Focus Of The Week: Eiffel Tower Leap

The jump from the Eiffel Tower during A View To A Kill’s Paris chase is a triumph of both the practical and the courageous. Bond (Roger Moore) pursues May Day (Grace Jones), bodyguard of industrialist Max Zorin, up the iconic French landmark. Clad all in black, she parachutes from the tower and, pursued by Bond in a car, escapes in a Glastron speedboat.
The sequence had its roots in a lunch between producer Michael G. Wilson and stuntman B.J. Worth. Worth indicated to the producer he would love to jump off the Eiffel Tower for an action sequence. The idea took four years and A View To A Kill to bring Worth’s dream to fruition. 
 “The Eiffel Tower was tricky because they have very strict rules about stunts being performed,” says Director John Glen. “The problem with the Eiffel Tower as a jumping platform is that the top is very thin. But the bottom is very wide so it slopes outwards very quickly.”
Worth began practicing the stunt by jumping from hot air balloons. Key to the stunt’s success was figuring out how long the stunt man had before he had to open the parachute. Michael G. Wilson did the calculations: “I said to him, “You’ve got about three and a half seconds, then you’ve got to pull it.”
Worth needed two permissions from the French authorities, one to jump from the tower, the other to land in Paris. After French production manager Serge Toubout facilitated the access, a ramp was built for Worth to jump off. Weather conditions had to be just right: any sudden gusts of wind could blow Worth back into the tower. The duration of the fall was so short there was no time to open a second parachute. 
At dawn on August 4, Worth, dressed as May Day, prepared to jump from the 300 metre tower. “I inhaled deeply and shouted ‘This one’s for Cubby!” he remembered. “I bolted down the plank and dove over the edge, throwing my chest to the horizon. Time almost stopped.”
The jump went off without a hitch. 30 seconds later Worth landed safely on Paris terra firma, next to his wife and children. Within the hour Producer Cubby Broccoli had delivered a case of champagne to Worth’s hotel room for a job well done. 

Focus Of The Week: Boris Grishenko

A supremely talented hacker, Boris Grishenko, played by Alan Cumming, is crucial to Alex Trevelyan (Sean Bean)’s plot to hit London with GoldenEye, an electromagnetic pulse weapon and electronically steal billions of pounds from the Bank Of England.

With computer skills second to none, Grishenko is a fixture at the Severnaya Space Weapons Control Centre in Siberia. His hobby is to hack into the world’s securest computer systems, taking joy in creating passwords with elaborate riddles. Boris is often unaware of the moral ramifications of his actions; instead he sees the world as one big computer game often ending with his victory yell “I am invincible”.

Boris gives the signal for General Ouromov (Gottfried John) and Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) to begin the massacre at Severnaya and later luring fellow programmer Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco) into a trap in St. Petersburg. His actions become even more dangerous in Cuba, programming the GoldenEye satellite to detonate over London while hacking into the Bank Of England mainframe.

Boris is happy to see Natalya in Cuba, oblivious to her anger at his actions. As Natalya alters the course of the GoldenEye to harmlessly explode over the Atlantic Ocean, Boris tries to hack her pass codes. Bond and Natalya hurry to destroy the satellite command centre. Boris survives the crash of the transmitter and antenna through the station’s roof but is frozen solid by a cascade of liquid nitrogen. He was not invincible after all.

Focus Of The Week: Dr. No

In 1961, American producer Albert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli wanted to bring Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels to the screen. Teaming up with Canadian producer Harry Saltzman, who had optioned the rights to the series, Broccoli landed the financing from United Artists, raising $1 million to bring 007 to the screen.

Initially Broccoli and Saltzman wanted Thunderball to be the first Bond adventure. When their intention was scuppered by copyright issues, they turned to Dr. No, the sixth Fleming novel that featured a topical story (the space race) and plenty of action, all set in a dazzling tropical location. To direct the picture, the producers chose Terence Young, a filmmaker Broccoli knew could bring the elegance, style and panache that were hallmarks of the character.

