To celebrate James Bond Day, the first poster for No Time To Die has been released. The film will be in cinemas around the world in April 2020.
Happy James Bond Day
Today is James Bond Day – an annual celebration of the 007 franchise held on October 5th – the date of the World Premiere of the first James Bond film Dr. No in 1962. Keep your eyes peeled for exciting James Bond news and watch out for 007 activations running all day on our partners’ social channels.
New OMEGA Watch Celebrates Bond
OMEGA have released a Seamaster Diver 300M to celebrate the 50th anniversary of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) with special 007 detailing.
OMEGA’s new 42mm Seamaster Diver 300M in stainless steel is limited to 7,007 pieces and features a black PVD on black ceramic dial, with a spiral-brushed gun-barrel finish and 9mm bullet head at the centre.
18K yellow gold has been used to create the hands and indexes, including the index at 12 o’clock, which follows the look of the Bond family coat-of-arms. On the 7th day of each month, the number 7 on the date window uses the same font as the 007 logo. There is also a hidden ‘50’ on the 10 o’clock index, which appears by night as a secret signature within the Super-LumiNova.
Presented on a black rubber strap, OMEGA’s new Bond watch is Master Chronometer certified and housed in a stylish black box with gun barrel patterns and bullet-head buttons.
OMEGA has also released an OMEGA Seamaster Diver 300M James Bond Limited Edition Set, presented in its own Globe-Trotter™ suitcase.
This includes the steel watch described above and a second model in 18K yellow gold, which sports a black rubber strap with an 18K yellow gold buckle. On this watch, the black ceramic bezel features a diving scale in OMEGA Ceragold™.
Focus Of The Week: Fiona Volpe
The head of SPECTRE’s Execution Branch, Thunderball’s (1965) Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) is a deadly weapon herself. Cunning, strategic and alluring, she seduces her prey, often by playing on their egos, before sending them to their doom. Volpe plays a key role in SPECTRE’s plan to ransom two atomic weapons and is strong enough to stand up to No. 2 Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), rebuking him for trying to kill James Bond (Sean Connery). She (reasonably) points out Bond’s death would lead to the British Secret Service discovering SPECTRE’s plan.
Volpe becomes NATO pilot Francois Derval (Paul Stassino)’s lover in order to steal the Vulcan plane and its cargo of two atomic bombs, a key component in the plot to blackmail NATO for the sum of $100 million. She sets up Derval to be killed by mercenary Angelo Palazzi (also played by Stassino) who demands more money for impersonating the pilot. Count Lippe (Guy Doleman), the second of three conspirators, threatens Palazzi with a pistol but the more pragmatic Volpe tells him to put it away. She agrees to Palazzi’s requests to keep the plan on schedule.
Once the plan has been successful, Volpe is charged with killing Lippe for hiring the avaricious Palazzi. The following day, Volpe destroys Lippe’s car by shooting a missile from her BSA Lightning A65L motorcycle. She subsequently pushes the bike into a lake to hide the evidence.
Volpe meets Bond when he flags down her car in the Bahamas. As she drives him to the Coral Harbour hotel, he notices the SPECTRE insignia on her ring. Fiona holds British Secret Service operative Paula Caplan (Martine Beswicke) hostage but Caplan takes a cyanide pill before she can divulge any information. Bond discovers Fiona is his closest neighbour and sneaks into her apartment where he finds her in the bath.
The next morning, as Bond leaves, he comes face to face with Largo’s henchmen Vargas (Phillip Locke) and Janni (Michael Brennan) and turns to see Volpe holding him at gun-point. Taking him captive, the group sit in traffic at the Junkanoo street parade until Bond knocks a reveller’s alcohol into the car and uses Volpe’s lighter to set the car interior on fire.
Bond flees into the crowd, pursued by Volpe and her men, and attempts to disappear among the dancers in the Kiss Kiss Club. He starts to dance with a woman but Volpe cuts in. A henchman takes aim at Bond behind a curtain but 007 spins Volpe into the trajectory of the bullet. Bond slips Volpe into an empty chair, quipping to the couple at the table, “Mind if my friend sits this one out? She’s just dead.”
