Sir Ken Adam has passed away at the age of 95. The legendary Oscar-winning Production Designer worked on seven Bond Films including Dr .No, Thunderball and The Spy Who Loved Me. He was responsible for creating some of the most memorable sets from the Bond films including Blofeld’s volcano lair in You Only Live Twice, the interior of Fort Knox from Goldfinger and the supertanker set from The Spy Who Loved Me. Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said: “The Bond family mourns the passing of our beloved friend Sir Ken Adam who was so responsible for the visual style of the James Bond films from their inception. A genius and a gentleman he will be deeply missed.”
Naomie Harris Interview
Naomie Harris on returning for her second Bond film.
Spectre is available to buy on Blu-ray and DVD https://007store.com/products/copy-of-spectre-blu-ray-dvd
Zoe Tahir Interview
Zoe Tahir, Bond Hair Designer is nominated for Best Contemporary Hair Styling for her work on Spectre at the 2016 Make-Up Artist and Hair Style Guild Awards this weekend. Here she explains some of Spectre’s iconic hair styles….
1.
“The dresses, the movement and the unity of the group inspired me for this sequence. I instantly knew I wanted the dancers on wheels to look like identical peg dolls, this then led to the idea of making their wigs from wool. It was clear they needed centre partings, waves and balls of wool for buns, finished off with traditional flowers.”
2.
“I initially struggled logically with this look, Lea really wanted vintage glamour and the dress did suggest it but I like a bit of realism and she’s on a train in the middle of a desert with no beauty salon I presume. Then I figured what the heck it’s a Bond film and this girl can pull apart and reassemble a gun in less than 10 seconds flat, she can for sure throw a few rollers in her hair!”
3.
“The hair for this scene evolved on its own, the weather was fierce and the more windswept it got the better it looked. Nothing like a sandstorm for some sexy Bond hair!”
4.
“I love Daniel’s hair in this scene, he has just travelled across a lake with a hat on so I wanted his hair to look disheveled and relaxed. I love the texture and movement, a nice change from the perfect hair he usually has and it really suits him.”
Steve Begg Spectre Interview
As the Visual Effects Supervisor, what does your role cover?
I am responsible for the execution and technical design of all the Visual Effects in the movie. I have to closely liaise mainly with the Director, but also production designer, cameraman and editor, in order to make sure that our work blends in with everyone’s else’s take of the movie. I also delegate and monitor the work to the various companies that supply the VFX. There were six on this due to the workload of 1500+ VFX shots and a very short post production time, 12 weeks, where we do most of our work.
What’s the difference between your role and the Special Effects Supervisor?
The Special Effects Supervisor’s responsibility is primarily all real, practical effects on the sets and locations, from bullet hits, fires, explosions, smoke and rigs, involving the actors and stunt guys. My role is more keeping an eye on and suggesting ways of shooting shots and sequences where we will be adding CGI elements afterwards in post production. There is a big crossover though when we want to use miniatures. I come from a miniature effects background but because they are usually huge scale on a Bond film, (we call them ‘Maxitures’ or ‘Bigatures’) there are huge rigs and effects required. So the Special Effects Department usually get as heavily involved as VFX.
What were the challenges involved with the opening Sequence in Mexico City?
There were loads. From adding another 10-20 thousand CG extras to extend the crowds beyond the 1500 that we had on location. Then the opening sequence where we had to seamlessly blend together six shots photographed in different locations into one big tracking shot ending with Daniel Craig and a lady friend going into a bedroom from a Mexico hotel location to a Pinewood set piece, then out the window back to a Mexico City rooftop location. We never really lost sight of him, which normally helps with the blend-wipes. Thanks to the attention to detail by our Steadicam operator, Sam chose a take were their body positions, camera distance and motion matched from one cut to another. Then there’s the helicopter fight, which had most of our work on the movie.
What involvement did you have in the collapsing building sequence in Mexico?
We were involved in every shot up to the gunfight but the bulk of the work for us was immediately after the suitcase explosion where we tilt up following a crack rising up the building’s face as seen from Bonds POV. The whole image is CGI. Then as Bond starts to run the whole facade begins to topple towards him, again fully CGI but the actual impact is a blend where we took the timing of the impact, done by Chris Corbould’s SFX team on a huge rig on the Pinewood backlot, with a stunt double for Bond. Everything else after is a combination of minimal set pieces as Bond falls through the building with a huge overlay of CG rubble, debris dust etc.
