We are very sorry to learn that David Hedison has passed away at the age of 92. David played Felix Leiter in Live And Let Die (1973) opposite Sir Roger Moore, he returned to the role in 1989 with Timothy Dalton as James Bond, in Licence To Kill. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
Aston Martin Bond 25 Cars
A new image has been released which reveals the Aston Martin cars to be featured in Bond 25. They include the Aston Martin DB5, Aston Martin V8 both of which have appeared on screen in previous James Bond films, and the new Aston Martin Valhalla.
New James Bond Funko Pop! Vinyl Figures
A new series of Funko Pop! Vinyl figures featuring characters from the James Bond series have been announced. They include Daniel Craig from Spectre, Daniel Craig from Casino Royale, Daniel Craig from Quantum Of Solace, Pierce Brosnan from GoldenEye, Honey Ryder from Dr. No, Baron Samedi from Live And Let Die, M, Le Chiffre from Casino Royale, and Moneypenny from Skyfall. The Spectre James Bond figure is being sold as an exclusive on 007STORE. This new range is set to be released in September but can be pre-ordered now.
Focus Of The Week: Thunderball
The plot sees James Bond (Sean Connery) sent to the Bahamas to retrieve two nuclear warheads stolen by SPECTRE operative Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi) in order to hold NATO to ransom for the sum of $100 million. In Nassau, Bond searches Largo’s yacht, the Disco Volante, and villa looking for the bombs but without success. Bond gets Largo’s partner Domino Derval (Claudine Auger) on his side by revealing how Largo killed her brother Major François Derval (Paul Stassino), a NATO pilot, to steal the weapons. Bond takes part in an underwater battle between SPECTRE and US aqua-paratroopers, before confronting Largo on his yacht. With Largo about to shoot Bond, Domino saves the day by harpooning him, a fitting revenge for the murder of her brother.
Bond producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman originally intended to make Thunderball the first James Bond movie as the book was the most recently published Ian Fleming novel. Screenwriter Richard Maibaum started revising his initial screenplay in late 1964. During production, respected British playwright John Hopkins polished the screenplay adding some dialogue.
Terence Young, the director of Dr. No and From Russia With Love returned behind the camera. Recognising the ambition in the script, Young sought additional specialised second unit directors to pull off the complex spectacle. Ricou Browning was hired to direct underwater sequences, underwater cameraman Lamar Boren captured the dazzling underwater battle and Broccoli’s friend and Hollywood filmmaker André De Tothshot the aerial assault over Biscayne Bay.
With Sean Connery returning for a fourth time as Bond, the film’s supporting cast was truly international in nature, a testament to the series’ growing global popularity. From Italy, Adolfo Celi played eye-patch wearing SPECTRE No.2 Emilio Largo and Luciana Paluzzi portrayed assassin Fiona Volpe. French actress Claudine Auger played Domino, Largo’s lover who switches allegiance to Bond. Jamaican actor played the ill-fated Paula Caplan (Martine Beswicke) and British model Mollie (Molly in the credits) Peters played Patricia Fearing, the nurse who looks after Bond in the Shrublands Health Clinic.
Young wanted to ground the film’s gadgetry in real world technology, famously including the iconic Bell-Textron Jet Pack 007 uses to escape from Jacques Boitier’s castle in the film’s opening sequence. Other gizmos proved so believable they duped experts — after the film opened, a Royal Navy representative called to ask about Bond’s mini-rebreather but only to be informed it was a prop.
The plot called for extensive work with sharks. Sean Connery found himself swimming in a plexiglass tunnel in Largo’s shark pool. A gap in the plexi allowed a shark to swim into the tunnel along with Connery and you can see the expression of fear on the actor’s face in the finished film. During the climactic underwater battle, a grand total of 38 divers appeared on screen, experienced SCUBA specialists flown to Nassau from Richmond, Virginia.
Composer John Barry returned to work on his fourth Bond film, creating an exotic, lush soundtrack. He penned the original opening credits song ‘Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ — the Italian nickname for 007 — with Leslie Bricusse and recorded it first with Shirley Bassey, then Dionne Warwick. Yet, with the team concerned the song never mentioned the film’s title, Barry quickly wrote ‘Thunderball’ with Don Black, a hit in the US and UK for Tom Jones.
After the film premiered on December 9 1965 in Tokyo, Thunderball broke box office records earning $142 million, selling more tickets than any Bond film before. It also set a new benchmark for action-adventure film with its scale, scope (it was the first Bond film to be shot in widescreen) and ground-breaking underwater sequences. The film also became the first 007 film to win an Academy Award, John Stears picking up the Oscar for the film’s innovative special effects.