To adapt the screenplay, the team selected Wolf Mankowitz, who initially introduced Broccoli to Saltzman, and Richard Maibaum who had penned Broccoli’s first big hit The Red Beret alongside Johanna Harwood and Berkely Mather.

The final screenplay cleaved closer to Fleming. James Bond (Sean Connery) is sent to Jamaica to investigate the suspected murder of a fellow agent. Bond, with the help of CIA operative Felix Leiter (Jack Lord) and islander Quarrel (Jack Kitzmuller), follows a trail that leads him to scientist Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman). Landing on Dr. No’s private island, Crab Key, Bond encounters sea-shell collector Honey Ryder. The pair are captured by Dr. No’s private army and Bond learns of the scientist’s plan to destroy the US space program as a first step towards world domination. Bond outwits Dr. No, knocking him into a nuclear reactor pool, and rescues Honey before the island explodes.

The biggest question revolved around the casting of James Bond. The producers considered casting big names such as Richard Burton, James Mason and Cary Grant (the best man at Broccoli’s wedding). When Mason and Grant refused to sign up to multi-picture deals, Broccoli and Saltzman sought an unknown, discovering a young exciting Scottish actor named Sean Connery. It took Terence Young, who had worked with Connery on Action Of The Tiger, to school the actor in the ways of sharp suits, expensive food and fine wines. The role ultimately fit Connery like a glove.

For Honey Ryder, the producers cast Swedish actress Ursula Andress, who took the role at the prompting of her husband John Derek. To play the title role of Dr. No, Ian Fleming himself suggested friend and playwright Noel Coward. Coward sent a typically witty response by telegram: “Dear Ian, the answer to Dr. No is No! No! No!” The producers finally cast New York stage actor Joseph Wiseman.

Filming began in Jamaica on January 16 1962 before moving to Pinewood to shoot interiors. From Maurice Binder’s title sequence to Ken Adams’ sets to Monty Norman’s theme arranged by John Barry, the film established many of the elements now associated with the series. Equally ground-breaking was the film’s sense of pace and action. “The secret of the James Bond fights is that they are dramatic but are never real enough to be violently sickening,” said stunt arranger Bob Simmons. Dr. No opened in England on October 5th 1962 to huge critical praise and box office success. A new cinematic hero was born. The 5th October now marks, ‘Global James Bond Day’.

Focus Of The Week: The Spy Who Loved Me Chase

The ski chase that opens The Spy Who Loved Me is among the most thrilling sequences in the entire series. On assignment in Austria, 007 is pursued down a mountain by KGB assassins when he is confronted by a cliff face. All looks lost when Bond skies off the edge to a certain death — until, after a few heart-stopping moments, a parachute opens emblazoned with a Union Jack.

The body of the chase sequence was filmed by the second unit in St. Moritz, Switzerland during January 1977. Despite Roger Moore’s skill as a skier, stunt doubles replaced him during the chase. “If the action’s sufficiently fast you can — by sleight of hand and clever editing — believe it’s the real person,” said Assistant Editor John Grover. “Roger’s a good skier but not a stunt skier. Sorry Roger!” Cameraman Willy Bogner, who had previously captured the skiing sequences in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), tracked the stunt men on skis using a handheld camera to give the action an extra dynamic edge.

The moment Bond skis off the mountain was inspired by an advertisement for Canadian Club of a skier zooming off Mount Asgard in Canada and then opening a parachute. “We were looking for an opening sequence,” recalled Wilson. “I said, ‘Let’s find this guy’.”

‘This guy’ was climber and stuntman Rick Sylvester. Although the stunt was later revealed to be falsified. Sylvester was convinced it could be done for real. Producer Cubby Broccoli remembered the daredevil as “born with an irresistible urge to cheat death, preferably on skis, he was a natural worry to his mother.”

So, led by second unit director John Glen (who went onto direct five Bond films), Sylvester and a crew of ten headed to Mount Asgard in Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island, Canada to film the stunt. The shoot stretched the crew to the limit.

“We were in this very desolate part of the world, inside the Arctic circle with an Eskimo village about 30 miles away,” said Glen. “Each day we had to travel out by helicopter to set up the climbing pylons so the crew could get up there with the cameras. The weather was atrocious.”

