James Bond’s Italy

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Since his first voyage to Italy in 1963’s From Russia With Love, James Bond has travelled the length and breadth of Italy, from the ancient city of Rome to the wintry chills of Cortina d’Ampezzo and the sunnier climes of Sardinia and Matera. As well as providing scenic beauty and glamour, the Italian backdrops have amped 007’s drama from pursuits through the narrow canals of Venice and foot chases over the perilous roofs of Siena. 

Venice

As seen in: From Russia with Love (1963), Moonraker (1979), Casino Royale (2006)

James Bond’s first of three forays to Venice appears at the end of From Russia With Love. 007 (Sean Connery) fights and kills SPECTRE agent Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) in a hotel room with a view over San Giorgio Maggiore, Bond and Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) later share a kiss in a water taxi under the iconic Bridge of Sighs. Director Terence Young and a film crew only spent a day in Venice. Connery and Bianchi performed their scenes against a back screen projection at Pinewood Studios in July 1963 while Piazzetta San Marco leading to Piazza San Marco was used as a backdrop for the film’s end credits.

Venice played a much bigger role in Moonraker. Bond (Roger Moore) is on the hunt for Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) which takes him to the Venini Glass Works located at the Piazzetta dei Leoncini next to Saint Mark’s Basilica. Coming under attack on the canals by Drax’s assassins, Bond turns his gondola (nicknamed the Bondola by the crew) into a hovercraft and travels across St. Mark’s Square.

“I had to drive this 80-foot-long gondola across St. Mark’s Square, where there were thousands of tourists who didn’t know there was a film going on,” recalled Roger Moore. “I was absolutely petrified. I didn’t have that much control over it. They eventually gave me a little klaxon to warn people.”

Bond returned to Venice 27 years later with Casino Royale. Sending M his retirement notice, 007 (Daniel Craig) enters Venice on a luxury yacht with Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). Vesper double crosses Bond and a chase ensues through Piazza San Marco and various alleyways, leading to a battle inside a collapsing palazzo which was shot mostly at Pinewood. “Though it’s a wonderful city, it’s not the easiest to film in,” recalled director Martin Campbell, who had to shoot around hordes of tourists.

For the sequence of Bond and Vesper sailing up the Grand Canal on a 54ft (16 metre) yacht named Spirit, the vessel was sailed from England to Nassau, The Bahamas to film the scene with Bond and Vesper enjoying time together before setting sail for Venice. An aerial unit captured the yacht entering Venice, the first boat allowed to sail on the Grand Canal since it was prohibited for outside traffic 350 years ago. The mast was taken up and down to move under the bridges. “It’s not a bad way to earn a living, sailing a yacht up the Grand Canal,” said Daniel Craig. “The traffic jam we caused was terrible. I don’t know if they really do have tailbacks in Venice but they had tailbacks that day.” 

Sardinia

As seen in: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Bond (Roger Moore) and Soviet agent Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) arrive in Costa Smeralda, Sardinia to infiltrate the operation of shipping tycoon Karl Stromberg (Curt Jürgens). The island in the Mediterranean plays host to a spectacular chase as 007’s Lotus Esprit is pursued by cars, a motorbike and helicopter. The only way for the camera to keep pace with the Lotus Esprit was to mount it in another Lotus Esprit.

Also shot in Sardinia was Bond’s journey to Stromberg’s aquatic base Atlantis on a wet bike. The prototype was built by Nelson Tyler with a 65 horsepower, two cycle engine capable of speeds of 50 miles per hour. “Nobody had ever seen one before,” recalled Roger Moore.

Cortina d’Ampezzo

As seen in: For Your Eyes Only (1981)

From the warmth of Sardinia, Bond’s next Italian sortie saw him enter the winter wonderland of Cortina d’Ampezzo, home of the 1956 Winter Olympics. Willy Bogner shot the ski sequences where Bond (Roger Moore) is chased down a mountain ending up in a pursuit down a bobsled run. 

When the unit arrived in Cortina in January 1981, they were faced with multiple challenges. “Cortina was damn cold,” said Roger Moore. “It was January — but there wasn’t any snow in the village.”

“Overnight, Tom Pevsner and his men got a convoy of trucks that fetched snow in the mountains and dumped it in Cortina,” said Michael G. Wilson, then working as an assistant to his step-father, producer Cubby Broccoli. “When the people got up in the morning, the whole village was covered in snow.”


Lake Como

As seen in: Casino Royale (2006)

Lake Como appears twice in Daniel Craig’s first outing as Bond. The first, shot at the Villa del Balbianello near Lenno, sees 007 recuperating from torture at the hands of Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) and forge a deeper connection with Vesper.

“Lake Como is one of the most beautiful spots in the world,” said producer Michael G. Wilson. “This is where the love affair between Bond and Vesper begins.”

The second occurs when Bond tracks down and shoots Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) and Craig utters the line “The name’s Bond. James Bond” for the first time. The moment was filmed at the private residence Villa la Gaeta in Sant’Abbondio located near the resorts of San Siro and Menaggio.