Focus Of The Week: Marco Ange Draco
Imposing, charismatic with a slight tinge of menace, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’s (1969) Marco Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti) is head of the Union Corse, the biggest crime syndicate in Europe. He operates legitimate business concerns including construction, electrical supplies and numerous agricultural holdings as a front for his nefarious activities. He bonds with 007 (George Lazenby) over similar passions — good food and drink (he is partial to Corsican brandy) and a sharp cynical sense of humour — a friendship that becomes stronger when 007 marries his only daughter Tracy (Diana Rigg) — before tragedy strikes on their wedding day.
Bond comes onto Draco’s radar after he saves Tracy from a suicide attempt. The next morning, Bond is kidnapped and taken to Draco’s office. Draco reveals that Tracy is his only daughter and reveals her troubled backstory. Draco was a bandit hiding up in the mountains when he met a romantic English girl. The two fell in love, married and had a child Teresa (Tracy). Twelve years later, when Draco had become the head (capo) of the Union Corse, his wife died, sending Tracy off the rails without parental supervision. Draco watched Tracy run wild but, while he cut off her allowance, he instructed his men to follow her and ensure her safety.
Draco believes Bond is the perfect match for Tracy and offers him £1million if he marries her. Bond refuses but he agrees to keep seeing Tracy in exchange for info about his nemesis Blofeld. Tracy sees through her father’s motives and tells Draco to give Bond the information or she will never see her father again. With his hand forced, Draco reveals Blofeld’s contact is a Swiss lawyer named GebrüderGumbold (James Bree). However Draco’s wishes come true as Bond and Tracy gradually fall in love.
Later, when Blofeld kidnaps Tracy, Bond enlists Draco’s help to mount a helicopter attack on Blofeld’s alpine hideaway, Piz Gloria. Storming Blofeld’s HQ, Draco and his men rescue Tracy, Draco personally knocking his daughter unconscious to stop her staying behind to help Bond.
At Bond and Tracy’s wedding, Draco presents 007 with a £1million dowry for marrying his daughter but Bond politely refuses. Draco acknowledges that M (Bernard Lee) was the “man who cost me three of my best operators”. M replies “Yes, November 1964 — the bullion job” — a possible reference to the events in Goldfinger.
Tragically Draco’s time as a father in law is cut short. Leaving on honeymoon, Bond and Tracy are attacked by Blofeld and his henchwoman Irma Bunt (Ilse Steppat) on a roadside, leaving Tracy dead and Bond bereft.
No Time To Die Filming In Italy
Daniel Craig, Léa Seydoux and director Cary Joji Fukunaga arrive in the stunning hilltop city of Matera to continue filming No Time To Die.
Photographs: Nicola Dove
Focus Of The Week: Nick Nack
The Man With The Golden Gun’s (1974) Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize) is the impish, conniving servant of world class assassin Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee). Residing on Scaramanga’s private island in the South China Sea, Nick Nack performs numerous duties (butler, chef, occasional assailant), arranging hit-men to try and kill Scaramanga in his private fun house maze. These exercises are more than just sport for his master: they are designed to keep Scaramanga at the top of his game and sharp enough to kill James Bond (Roger Moore).
The first killer to take on Scaramanga is dark suited gangster Rodney (Marc Lawrence). As the pair are engaged in a duel in an elaborate shooting range, Nick Nack taunts Scaramanga, telling him he has locked away his arsenal meaning he has to search for his legendary golden gun which Nick Nack has placed at the centre of a maze. Scaramanga manages to outwit his opponent and kill him.
Nick Nack helps Scaramanga in his mission to auction off the world’s first solar energy system. After Scaramanga kills British scientist Gibson (Gordon Everett) Nick Nack steals the Solex Agitator (a device that harnesses the sun’s power) from the lifeless body. Scaramanga’s mistress Andrea Anders (Maud Adams) retrieves the Solex and plans to give it to Bond but is murdered for switching allegiances by Scaramanga and Nick Nack at a Thai Boxing match. As the pair depart Bond’s naïve colleague Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) attempts to follow them by placing a homing device in Scaramanga’s AMC Matador but she is caught by Scaramanga and bundled into the boot. Bond uses the homing device to track Scaramanga but the assassin outwits 007 when his car converts into a plane, which flies away with Scaramanga, Nick Nack and Goodnight still inside.
