The Making Of No Time To Die’s Cuba Sequence

One of the most memorable set-pieces in No Time To Die, Bond’s adventure in Cuba injects some old-school 007 glamour into a gritty, realistic, contemporary action thriller. 

Sent to Cuba by CIA ally Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) to extract corrupt Russian scientist Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik) from a SPECTRE party, Bond arrives in Santiago and meets Leiter’s rookie field agent Paloma (Ana de Armas). The pair enter the black-tie event at the Hotel Olympia to apprehend Obruchev. Unbeknownst to Bond, SPECTRE head Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) deploys nanobots to kill him, yet, in cahoots with bioterrorist Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek), Obruchev has actually programmed the nanobots to kill every SPECTRE member present. 

In the subsequent melee, Bond and Paloma pursue Obruchev but face stiff competition from MI6 agent Nomi (Lashana Lynch) — the new 007 — who has also been dispatched to apprehend the scientist.  

While the production considered shooting in Cuba, the extent of the action — gunfights, explosions, car crashes, property demolition — made shooting on location impractical, the unit opting to recreate Santiago in the controllable environment of Pinewood Studios.

Created on the North lot, the street set became a Cuban fantasy world, a mash-up of modern architecture and period styles. Ultimately, the set was 250ft long, 250ft wide and 36ft high — every building was designed to be extended vertically by VFX — and featured eleven buildings constructed in a speedy 10 weeks.

The whole Cuban set was marked by bold colours, distressed paintwork, flickering neon and crumbling brickwork. All suggesting a faded grandeur, perhaps mirroring SPECTRE’s decline in power. The set also incorporated elements to facilitate action, including breakaway sections, bullet holes and rubber telegraph poles. A glass dome was added to the Olympia’s roof for the thrilling moment Nomi comes crashing through it on a cable, before rocketing back into the air with Obruchev.

Choreographing the action within the set became another huge challenge. 

“Cuba was a huge scene to design and rehearse,” said stunt co-ordinator Olivier Schneider. “We had jumps, fights, gun fights. It was a long process to tell the journey of so many characters at the same time but still tell Bond’s story.”

A fun moment in Bond’s journey through the scene was invented by Daniel Craig himself. As Bond tails Obruchev, Craig suggested 007 steal a stainless steel tray from a passing waiter and use it as a frisbee to knock down the fleeing Russian, then coolly sip the martini perched on the tray. Craig’s screen partner Ana de Armas, playing rookie agent Paloma, spent two weeks training with Schneider in gun handling and hand-to-hand combat. 

“Ana loved it but she made our life very difficult for two reasons,” recalled Schneider. “She wanted to wear a beautiful dress and she wanted to do it in high heels, which, for us, is a nightmare. She could break her ankle at any moment in high heels. And, because of the dress, I couldn’t put any pads on her because she had bare legs. We had to design a fight around all of that. Ana rehearsed very hard to make that happen. It was a pure pleasure doing it.”

The Cuba sequence started shooting in June 2019, but an injury to Daniel Craig delayed the action portion of the scenes until October. This meant the set stood for five months, a happy by-product being that the set weathered over time, taking on even more shabby chic — plants even started to grow out of the building.

On October 25, the final night of filming, the crew captured Bond slipping down a Cuban alleyway, a moment that became Daniel Craig’s last moment playing James Bond.

“It was a unique moment for all of us to experience,” recalled Michael G. Wilson. “After the big shootout, Bond turns down an alleyway with Valdo and just disappears. It is very symbolic. After we shot it, everybody was stunned. We couldn’t believe that was the end. Barbara was in tears and I was choked up. Daniel gave a nice farewell speech to everybody. People didn’t leave, they all just stood around talking, so sad to see him go.”

For producer Barbara Broccoli, the significance of the shot could not be underestimated.

“It wasn’t just marking the moment of Daniel leaving the Bond series, it felt like a moment of tremendous importance in the history of cinema.”