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
Actress Karin Dor has passed away at the age of 79. Karin played Spectre No. 11 Helga Brandt in You Only Live Twice (1967) alongside Sean Connery. Our thoughts are with her family at this sad time.
The Man With The Golden Gun was originally slated to be the follow-up to You Only Live Twice with the shoot planned for Cambodia. When civil war broke out in the African country, the project was shelved for six years. Renowned for its colourful villain played by Christopher Lee, stunning locations and thrilling chases by boat and car, it was the last 007 film that Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman produced together.
The producers brought back Live And Let Die director Guy Hamilton and writer Tom Mankiewicz. The script was informed by current events: the 1973 Yom Kippur-Ramadan War created the OPEC oil embargo that sparked an energy crisis that played into the film’s backdrop. Mankiewicz shared writing duties with Richard Maibaum, who enlisted, now Bond Producer, Michael G. Wilson (an engineer in training at the time) who helped to help clarify some of the science in the story.
The casting of Francisco Scaramanga, the titular assassin, was crucial. Writer Tom Mankiewicz suggested Jack Palance but Hamilton wanted Christopher Lee, aptly enough a cousin by marriage to Ian Fleming — Roger Moore knew the actor from their early days sharing a dressing room at Denham Studios. Britt Ekland was a certainty to play Mary Goodnight having discussed the role with Broccoli before the screenplay was written. Swedish model Maud Adams was cast as Andrea Anders in the first of her two appearances in the series (she was later the title character in Octopussy). For the role of henchman Nick Nack, Hamilton chose Hervé Villechaize and, following the success of Live And Let Die, Clifton James reprised his role as Sherriff J. W. Pepper, this time holidaying in Bangkok.
The production assembled in Bangkok in mid-April 1974, staying in rugged accommodation in the remote village of Phang Nga. Filming started on the Khow-Ping-Pan Island, the location for the exteriors of Scaramanga’s lair. The unit returned to the mainland to complete two complex action set pieces, a longtail boat pursuit through the city’s floating market and a car chase with Bond tailing Scaramanga. The latter was graced with one of the most dangerous, spectacular stunts in the series.
Broccoli and Saltzman licensed a stunt designed by Raymond McHenry on a computer inspired by his research into single vehicle accidents. The stunt, known as the Astro Spiral Jump, had been showcased at stunt shows across America. Working with stunt show designer W.J. Milligan and Production Designer Peter Murton sections of a collapsed wooden bridge were precisely engineered to double as a ramp. Stunt driver Loren “Bumps” Willert performed the leap seamlessly in one take, the first time he ever attempted the stunt.
The Man With The Golden Gun opened on December 19, 1974. It premiered on December 19 in the UK and the US and grossed $98 million, a huge amount for its day. An interesting bi-product of the film’s success was sparking interest in Phuket as a tourist destination. In fact Khow-Ping-Pan (sometimes called Khao Phing Kan Island) gained a new name — James Bond island.
Seductive, sadistic and psychotic, ex-Soviet pilot Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) is a femme fatale to be reckoned with. Dressed in leather or outlandish gowns, she gains sexual satisfaction from killing, her preferred method of murder crushing helpless men between her thighs.
Onatopp is a key figure in the Janus Crime Syndicate operated by Alec Trevelyan. She first meets Bond in a red Ferrari chasing 007’s Aston Martin DB5 down the twisty roads heading towards Monte Carlo. After meeting him in person in the casino, she does what she does best, killing Canadian Navy Admiral Chuck Farrel by her trademark move. She subsequently shoots two French pilots and steals the Tiger, the latest NATO helicopter immune to all electronic interference. Under General Ourumov’s leadership, she participates in the murder of the staff at the Severnaya satellite station in Siberia and the destruction of the area holding the GoldenEye weapons system.
In St. Petersburg, Xenia kidnaps Natalya Simonova and attempts to ensnare Bond. After a sexually charged fight in a steam room, Bond cajoles Xenia into taking him to Trevelyan then knocks her unconscious. 007 rescues Natalya yet she is recaptured by Xenia and Ourumov who hold her hostage on board an armoured train as bait to draw in Bond. Xenia and Trevelyan head to Cuba leaving 007 and Natalya to escape just as the train explodes.
They meet again in Cuba, when Xenia rappels from a helicopter to ambush Bond. 007 shoots the pilot, sending the helicopter spiralling out of control, flinging Xenia into the fork of the tree. With the weight of the helicopter fastening her to the branches, Xenia discovers, in an ironic twist, what it means to be crushed to death.
