time To Die: The Making Of The Film

Titan Books have announced they are publishing the official making of book for No Time To Die. This lavish coffee table book takes readers behind the scenes of the 25th official James Bond film and reveals the locations, characters, gadgets, weapons, and cars of No Time To Die with exclusive on-set photography, concept art, costume designs, and more, accompanied by cast and crew interviews.

Written by New York Times best-selling author Mark Salisbury, No Time To Die: The Making of the Film is set to publish in hardback on 14 April 2020, priced at $50 and £39.99.

Focus Of The Week: Spectre’s Day of the Dead scene

James Bond has visited Mexico before — it provided the colourful backdrop for his revenge mission in Licence To Kill (1989) — but in Spectre (2015) it becomes the focus for a thrilling pre-credits sequence based around the Mexican holiday, the Day of the Dead (Dia de las Muertos). As producer Barbara Broccoli put it: “I think this sequence is so spectacular that it will be up there as one of the greatest pre-title sequences we have ever done.”

For director Sam Mendes, returning to 007 after Skyfall (2012), the Day of the Dead ceremony ties in very closely with the thematic ideas of the story. “The film is about Bond (Daniel Craig) being haunted by a person he thought was long dead,” Mendes observed, adding, “I wanted that combination of sinister and celebratory that you can only get with something like the Day of the Dead. When the film opens, it’s almost like the perfect mission and everything is going to plan but then there’s the game-changing moment.”

On March 20, 2015, the Spectre crew mounted a full-on street celebration involving 1500 extras playing revellers, all with a make-up call of 4.15am — hair designer Zoe Tahir made wigs of wool to make the dancers look like peg dolls, giving the scene a timeless texture. Production designer Dennis Gassner worked very closely with Mexican experts to, as he put it, “make sure it was all grounded in reality.”

Closing down the City’s main Avenue and Zócalo Square meant co-ordination with the presidential palace, government security and the army. With the streets filled with musicians, puppeteers and different performance acts, the first shot was captured at 2.08pm.

“People were in the streets until five in the afternoon doing the same thing over and over again,” recalled Mendes. “I thought they would mutiny but if anything they got more enthusiastic as the day went on. We had live musicians and there was a sense of party about it, which is what you want but is so rarely achieved on a movie set.”

Adding to the complexity of the sequence Mendes envisioned opening Spectre with one continuous shot that follows Bond as he tracks an assassin through a Mexican hotel, up an elevator through different rooms and across rooftops. The use of a single shot is to immerse the viewer in the drama of Bond’s mission. As Mendes explained, “I wanted the audience to be dropped right into the middle of a very specific, very atmospheric and very rich environment.” To capture Bond’s journey across balconies, a camera track system stretched across four buildings, a 50 ft. crane allowing the camera to stay parallel with Daniel Craig on the rooftop.

Bond’s perfect mission goes awry when he triggers an explosive device that destroys the hotel, causing the building he is standing on to collapse floor by floor. The explosion itself was created in the safety of Pinewood Studios by special effects supervisor Chris Corbould.

“We built a four storey building and we had a big weight on a track that went through a ceiling and all the floors collapsed on hydraulics,” said Corbould. “We worked on it for eight months and it is probably one of the longest rigs that we have ever designed and certainly one of the most complicated things we have ever done.”

Focus Of The Week: Spectre’s Jaguar C-X75

The streets of Rome provide the setting for the first showdown between James Bond (Daniel Craig) and SPECTRE henchman Hinx (Dave Bautista). Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) spots Bond has infiltrated the secret meeting and dispatches Hinx, to go after him. Bond evades his captors and speeds off in an Aston Martin DB10 with Hinx in hot pursuit in his Jaguar C-X75. What follows is a high-speed race through the streets of Ancient Rome in the most modern of supercars.

Jaguar have a long relationship with the James Bond series —Jaguar XKR duelled with the Aston Martin Vanquish on the ice in Die Another Day (2002) — but Spectre’s car chase posed different challenges. As Special Effects Supervisor Chris Corbould said, “Both vehicles were kit cars so unlike the previous Vanquish or XKR we couldn’t just go down to the factory and pull five gear boxes off the shelf. Everything was bespoke which made it much more challenging.”