Lake Garda & Carrara

As seen in: Quantum of Solace (2008)

The pre-credit car chase sequence between Bond’s Aston Martin DBS and Alfa Romeo 159s was captured in two distinct Italian locations: on the roads and tunnels around Lake Garda, then in Carrara for a pursuit through a quarry.

The sequence employed seven Aston Martins and eight Alfa Romeos. The tunnel chase was complicated by the tunnel only being 28 ft wide in parts. As stunt coordinator Gary Powell noted, “When there are over 40 cars going through it at the speeds we were doing, it becomes a technical challenge.” After ten days shooting at Lake Garda, the unit moved to Massa to take advantage of the Carrara marble quarry.

“Some of the mountain roads we were on were quite high up and very narrow,” remembered Powell. The quarry was 3,500ft above sea level and we had cars coming down, doing handbrake turns, going round corners at speed with a 750 ft drop next to them.”

Siena

As seen in: Quantum of Solace (2008)

Following the car chase, Bond goes in pursuit of M’s double crossing bodyguard Mitchell (Glenn Forster) and gets caught up in the crowds watching the world famous Palio horse race at Piazza del Campo in the Tuscan city of Siena. As the race happens only once a year, the horse race had been captured months before principal photography began by a second unit crew.

“The Palio horse race is only about 90 seconds,” recalled First Assistant Director Michael Lerman. “We had ten camera crews shooting from rooftops, out of windows and on the track itself.” The chase continues over the picture-postcard Sienese rooftops.

While the initial idea had been to build the rooftops on the backlot at Pinewood, scheduling meant the team had to approach the Sienese City officials to take over the rooftops for a couple of months for filming. “I did a 25-foot jump,” Daniel Craig remembered. “It’s not that scary jumping off the side of a building with a wire on. I’d rehearsed the jump, so was mentally prepared, then they put a moving bus underneath and it suddenly becomes something else.”

Vatican City, Rome

As seen in: Spectre (2015)

Bond (Daniel Craig)’s sojourn to Rome is the series’ first visit to the Eternal City. The funeral of Marco Sciarra was staged at the Museum of Roman Civilisation. Also shot there were night exteriors for Lucia’s villa at Villa Di Fiorano and the Aston Martin DB10 speeding past the Coliseum.

The centre-piece is a duel between Bond’s Aston Martin DB10 and SPECTRE operative Hinx’s (Dave Bautista) Jaguar C-X75 through the cobbled streets and towpaths.

“We had two of the fastest cars in the world travelling at night at speed, through what is near enough a world heritage site,” said Executive Producer, Callum McDougal.

“Via Nomentana was one of the longest city lock-downs our location department had ever done. It was about 3 kilometres of main roads entering Rome,” recalled Associate Producer, Gregg Wilson. “This means that you are employing hundreds of blockers to make sure no people or vehicles wander into shot.”

A highlight of the chase sees the cars go down the Scala de Pinedo steps – which were reinforced for their own protection – and onto the towpath by the river Tiber, which just prior to filming had been prone to flooding. Shooting around such beautiful antiquity meant the filmmakers had to take precautions during production and adapt as necessary. The sequence ends with the Aston Martin flying into the water and Bond parachuting to safety at Ponte Sisto.

“We always try to do things on-screen that have never been done before, and the result in Rome was spectacular. It is something we feel very proud of, and I think the Romans will feel very proud as well,” said Barbara Broccoli during production.

Matera

As seen in: No Time to Die (2021)

Bond 25’s pre-credit sequence sees 007 (Daniel Craig) and Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) travel to the city of Matera in Southern Italy. The crew shipped ten DB5s, eight of which were built by Aston Martin and the special effects team. The other two were original 1964 DB5’s used in previous Bond films.

When SPECTRE agents surround 007 and Madeleine in the Piazza San Giovanna Batista, the DB5 has some tricks in its locker, firing bullets from its front lights and a smoke screen from the back as it spins round before peeling off. “Matera is tiered like an amphitheatre so whenever the DB5 did a stunt at the end we heard the locals hollering and giving us a round of applause,” recalled Special Effects Supervisor Chris Corbould.

007 x Fabergé Octopussy Capsule Collection

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The debut collection is inspired by Octopussy (1983) and features a hand-crafted limited edition Egg Objet and special edition egg surprise locket.  

The Egg Objet is limited to 50 numbered pieces and stands at 8.4cm tall, crafted from 18k yellow gold and hand-painted with a rich green enamel. The pattern underneath is a combination of Fabergé’s signature guilloché accompanied by engraved octopus tentacles. The egg is mounted on a stand set with white diamonds and blue sapphires. When the egg opens, it reveals an 18k yellow gold octopus adorned with white diamond suckers and black diamond eyes. The Egg Objet has taken six months to be created in the hands of twelve specialists, working across nine individual crafts including spinning, dye stamping, casting, goldsmithing, guilloché engraving, hand-engraving, enamelling, setting and polishing.