Glen waited for ten days, the harsh conditions almost scuppering the stunt. But with a brief respite in the wind and clouds parting, the crew only had a fifteen- minute window to pull off the stunt. “The last thing I said to him was “Go Rick, and don’t forget, you’re James Bond,” recalled John Glen.

Out of the three cameras rolling, only one managed to capture the stunt and an instantly iconic moment was born. As Broccoli put it, “It was brave and it was beautiful. It was the pure essence of James Bond.”

 

Focus Of The Week: Quantum Of Solace

Quantum Of Solace (2008) represented a first in the 007 series. With the action picking up just ten minutes after the end of Casino Royale (2006), it became the first direct sequel produced by EON Productions.

The idea for the film initially had much closer ties to Casino Royale, with Bond going in search of Vesper’s boyfriend. The finished story ultimately took a different path. Bond’s search for the reasons behind Vesper’s betrayal brings him into contact with Quantum, a sinister organisation with operatives all over the world. 007’s investigation takes him to Haiti, where he meets Camille, an agent looking to avenge the death of her family at the hands of former Bolivian dictator General Medrano. Camille leads Bond to Dominic Greene, the CEO of eco-friendly company Greene Planet and a high-ranking member of Quantum. Greene, who is in league with Medrano, is plotting to store away Bolivia’s water supply underground with the idea of using it as leverage to run the entire country.

Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland) was hired to direct a screenplay by Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. On January 25 2008, the production confirmed the title as Quantum Of Solace, after a 1960 Ian Fleming short story in which Bond is told an anecdote over dinner in Jamaica. “Ian Fleming always had an emotional line through his books,” recalled Daniel Craig. “Quantum Of Solace is a moving story debating relationships and how they hurt. He suggests if you don’t have a quantum of solace in your relationship, you should give up.”

Starring alongside Daniel Craig was Olga Kurylenko as Camille, a woman as desperate for revenge as Bond. Respected French actor Mathieu Amalric played faux environmentalist Dominic Greene. Rising star Gemma Arterton played Agent Fields, who meets a sticky end covered in oil in homage to Goldfinger, where Jill Masterson is painted gold. Regulars returning to the series included Jeffrey Wright (Felix Leiter), Jesper Christensen (Mr. White), Giancarlo Giannini (Mathis) and, of course, the inimitable Judi Dench as M.

Quantum Of Solace filmed in more overseas locations than any previous Bond film to date — 13 out of the 22 weeks were on location. Filming started at Pinewood Studios, the production travelled to Panama City and Colón in Panama and the Atacama Desert in Chile before moving onto Italy, visiting Siena, Carrara and Lake Garda. The main unit ended in Bregenz, Austria, with additional aerial sequences shot in Mexico. For a moment when Bond and Camille freefall out of a DC-3, the unit took over the world’s largest sky-diving wind tunnel in Bedford. Working with stunt coordinator Gary Powell, Craig and Kurylenko simulated the experience of freefalling at 170 mph.

The film’s other stunning action set-pieces included a rooftop foot-chase in Siena, a high-speed pursuit through the streets and tunnels of Lake Garda and a boat sequence shot in Colón doubling for Haiti. The production took a more believable approach to spectacle. As Producer Barbara Broccoli puts it: “One of the reasons we had much more realistic action was because Daniel was able and wanted to do it. When your leading-man does it, then everyone follows suit.”

Quantum Of Solace had its royal world premiere on 29th October 2008 at the Odeon Leicester Square. Opening to the public two days later, the film would go on to earn a phenomenal box office gross of $586 million.

 

Focus Of The Week: Guy Hamilton

The second director to make a 007 film following Terence Young, Guy Hamilton added flair and panache to four Bond adventures. Born in Paris in 1922, Hamilton spent his formative years in France. He got his first job in the film industry aged 16, working as a clapper boy for French director Julien Duvivier. At the outbreak of World War II, he was evacuated aboard a ship and found himself sleeping on piles of coal.

