Focus Of The Week: M (Bernard Lee)

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Bernard Lee played the role of M in 11 Bond films. From Dr. No (1962) to Moonraker (1979), he has been the longest serving actor in the part.

M serves as the head of the British Secret Service, sending Bond on missions from his wood-panelled office. Ian Fleming created a stern, almost parental relationship between M and 007. M recognises Bond’s unique skills and innate talent but barely tolerates his often-unorthodox methods and hedonistic lifestyle. Bernard Lee’s M comes very close to Fleming’s version of the character.

Due to illness, Lee was unable to complete filming on For Your Eyes Only (1981), meaning he had to bow out of playing M. Producer Cubby Broccoli refused to recast the part in the film out of respect for Lee’s great contribution to the series. Broccoli on Lee; “He was a great personal friend, liked by all of us. His quiet authority and totally convincing manner were absolutely flawless.”

Focus Of The Week: Solitaire

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Solitaire (Jane Seymour) believes she is the bridge to the Secret Church where the present and future can be seen through tarot cards. She is kept on San Monique by its corrupt president, Dr. Kananga, who believes she has the power of Obeah. When Bond first meets Solitaire, he selects the Lovers card from her Tarot deck. The implications of this card and her attraction to 007 cause Solitaire to doubt her relationship with Kananga. She sends Bond a tarot card warning him of CIA agent Rosie Carver’s impending betrayal. With the help of a tarot pack full of Lovers cards, Bond seduces Solitaire. The pair then escapes from San Monique, but Kananga, furious at the perceived betrayal, kidnaps her back to his base to be sacrificed in a voodoo ritual. Bond heroically rescues her.

Focus Of The Week: Kara Milovy

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In The Living Daylights cellist Kara Milovy (Maryam d’Abo) is the Czech lover of rogue KGB General Georgi Koskov. He sets her up as a sniper, firing rubber bullets, to make his defection to the British appear genuine. Bond shoots the gun from her hand sensing she doesn’t know what she is doing. Koskov is snatched back, apparently by the KGB, sparking Bond to investigate Milovy. She travels with Bond to Vienna and then on to Tangier. Without Bond’s knowledge she discovers Koskov is in Tangier and works with him to drug Bond. Before he passes out, Bond tells Kara that he is a British agent and that Koskov has betrayed the Russians, the British and Kara herself, setting her up to be killed. In Afghanistan, Kara is convinced of Koskov’s treachery and becomes Bond’s ally, helping him escape from a Soviet airbase and joining a group of mujahideen fighters to rescue Bond when he becomes trapped in Koskov’s drug convoy.

Focus Of The Week: M (Ralph Fiennes)

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In Skyfall (2012), Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) is introduced as the new Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee regulating MI6 and overseeing the transition between M’s “voluntary retirement” and her unnamed successor. He is initially sceptical about Bond’s capability for fieldwork and suggests he think about retirement. When cyber-terrorist Silva attempts to kill M, Mallory takes a bullet to the shoulder protecting her and engages in a gun battle to ward Silva off. Mallory then supports Q and Tanner, when they act unofficially, placing digital clues to lead Silva to Bond at Skyfall, the agent’s ancestral home. When M is tragically killed, Mallory is named as her successor.

In Spectre (2015), the new M is forced to suspend Bond following his rogue mission in Mexico. He comes under serious pressure from within the intelligence services when the Double-0 section is under threat from a new initiative called Nine Eyes, headed by C. After discovering that the terrorist organisation SPECTRE is behind Nine Eyes, M and Q succeed in stopping its activation but a subsequent struggle between M and C results in C falling to his death. M then goes on to arrest Spectre villain Blofeld on Westminster Bridge.

Focus Of The Week: Pussy Galore

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In Goldfinger Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) leads an all-female aerial acrobatic troupe that serves as a cover for various illegal activities. Employed as Auric Goldfinger’s personal pilot she plays a key role in his Operation Grand Slam to irradiate the gold supply at Fort Knox.

Galore flies 007 from Switzerland to Goldfinger’s Kentucky estate as her prisoner. Bond tells her that Goldfinger plans to use her pilots to spray a lethal nerve gas over Fort Knox, not a knockout gas as she had previously thought. CIA agent Felix Leiter reports that Galore helped switch the nerve gas canisters, saving thousands of lives and ruining the plot. Goldfinger forces Galore to hijack the President’s plane to fly him to Cuba. On board the plane Bond defeats Goldfinger and saves Galore from the crashing plane.

Focus Of The Week: M (Dame Judi Dench)

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In GoldenEye (1995), a new female M, played by Dame Judi Dench, takes charge of MI6. She sees Bond as a “sexist, misogynist, dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War,” but like her predecessors, she sees a use for Bond and his methods. In Casino Royale (2006), M presides over bond’s initiation as an “00” agent, a narrative shift that relaunches both Bond and M in the 21st century. M guides Bond’s transformation from a skilled agent who occasionally fails to see the bigger picture to a hardened operative guided by larger objectives.

In Skyfall (2012), M finds herself in political hot water when a hard drive containing the names of nearly every undercover NATO agent falls into enemy hands. In an attempt to recapture the drive she instructs Eve Moneypenny to take a high-risk shot, resulting in Bond being hit. Unknown to M, Bond survived the attack and eventually shows up at her London home. Refusing to apologise for making the judgement call, she is nevertheless glad to have Bond back. M conceals the results of Bond’s failed physical, shooting and psychological tests and sends him to Shanghai. His mission results in the capture of Silva, a cyber-terrorist, who M reveals once worked for her but whom she traded to the Chinese for six agents. Silva has since longed for revenge and escapes from his MI6 cell and attempts to kill M. Bond takes M to temporary safety at Skyfall, his old family home. During Silva’s attack on Skyfall, M is injured and finds refuge in a chapel. Silva eventually finds her and begs her to end both their lives. Bond kills Silva and cradles M as she dies. Following her death she bequeaths Bond her Royal Doulton Bulldog, revealing her true name to be Olivia Mansfield.