The exterior of the Egg Surprise Locket closely follows the design of the Fabergé egg featured in the film with 18k gold lattice framework delicately set with blue sapphires and white diamonds in a floral-like design. The egg’s surface features a geometric guilloché engraved pattern and each piece has been decorated with green enamel to pair with the egg objet. Subtle nods are woven into the design, including the bail of the locket which takes its inspiration from the letter ‘O’ in the film’s title treatment. The egg locket also offers a surprise – a miniature 18k gold octopus set with two black diamond eyes set inside.

The 007 x Fabergé Octopussy capsule collection – comprising the Octopussy Egg Objet and the Octopussy Egg Surprise Locket – is available to purchase and pre-order at 007Store.com.

Dr. No Companion Book Announced

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Taschen have announced the release of a new 492 page book, James Bond. Dr. No, a complete account of the making of the first 007 film.

An ultimate companion-piece to the 1962 film, the book features insight from producers Cubby Broccoli, Harry Saltzman, director Terence Young and art director Ken Adam. 

Readers can follow the production of the film through a day-by-day account of what took place, which scenes were shot and who made the decisions that shaped the story and characters as it was filmed. 

Among the 1,007 images included, are rare and unseen shots from photographers Bert Cann, Bunny Yaeger and Bradley Smith, as well as memos, documents, posters, and production designs.

James Bond. Dr. No is written by film historian and author of the James Bond Archives, Paul Duncan and edited by EON Productions. Available in a Collector’s Edition, limited to 1,462 copies, and two numbered Art Editions of 1-500, each accompanied by a framed ChromaLuxe print by Bert Cann.

Pre-order now at 007Store.com.

007 Science: Inventing The World Of James Bond Exhibition In Chicago

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The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) in Chicago is hosting a world first exhibition, 007 Science: Inventing the World of James Bond. The exhibition features the science and technology from 007’s 25 adventures, and opened on March 7th, running until October 27th 2024. 

007 Science explores the way in which physics, chemistry, engineering and mathematics have shaped James Bond’s on-screen adventures. Delving behind the scenes, the exhibition reveals how the Bond production team harnesses real-world science to craft 007’s gadgets and vehicles to create the movies’ thrilling stunts and action sequences.

13 vehicles and 90 artefacts will be on display, including Bond’s prototype jet pack from Thunderball, Paloma’s lipstick and earpieces that allowed for secret communication in No Time To Die and the Parahawk snowmobiles of The World Is Not Enough. 

“EON Productions is proud to partner with the Museum of Science and Industry for our first ever science themed exhibition,” said Gregg Wilson, Associate Producer of the James Bond film series. “007 Science invites the public to discover the real world science in front of and behind the camera.”

HiddenCity Launches 007: Shadow Of Spectre

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EON has partnered with real-world adventure game company HiddenCity to bring Bond fans an interactive, treasure hunt-style game in central London, 007: Shadow Of Spectre. 

Players are being recruited as MI6 field agents and will use their phones to guide them through the adventure, stepping into Bond’s world on the streets of the capital and interacting with key characters to outsmart Spectre. The plot finds James Bond unresponsive and Moneypenny needing players’ help to follow the instructions he’s left behind. Starting at a central London location, teams of two to six people will follow a trail of clues and gather intelligence to outsmart Spectre.

The decision-making element of the adventure ensures each team shapes the game’s outcome and players will engage in real-world interactions and conversations along the way to ultimately solve the mystery. Players will need to follow coded instructions from 007 and Q Branch, navigate to secret locations, go undercover, and collect intelligence from handlers to work out where to go next.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with EON Productions on 007: Shadow Of Spectre, bringing our unique style of adventure to the Bond universe,” says HiddenCity founder Rob Reason. “We pride ourselves on creating gaming experiences that challenge and excite our audience and we look forward to launching 007: Shadow Of Spectre in 2024.” HiddenCity are the winners of the Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Award four years running.

Tickets for 007: Shadow Of Spectre are available at £30 per person with the game recommended for players 10 years old and over (under-10s playing for free). Under 18s must be supervised by adults due to licensing restrictions. The walking experience lasts 2-3 hours with optional breaks. All you need is a smart phone capable of receiving messages, calls and data. You can play via SMS or WhatsApp.

Experience 007: Shadow Of Spectre: Tickets on sale now. Play every day between 12:30pm and 6:30pm Mon – Sat, and 12:30pm – 4:30pm on Sundays. Book tickets at 007.inthehiddencity.com or 007Store.com.

Bond’s Ice Missions

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Ever since On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1969, some of the most thrilling James Bond action sequences have taken place in the coldest climates. The 007 action unit have found myriad ways to create unique snowbound set-pieces on skis, to aircraft and even a cello case. Here are the behind-the scenes stories from some of Bond’s most iconic ice capades….

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

Locations: Mürren, Switzerland.