Eaglemoss Ltd are to launch ‘Bond in Motion’, the official James Bond die-cast collection. Licenced by EON Productions, the rereleased collection features 50 vehicles from across all 24 of the official James Bond films, from the Sunbeam Alpine in Dr. No, to the Aston Martin DB10 in Spectre.
Each high quality die-cast model is produced with incredible attention to detail at 1:43 scale. They include all the gadgets and weapons and carefully researched details, right down to the number plates. Every vehicle comes with a scenic backdrop from its featured movie; each issue expertly recreating an iconic moment from 007’s cinematic history.
In addition to the die-cast models, each issue also comes with a collector’s magazine, giving you the inside story of the making of the official James Bond movies. Packed with features, facts and imagery, you will learn all about the cars, the stars, the locations, the stunts, as well as plenty of other behind-the-scenes secrets from the world of the James Bond movies.
Sign up today to get issue 1 – the Aston Martin DB10 from Spectre for just £4.99, plus also receive complimentary gifts worth over £30. Plus, for a limited time, get three issues for the price of one, save over £25.
Synopsis: Daniel Craig returned for his third outing as 007 in Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond film. In Skyfall, Bond’s loyalty to M (Judi Dench) is tested as her past returns to haunt her. 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. When Bond’s latest assignment goes gravely wrong and several undercover agents around the world are exposed, MI6 is attacked, forcing M to relocate the agency. These events cause her authority and position to be challenged by Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), the new Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee. With MI6 now compromised from both inside and out, M is left with one ally she can trust: Bond. 007 takes to the shadows – aided only by field agent, Eve (Naomie Harris) – following a trail to the mysterious Silva (Javier Bardem), whose lethal and hidden motives have yet to reveal themselves.
“Bond with a capital B” was Daniel Craig’s desire for Skyfall. It also turned out be the most personal look at the character to date, and revealed the turmoil and conflicts of 007’s inner life in ways audiences had never seen before.
The early ideas for the story were very different to the finished film. When director Sam Mendes, an Academy Award winner for American Beauty, came on board, he signalled a change in direction. “It needs to be about Bond only,” Mendes said. “He is the story.”
Subsequently, Wade and Purvis’ first draft screenplay — titled Nothing Is Forever — had many of the elements of the finished film in place. Bond meets a new Quartermaster; a villain called Raoul Sousa (changed to Silva) wants revenge on M and executes a metro train crash (this time in Barcelona not London) as a diversion to get M to a safe house. Following her death, a bureaucrat called Mallender (Mallory in the film) takes over the position. In a later draft, Wade and Purvis introduced a third act set in Bond’s ancestral home named Skyfall. Mendes invited John Logan to collaborate on the script, bringing back Moneypenny as a field agent, giving her a first name — Eve.
Javier Bardem signed on to play Silva — early versions of the script dubbed the villain ‘Javier Bardem’ in anticipation of the actor joining the cast. The rest of the line-up was equally stellar; Ralph Fiennes as Mallory; Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny; Bérénice Lim Marlohe as Severine; Ben Whishaw as Q; and Albert Finney as Skyfall’s game keeper Kincade. Judi Dench returned as M for the character’s swansong.
The first ten weeks of shooting during early 2012 took place mainly in locations in Central London while a splinter unit shot exteriors in Shanghai, China. For the pre-titles sequence, in which Bond chases Ola Rapace’s Patrice on a speeding train, the unit travelled to the Turkish cities of Istanbul and Adana. Both Craig and Rapace performed their own stunts, attached to safety wires atop a train travelling at 30mph above a 300ft drop.
Back at Pinewood, production designer Dennis Gassner created numerous sets including a spectacular Macau Casino and Silva’s Dead City Lair. On the 007 stage, special effects supervisor Chris Corbould devised and executed a London underground train crashing into a service chamber. An overhead track was fitted with two-full sized carriages hung underneath and hooked up to a powerful truck and cable system. This facilitated two carriages weighing approximately 15 tons to get up to speed and then dip down onto the set. Ten cameras controlled remotely captured the stunning one-take stunt.
Bond’s family home, Skyfall, was constructed at Hankley Common in Surrey. M’s death provided for an emotional farewell for the Bond team, saying goodbye to Judi Dench after seven James Bond films over 17 years.
Long time Mendes collaborator Thomas Newman composed the score for Skyfall, earning a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music. The theme song was written by singer-songwriter Adele and producer Paul Epworth and released on October 5th as part of Global James Bond Day, celebrating the 50thanniversary of Dr. No. It became the first Bond theme to win at the Golden Globes, the Brit Awards, the Academy Awards and the Grammy’s.