Bond pursues Goodnight to Scaramanga’s island, Nick Nack greeting him with a bottle of Dom Perignon — in a moment of bravura marksmanship Scaramanga shoots the cork off. Nick Nack officiates the duel which ends when Bond kills Scaramanga. 007 and Goodnight escape from the island in a junk ship unaware Nick Nack waits on board, hiding above the bed poised to throw a knife. Goodnight spots him and screams, sparking a fight which ends when Bond shuts Nick Nack in a suitcase and carries him on deck. As 007 returns to Goodnight, it is revealed he has placed Nick Nack in a wicker basket hanging from the boat’s mast as the junk heads for the sunset.
Secret Cinema Presents Casino Royale In Shanghai
Secret Cinema, today announced its first international expansion into China, in collaboration with SMG Live. They will launch with the current UK show, SMG Live presents Secret Cinema’s production of Casino Royale, in Shanghai on 23 November 2019.
Secret Cinema Presents Casino Royale opened in London this year to widespread critical acclaim and continues to run, drawing record-breaking crowds of over 120,000 so far; making it the largest and most ambitious production Secret Cinema has ever produced.
Focus Of The Week: The Acrostar “Bede” Jet
The Acrostar “Bede” Jet made a stunning appearance at the opening of Octopussy (1983) to help Bond (Roger Moore) escape from an unidentified Latin American country. Invented by Jim Bede, the BD-5J Acrostar Microjet is just 3.6 metres (12ft) long with a wingspan of only 3.9 metres (13ft), powered by a single TRS-18 microturbo jet engine capable of a top speed of 514 kph (320 mph). Obtained and weaponised by Q Branch, it’s a nifty plane that gets Bond out of an impossibly tight scrape.
Bond is on a mission to sabotage a spy plane impersonating moustachioed army officer Colonel Toro. Unmasked and captured, 007 is transported in an army vehicle but gives his guards the slip by pulling the parachutes on his captors, then jumping into a Range Rover convertible driven by colleague Bianca (Tina Hudson). Bond detaches the horse box at the back of the convertible and climbs in. As swarms of army jeeps and motorcycles head towards him, 007 emerges from the trailer in the Acrostar Jet. The folding wings descend and Bond speeds towards the vehicles, taking off just over his pursuers head.
A Rapier surface to air missile is launched at the jet and Bond tries to lose it by flying through a series of ravines and mesas. In a last resort, he decides to fly straight into the hangar housing the spy planes. Colonel Toro’s men scamper to close the huge doors at the far end but Bond’s plane zips through the ever diminishing gap. The pursuing missile smashes into the closed door obliterating the hangar and completing 007’s mission.
In the clear, Bond notices that the jet’s fuel gauge registers almost empty. He lands the plane on a deserted road, pulls into a petrol station and coolly asks the astonished attendant: “Fill her up”.
Shooting the sequence was divided into two sections. To capture the aerial action, stunt pilot J.W. “Corkey” Fornof flew his jet over Southern Utah. For close-ups of the heart-stopping moment Bond manoeuvres the jet through a hangar, special effects supervisor John Richardson mounted a plane on a pole attached to a stripped-down Jaguar. The car was driven through the hangar at breakneck speed, soldiers running in front of the car to hide the chassis. To create the effect of the missile following the plane, Richardson constructed a model plane and attached a flaming firework to it. Simple, but highly effective.
Skyfall In Concert In Toronto
Watch Skyfall In Concert at Meridian Hall, Toronto on February 21 and 22. Audiences will experience composer Thomas Newman’s BAFTA-winning original score performed live by the Motion Picture Symphony Orchestra. Before each performance there will be a Behind the Curtain pre-show talk with Toronto Film Critic and TV Host Richard Crouse.