On February 19 2015, the Spectre crew began shooting the exciting car chase through the cobbled streets and alongside the river Tiber in Rome. Jaguar supplied seven cars to the filmmakers. “Three staggered crews working 24 hours doing the repairs,” recalled Corbould. “Every night the cars would be jumping and landing at 70mph so we had to have them all turned around ready to go the next day.”

“It’s one of those scenes that’s going to be very iconic,” observed Dave Bautista. “Just with the two cars racing through the streets of Rome – I mean, how often do you see that? It’s one of those things you only see in a James Bond film.”

Daniel Craig Designs Aston Martin DBS

Luxury department store Neiman Marcus has unveiled their 2019 Fantasy Gift guide, the 93rd edition of the Christmas book. This year’s guide will include an Aston Martin DBS Superleggera designed by Daniel Craig. Available in a run of seven each limited-edition car comes in inky blue and features a powerful twin-turbo 5.2-liter V12 engine. Each customer will also receive one of only seven limited-edition, all-platinum Seamaster Diver 300M OMEGA timepieces – featuring a unique hand-engraved case back – plus tickets to the world premiere of No Time To Die, the 25th installment in the James Bond series.

With the purchase of each 007 Fantasy Gift, a donation will be made to support the work of the Opportunity Network – an organisation that works with students from historically and systematically underrepresented communities to harness their skills and passions to reach their college and career goals.

Secret Cinema Presents Casino Royale

Since June 2019, London has played host to Secret Cinema’s immersive production of Casino Royale. The four-month show entertained over 120,000 people, placing the film back in the UK Top Ten Box Office during the entirety of its run.

The show transformed a 70,000 square foot warehouse in East London into a multi-layered set where audience members embarked on a mission. High octane stunts and set pieces were brought-to-life by actors, including parkour and freerunning choreographed by Sebastien Foucan, who played Mollaka in the film. 

During the London show Secret Cinema announced its first international expansion into China. Together with SMG Live they will launch with the current UK show, SMG Live presents Secret Cinema’s production of Casino Royale, in Shanghai later this year. 

Focus Of The Week: Solange

The wife of terrorist go-between Alex Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian), in Casino Royale (2006), Solange (Caterina Murino) has an interesting link to James Bond history. In Ian Fleming’s short story 007 In New York, Bond plans to meet a girlfriend named Solange who works in the old Abercrombie & Fitch. Her name may have been the inspiration for Bond’s first love interest in Casino Royale.  

Solange lives a life of luxury but is trapped in a desperately sad life married to a cold, evil man, even if she doesn’t know the details or extent of his nefarious activities. She plays a vital part in helping Bond stop a terrorist attack on a Skyfleet prototype aircraft in Miami, which her husband is organising on behalf of terrorist Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen).

Solange first sees Bond as he emerges from the surf in Nassau and is instantly attracted to him. The pair actually meet at a poker game where 007 is taking on her husband. When Bond roundly beats Dimitrios — even taking his Aston Martin DB5 — the latter responds coldly to Solange, which catches the secret agent’s attention.

After Solange inadvertently climbs into the Aston Martin, Bond invites her for a drink back at his place (which turns out to be a drive around the hotel courtyard). Enjoying both the attention and a rare spark of humanity in her life, she accepts, unaware that Bond may be only interested in gleaning knowledge about her husband.

During their night together, Solange confesses that she is not happy in her one-sided marriage and life, feeling she has wasted her shot at happiness by getting involved with the wrong men. Their intimate evening is interrupted when Solange receives a call from her husband. Bond learns Dimitrios will be taking the last flight to Miami. He makes a quick exit to stay on Dimitrios’ tail but not before ordering Bollinger and caviar as a parting gift.

After Bond foils the bomb plot, Le Chiffre deduces it was Solange that tipped Bond off about Miami. Bond returns to the Bahamas to find she has been tortured, killed and wrapped in a hammock on the beach by Le Chiffre’s henchman. As Solange’s body is being carried away, M (Judi Dench) suggests to Bond, “I would ask you if you could remain emotionally detached but that’s not your problem, is it, Bond?”. Bond replies with a curt: “No.”