How do VFX and SFX work together?
On these kind of movies you have to work very closely. Visual effects, special effects and stunts have to be successfully combined to create believable action scenes. It usually starts with a stunt or practical effect that needs a bit of invisible CG Sellotape to blend the lot together. The great thing is that it all starts in the real world and has to have a ‘real world’ feel, so if our stuff looks lightweight and animated, then we’ve failed.
Talk us through the fight on the helicopter and how VFX were used.
We were told a few weeks before we started shooting in Mexico that we couldn’t do the more dangerous helicopter stunts, barrel rolls etc, over the Zócalo Square due to the altitude in Mexico City. I had a feeling that was coming so I’d always had a backup plan of shooting these shots over an airfield elsewhere with the stunt helicopter, then replacing the airfield putting a full CG square, crowd and Mexico City below the helicopter, with motion-captured CG doubles fighting inside, which is what we did. We went this route rather than shooting an empty square and putting in a CG helicopter because neither Sam nor myself felt you would get believable composition and movement in the shots from that approach. All the interior and close shots of the helicopter fight were shot in a dummy helicopter fuselage on an SFX gimbal in blue-screen stage at Pinewood. Our job was to put in the spinning backgrounds of Mexico City. Because they would have reflected all of the lights, camera crew and blue-screen, I had them take out the windows and bubble canopy on the dummy helicopter. CG versions were added in later by us with reflections of the sky and city to help sell the illusion.
How involved were you in the explosion in Morocco that earned the Guinness World Record?
The entire sequence once Bond was in the crater was shot on a flat desert plain near the real crater mountain exterior you see earlier as he approaches, with minimal sets and flats for the actors to react to and it gave the camera crew something to lineup on. Everything else buildings, domes, crater walls were created by us. The explosion was mainly real and full scale created by Chris Corbould and his team. Basically there were minimal buildings in those shots, as they would be added in post and roto-scoped in and around the engulfing detonations. Chris used a lot of high explosives and thousands of gallons of gasoline to get the sequential, advancing explosion effect. It was a very tricky shot for us, blending the buildings into and behind the explosions.
How did you go about MI6’s destruction?
I’d considered miniatures for the MI6 building demolition and the collapsing building in Mexico, but the elaborate camera move that had originally been planned (simplified a little later) for the opening sequence ruled out miniatures for me. Also, the sheer scale of the MI6 building didn’t really lend itself to miniatures. The problem with a collapsing model is it has to be structurally strong enough to support itself but weak enough to break into thousands of bits of debris. That’s very difficult to do on a miniature scale. I’ve never seen a miniature building collapse believably without looking like a load of Lego bits. So we went with an entirely CG approach for its destruction.
What impact did filming at night in the centre of London have on the visual effects?
It was massive! Not only did we have to paint out movie lights that were coming into shots (very difficult as they’d flare across the lens), we had to create the foliage on the trees throughout London in the sequences shot April-May, look barren and wintry to match footage that had been shot earlier in the production in December the year before.
How do you go about filming something like the helicopter crash on Westminster Bridge?
This was shot on the 007 stage at Pinewood. It involved a full-scale prop helicopter flown on wires crashing onto a partial set piece of Westminster Bridge. Not only did we add CG rotor blades to the aircraft, but the entire environment. Whilst the bridge was built on the 007 Stage and an enormous translight put in place to depict the scenery either side. We had to extend the bridge, adding the whole of Westminster and police blockades at the ends of the bridge with flashing lights, all put in afterwards. Every single shot in that sequence where you see Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes and Léa Seydoux has CG backgrounds added in. A lot of work!
What VFX sequence took up the most time and planning?
The opening shot and helicopter fight. We spent months pre-visualising both. The previs was most useful in demonstrating to Sam Mendes and Hoyte van Hoytema the DOP, the trickiness and potential problems in blending together shots that were shot in different locations months and continents apart.
Which Visual Effect in Spectre are you most proud of?