Tickets on sale at www.ticketmaster.ca
Focus Of The Week: Kerim Bey
Robust, confident and wise, Kerim Bey (Pedro Armendáriz) is the head of Station T in Istanbul. During Bond (Sean Connery)’s mission to retrieve the Lektor decoding machine in From Russia With Love (1963), Bey becomes 007’s loyal ally and trusted companion. Bey is in many ways a mirror of Bond: both share a lust for life, a love of women and a commitment to completing a mission. It is no wonder they work so well together.
Bey enters Bond’s orbit when Soviet Army Intelligence Corporal Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) contacts him asking for his help to defect to Europe. She claims she had seen a photo of Bond in a secret file and taken a shine to him and offers to hand over the Lektor machine in exchange for Bond escorting her — and the decoding device — back to England. Bey contacts M, who sends Bond out to Istanbul to investigate.
Meeting Bond in his office, Bey reveals he believes the Russians are trying to lure Bond into a trap. As Bond heads back to his hotel, Bey narrowly escapes being blown up by a limpet mine.
Subsequently Bey decides to spy on the Russians. Leading Bond through a hidden door and down some steps, the pair are faced with a subterranean reservoir built by the Emperor Constantine around 350AD. Bey and Bond take a small boat down to a tunnel and walk into a small cavity beneath the Russian Consulate building. Using a periscope gifted from the British Navy, he spies on a Military Intelligence meeting which includes Benz (Peter Bayliss) and Krilencu (Fred Haggerty), an assassin and old nemesis of Kerim.
Bey and Bond visit his friend Vavra (Francis De Wolff) at a gypsy camp to glean information about Krilencu. They are diverted by a battle between two women in love with the same man and decide to stay for food and raki. The fight is interrupted when Krilencu and his men attack the camp, injuring Bey who swears instant revenge. Bey’s plan for vengeance sees his sons dress up as two policemen and ring Krilencu’s doorbell, causing the assassin to escape from a trapdoor around the back. Kerim is ready and waiting with Bond’s AR-7 sniper rifle and, resting the weapon on Bond’s shoulder for steadiness, shoots him dead.
Repaying Bond’s help, Bey helps Bond to steal the Lektor by setting a bomb off under the Russian consulate. Bey and Bond, along with Tatiana, escape and board the Orient Express, Bey taking Benz captive for spying on them. Bey guards Benz but is stabbed to death by SPECTRE operative Donald “Red” Grant (Robert Shaw) who makes it look that Bey and Benz killed each other.
No Time To Die Is The Official Title Of Bond 25
James Bond Producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli today released the official title of the 25th James Bond adventure, No Time To Die. The film, from Albert R. Broccoli’s EON Productions, Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios (MGM), and Universal Pictures International is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (Beasts of No Nation, True Detective) and stars Daniel Craig, who returns for his fifth film as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007. Written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade (Spectre, Skyfall), Cary Joji Fukunaga, Scott Z. Burns (Contagion, The Bourne Ultimatum) and Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Killing Eve, Fleabag) No Time To Die is currently in production. The film will be released globally from April 3, 2020 in the UK through Universal Pictures International and in the US on April 8, from MGM via their United Artists Releasing banner.
No Time To Die also stars Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Billy Magnussen, Ana de Armas, Rory Kinnear, David Dencik, Dali Benssalah with Jeffrey Wright and Ralph Fiennes.
In No Time To Die, Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.
Other members of the creative team are; Composer Dan Romer, Director of Photography Linus Sandgren, Editors Tom Cross and Elliot Graham, Production Designer Mark Tildesley, Costume Designer Suttirat Larlarb, Hair and Make up Designer Daniel Phillips, Supervising Stunt Coordinator Olivier Schneider, Stunt Coordinator Lee Morrison and Visual Effects Supervisor Charlie Noble. Returning members to the team are; 2nd Unit Director Alexander Witt, Special Effects and Action Vehicles Supervisor Chris Corbould and Casting Director Debbie McWilliams.
