Focus Of The Week: Guy Hamilton

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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

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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)

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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 

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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

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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

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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

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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

Karin Dor (1938 – 2017)

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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.

Focus Of The Week: The Man With The Golden Gun

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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.

Focus Of The Week: Xenia Onatopp

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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.

The Official James Bond Die-Cast Collection

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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.

https://bondinmotion.herocollector.com/en-uk?utm_source=007.com&utm_medium=other&utm_campaign=007.com&campaigncode=12&mediacode=01

Focus Of The Week: Skyfall

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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.