Prior to Skyfall’s October release, Daniel Craig featured in a segment of the 2012 Summer Olympics Opening ceremony alongside Queen Elizabeth II, directed by Danny Boyle. The film itself had its Royal Premiere at the Royal Albert Hall on October 23, 2012. It became the first in the series to be shown on IMAX screens and the highest grossing 007 film to date.
Franz Sanchez is a drug baron who believes loyalty is more important than money, Bond learns to exploit this view to his advantage. Calculating and cold-blooded — it is no coincidence that he keeps a chameleon as a pet — Sanchez has government officials in his pocket in countries ranging from the US to Chile. Operating out of the small nation of Isthmus, he uses the coded sermons of televangelist Professor Joe Butcher to sell his cocaine and launders the profits through his casino. Sanchez’s nefarious activities mean he is facing 139 felony counts and 936 years in prison if caught by the US government.
A rare visit to the US by Sanchez sees the net draw tighter. Drug Enforcement Agents, led by Felix Leiter and including Bond who is acting as an observer, capture the drug lord by hooking a cord to his plane as he attempts to escape into international airspace. Sanchez bribes DEA agent Ed Killifer with $2 million to spring him from US custody, undertaking an audacious escape from a high security transit. Sanchez wreaks revenge on Leiter by having his new bride Della murdered and torturing Felix by lowering him into a shark tank. He leaves Leiter maimed but alive to send out a warning to those who cross him.
Sanchez learns a major cocaine shipment to the US has gone wrong and the payment stolen by a mysterious stranger, unaware that 007 is behind the intervention. Using Sanchez’s own money, Bond arrives in Isthmus City and offers his services as a killer for hire to Sanchez. He earns Sanchez’s trust after the latter mistakenly believes Bond saved him from an assassination attempt and begins to cleverly sow the seeds of distrust between Sanchez and his accomplices.
Bond manages to infiltrate Sanchez’s inner circle and uncovers his master-plan: a scheme with an Asian drug cartel smuggle huge quantities of cocaine by dissolving the drug in ordinary gasoline, transporting it by ocean-going tanker, and then converting it back to cocaine. In a spectacular chase, Bond destroys the tankers one-by-one, ending on a mano a mano battle with Sanchez. When facing a machete wielding Sanchez, Bond takes a cigarette lighter, a thank you gift from Felix and Della, and uses it to set fire to the gasoline-soaked Sanchez.
James Bond and other memorable Bond film characters will be available as Funko Pop! Vinyl figures this December. The series will include two versions of 007 from Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me. The iconic “Golden Girl” from Goldfinger will also be available alongside supervillain Blofeld, complete with white cat, Oddjob and Jaws. Bond, as seen in Dr. No and Octopussy and Oddjob throwing his lethal hat will be sold exclusively in select stores.
On Friday 13 October 1972, the Live And Let Die production team started shooting on the film’s iconic boat chase.
The sequence sees Bond, having just set fire to a drugs factory, evade Dr. Kananga’s men by stealing a speedboat and heading out into the Louisiana Irish Bayou. Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz recalled how the sequence was conceived: “I knew there was going to be a boat chase and until we almost started shooting, it just said, ‘The most terrific boat chase you’ve ever seen,’ because I never got around to writing it. That really happened as a result of going around the bayous and seeing the different stunts they could do.”
There were 26 boats used in the sequence, leaping across roadways and skidding across lawns. By the time the shoot was complete, 17 boats were destroyed. For the first part of the chase, Bond drives a Glastron GT-150, then, after a bullet punctures the propeller fuel tank, he swaps it for a CV-19. To let Director Guy Hamilton capture close-ups of Bond travelling at speed, Roger Moore learned to drive the boats. Although the actor didn’t emerge unscathed. During rehearsals, he drove the CV-19 into a boathouse on the shore, fracturing his tooth in the accident.
On 15 October, the piece de resistance of the set-piece saw stuntman Jerry Comeaux perform a boat-jump over Highway 39 at Crawdad Bridge over Sheriff J. W. Pepper and his car. To test the stunt was safe, the crew recreated the levee and the police car, even making a J.W. Pepper out of bamboo. The idea was that if the stunt could be performed three times without mishap, it would be safe to put an actor in there.
A crowd gathered to watch the stunt. On the second take Comeaux’s boat took off on a 40ft leap, hit the water, skidded in the wake of another boat and flipped up onto the bank but fortunately no-one was hurt. The impact of the completed stunt surprised even Comeaux. “When I finally saw film of the leap it scared the hell out of me,” he remembered.