Dame Judi Dench played M in seven Bond films over 17 years, from GoldenEye (1995) to Skyfall (2012) and made a cameo in Spectre (2015). Daniel Craig on Dench; “Judi Dench can say a hundred words and make them sound wonderful, but can also give one look and break your heart.”

Focus Of The Week: Felix Leiter

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In Casino Royale (2006), Bond and Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) meet for the first time at the casino in Montenegro. After Vesper Lynd refuses 007 further funds in the high stakes poker game, Leiter gives Bond $5 million to buy back in. In return the CIA will get to apprehend Le Chiffre once 007 has cleaned him out.

In Quantum Of Solace (2008) Leiter works under CIA South American Section Chief Gregory Beam. Leiter criticises the CIA’s involvement with Dominic Greene. In La Paz, Beam involves Leiter in a trap to kill Bond. Leiter tips Bond off and informs him that General Medrano cannot take over the Bolivian government until Greene bribes the Colonel of Police. In Spectre (2015), Bond gives widow Lucia Sciarra Leiter’s number and tells her he will help her to safety.

Focus Of The Week: Le Chiffre 

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Distinguished by a facial scar and a derangement of the tear duct that causes him to weep blood, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) provides private banking services for the world’s terrorists. After receiving a large investment from Obanno, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, Le Chiffre plans to destroy a new Skyfleet plane. Bond foils the plot, causing Le Chiffre to lose over $100 million. To win back the money he organises a high stakes poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro but is beaten by Bond at the card table. Facing financial ruin he kidnaps and tortures Bond to obtain his account password. Before Le Chiffre can kill Bond, Mr White, a mysterious figure from the terrorist underworld, kills Le Chiffre.

Focus Of The Week: Vesper Lynd

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Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) works for the Financial Action Task Force of Her Majesty’s Treasury and has experience in illicit banking practices. She supervises the British government’s funds that finance Bond in a high stakes poker tournament organized by Le Chiffre. During the game she helps Bond overcome a Ugandan Warlord and saves Bond’s life when he is poisoned.

Vesper is kidnapped by Le Chiffre to lure Bond into a trap in order to extort the tournament winnings. Vesper makes a deal with Mr. White to spare Bond’s life in return for the funds. Before she can transfer the funds to Mr. White’s accomplice Gettler, Bond confesses his love for her and resigns from MI6.

In Venice, Bond uncovers Vesper’s deception. Although he kills her enemies, Vesper cannot live with her actions and she locks herself in the elevator of a collapsing building and drowns. Bond is devastated by her death and closes himself off emotionally.

Vesper leaves Bond an essential clue to help him trace the terrorist network – on her mobile, she stores Mr. White’s number.

Focus Of The Week: Peter Lamont

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Peter Lamont has a worldwide reputation as one of the leading film art directors and production designers. Born in 1929, Lamont began his relationship with Bond working as a draughtsman on James Bond’s third outing, Goldfinger (1964). He rose quickly through the ranks, working on the 1960s Bond classics starring Sean Connery and George Lazenby. In 1981 he became the production designer on For Your Eyes Only. He held this position until Casino Royale (2006); working on every film in between except Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), creating some of the most lavish and memorable scenes of the Bond franchise.

Beyond Bond, Lamont has worked on a number of other high-profile films, including Titanic (1997), for which he won an Academy Award.

Lamont has written a book titled The Man with the Golden Eye, which details his time working on the Bond films. The book is available to buy now www.amazon.co.uk/Man-Golden-Eye-Designing-James/dp/0995519110

Focus Of The Week: Casino Royale

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After the completion of Die Another Day (2002), producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli decided to make a film of Casino Royale, the first, darkest and most literary of the Bond novels. The producers felt the storyline, which sees Bond go after a Soviet operative who has squandered money and is desperately trying to win it back at gaming tables could be adapted to the world of modern terror networks.
 
The careful development of the script, a change of studios and the long process of casting contributed to a four-year gap between Bond films. With director Martin Campbell on board and a script in place, Daniel Craig, the producer’s first choice, was formally asked to take on the role of Bond.
 
An international cast filled the remaining roles, this included French actress Eva Green and Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen. Production began on 27th January 2006. The film tells the story of how Bond becomes a “00”, foils a bomb plot and defeats a weapons dealer in a high stakes game of poker at Casino Royale.
 
Casino Royale premiered on Tuesday, 14th November 2006, at the Odeon Leicester Square, London. Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, attended the performance. The film was a worldwide hit, becoming (at the time) the highest-grossing Bond film at the box office. Daniel Craig’s performance won universal praise and a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor.

Focus Of The Week: Camille Montes

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Camille (Olga Kurylenko) is the daughter of Ernesto Montes, once a powerful figure in the Bolivian military junta. As a girl she witnessed General Medrano murder her father, mother and older sister. Medrano then burned the house down; Camille still bears the scars from her escape on her back. Camille vows revenge on Medrano. After discovering a connection between Dominic Greene and Medrano she infiltrates Greene’s organisation. Bond kills an assassin sent by Greene to kill Camille after he discovers that she tried to buy secret documents relating to his Tierra Project. Having escaped the assassin Camille is then handed over to Medrano by Greene but her chance to kill Medrano is foiled by Bond. After joining forces with Bond to investigate Greene’s Tierra Project, Camille finally confronts and kills Medrano at the Perla de las Dunas hotel.