I think the opening continuous shot as it’s the most un-Bond like effects shot there has been, and I think it pleasantly caught a lot of people by surprise, and, the little CG mouse that comes out in the hotel room and ultimately runs into a hole in the wall revealing the secret hiding place that Bond has been looking for in Tangier. I’m very happy with that as most people can tell when they see a massive building collapsing in a city like London that it’s probably CG, but not necessarily a little mouse. Most people bought it as a real mouse!
Chris Corbould Interview
The Special Effects Supervisor of Spectre, who has just been awarded a Guinness World Records™ title for the Largest Film Stunt Explosion, on keeping things real, filming in challenging locations and his favourite Spectre stunts…
Q Sam Mendes has a philosophy of ‘doing things for real’. What challenges does this bring?
Sam is a big advocate of “doing things for real”. He has vast experience in directing and producing theatre where everything is for real and I believe that he is most comfortable in an environment where actors can react to real events occurring around them. However he is also a total pragmatist and quickly sees the sense when the CGI option is the most practical one or even better, a mixture of the two. Although Sam has very specific ideas about how the action is to play, his main priority is the storyline and characters, vital ingredients for a good film.
Q How do you go about shooting a big scene, such as the car chase in Austria?
The following description is a basic method of preparing for an action scene but sometimes the order of these processes may differ according to Director and Producer preferences. The first stage of the process usually involves sitting round a table and discussing the scene as written in the script with the Director, Director of Photography, 2nd Unit Director, VFX Supervisor, 1st Assistant AD, Stunt Coordinator and myself. This is really a fact finding mission where everybody pitches in ideas and methodologies of how and where to shoot the sequence. After this meeting the Director usually instructs a storyboard artist to produce a pictorial book showing each individual shot that will make up the sequence. Once this document is produced the same creative team would then probably meet again and further discuss all aspects of the filming process. In the background the Director will have given instructions to the locations department about key areas that need to be located to film the sequence, Once photos have been shown to the Director a location scout with the creative team takes place to visit the various options to film the scenes. It is sometimes a fine juggling act to decide on a location that the Director likes but also that is logistically right for every department to do their job.
The job of preparing the Special Effects for the scene then commences with each individual effect broken down and analysed by myself and senior SFX crew. We will discuss mechanical rigs, types of explosions, crew levels and scheduling of equipment/crew movements. Next comes one of the most important stages which is the testing phase. Every rig and explosion is tested and videoed, sometimes many times. Once results have been achieved that I am happy with I will sit down with the Director for his input into the tests. This procedure may be repeated several times until the Director is confident and happy with all aspects.
We can then begin the logistical phase of loading equipment and materials ready to be transported to the location. In the case of the Austrian sequence the list comprised of 10 Land Rover Defenders, 7 Range Rover SVR, 6 BN2 Islander Planes, 4 Double Track Skidoos, 2 x100 Ton Cranes, 2 Glider Winches, 12 shipping containers of equipment/materials and a final total of 30 SFX Technicians. Once the equipment has arrived the second phase of testing takes place in the snowy conditions required for the sequence. These conditions obviously bring a new set of challenges to deal with but it is all part of the process. One particular part of the sequence involved hanging a full size plane on wires between two cranes which were 450 metres apart. The plane was winched forwards at 50 mph to give the impression that it was flying down a narrow valley of trees with branches clipping the wingtips. This would obviously have been too risky to do with a real flying plane. However, at one stage we had to slow down the plane on wires as it started to glide on its own.
Finally the shooting crew will arrive and film every part of the jigsaw needed to edit together the final cut. There is much improvisation along the way as many diverse problems raise their head but the crew, headed by Ian lowe, were experienced, competent and dedicated to deal with every eventuality.
When the sequence is complete and the film is approved by the Director the whole unit is packed up and either returned to the UK or moved onto the next location, which on Spectre, was Rome.
Q What was the biggest challenge of shooting so many scenes, in various locations all over the world?
As you can see from the description above the logistics are very extensive. On Spectre we filmed in four different countries apart from the UK, namely, Austria, Italy, Mexico and Morocco each having its own set of challenges. Obviously one of the biggest challenges is making sure we have the right crew and equipment in the right place at the right time. We also have to allow for the different climates such as the sub zero temperatures of Austria to the 50 degree heat of the Moroccan desert.
