Focus of the Week: Valentin Zukovsky

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Appearing in both GoldenEye (1995) and The World Is Not Enough (1999), ex-KGB operative Valentin Dimitrovich Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane) is the roguish but dangerous head of the Russian mafia, the only competition to Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) aka Janus Crime Syndicate. Prior to the events of GoldenEye, Bond shot Zukovsky in the knee, then stole his car and his girlfriend. This creates an air of tension when 007 (Pierce Brosnan) returns to Russia searching for information.

Bond tracks down Zukovsky in his St. Petersburg nightclub looking for intel on Janus. Zukovsky maintains a vast knowledge of firearms — he can discern 007’s presence just from the cocking of his gun. (“Walther PPK, 7.65 millimetre. Only three men I know use such a gun… I believe I’ve killed two of them.”). Zukovsky is wary of helping Bond, but 007 reminds him that he only shot Valentin in the leg, even though he had a clear shot. The pair, realising they have similar aims, broker an uneasy truce: inexchange for the sale of C4 explosives where Zukovsky will be allowed to take the majority of the profits, Zukovsky tells Bond what he knows about Janus and facilitates an introduction.

Years later, in The World Is Not Enough (1999), Zukovsky moves to Baku, seemingly setting up as a legitimate businessman, opening his own casino and caviar factory. He still has some underhand dealings in his portfolio, including a transaction with oil heiress Elektra King (Sophie Marceau). He smuggles Russian equipment and supplies, using his nephew Nikoli (Justus Von Dohnanyi) and a submarine.

When Zukovsky realises Elektra and her lover Renard (Robert Carlyle) have killed Nikoli, Valentin is furious and he goes to find Elektra to demand Nikoli’s hat back, Elektra uses the hat to hide a gun and shoots Valentin. His last act is to fire a rifle hidden in his silver-handled walking cane at a wrist restraint constricting 007, freeing Bond from Elektra’s torture chair. In an ironic twist, the walking stick Valentin uses as a result of Bond’s bullet to his knee saves 007’s life.

Focus Of The Week: For Your Eyes Only

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Following on from Moonraker (1979), producers Albert R. Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson brought Bond back to Earth, closer to the spirit of Ian Fleming’s novels for his 12thouting. Or as Cubby Broccoli put it, “the more human values that worked so well in From Russia With Love (1963).”

For the screenplay, Broccoli brought back veteran 007 writer Richard Maibaum who worked on the script in collaboration with Wilson. The resulting story sees Bond (Roger Moore) ordered to retrieve the Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator (ATAC), a device used to co-ordinate submarines, housed in a sunken spy ship St. Georges. Sir Timothy Havelock (Jack Hedley), a marine archaeologist secretly helping the British locate the ship, is murdered by hired assassin Gonzales (Stefan Kalipha). Bond travels to Spain to investigate who is behind the hit but Gonzales is killed by Havelock’s vengeful daughter Melina (Carole Bouquet). In Italy Bond and Melina seek the counsel of crime lord Columbo (Topol) through businessman Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover). Columbo reveals Kristatos is responsible for Havelock’s murder and is colluding with the KGB to purloin the ATAC. With Columbo’s help, Bond leads an assault on Kristatos’ mountain hideout and destroys the ATAC so neither East or West can obtain it.

To direct For Your Eyes Only, Broccoli promoted editor and second unit director John Glen. The casting was typically international in flavour with French actress Carole Bouquet for the revenge-seeking Melina Havelock and Cubby Broccoli’s wife Dana suggested Israeli born actor Topol for pistachio-chewing scoundrel Columbo. American ice-skating champion and actress Lynn-Holly Johnson took the role of Olympic hopeful Bibi Dahl and, having once been considered for 007 himself, British actor Julian Glover signed on to play Greek smuggler Kristatos.

For Your Eyes Only began filming on September 13 1980 at the Villa Sylva at Kanoni above Corfu town. The production was informed by the ethos of Bond going back to its smaller scale roots. Stunt arranger Rémy Julienne and 2nd unit director Arthur Wooster created a thrilling chase involving Melina Havelock’s 2CV with Bond surviving on his wits rather than any gadgetry.

Within the return to realism, For Your Eyes Only does not skimp on spectacular sequences. Bond’s assault on Kristatos’ monastery hideout was shot in the Meteora Region of Greece. Although local monks tried to disrupt filming by hanging their laundry out of the window, climber Rick Sylvester performed a breath-taking 300ft fall from the mountain. Special effects supervisor Derek Meddings built a 30ft trough filled with sandbags to ease the impact on his body as the rope pulled taut.