The Action: Bond (George Lazenby) travels to the Swiss Alps to infiltrate Piz Gloria, the HQ of Spectre head Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas). The snowbound scenes include a stock car race on ice, a night-time ski pursuit and a daring helicopter raid on the mountain-top fortress.

Behind the scenes: Production manager Hubert Frölich found an under-construction restaurant only reachable by cable car built on the Schilthorn mountain near Mürren, Switzerland. EON paid to complete the restaurant so they could use it to double as Piz Gloria. Blofeld’s helipad was left behind to serve mountain rescue teams.

Richard Graydon, stunt double for George Lazenby: “I doubled for Bond when he had to go hand-over-hand along a cable. The drop was about 80 feet. The only safety devices I had were two hooks in the palms of my hand attached to my safety belt. The difficulty was ice had formed on the cable. So instead of the hooks locking onto the cable, I found myself sliding down towards Mürren, which was two or three miles below. Fortunately, there were some stuntmen on the first pylon who caught hold of me as I approached it, otherwise I think I might still be going.” 

 

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Locations: St. Moritz, Switzerland and Mount Asgard in Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island, Canada.

Behind the scenes: On assignment in Austria, 007 (Roger Moore) is pursued down a mountain by KGB assassins when he is confronted by a cliff face. All looks lost when Bond skis off the edge to certain death – until, after a few heart-stopping moments, a parachute opens emblazoned with a Union Jack.

Trivia: Director John Glen and crew waited ten days for the harsh conditions to subside to shoot the spectacular jump of Mount Asgard. When the clouds finally parted, the team only had a 15-minute window to capture the stunt performed by climber and stuntman Rick Sylvester.

John Glen, second-unit director: “We were in this very desolate part of the world, inside the Arctic circle with an Inuit village about 30 miles away. Each day we had to travel out by helicopter to set up the climbing pylons so the crew could get up there with the cameras. The weather was atrocious.”

 

 For Your Eyes Only (1982)

Location: Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

The Action: Hot on the trail of Emile Leopold Locque (Michael Gothard), an enforcer in the Brussels underworld, Bond (Roger Moore) heads to Cortina, Italy. 007 is hunted down by motorbike assassins, ending up on a thrilling pursuit around a bobsleigh run.

Behind the scenes: Shooting the bob run chase, the motorbike’s wheels were fitted with spike-laden treads to increase the grip while moving at speeds of up to 50mph.

Willy Bognor, ski photographer: “In order to get a very close look at the action and really capture the feel of the chase, I decided to do some tracking shots on skis on the bob run. I could handhold it (the camera) during the chase and because of the shock-absorbing effect of my knees and arms, it was possible to hold the camera really steady and get a perfectly clear picture even at high speeds.”

 

A View To A Kill (1985)

Location: Vedretta di Scerscen Inferiore glacier, the Alps in Switzerland

The Action: In the pre-titles sequence, Bond (Roger Moore) is being chased by henchmen on skis, a snowmobile and in a helicopter. 007 improvises his escape with a snowmobile blade acting as snowboard and glides his way out of danger.

Behind the scenes: The first feature film to showcase snowboarding, the sequence took six weeks to film with  pioneer, World Snowboard Champion (1982) Tom Sims and Steve Link doubling for Roger Moore for the snowboarding scenes.  

John Glen: “Willy [Bogner, champion skier] came up with this new idea: snowboarding. He said, ‘If we could get Bond on a monoski, then we could have some real fun.’ I thought that was a great idea and I came up with the idea that Bond was on a motorised toboggan that gets shot up and all that’s left is the front ski. So Bond goes on it as a snowboard. Willy came up with this idea of the lake, of using the snowboard as a seaboard as well, to go through the lake. It worked ever so well.” 

 

The Living Daylights (1987)

Location: Weissensee, Austria

The Action: Chased by the KGB and the Czechoslovakian Police, Bond (Timothy Dalton) and cellist Kara Milovy (Maryam d’Abo) flee from Bratislava to Vienna. 007’s Aston Martin V8 is forced onto a frozen lake, evading his pursuers with the help of a jet engine booster. After crash landing the V8 in a forest, the pair cross the Austrian border using Kara’s cello case as a sled.

Behind the scenes: For the moment 007 throws the cello over the barrier and catches it, Timothy Dalton nailed the tricky manoeuvre on the first take.

Paul Weston, stunt supervisor: “It was a dangerous chase because when we first arrived the lake was just freezing over. When we walked out on it, you could see the fish beneath you, as it hadn’t gone white yet, it was like standing on a sheet of glass.” 

 

 The World Is Not Enough (1999)

Location: Chamonix, France.

The Action: At the behest of M (Judi Dench), Bond (Pierce Brosnan) travels to Azerbaijan to protect Elektra King (Sophie Marceau). During a tour of the Caucasus Mountains to check the construction of an oil pipeline, Bond and Elektra come under attack from a quartet of parahawks, Skidoos suspended from parachutes.

Behind the scenes: The crew were often hampered by heavy snow, overcast skies, delays stopping for avalanche warnings and diesel freezing in the trucks. The spectacular set-piece ended up going five days over schedule.