Q Talk us through the Aston Martin DB10 and Jaguar C-X75, what modifications did you make to them?
We worked very closely with both Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover/Williams to adapt the cars to perform all the requirements of the film. Particular detail was paid to the suspension system as both cars were required to do high speed jumps during the sequence. Neil Layton, my vehicle technical coordinator, was in constant discussions with both companies to ensure maximum specifications for each vehicle and the results were amazing. It was also fun to reintroduce some “optional extras”, namely gadgets, to the car which I know is a favourite for all Bond fans. I had previously collaborated with Aston Martin and Jaguar on Die Another Day where both companies excelled themselves in helping us create a fantastic sequence on an ice lake in Iceland. The chase in Spectre is even more spectacular.
Q For Spectre you had 10 Aston Martin DB10s that were made especially for the film. Does filming with a bespoke car bring an added pressure and are you ever worried about not having enough cars?
It’s a funny thing because I only found out that they had made ten cars near the end of the film. We were filming with only eight cars and at times came close to running out. There were two pristine hero cars, two cars with rooftop remote driving pods and four stunt rigged cars, two of which had the gadgets fitted to. So although we had eight cars, most of them had specific roles to play and were not necessarily quickly interchangeable. It is a constant worry that there is the potential for a shortage of cars and consequently they are nurtured throughout the film so that they don’t fail mechanically. I certainly would have slept better if I had known that there were two more cars at our disposal, maybe that’s why they didn’t tell us.
Q Spectre is your 14th Bond film. How do you feel your role as Special Effects Supervisor has developed over your time working on Bond?
The role of Special Effects Supervisor has developed immensely over the years. Obviously the introduction of digital effects was a massive change to the way we work but in addition, the use of computers to control hydraulics, pneumatics, winches and rigs is greatly advantageous. The crews have generally got much larger and the emphasis tends to be very engineering orientated. I have found over the years that I have tended to work closer and closer with the Director on script ideas and action concepts and consequently, I now have a yearning to direct myself.
Q Out of all the scenes you shot in Spectre which one is your favourite?
I have two favourite scenes, one being a full size helicopter crash and the other, was the huge explosion in Morocco. The helicopter crash was executed in a similar way to the underground train in Skyfall except that this time we had to deal with much faster speeds whilst puppeteering it to spin sideways as it came to a halt. Dan Homewood was my project leader on both the train and helicopter rigs but now is wondering what we might have to crash on Bond 25.
Q Spectre was awarded a Guinness World Records™ title for the Largest Film Stunt Explosion, what was it like to arrange that stunt in Morocco?
The explosion in Morocco was interesting in that I didn’t just want to do a huge explosion. I wanted it to have shape and a progression as it spread through all the connecting buildings over an area of ten football fields. Conveniently, we were filming in the desert in Morocco without a pane of glass or habited building for miles around, both of which are normal cause for concern when doing an explosion of this size. It also gave me the opportunity of using the fairly new technology of programmeable detonators where each detonator is programmed to a thousandth of a second. I was introduced to the system by Charlie Adcock of Event Horizon Ltd. He advises me on all the large scale pyrotechnics that I dream up and together we produce some spectacular results.
Q And which was the most difficult to film and why?
The most difficult scene to film was the collapsing building where Bond is running across a rooftop as it collapses behind him. We guided a section of building down a track which impacted on a breakaway area of rooftop causing the three floors below Bond to collapse. It was a very close collaboration between Special Effects and VFX. It took us a long time to develop and feel confident that we had all the safety measures in place to achieve the shot. Once the impact had taken place Bond falls through the building in a chain reaction of collapsing levels, all of which were controlled using hydraulic mechanisms and safety systems. Project leader Kevin Herd and my team spent many hours deliberating over different methods to achieve this effect
Q Empire reported that you enjoy the mechanical side of big rigs more than blowing things up. What is it that you find so appealing about these mechanical rigs in particular?