Arriving in London, he started work at the Paramount News film library before a stint in the Royal Navy. After the war, he became an Assistant Director, working with such respected filmmakers as Carol Reed and John Huston. It was Reed who helped Hamilton get his first directing job with The Ringer (1952). Over the next ten years, he earned a reputation as director of male dominated films like The Colditz Story (1955), The Devil’s Disciple (1959) and The Best Of Enemies (1962).

Hamilton turned down the opportunity to direct Dr. No (1962) in order to make The Party’s Over (1965), a film that was delayed due to censorship laws. Hamilton’s opportunity to make a Bond film came with Goldfinger (1964), ramping up the humour, glamour and gadgetry. “I always think of Goldfinger being almost the perfect Bond film,” says producer Michael G. Wilson.

Hamilton returned to the Bond fold for Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun, easing the transition between Sean Connery and Roger Moore. “Roger is not Sean and Sean is not Roger,” he once said. “You’ve got to forget whatever images you have in your mind.”

After Bond, Hamilton continued to direct well-crafted action films before retiring to Mallorca. He passed away at the age of 93 in 2016. This year he was honoured by the Atlantida Film Festival in Mallorca.

Focus Of The Week: Tomorrow Never Dies

The 18th James Bond film and Pierce Brosnan’s second outing in the role was made under an intense deadline: a December 1997 release date set out by the studio.

GoldenEye writer Bruce Feirstein came up with the most modern of villains, a media mogul, encapsulated in a simple pitch: “Words are the new weapons, satellites, the new artillery.” In an early draft of the script, the news mogul was named Elliot Harmsway (he became Elliot Carver) and in later drafts the film had the working title ‘Tomorrow Never Lies’. It featured key elements from the finished film, including Harmsway’s (Carver’s) stealth boat and 007’s remote controlled BMW.

The final story sees Bond investigate media baron Elliott Carver (Jonathan Pryce) who is looking to provoke a war between China and the United Kingdom by sinking the British frigate HMS Devonshire in Chinese waters via a Stealth ship. Bond has 48 hours to discover the truth behind the sinking to prevent the two countries going to war. After tailing Carver to Germany, where he seduces Carver’s wife Paris (Teri Hatcher), Bond travels to South China to explore the wreck of the Devonshire. He meets Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese agent who is working the same case. The pair are captured in Carver’s HQ but escape and team up to stop Carver firing the decisive missile at Beijing, exposing his ‘invisible’ ship to the Royal Navy.

Hong Kong action legend Michelle Yeoh was cast in the role of the Chinese agent  —Wai-Lin — very much an equal to Bond, not a sidekick. Jonathan Pryce, perhaps best known at that point for Miss Saigon, was recruited to play the power hungry mogul. Teri Hatcher, star of TV show Lois & Clark, signed on to play Paris, an old flame of Bond’s and now Mrs. Carver.

With Pinewood and Leavesden Studios completely booked up, the filmmakers, as with GoldenEye, created a new studio space, this time in a former warehouse in Frogmore, England. With the film now retitled Tomorrow Never Dies, the shoot began in January 1997 with Second Unit Director Vic Armstrong capturing the pre-credit Arms Bazaar sequence in the French Pyrenees.

Armstrong later orchestrated a spectacular car chase inside Brent Cross Shopping Centre car park doubling for a multi-storey car park in Hamburg. To achieve the idea that Bond is controlling the car via a touchpad on his cell phone, special effects supervisor Chris Corbould’s crew reconfigured four BMW 750iLs to be driven by a hidden stunt driver on the back floorboard, steering the car by watching video monitors. In the four-minute sequence, over 17 cars were used.

The team also created a stunning motorcycle helicopter chase, merging Bangkok locations with UK sets. At Frogmore, French motorcycle expert Jean-Pierre Goy riding a BMW R1200 motorcycle leaped between two buildings over a prop helicopter. Equally heart-stopping, parachute specialist B. J. Worth undertook eighty parachute jumps, falling 12,000ft over Arizona and 1400ft over Florida.