Jonathan Taylor, second unit-cameraman: “We tested the cameras in the British Airways refrigerator at Heathrow and left them there overnight to make sure they ran and the batteries were up to speed.”

 

Die Another Day (2002)

Location: Iceland.

The Action: Slipping the clutches of millionaire Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) from his ice palace in Iceland. 007 (Pierce Brosnan) speeds off in his Aston Martin V12 Vanquish and embarks on a high-speed duel with Zao (Rick Yune)’s Jaguar XKR across a frozen landscape.

Behind the scenes: The cars were converted to four-wheel drive for the chase. To shoot the auto-ballet, the camera unit vehicle was fitted out with floatation devices in case the ice broke.

Michael G. Wilson, producer: ‘It was a miracle. That lagoon only freezes a few weeks a year to that depth that’s sufficient for cars to run on it. It just so happened that this was the coldest February in 60 years and therefore we only had a few weeks to film everything.”

 

Spectre (2015)

Location: Altaussee, Austria.

Action: In the snowy drifts of Altaussee, Bond (Daniel Craig) mounts a rescue of Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), kidnapped by SPECTRE henchman Hinx (Dave Bautista). Bond gives chase in a plane, using it to ram into Hinx’s convoy and free Madeleine.

Behind the scenes: Crew members caught walking on pristine snow were fined 10 euros with the proceeds going to charity.

Dave Bautista, actor: “My character, Hinx, kidnaps Madeleine. The altitude was so high and the oxygen levels were so low that the scene was a lot trickier than it looks on film.”

 

No Time To Die (2021)

Location: Langvann Lake, Norway.

The Action: The film opens on a flashback depicting young Madeleine Swann (Mathilde Bourbin), under siege in a Norwegian lake house from Safin (Rami Malek) who is intent on murdering her father. Fleeing across a frozen Norwegian lake, Madeleine falls through the ice but she is rescued and spared by Safin.

Behind the scenes: The lake house was assembled at the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios and then “flat-packed” in a container and shipped out to Norway.

Linus Sandgren, cinematographer: “We couldn’t put too much weight in the ice or be too close to certain areas, because the temperature was too warm and they were afraid the ice would crack. We were also limited to how large the cranes we could use.”

Head off on your next adventure in style with the 007 collection of travel accessories at 007Storecom.

Bond In Motion At International Spy Museum

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Vehicle exhibition Bond in Motion has travelled to The International Spy Museum in Washington.

Opened on March 1, 2024 at L’Enfant Plaza, Bond in Motion features 17 vehicles from the 007 film series, ranging from the Aston Martin DBS from Quantum of Solace (2008) to the Jaguar XKR from Die Another Day (2002).

Other highlights include the submarine from For Your Eyes Only (1981) and the MR Glastron Boat from Moonraker (1979), offering a journey chronicling James Bond’s 60+ years of adventures.

Tickets are available for purchase priced at $12.00. For more information, visit spymuseum.org.

Bond in Motion was previously hosted in the US at the Saratoga Automobile Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York. The European edition is currently located in Prague, Czechia.

DHL is the official logistics partner of this exhibition.

The Evolution of Visual Effects on 007

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Mara Bryan started out her career in computer graphics for commercials and TV before moving into the film industry. In 2022, Mara was nominated for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature at the VES Awards for her work on No Time To Die. 

Here, Mara talks about the evolution of visual effects used across four 007 movies, from pioneering CGI in GoldenEye, sleepless nights on Die Another Day, CG tunnels in The World Is Not Enough, and creating Bond’s final moments on No Time To Die

Your first James Bond credit was Visual Effects Coordinator on GoldenEye. You worked with Pierce Brosnan on all four of his 007 adventures. What are your memories of him?

I did get to know Pierce quite well, because when the actors are hanging on a cable from a helicopter in front of a green screen, you do tend to get chatting. I remember on GoldenEye, Pierce was quite nervous. There were a lot of us that were newbies on GoldenEye. It was Pierce’s first one.  

GoldenEye was the first 007 film to feature CGI. How was that?

I was visual effects. There was nobody else. Previously, visual effects on the Bond films had all been the model unit. Derek Meddings was the Visual Effects Supervisor but he was far removed from the digital world. Everything was done practically. So, I started with a budget of something like £40,000 for a few optical effects and I had to fight incrementally for the budget to do around 150-160 shots digitally.

 What were the biggest challenges?

Shooting Bond going off the edge of the cliff in the Pilatus PC-6. We could do it a lot better now nearly 30 years later. Also, the sequence where Bond’s hanging from the satellite dish at Arecibo. That was difficult because there was so much of it.

 On Tomorrow Never Dies, you were the Visual Effects Supervisor. What did that entail?

By this time, the industry was growing up and I actually had a team. There were lots of big visual effects sequences, three times as many as there had been on GoldenEye. We made the decision quite early on to play all the screen graphics out live, not to add them in later. I had a graphic designer create a logo for the Carver Media Group Network and we built this whole title sequence that we could use in the background. We played them live in case there were script changes, or we needed to roll back to a certain place. It’s exhausting just thinking about it.