I do love the whole process of working with my team to research, develop, fabricate, test and film the big mechanical rigs. There is something challenging about the problem-solving process and inspirational about the dedication of my creative engineers to look at all options to overcome the obstacles. Rigs such as the Casino Royale sinking house, the Skyfall underground train crash and The World Is Not Enough caviar house sequence are typical examples. There is no other feeling that compares when the whole plan comes together and spectacular footage has been achieved after months of hard work.
Q What are your thoughts on CGI? Is it more of a help or a hindrance to your role as Special Effects Supervisor?
CGI is seldom a hindrance and is a fantastic tool when used wisely. Some of my practical effects would not be possible without the help of CGI and many of my effects are greatly enhanced by digital tweaking. CGI has also made filming a much safer environment to work in as many extra safety features are digitally removed whereas this was not possible a few years ago. I personally believe that our two departments work in complete harmony these days to produce the most realistic effects.
Q What element of your job do you enjoy most?
Coming up with the creative ideas to feed to the Director giving him all the possible ingredients to formulate the most exciting sequence for the audience. I also get a great thrill from seeing my Special Effects crew rise to every challenge and work tirelessly to produce a fantastic end result. This includes the workshop supervisors, floor supervisors, senior technicians, CAD designers, engineers and especially Lynne, my buyer/coordinator/wife who has been responsible for purchasing every item of Special Effects equipment and materials for my films over the last twenty years, along with being my spiritual backbone . I also enjoy working with a lot of the unsung heroes of the film industry like the construction crews, electricians, propmen, accounts personnel, production office personnel, drivers, assistant directors, location dept etc. They are rarely mentioned but are vital to the success of any film.
Q Are there any particular difficulties when it comes to shooting scenes in large cities?
Large cities can be problematic. Rome is a classic example. The city comprises of two thousand year old buildings and we wanted to do a 100 mph chase with two supercars through it. Naturally there was some hesitation on their part and all credit to the locations department for gaining the permissions. The knock on to Special Effects was that the cars involved had to be 100 per cent reliable. Our prime concern is for the safety of the drivers but another major concern was the wellbeing of Rome’s historic architecture. The cars were meticulously tested almost to the point of destruction so that we were confident that mechanical failure would not occur. Many features of the cars were strengthened and adapted to cope with the rigorous weeks ahead.
Q What is your favourite part of being the Special Effects Supervisor for Bond?
I love being given the opportunity and resources to showcase my skills and the talent of my crew. Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have repeatedly encouraged me to explore new ideas and have consistently supported me in my wildest dreams. I was honoured to have worked with Cubby Broccoli on a few of my earlier films but I am now even more honoured to have remained part of the Bond family franchise over the last fourteen films. I adore my crew and many of them, including long standing floor supervisor Peter Notley, have been with me since I supervised GoldenEye I have also really enjoyed working with Daniel Craig who has been a huge part of our success. He consistently wants to be involved with all aspects of Special Effects, even rehearsing with us during his down time to achieve the most realistic results.
Global James Bond Day
Today, Monday 5th October, is official Global James Bond Day – a celebration of 53 years of the Bond franchise. This date marks the anniversary of the release of Dr. No in 1962. This special day of celebrations first began in 2012 when the Bond films celebrated their golden anniversary with events all around the globe and the release of the theme song for Skyfall by Adele. This year the day is marked with the release of the official video for Writing’s On The Wall, the theme song for Spectre, by Sam Smith.
Meg Simmonds Q&A
EON’s archivist, Meg Simmonds, is the author of Bond By Design: The Art of the James Bond Films which is published on 1 October…
The designs behind landmark sets including Stromberg’s Atlantis base in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Blofeld’s Volcano Lair in You Only Live Twice (1967) feature in the book. Is there a set design that is your personal favourite and what is the story behind its design?
It is so difficult to just choose one. The six rough concepts of the Rumpus Room in Goldfinger (1964) and the six rough concepts for SPECTRE’s HQ in Thunderball (1965) are collectively my favourites. Once Sir Ken Adam had an idea for a set, he worked very fast. You can feel his excitement for the project and see it develop. These roughs illustrate part of the creative process and the viewer gets to witness what is discarded and what is kept. I love that behind-the-scenes insight.
Do you have a favourite Bond gadget design from the book? Tell us why.