The GT-150 is on display at Bond in Motion at the London Film Museum:
A scientific genius, Dr. No initiates a plan to sabotage American rocket launches from Cape Canaveral from his secret island base on the Caribbean island of Crab Key off the coast of Jamaica. He employs a nuclear reactor to create radio signals that interfere with the rockets’ gyroscopic controls.
In Dr. No’s own words, he is the “unwanted son of a German missionary and a Chinese girl of good family.” Becoming “treasurer of the most powerful criminal society in China,” he stole $10 million of their money and fled to the US. Shunned by the scientific communities in the East and West, Dr. No became a high-ranking operative in the terrorist organisation SPECTRE. His entire plan is driven by revenge against the East and West who rejected him: SPECTRE will not only determine who reaches the moon first but also decide which side will prevail in the Cold War.
Equipped with mechanical hands as a result of radiation experiments gone wrong, Dr. No considers himself one of the world’s leading experts in radiation power. Despite his intimidating appearance, he is also a man of culture, expertly mixing classical art (he owns Goya’s portrait of Wellington stolen in 1961) and antiques with modern design. Yet his exquisite taste belies a ruthless nature.
Dr. No rules by fear. On Crab Key, he keeps a small army of guards and a flame throwing swamp vehicle — painted to resemble a dragon — to scare off local interest. Metallurgist Professor Dent runs Dr. No’s criminal organisation in Jamaica deploying a clutch of associates including the Three Blind Mice killers, Mr Jones, a woman posing as a Daily Gleaner photographer and Miss Taro. Together, they keep an eye on Crab Key, taking note of anyone who takes too much interest in Dr. No’s organisation. This nefarious team is responsible for the death of secret service agent Commander John Strangeways, a murder that brings Bond to Jamaica to investigate.
When Bond and Honey Ryder are captured in Dr. No’s base, he initially treats them well hoping to convince 007 to join his organisation. Bond refuses — Dr. No dubs him a “stupid policeman” — and is incarcerated along with Honey. Dr. No prepares to topple the NASA moon launch, unaware that Bond has escaped and entered the nuclear reactor room disguised as a technician. Bond overheats the reactor, forcing Dr. No to charge, the pair battling on the fuel elements carriage as it is lowered into the reactor pool. At the last moment, Bond knocks Dr. No into the pool, his metal hands unable to grip at the carriage as he boils to death in the bubbling water.
On January 16th 1995, the GoldenEye second unit, led by director Ian Sharp, travelled to St. Petersburg to begin shooting the tank chase set-piece.
The sequence sees Bond (Pierce Brosnan) in a tank careening through the streets of St. Petersburg in pursuit of Colonel Ourumov (Gottfried John), who has Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco) held captive.
The production bought three Russian tanks — two T-54s and one T-55 — at a cost of £9,000 to £11,000 each for the stunt. “We nicknamed the tank ‘Metal Mickey’ remembers second unit camera operator Harvey Harrison. “At 42 tons it didn’t stop for anyone.”
The St. Petersburg city authorities had concerns about damage to streets and historic buildings so the filmmakers undertook an engineering analysis to see if the sequence could be completed safely. Using the utmost care, the crew staged stunts and explosions in the heart of the city.
This sequence was augmented with shots staged on a two-block stretch of a St. Petersburg street and recreated by Production Designer Peter Lamont at Leavesden Studios in just over six weeks. Perhaps the most complicated stunt in the whole sequence involved Bond driving the tank into a lorry carrying Perrier cans and then into a statue of Tsar Nicholas on a winged stallion that gets scooped up on top of the tank. In the first instance, two crew members spent a week emptying around 90,000 cans of Perrier for the stunt sequence to prevent a fizzy explosion on impact. Then to affix the statue to the tank, special effects supervisor Chris Corbould attached a loop beneath the statue in the hope that it might catch.
“We came up with other complex and complicated methods, but I thought: ‘This one is worth a go,“ recalled Corbould. “We drove the tank at it and the statue stuck on the first tank.”
Stunt man Gary Powell drove the tank, often reaching speeds of 35 mph. Each shot was captured with a minimum of four cameras (and on one occasion six cameras) because the spectacular action was often unrepeatable.
“The tank is like Frank Sinatra,” quipped director Ian Sharp. “He only does one take.”
Zippo has partnered with EON Productions to unveil a specially-designed 007 collection of windproof lighters.
The first lighter collection features the classic James Bond gun barrel, the 007 logo as well as movie poster designs from Dr. No and From Russia With Love. Discover the full James Bond Zippo collection at 007Store here.
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