Sir Roger Moore Remembered

A worldwide star before even being cast as Bond, Roger Moore’s easy sense of grace and natural suaveness made the cinematic 007 an unparalleled success in the 1970s and 1980s.

Born in Stockwell, South London, Moore took a number of small acting roles before joining the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, where one of his classmates was Lois Maxwell, the future Miss Moneypenny. RADA’s elocution lessons turning him into the perfectly sophisticated leading man.

After a short stint in military service, Moore took on roles in various television and stage productions in New York and London. He went on to sign a three year contract with MGM, which saw him in his first significant role in The Last Time I Saw Paris opposite Elizabeth Taylor.

Moore starred in numerous films and television productions throughout the 50s and was one of the names considered for the role of James Bond in 1961 when Connery was up for the role. When Connery announced he was leaving the franchise in 1966, Moore was again considered for the role. However political unrest in Cambodia, which was to be a key shooting location, coupled with Moore’s commitment to The Saint, prevented him from taking on the role.

Finally in 1972 the schedules matched and Moore took on the role of James Bond. His first outing as Bond in Live And Let Die outgrossed the previous film and confirmed Moore’s casting a success. It was Moore’s decision to leave after A View To A Kill, having been with the franchise for 12 years and starring in seven movies. Moore was famously quoted as saying, “When they start running out of actors old enough to look as though they could be knocked down by Bond, and leading ladies are your mother’s age when you started making Bond, then it’s time you move on.”

By the time he had finished his last 007 movie in 1985, Moore had redefined the character of Bond and bought in over one billion dollars in the box office.

Moore passed away in 2017. He is sorely missed. 

N.Peal Cashmere 007 Collection

Luxury British brand N.Peal is launching an exclusive 007 Cashmere Collection inspired by more than 50 years of Bond. The collection offers 13 looks inspired by scenes from Goldfinger, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Live And Let Die, For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights and GoldenEye plus three pieces worn by 007 in Skyfall and Spectre. Available to buy from 18 October the collection includes 24 items in total.

N.Peal began its relationship with the 007 franchise in 2012 for Skyfall with a blue wave round neck knit worn by James Bond. Subsequently N.Peal were asked to create two knits which were worn by Bond in Spectre – a cable knit roll neck, and a superfine mock neck in charcoal which also featured on the Spectre teaser poster worldwide.

The range will be available to buy on the 18th October with exclusive pre-order from the 17th October on www.007store.com

Focus Of The Week: Mollaka

A freelance bomb-maker, Mollaka (Sébastien Foucan) proves a formidable opponent for James Bond (Daniel Craig) in Casino Royale (2006). Marked by burn scars on his body, his prowess in the art of free-running which, allied with his quick brain and martial arts skill, make him almost impossible to catch. With such a skill-set, Mollaka pushes Bond to his physical limits.

Mollaka is hired by Alex Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian), a middle man working in league with QUANTUM terrorist Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), to destroy the prototype of the world’s largest airliner built by Skyfleet.

In Madagascar, Mollaka spots he is being shadowed by MI6 operative Carter (Joseph Millson) who makes the error of fiddling with his ear-piece. Knowing the bomb and phone in his back pack will incriminate him, Mollaka flees. He eludes Carter by bounding through an empty swimming pool where a mongoose-cobra fight is in full flow. Carter falls victim to the snake but Mollaka soon realises there is another more tenacious MI6 agent on his tail — James Bond.

Speeding for the sanctuary of the Nambutu Embassy, Mollaka sprints into a construction site. Deploying stunning agility, Mollaka zips up a girder forming the skeleton of a building believing this will leave Bond in his wake. However, Bond doggedly pursues Mollaka onto a huge construction crane where a bruising fight ensues.

Determined not to let him get away, Bond tracks Mollaka to the Nambutu Embassy. As Embassy troops surround Bond, he shoots Mollaka dead and escapes with the incriminating back pack and phone by shooting a gas cylinder, creating a distraction of flame and smoke. The incident is captured on CCTV and becomes front page news in England. Yet this doesn’t stop Dimitrios hiring a new bomber Carlos (Claudio Santamaria) to destroy the Skyfleet aircraft.