What were the set pieces you were involved with?

The interior of the stealth ship, which was all green screen. We worked on Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) abseiling down the front of the building and ripping the banner. Also, the helicopter going through the street in Vietnam was a special effects helicopter on a track but it had no rotors. So, we removed all the rig and put the rotors on afterwards. There was the whole underwater sequence with the submarine, a lot of which was real. I also remember we did CG [computer generated] MiG fighter jets. 

On The World Is Not Enough, you were working with Michael Apted, a director who didn’t have any visual effects experience. How was that?

I remember Michael sitting us all down in a Heads of Department meeting. There was Vic Armstrong, who was second unit director, and Peter Lamont, the production designer. Everybody was there. Michael said, “Well, you all know what you’re doing. You’ve all done this before so I’m just going to let you get on with it and I’ll direct the drama.” That’s pretty much what he did. He was very trusting. There was the whole tunnel sequence with Bond trying to disarm the missile in the pipeline. That was a biggie because that was an entirely CG tunnel just shot with moving lights on a rig.

Was The World Is Not Enough the first time holographic images were used in feature films?

Actually, sorry to disillusion anyone, but this was not a true holographic image. We simulated one, based on researched reference and imagery. However, it was one of the first uses of “visual effects volumetric rendering”, which simply means it was a technique for creating 3 dimensional objects with visible volume that was still somewhat in the R & D stage. 

How did you create the parahawks that attack Bond and Christmas Jones in Azerbaijan?

There were CG versions of the parahawks. I remember there’s photos of me up in Chamonix taking lighting reference at certain times of the day with my watch in shot so we knew how to light for CG paragliders. We were way up the top of this mountain. It was dead silent. We had to go up there in these strange army vehicles because it was very rough terrain and very snowy.  It was exquisitely beautiful.

You’ve said that the effects on Die Another Day kept you awake at night?

They did, especially the surfing and Icarus sequences. I’m not sure we ever got them to work and there were lots of reasons for that. I think we were too ambitious. I’m not sure we approached the concept of kite surfing in the right way, especially given the limitations of the technology at the time.

Was this the first time digital water was ever used in a feature film?

For Die Another Day, this was not the first time digital water had been used in a feature film, as I had used it previously, on a much smaller scale, on another film. But digital water simulations were still extremely new, and the software to create them was very approximate, so the creation of water involved writing computer code to create the effects. This involved specialists who had specific and expert knowledge of computer simulations. The success, or lack thereof, of visual effects shots often does not lie in the technical execution of the FX, but in the conceptual design of how they are deployed. And in this regard, I think the FX technology was the more successful.

What are you proud of on Die Another Day?

We set the ice palace into the landscape and I think that worked well. I thought the invisible Aston Martin came off smartly. Whether you like the idea of it or not is another matter but I thought we actually pulled that off pretty well. It really took some thinking about and research into how to make it believable that a car could be invisible. We went into military technology and had LED screens along the side of vehicles that project the image that’s on the opposite side of the vehicle so that you have adaptive camouflage. That was the basic concept behind it. 

 You came back to the Bond family with No Time To Die. How many digital effects shots were there?

No Time To Die had 1486 VFX shots. Obviously, the car sequence in Matera was a big practical effects number but it was big on digital effects as well. There were CG versions of all the cars and those little bombs that came out. We also added tyre tracks everywhere and painted the crew out. There was a pod driver on the top of the Aston Martin, so whenever it was a stunt car, we had to remove the stunt driver. The trawler sequence was a biggie. To sink the trawler, Chris Corbould made a huge rotating special effects rig in a tank but all the underwater stuff was digital.

 How did you approach the destruction of Safin’s Island?

Most of Poison Island was digital. The visual effects team had been out and shot reference photography in the Faro Islands. The background was largely matte painting, because we wanted the island on which Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) was on to be a certain distance away. We wanted the skies to look a certain way. So just getting it to look 100% convincing was tough.

 It’s also the locale where Bond dies. Was that an emotional thing to do?

Yes, it was. Charlie Noble (VFX supervisor) dines out on the fact that his mother still hasn’t forgiven him for killing Bond. Of course, it was top secret and we managed to keep it that way for — crikey! — two and a half years.

 How would you sum up the VFX philosophy on Bond?

Don’t do anything with visual effects unless you absolutely have to. They do all those fabulous enormous stunts, special effects and explosions for real, and they will only come to visual effects when they absolutely cannot sink a trawler with Bond swimming up the side of it. So, they’re very ambitious with what they attempt practically and long may it continue. It’s a matter of pride for the special effects team.

Discover the New 007 Special Issue Pens

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Following the release of the limited-edition 007 Spymaster Duo, Montegrappa introduces the 007 Special Issue, a sleek, all-metal design focused on portability and stealth. Precision-machined from black aluminium and brass, the open edition has industrial lines and sandblasted surfaces.