Yes, it isn’t a very obvious choice. Bond’s Secondary Homer Concepts by Michael White, Goldfinger, (1964). This concept includes a variety of ideas and next to the sketch of a homer in a toothbrush is written ‘Ridiculous!’. From the very beginning the producers Broccoli and Saltzman encouraged everyone on the production team to be actively involved in the creative process, what Sir Ken Adam referred to as the ‘democratic debating society’. This concept shows one of the art directors experimenting with ideas and once again rejecting some of them. It is great fun to be contributing to the ingredients of the collaboratively creative Bond soup that keeps a popular icon vital for the audience.
In Bond by Design the reader sees everything from the earliest hand-drawn set sketches from Dr. No (1962) to a digital illustration from the latest James Bond film Spectre (2015). How has the design process behind Bond evolved over the years?
The design process has evolved along with technology. For instance in the early 1960s you did not have the ability to photocopy or scan, therefore original art was created and shared. In all of Sir Ken Adam’s concepts you will find a mass of little pin holes in the corners because these were working pieces of art, taken on and off a pin board for different departments to look at and use as a reference. In the 70s and 80s you begin to get photocopies of storyboards and concepts. The pin holes are reduced. And today you don’t have a physical piece of original art – you have a digital file – no pin holes whatsoever. In the 1960s very few sequences were storyboarded as the pace of the films and editing was slower than today. In the 1990s practically the entire film is storyboarded due to an increase in fast action sequences. Storyboard sequences today are being replaced with ‘previsual’ sequences which are digitally animated and provide more information about camera movement. Each new way the designs are executed increases the ability and speed to make changes and inform a large crew quickly.
Tell us more about some of the previously unseen designs that feature in the book?
In most of our publications that cover the behind-the-scenes process of film making there is only a minimal amount of space to illustrate the concepts behind the design process and therefore the same handful of final pieces are published over and over again. I’m so pleased that this book focuses in on this one aspect. 75 per cent of the concepts in this book haven’t been published before, to my knowledge.
How long does it take to design a Bond film?
The design process starts very early and continues throughout the film-making process to the very end. For Bond films – I’d say the average time it takes is about one year – give or take a few months.
How do you acquire items for the Archive? What’s the rarest/most
expensive?
Luckily most of the concepts and technical drawings were kept from the very beginning. Production Designer Peter Lamont was instrumental in making sure these were kept safe between films. The oldest Ken Adam concepts are the most valuable because of their age and because he set such precedent in the modern approach to designing Bond sets.
How did you become EON’s Archivist?
I worked with Jerry Juroe in the Publicity Department on The Living Daylights in 1987 providing picture research for some special 25th anniversary publications. In 1995 digital image scanning became accessible to the public. Producer Michael Wilson agreed that we should start a digital archive of images. At the same time Jane Wilson, Michael’s wife, suggested that we make an inventory and start a proper archive of all the physical assets, such as props, costumes and concept art. So Jane, Iris Rose, the Production Coordinator back in the 1980s and 90s, and I spent several days unlocking offices and garages peppered around Pinewood to begin the process of creating an inventory of all the physical Bond assets. I had a team of researchers headed by Tim Ryan from the GoldenEye art department start identifying some of the obscure objects and creating a database. It has just continued to grow from there.
Did you find iconic pieces of Bond history missing once you identified and inventoried everything that was kept?
Yes, Many pieces were inadvertently given away. We had to buy back Oddjob’s bowler hat! Many of the vehicles were sold off by the production company when the promotional period for a particular film ended. Thanks to dedicated Bond fans in the Ian Fleming Foundation many of these were tracked down and restored. They have collaborated with us on our Bond In Motion exhibition now located in Covent Garden. Right up to the 1990s the costumes were always given away or sold to cast and crew members at the end of filming – so I’ve had to keep my eye on auctions for those. Researching the art work for this book led me to get in touch with Robert Laing’s family. His son Martin has followed in his footsteps and is a very successful production designer. I met with Martin and his mother, Maureen, and they showed me original artwork from Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Live And Let Die that I didn’t know existed. That was a thrilling moment. Many of those pieces are included in this book.
Who do you think will enjoy this book?
I hope that anyone who is interested in the film making process and design will enjoy seeing the variety of styles and approaches employed over the years in visualising and making Bond’s world real.