Back in London, Glen filmed a thrilling pre-credit sequence at Becton Gas Works involving Bond trapped on a remote controlled helicopter — the scene was inspired by Glen noticing a technician’s son playing with a remote control car at Pinewood.  When the crew arrived in the Alpine resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo, they discovered the town and mountains in the midst of a snow drought. 25 truckloads of fresh snow had to be brought in to dress street scenes.  Ski champion and cameraman Willy Bogner returned for his third Bond film, employing special skis that facilitated him skiing backwards and forwards to capture the stunning action.

Bill Conti composed the score and recorded the title song with Scottish pop star Sheena Easton, who became the only singer to date to appear in the main titles. The song proved a big hit on both sides of the Atlantic and garnered an Academy Award nomination. The film premiered on June 24 1981 and proved a huge success worldwide during the summer.

Tania Mallet (1941-2019)

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We are very sorry to hear that Tania Mallet who played Tilly Masterson in Goldfinger has died. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this sad time.

Focus Of The Week: Miranda Frost

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The aloof, articulate and cold-hearted MI6 Agent Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) from Die Another Day (2002) is a Harvard educated, Olympic standard fencer and also the secret lover of Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) aka Colonel Moon. The pair first met and fell in love trying out for the fencing team for Harvard, before Moon returned to Korea. Years later, when Frost won the Olympic gold by default at Sydney, it was because Moon arranged for the true winner to overdose on steroids. This devious act sealed Frost’s allegiance to Moon, even when DNA replacement changed his appearance to become Graves.

Having spent three years in MI6’s cryptology department, Frost pretends to spy on Graves while working under the guise of his publicist but secretly passes on the Ministry’s secrets to her lover. She is instructed by M (Judi Dench) to work alongside Bond (Pierce Brosnan) but does not approve of his methods or reputation. She still helps Bond stay under cover by kissing him when 007 is caught by Mr Kil (Lawrence Makoare) and his minions. The pair spend the night together in Frost’s room to maintain the pretence they are lovers.

Bond awakes and goes in pursuit of Graves, Frost pleading with him not to go. When Bond finally confronts Graves it comes to light she is the traitor who betrayed him in North Korea, which led to 14 months of incarceration and torture by the North Koreans. Bond moves quickly to kill her, but realises that his weapon is empty — Frost had cannily taken the opportunity to empty his Walther P99. Under the aim of Frost’s gun, Bond deploys the sonic agitator ring, courtesy of Q dept., to shatter the glass platform that supports them. Frost and Bond fall into the jungle environment of Graves’ dome HQ, the villains escaping in an Antonov An-124 aircraft.

Bond, and his CIA counterpart Jinx (Halle Berry), track down Graves and Frost in Korea. Boarding Grave’s plane, Jinx is confronted by Frost at the controls of the aircraft. As the plane spirals out of control, they engage in a fencing duel, Frost slicing Jinx across the stomach and telling her she can read her opponent’s every move. Jinx manages to stab Frost in the chest. The wound is fatal and Frost falls backwards to her death.

Focus Of The Week: GoldenEye’s Cuban Climax

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GoldenEye (1995) broke new ground for the series in many ways. It not only ushered in a new James Bond in the shape of Pierce Brosnan but also became the first 007 film to extensively utilise digital effects with 140 CGI shots alongside traditional special effects. This pioneering technology is prevalent in the film’s thrilling climax as Bond battles nemesis Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) atop the GoldenEye satellite dish in a battle to not only foil Trevelyan’s plot to rob the Bank of England by erasing its financial records but also to settle some keenly felt old scores.

For the exterior of the GoldenEye facility set in Cuba, the production found a suitably impressive satellite dish at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. On May 10 1995, the first unit started shooting scenes at the satellite centre before zeroing in on the showdown between Bond and Trevelyan. For the fight itself, director Martin Campbell drew inspiration from Bond’s fight with Red Grant on a train in From Russia With Love (1963). To achieve a similar level of intensity, Brosnan and Bean performed much of the action themselves.

“The fight scene goes on and on and on,” recalled Bean. “It’s a hell of a showdown. It’s not just about fighting. It’s seeing it in their eyes as much as anything — seeing the link between them and their having to fight to the death.”