Engineered by Montegrappa in Italy, the 007 Special Issue is released in a high performance 14K gold nib fountain pen and rollerball. Design elements include a brass blind cap, aluminium grip section, 007 shadow logo and unique hollow-point cap top with a rifled alloy insert, paying homage to the iconic gun barrel opening sequence. Covert details include minimalist trims, a discreet, low-profile clip, and an all-black aesthetic with precision machining at key grip points.

Mission-ready, the 007 Special Issue is practical for all writing assignments and comes with a companion 007 notebook and zip case, with spare cartridges and refills.

The rollerball is £675 and in stock now at 007Store.com, the fountain pen is £1,165 and available to order with a two week delivery time.

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filed under: Style

The Style Of No Time To Die

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Emmy award-winning costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb has a career which spans London and Broadway theatre, opera, blockbuster movies and the 2012 summer Olympics. In 2021, Suttirat was responsible for No Time To Die and Daniel Craig’s look in his last outing as James Bond as well as creating the wardrobes for villain Safin (Rami Malek) and the film’s three female protagonists: Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux); Paloma (Ana de Armas); and Nomi (Lashana Lynch). 

In our exclusive interview, Suttirat reveals why No Time To Die demanded a different look for 007…

The Preparation

“I had already watched all the James Bond films before I was approached about being the costume designer just because I was a fan. I was introduced to them by my mom who loved them. Skip forward to when I became the designer, I rewatched them again. I wanted to create a mental database of what the big themes were in terms of design for certain kinds of characters: the villain, the love interest, the worker bees in the lair of the villain. I also wanted to break things down in terms of environments. Over the years James Bond has been in the desert, mountains, underwater, jungle, every continent. If you’re watching it intently, a little bit gets imprinted in your design DNA.”

The Approach

“Director Cary (Joji Fukunaga) came up with the phrase ‘grounded cool’. I think there’s cool that’s cool for cool sake. I think there’s grounded, which can be very documentarian, no pizazz. And then ‘grounded cool’ is somewhere between them. It’s about being driven by character behaviour. You have this responsibility on a Bond film to answer the challenge of the previous movie visually and lay down the gauntlet for the next one. It has to be cool. But, because of the conversations I had been having with both our director and Daniel Craig himself about where our James Bond was in his career and his life, we knew that No Time To Die was going to be a different kind of look for Bond.”

Bond in Italy

“He starts at a point in which we’ve never seen him before. It’s very clear at the beginning of our film that he’s made a choice to reject his old life. So, in order to do that, there were some rules that I felt were really necessary to have that relaxation visually. He’s in this soft jacket that’s very fluid and bears no resemblance to a suit jacket. It’s the most relaxed version of a romantic getaway travel look without being like a structured Safari suit or something that might be more expected of Bond. It just needed to telegraph romance, travel and luxury all in one outfit.”

Bond in Jamaica

“We were really stripping away everything everybody knows about Bond. He’s renounced his position at the secret service to fall in love and now he’s renounced love itself. He had to start from a shirt full of holes and swimming shorts. So the journey can be about building him back to the point where he walks back through the famous doors in London in his Tom Ford suit to go head-to-head with M.”

Bond in Cuba

“James has to put that armour back on. From the outset I was so privileged to work with Tom Ford and his team on this tuxedo. I knew what the scenes and sets were, and I also knew all the tuxedos that Daniel had worn in previous films. With the Tom Ford team, I was able to work out the silhouette, the details of the lapel and the materials. I made a binder just for the tuxedo communications that was as thick as a phonebook.”

Madeleine Swann – Léa Seydoux

“When we meet her, Madeleine has let her guard down with this man. She is travelling in Italy, wearing a beautiful red floral dress, exactly what you would imagine a fiery, passionate trip to Italy would need. We started out on fire, and then drained that life out of her a bit. When Bond and Madeleine finally see each other again, she’s partially built that shell back up, but she’s not as inaccessible as she was in her Spectre introduction because she’s been worn down. We later learn the secret. She’s now a mother and there’s a domestic aspect. So, it’s not the same uniform you put on when you’re the only person in your life.”

Safin – Rami Malek

“Doing my research, one of the pictures that popped out was this image of the genius Japanese designer Issey Miyake at his work table. He just looked like the architect of the world, and so at ease in that role. It has the appearance of a uniform, but it’s his own thing. I mentioned these things to Rami when we first met and he grabbed on to that as well. Collaborating with Rami was just wonderful for me. We had great conversations about character, probably to an annoying point for him, but it all helps me.”

Safin’s Mask

“We knew Safin needed a mask for when he goes to see the young Madeleine and wants to remain anonymous. I pulled up a lot of reference, from something as pedestrian as a ski mask to functional balaclavas and hoods because we knew the environment was cold. But I remembered having seen this image of a Japanese Noh theatrical mask. When I showed this picture to Cary, what he liked about it was at first it seemed expressionless, but it actually has quite a lot of expression depending on how you look at it. This seemed like a good metaphor for how Rami was approaching Safin.”