007 And Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
EON Productions and Aston Martin Lagonda are teaming up to celebrate the 1,007th Formula 1 Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend. The British Grand Prix is the home race for the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team so it is fitting that the race falls on a number forever associated with James Bond.
The two Aston Martin Red Bull Racing F1TM cars will feature the iconic 007 logo and Bond number plates on the back of their rear wings. Max Verstappen’s RB15 Formula 1 car will run the number plate from the Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger (1964) while Pierre Gasly’s car will feature the Aston Martin V8 plate from The Living Daylights (1987).
Ticketholders can see a number of the Aston Martins from the James Bond films on display in the Bond In Motion exhibition including the V8 that will appear in Bond 25, located in the Fanzone, to register for tickets go to https://www.eventworld.com/en/events/11.
Focus Of The Week: Andrea Anders
The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)’s Andrea Anders (Maud Adams) is a woman driven by desperation. Under the influence of ruthless international assassin Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), Andrea lives on his secluded private island in Chinese waters. On the surface she is happy, but deep down she is plotting to escape from his controlling clutches.
Anders’ plans kick into action when she sends a golden bullet engraved with the number ‘007’ to the British Secret Service. She hopes it will spur James Bond (Roger Moore) to come after Scaramanga, kill him, and free her from a life she loathes. She describes Scaramanga as a “monster’, resolute in the belief that leaving him will spell certain death.
Bond takes the bait and watches Anders collect a shipment of Scaramanga’s custom-made gold bullets from a casino in Macau. Bond trails her back to her hotel and confronts her in the shower. Startled, she pulls a gun on 007 (“A water pistol?” Bond quips) and walks him into the bedroom. As she calls the reception desk, Bond knocks the weapon from her hand. Bond proceeds to grill Andrea about her relationship with Scaramanaga. She eventually reveals that she is his mistress and tells Bond he will be at the Bottoms Up club that evening.
Anders later visits Bond in his hotel room (while he is seducing Mary Goodnight [Britt Ekland]) warning Bond that Scaramanga wants to murder him. She admits that she sent the bullet and will pay any price to have Scaramanga killed. Bond asks her to acquire the Solex Agitator, a key component of the world’s most efficient solar energy system.
Andrea goes back to Scaramanga on his boat, telling him she had been at the cinema. As she puts away her jewellery in Scaramanga’s safe, she spots the Solex Agitator and steals it for Bond. When 007 arrives at the rendezvous, a Thai Boxing match, he discovers she has been shot and killed by Scaramanga after discovering her betrayal, the bullet wound concealed by her jacket. “A mistress cannot serve two masters,” the killer coldly observes.
Daniel Craig Films With The Aston Martin V8
007 star Daniel Craig, director Cary Fukunaga and the Bond 25 crew were out and about in the sunshine today shooting across a number of central London locations, including Whitehall, where Daniel filmed a scene with a classic Aston Martin V8, first seen in a Bond film in 1987’s The Living Daylights.
On Set With Bond 25: Jamaica
Check out a behind the scenes look at our recent Caribbean Bond 25 filming that shows director Cary Fukunaga at work and Daniel Craig (James Bond 007), Jeffrey Wright (Felix Leiter) and Lashana Lynch (Nomi) on set!
HRH The Prince of Wales Visits Bond 25 Sets
HRH The Prince of Wales visited Pinewood Studios today, where he enjoyed a tour of the Bond 25 sets with producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.
The Prince was introduced to cast Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Lashana Lynch and director Cary Joji Fukunaga. On display were two Aston Martins, the DB5 stunt car and the V8, that will feature in the film.
Bond 25 is the first film in the franchise to have a dedicated trainee programme that supports new entrants. The Prince met 16 trainees from The BFI Film Academy, London Film School, The Iver Make Up Academy, Iconic Steps and Mama Youth. Roles are within the camera, sound, props, costume, grips, video assistant and locations departments.
Meet Daniel Craig On The Bond 25 Set
Daniel Craig has teamed up with Omaze to give you the chance to meet him at Pinewood Studios in the UK, and visit the set of Bond 25. Every donation will 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.