Bond By Design: The Art of the James Bond Films by Meg Simmonds, is published by DK on 1 October 2015, £35.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/bond-by-design-the-art-of-the-james-bond-films/9780241185995
Aston Martin DB9 GT Bond Edition
Aston Martin are celebrating the 50 year partnership with James Bond and the release of Spectre by launching the strictly limited edition DB9 GT Bond Edition. Limited to 150 examples worldwide, the model is based on the recently launched DB9 GT but with some Bond additions. On the exterior the car has unique
Spectre silver paint and discreet ‘007 Bond Edition’ badging, while inside it has unique numbered sill plaques featuring the 007 logo, gun barrel embroidery on the rear seat divider and a special Bond Edition start-up screen.
The car also comes with some Bond-themed accessories including a 21” Globe-Trotter trolley case with embossed leather luggage tag and an Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150m James Bond Limited Edition watch complete with an Aston Martin strap. The new DB9 GT Bond Edition is available to order in markets around the world from today, priced at £165,000.
Patrick Macnee (1922-2015)
Patrick Macnee has sadly passed away at the age of 93. In a career full of memorable roles, Patrick starred as Sir Godfrey Tibbett alongside Roger Moore in A View To A Kill (1985). Our thoughts are with his family at this sad time.
Sir Christopher Lee Passes Away
Sir Christopher Lee has passed away at the age of 93. One of Britain’s greatest actors, he will always be remembered for playing the classic villain Scaramanga in The Man With The Golden Gun (1974).
Our thoughts are with his family at this sad time.
Louis Jourdan (1921-2015)
We are very sad to learn that Louis Jourdan has passed away at the age of 93. The French actor will always be remembered for playing one of the great Bond villains, Kamal Khan, in Octopussy (1983) and Gaston Lachaille in Gigi (1958). Our deepest sympathies go out to his family.
Maud Adams Q&A
Andrea Anders from The Man With The Golden Gun answers your questions…
Q Bret Swanie: Which other “Bond girl” would you have wanted to play.
A I never thought about that but, I think the franchise has done a great job in making sure the “Bond girls” are strong characters and contemporary. I have really enjoyed Judi Dench and will miss her participation. Not a “Bond girl” role but that would have been fun to play.
Q Steven Bayman: Knowing the impact that it had had on your life by becoming a Bond Girl, did you hesitate in accepting the role of Octopussy, because of all the media furore that comes with each film?
A I never hesitated. It was such a treat to be able to once again work with Roger Moore, the producer Cubby Broccoli and the crew I had come to like so much. Being offered the title role of Octopussy also was a real honour.
Q Vitaly Man: Which Bond film was most fun?
A I enjoyed them both, to a large degree because I was lucky to have Roger Moore as “my” Bond. Britt Ekland also became a good friend during GOLDEN GUN and we spent a lot of our free time together doing “girlie” things like shopping and gossiping.
Q Paul Rankin: What was it like working with Roger Moore?
A He was always very supportive, a real team player and kept everybody in good spirits during the filming.
Q Chris Lethbridge: How did your expectations compare with your experience?
A I was just trying to focus on doing my job and hoped for the best as I really didn’t understand just how big Bond was in the beginning. It was a bit daunting at first, when I realised what I had gotten involved with and also to get so much personal attention. Although I had made three feature length movies prior and you always hope for success, I had never worked on a movie where there was so much expectation, before we’d even shot one frame. Also, I never expected “Bond” to become such a long running franchise and that my participation would have such a lasting effect on my professional life. Kudos to Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, who deserve a lot of credit for keeping Bond relevant, meeting and often exceeding, the continued high expectations every time a new film is released.
Q Daniel Sam Ohiomah: How was it acting alongside Christopher Lee?
A He was a real gentleman during the filming and extremely professional coupled with a very dry sense of humour. I really didn’t know that much about him other than his Dracula interpretation at first but, I’m so grateful to have met and had the pleasure to have worked with this talented and wonderful man.
Q Phil Quinones: If you had the chance to do the roles again, would there be anything you would do differently?
A Gosh, I know I would have played both roles differently now that I have much more experience and confidence as an actor.