Although the Arecibo Observatory was among the largest spherical radar-radio telescopes in the world, the script called for it to be submerged under a lake. Miniature effects supervisor Derek Meddings’ team built a 1/20th scale model of the dish but, because the real structure was so enormous, it still measured 50 feet across. The landscape model surrounding the miniature was about 100 feet across.

Digital-effects technology was also employed to augment the miniature work. The Arecibo dish was built out of very thin, perforated metal suspended on cables which meant it could not support actors. So the production recreated the structure against green screen at Leavesden Studios.

“There is a danger that the traditional techniques which in many cases are sometimes equally appropriate or more cost effective will be ignored,” said visual effects coordinator Mara Bryan. “This was certainly not the case with GoldenEye, where special and visual effects employed almost every known technique old and new. It was very exciting to be a part of it.”

Focus Of The Week: Sylvia Trench

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“Willowy, exquisitely gowned with a classic, deceptively cold beauty.” This is how the Dr. No (1962) screenplay describes Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson). Elegant and intelligent, Sylvia became the first woman to catch the cinematic James Bond (Sean Connery)’s attention. She also sets up one of the most iconic lines in cinema history.

Sylvia first meets Bond at the exclusive Le Cercle casino at Les Ambassadeurs club in London. Battling over a game of Chemin de fer, she introduces herself as “Trench, Sylvia Trench” and he responds in his now trademark manner (“Bond, James Bond”), playfully mimicking Trench’s own delivery.

Sylvia loses the game but finds herself intrigued by Bond. When Bond receives a call from a secret service operative and leaves the table, she follows suit. Bond suggests dinner and golfing the next day. Taking his card, she informs she will let him know in the morning. However, when Bond returns to his apartment that evening, he is greeted with Sylvia practicing her putting into a bowler hat sporting his pyjama top. The couple spend a passionate night together before Bond heads to Jamaica.

Sylvia reappears in the next 007 adventure From Russia With Love (1963), sharing a lazy picnic with Bond by the river. A call from Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), informing Bond to meet with M (Bernard Lee), interrupts their idyll sending him on a mission to retrieve a decoding machine from the Russians. It seems, when it comes to James Bond, Sylvia can never catch a break.

Focus Of The Week: Mollaka

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Highly acrobatic, Casino Royale (2006)’s Mollaka (Sébastien Foucan) is a bomb maker and freelance terrorist whose physical prowess and agility increases his threat.

Mollaka is engaged by Alex Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian), a middle man for terrorist banker Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), to destroy the Skyfleet S570, a prototype of the world’s largest airliner, at Miami International Airport. In Madagascar, Mollaka attends a cobra/mongoose fight unaware he is under surveillance from two MI6 agents to apprehend him, James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Carter (Joseph Millson).

Mollaka evades Carter, leaping through an empty swimming pool where the agent is bitten by the cobra and killed. With Bond in pursuit, Mollaka, heading for sanctuary in the Nambuto Embassy, charges headlong into a construction site. He sprints up the girders forming the skeleton of a building, assuming 007 will remain on the ground. Bond refuses to give up, pursuing the saboteur even when Mollaka scales a construction crane and then leaps down onto a rooftop.

Bond follows Mollaka into the Nambuto Embassy, determined not to let him get away. 007 captures Mollaka but is surrounded by the Embassy chief and guards. Held at gunpoint and ignoring orders to keep Mollaka alive, Bond shoots him in the head along with a nearby gas cylinder, the subsequent explosion allowing him to escape with Mollaka’s backpack and phone.

The explosion is captured on CCTV and becomes front page news in England. Yet Mollaka’s death does not neutralise the danger. Dimitrios hires a new bomber Carlos (Claudio Santamaria) calling 007 into a rendezvous with the Skyfleet S570.

Focus Of The Week: Thunderball’s Jet Pack

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During the pre-credit sequence for Thunderball (1965), James Bond attends the funeral of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. operative Jacques Boitier (Bob Simmons, Rose Alba), connected with the murder of two MI6 agents. 007 discovers Boitier is still alive, disguised as his grieving window. Tracking Boitier to his chateau, Bond fights and kills him, then looks to make his escape across a rooftop. Chased by S.P.E.C.T.R.E. gunmen and with no way down, Bond utilises a Bell-Textron Jet Pack, a low power rocket propulsion device, to fly to his Aston Martin DB5 to make his escape.