Focus Of The Week: The Man With The Golden Gun’s Corkscrew Jump
The corkscrew car jump in The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) is among the most spectacular stunts in the 007 series. In hot pursuit of Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) in Bangkok, Bond (Roger Moore) steals a red AMC Hornet from a car showroom, coincidentally with a vacationing Sheriff J.W. Pepper (Clifton James) from Live And Let Die (1973) in the passenger seat. During the chase, Bond and Pepper find themselves on the other side of a river forcing Bond to reverse and make a spectacular jump across the water spinning 360 degrees in mid air before landing safely on the other side.
The idea for the set-piece started when stunt driver Joie Chitwood (who worked on Live And Let Die) sent director Guy Hamilton a photograph of a car undertaking a corkscrew jump. The stunt, designed by Raymond McHenry on a computer inspired by his work on a simulation of single vehicle accidents, was part of The American Thrill Show, staged by JM Productions. The so called Astro Spiral Jump had wowed audiences all across the US and was now licenced to The Man With The Golden Gun team to immortalise on film.
Based on mathematical and computerised calculations provided by the Calspan Corporation in New York, the car had to be perfectly balanced so the driver and steering wheel are exactly in the middle. It also had to hit a curved ramp at exactly 48 miles per hour — two tachometers were on board to check this — meaning a long run up was essential.
On June 1 1974, day 35 of production, the crew, guided by stunt co-ordinator W.J. Milligan Jr, assembled on the canal at Klong Rangsit, Thailand. With the ramp disguised as a tumbledown bridge, the spiral jump was performed by Loren “Bumps” Willert in Bond’s AMC Hornet X Hatchback. Two dummies of Bond and Sheriff Pepper were positioned either side of Willert, who was dressed in black so he wouldn’t register on camera.
“The guy who did the roll had never driven the car before or ever done it,” recalled Guy Hamilton. “He wasn’t concerned because as long as it had the run up, so long as it’s 48 miles per hour, the rest is automatic. You hang on, cross your fingers, and bingo he did it in one take.”
Yet Willert didn’t just do the jump for the cameras; he also did it for an assembled crowd.
“Some people didn’t believe we actually did the stunts,” said marketing executive Hy Smith. “We took about 100 press from Europe in a rented 747 to Thailand. Despite that they saw the car corkscrew 360 degrees from one side of the river to the other, when the picture came out, many of them said it was the most wonderful special effect they’d ever seen.”But the courageous act that wasn’t lost on the star. After witnessing the astonishing jump, Roger Moore told the stunt team: “You fellas make me look good.”
Focus Of The Week: Tiffany Case
In Diamonds Are Forever (1971), small time smuggler Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) ultimately plays a key role in foiling the plot of Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Charles Gray). Confident, clever and seductive, she was born on the first floor of Tiffany & Co while her mother shopped for a wedding ring and subsequently developed a mercenary approach to financial gain. She is part of a smuggling pipeline of South African diamonds and becomes embroiled in a battle between Bond (Sean Connery), the CIA and Blofeld’s organisation — with the fate of the world at stake.
She first meets Bond when he is posing as smuggler Peter Franks. When Bond kills the real Franks (John Robinson), he convinces her the dead man is actually 007. She insists Bond leave with her immediately, smuggling the diamonds in Franks’ body.
Tiffany parts company with Bond in Los Angeles but, when 007 delivers fake diamonds, her contacts call her back into service in Las Vegas. Collecting the real diamonds and eluding 30 US government agents, she learns from Bond someone is killing all the smugglers in the pipeline. The drowning of Plenty O’Toole (Lana Wood) by SPECTRE henchman Mr. Wint (Bruce Glover) and Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith) confirms that Tiffany is the next target and she starts to help Bond.
She soon finds herself in a CIA guarded suite in Las Vegas, uncertain if she will be rewarded or prosecuted. After Bond discovers Blofeld is behind the smuggling operation, Tiffany convinces the captors of her willingness to co-operate. When she sees a woman with a white Persian cat leaving casino-hotel the Whyte House, she follows, suspecting it could be Blofeld in drag. When she is proved right. Blofeld abducts her. She pretends to co-operate, travelling with him to the oil rig from where he launches his satellite attacks against the world’s superpowers. Tiffany maintains the illusion of loyalty to Blofeld but, when Bond arrives, she surreptitiously tries to help 007. After Blofeld is defeated, the pair leave for a romantic cruise. On the first evening they are interrupted by an assassination attempt by Wint and Kidd, but Bond thwarts their attack. The pair gaze up to Blofeld’s (now non-functional) diamond-encrusted satellite high above them in space. True to form, Tiffany wistfully asks: “James, how the hell do we get those diamonds again?”