To meet the December 9 premiere date, composer David Arnold composed and recorded the score in sections during production. Arnold’s score felt modern while honouring the musical tradition of the series. Sheryl Crow wrote and performed the title song while k.d. lang sung the end title song ‘Surrender’, very much in the vein of a Shirley Bassey Bond classic.

Following Cubby Broccoli’s passing on June 27 1996, the film would be the first Bond film to carry the credit  ‘Albert R. Broccoli’s EON Productions Presents…’ (It previously said ‘Albert. R Broccoli Presents). The film proved to be both a fitting tribute and a huge success, earning $333 million worldwide. It also cemented Pierce Brosnan in the role, redefining Bond once more as the series approached a new millennium.

Focus Of The Week: Q (Desmond Llewelyn)

Q is so much more than the Quartermaster his initial stands for. An endlessly inventive scientific genius, he runs a department within British Intelligence that stands at the forefront of technological innovation and often lifesaving ingenuity. His creativity and craftsmanship have rescued Bond in tight situations on many occasions.

After Peter Burton played armourer Major Boothroyd in Dr. No (1962), Desmond Llewelyn stepped into the role in From Russia With Love (1963), the first time the character is addressed as Q. He presents Bond with a seemingly normal attaché case that conceals some exotic but deadly gadgets; .25-calibre ammunition, a flat throwing knife, an ArmaLite AR-7 folding sniper’s rifle and a tear gas cartridge disguised as a tin of talcum powder — the latches must be turned horizontally before opening or the cartridge will explode.

In Goldfinger (1964), Q’s irritation with Bond’s wit (“Now pay attention”) and reckless disregard for his equipment comes to the fore. In return, Bond regards Q as a slightly dotty inventor. This sense of unease continues between the pair as Q travels into the field with bespoke gadgetry, be it in the Bahamas (Thunderball, 1965) and Japan (You Only Live Twice, 1967). The ice finally melts between the pair when Q attends Bond’s wedding to Tracy Di Vicenzo in Portugal (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, 1971), finally demonstrating affection for the man who has used — and often abused — his equipment while saving the world. This sense of warmth and loyalty between the two men is evident when, in Licence To Kill (1989), Q travels to Isthmus a city with a bag of tricks to help Bond in his personal mission of vengeance against Franz Sanchez.

Just as Bond’s adventures have broadened in scope, so have Q’s operations, setting up bustling research labs in Egypt, Brazil and India. His technical wonders have also grown even more ambitious; a portable stereo housing a rocket launcher, a fake sleeping gaucho (South American horseman) that splits in two to reveal two firing machine guns and a set of bagpipes that transforms into a flame-thrower.

Llewelyn’s Q retired in 1999, mentoring his assistant R to become his replacement. He delivers his final piece of advice to Bond — “Never let them see you bleed and always have an escape plan” — as he exits on an elevator.

Focus Of The Week: The Lotus Esprit S1 

One of the iconic cars  from the Bond films, the Lotus Esprit S1 from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) was small in size — 419 cm long, 185.4cm wide and 117.7cm from ground to rooftop — but huge in stature. Q’s modifications not only equipped it with cool gadgets and heavy firepower but also with the capability to transform into a submarine. None of this sacrifices the Esprit’s speed or ability to handle the tightest of corners.

Bond (Roger Moore) picks up the Lotus in Sardinia during his joint mission with Russian agent Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) investigating shipping tycoon Karl Stromberg (Curt Jürgens). When Stromberg’s killers chase the pair down mountain roads, Bond uses a cement sprayer hidden behind the rear number plate to blot out the assailants’ car window. To avoid a helicopter gunship, Bond drives the Lotus into the sea.

The Lotus now deploys its full range underwater conversion system; rudders and fins emerge from the sides, a propeller replaces the back bumper, blackened windows block out glare and a periscope rises from the roof. To destroy the hovering helicopter, Bond launches an air-to-sea missile using the car’s gearshift. As Stromberg’s divers attack the car, 007 deploys front-mounted torpedoes, an ink cloud and a mine. 007 re-configures the car back into a land vehicle, emerging from the sea to the surprise of some startled tourists.