Thunderball director Terence Young wanted to ensure 007’s gadgetry did not become a series of gags so the production searched for existing equipment to fold into Bond’s technological arsenal (the Skyhook that whisks Bond and Domino to safety at the end of the film is also based on real life tech). In 1959, the US army issued a contract to Bell Aerospace to develop a Rocket Belt. Shortly after Bell unveiled the flying machine, the Army deemed it too dangerous for use. The filmmakers believed that Q Department might disagree, seeing a use for the technology to help agents escape from a tight corner.

“Charlie Russhon (Technical Advisor) contacted Bell-Textron and had them demonstrate it to us,” recalled Production Designer Ken Adam. “It actually worked, and was very dangerous because you could only fly for 20 seconds, Then, you ran out of fuel and you had nothing. You had better land it before you ran out of fuel.”

The scene was shot on February 19 1965 at Chateau d’Anet west of Paris. The flight sequence combined close-ups of Sean Connery shot against a rear projection screen with long shots of a stuntman piloting the Jet Pack. To help Bond appear more debonair, the scene was envisaged with 007 not wearing a helmet. However, when stuntman Bill Suitor refused to perform the stunt without safety headgear, shots of Connery sporting a helmet were inserted later.

A beloved piece of James Bond gadgetry the Jet Pack makes a cameo in Die Another Day (2002) in Q’s storeroom in an abandoned London Underground facility.

See the Bell-Textron Jet Pack at the Bond In Motion exhibition at the London Film Museum. For more details, head to http://londonfilmmuseum.com

 

Albert Finney (1936 – 2019)

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We are very sad to hear that the legendary Albert Finney has passed away at the age of 82. Albert, who was a five-time Oscar nominee, won two BAFTA awards and received the British Academy Fellowship in 2001, played gameskeeper Kincade in Skyfall (2012). Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said: “We are heartbroken at the loss of Albert Finney. It was a privilege to work with him and an honour to have had him as part of our Bond family.”

Focus Of The Week: Zao

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A North Korean assassin and terrorist, Die Another Day’s Zao (Rick Yune) is in league with Colonel Moon (Kenneth Tsang), trading conflict diamonds and illicit weapons. A skirmish with Bond radically alters his appearance but his sense of sadism and determination remain constant.

At Moon’s North Korean HQ, Zao takes a photo of Bond who is impersonating diamond trader Van Bierk and sends it to an MI6 double agent who quickly identifies Van Bierk as 007. With his cover blown, Bond sets off an explosion that embeds diamonds in Zao’s face. Bond kills Moon (or so it seems) before being taken prisoner.

14 months later, Bond is exchanged for Zao in a tense handover. “Your time will come,” Bond tells him. “Not as soon as yours,” replies Zao. M (Judi Dench) tells Bond that Zao was captured after trying to blow up a summit meeting between China and North Korea, killing three Chinese agents. The MI6 mole provided the North Koreans with the identity of the top US agent in North Korea’s High Command. The spy is executed, leading US and British Secret Services to believe Bond has cracked under torture and spilled the information. Zao’s release back to North Korea was unavoidable. Bond breaks ranks to track him and the double agent down.

Zao travels to a Cuban medical clinic for DNA replacement therapy, which will morph him into a Caucasian European. While Zao is unconscious, listening to tapes that will help him assume his new identity, Bond disturbs him with the intention to find out who is paying for his physical alterations believing it is the same person who set him up in North Korea. Zao manages to escape in a helicopter, his face still blemished with diamonds, his body chalk white from the failed transformation. Bond retains a phial from Zao’s neck that contains Sierra Leone blood diamonds — the engravings put him on the trail of diamond magnate Gustav Graves.

Zao arrives in Iceland and joins Graves, who turns out to be Colonel Moon transformed by the gene replacement therapy. Bond is captured and goads Zao into punching him in the stomach, allowing 007 to fall to the ground and utilise a special ring from Q department to cut through a glass panel and fall to a lower floor. Bond escapes in his Aston Martin Vanquish so Zao gives chase in a Jaguar XKR, the pair launching missiles at each other across a frozen lake. Inside Graves’ Ice Palace, Bond tricks Zao into crashing his car over the edge of a balcony. As Zao gets out of the car, 007 fires a single shot that severs a cable holding a giant ice chandelier which crashes down to impale and kill the terrorist.