Work on the sequence started in Nassau in August 1976. Lotus supplied seven shells for the filmmakers to adapt. One of the cars was sent to Perry Submarines to be motorised, the others were converted to represent the various stages of the transformation. To achieve the thrilling moment where the Lotus drives into the sea, the empty shell of a car was launched into the water by an air cannon.

For the underwater sequences, a miniature Lotus was guided through the clear waters of the Bahamas on ultra-thin wires. But the sequence was not without its dangers. As Visual Effects Supervisor Derek Meddings recalled, “It was quite amusing because a couple of times when we were filming underwater, we nearly got run down by the motorised Lotus.”

The finale of the sequence, with the Lotus emerging on a crowded beach, was shot at Capriccioli in Sardinia. Assistant Director Victor Tourjanksy played one of the surprised bathers. In a neat running joke, Tourjanksy also had guest appearances in Moonraker (1979) and For Your Eyes Only (1981).

You can see ‘Wet Nellie’ at Bond In Motion http://londonfilmmuseum.com

OMEGA Bond Exhibition In London

Since GoldenEye in 1995, James Bond’s choice of watch has been the robust and stylish OMEGA Seamaster. This month, that partnership is being celebrated with a special exhibition of 007 watches at the OMEGA Boutique at 260 Regent Street in London. From November 20th until the 27th, guests can explore over 20 years of James Bond memorabilia and Seamaster watches, including the same models worn in the films and the Limited Edition tributes such as the most recent “Commander’s Watch” which was launched earlier this year.

Focus Of The Week: Casino Royale Foot Chase

Introducing a new 007 in Casino Royale demanded a new kind of action sequence. The solution came with an amazing foot chase through a perilous construction site in Madagascar with Bond pursuing bomb-maker Mollaka up and down scaffolding, including a jaw-dropping jump from the top of a crane.

Screenwriter Neal Purvis explained the origins of the set piece. “We wanted to establish the new Bond is gadget free, raw, slightly crazy, very physical and incredibly brave. We were also aware there had never been a foot chase in a Bond movie before.”

To shoot the sequence, the unit used Nassau as a double for Madagascar. The construction site was created on the site of an old hotel the team had frequented during the making of The Spy Who Loved Me but had now fallen into disrepair. To ensure the hotel looked like it was in a state of construction, the production needed to dress the site with a framework of girders and three cranes. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, all the US and Canadian cranes had been moved to New Orleans so the unit shipped in cranes from the UK. The steel girders were cut to required lengths at Pinewood, shipped to Nassau then erected in just six days.

Following second unit work directed by Alexander Witt during February, the first unit joined them to shoot with Daniel Craig. To make the sequence fresh, the filmmakers tapped into the burgeoning parkour craze. Screenwriters Robert Wade and Neal Purvis had seen Sébastien Foucan demonstrating free running in the 2003 documentary Jump London leading him to be cast as Mollaka. “The way Sébastien does it is like a ballet,” said Witt. “It’s not like running like a stuntman would do, there is a kind of flow in his running and jumping.”

Shooting the scene at 100 feet above the ground, even seasoned action filmmakers felt the jeopardy in capturing the action. “You’re high up in the air, the wind’s whistling through the girders,” recalled stunt co-ordinator Gary Powell. “It is very intimidating to be up that high.” The heart-stopping leap from one crane to another and then onto a roof was achieved in one-shot. Although the jumpers were sporting safety harnesses connected to an even higher crane and a small landing platform was digitally erased from the shot, the leap was performed for real.

For Daniel Craig, shooting the sequence proved to be a daunting but ultimately cathartic experience. “I’m not going to rush up there again in the near future but I definitely put some demons to bed.”

The Ultimate James Bond Collection

The Ultimate James Bond Collection is on sale for a limited time only with an Aston Martin DB10 Die-cast vehicle from Spectre. The bundle has the 24 Bond films on Blu-ray, with over 120 hours of special features plus a mini-book. It also includes is the 90-minute documentary Everything Or Nothing: The Untold Story Of 007.

To get yours go to: http://bit.ly/2hj4qkz