Paloma – Ana de Armas

“Paloma is basically earning her stripes. We had discussions about women in these positions, who have to embed themselves in the situation when they’re being called to serve. In the case of Paloma, our introduction to her is at the extravagant Spectre party that’s happening in Cuba, which is a black-tie event. So, not to be singled out, she’s basically in this spectacular dress, and does incredible feats in this wisp of a thing. Especially on a franchise like this, it’s important when you turn up the volume, you turn it up really high.”

Nomi – Lashana Lynch

“Nomi is seen wearing a tactical all-in-one, which is from a sketch of mine. We talked about her needing to blend in and not be seen, she doesn’t want to be mistaken as a guest. I’m thinking about the stunts she’s going to be engaged in, the equipment she needs, all the ways the clothes need to serve the action. So it made perfect sense for Nomi to be in something allowing her to be fast, agile and move around like a cat.”

Final Thoughts

“I never in a million years would have thought I’d get to do a Bond film. I felt so grateful and honoured. When I was doing it, I felt this huge sense of responsibility and really feared the consequences if I didn’t keep my eyes on the prize. Now that I’ve done it and it exists, and people talk about the canon of Bond films, that’s pretty exciting.”

Royal Mint Six Decades Of 007 Collection

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With unique coins dedicated to every era of Bond, The Royal Mint introduces the Six Decades of 007 collection. This exclusive series features six designs – each representing a different decade – minted in a range of different metals and denominations.

The first to be released is the 1960s coin featuring Little Nellie from You Only Live Twice set against a backdrop of the six Bond ‘60s film titles. 

Discussing the design process, The Royal Mint designer Christian Davies commented: “‘Little Nellie’ was a real challenge. It’s such a complex machine; there are so many struts, pipes and mechanical parts to it that it needed to be simplified in the design process without losing the essence of the vehicle. We managed to spend about a week just exploring how the propeller ought to be depicted.”

The collection includes a £5 Crown Brilliant Uncirculated coin, bullion and gold and silver proof editions in ¼ oz, 1 oz and 2 oz variants. Explore it now at 007Store.com.

007: Road To A Million Teams Talk Adventures

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From Chile to Venice, the Amazon to Swiss Alps, the nine pairs of 007: Road To A Million contestants experienced highs and lows as they faced gruelling physical challenges and questions from The Controller. Here they tell 007.com about this life changing show…

Beth And Jen

Emergency nurses Beth (46) and Jen (41), who have years of experience dealing with traumas around the world.

What did you think you learned about each other during the adventure?

BETH: We realised that we’re actually very resilient. We’ve both got different strengths that really supported each other as a team. I feel as though we can hand on heart say this was 100% a team effort. We’ve developed an even closer friendship. I hope Jen doesn’t mind that I sometimes refer to her as my second sister.

JEN: I just got to know Beth a lot better. As Beth said, we just became really close. We just trust each other like family.

What were your favourite locations?

BETH: I loved Jamaica. I’ve never been before. It’s a real home of Bond and a beautiful place to go to.

JEN: For me, it was Switzerland which was so beautiful with the snow and the mountains. And of course, driving the DB5 made it.

What was the most difficult challenge?

JEN: Definitely scuba diving. I’m claustrophobic and I found it really difficult. At one point I had a mini panic attack. I couldn’t control my breathing and had to go back to the surface. Having gone through the panic, I just thought, “I’ve got to do this, there’s no way I can get out of this.” I did manage to get right down to the bottom of the depth we were diving at. I’d say it was one of the most challenging things I’ve done.

BETH: The Amazon. I was going through a vast expanse of Amazon water with piranhas and then having to use physical strength to get myself up and out onto a speedboat. It was just fatiguing really quickly. Also, heights weren’t great for me.

What was your favourite James Bond Easter Egg?

JEN: Probably the casino set-up in Jamaica. That was very James Bond!

BETH: We were glammed up to the nines, and we just went through this huge door into a room where you thought, “Yeah, we’re now in the movie”.

What would you say is your ultimate James Bond film?

BETH: I do like Casino Royale and the way it was filmed. I like Daniel Craig’s Bond as a character. There’s a humanity to him. Casino Royale was everything that you wanted, with real action.

JEN: I’m really torn, because I do like a lot of the older films as I grew up watching them as my dad’s a big fan. But I really liked Daniel Craig’s. So I’m split between Skyfall and From Russia With Love or Diamonds Are Forever. They’re the classic ones that I’ve seen more times than I can count.

What advice would you give to people wanting to taking part in the show?

JEN: You can’t revise anything. I guess it’s good to have some general knowledge and be as physically fit as you can be. That helped me.

BETH: 100% on the physical fitness but also get used to surviving without sleep. As nurses, we’re very blessed, we’ve had years of that!

How would you sum up your 007: Road To A Million experience in three words?

BETH: Marvellous, mad and minted.

JEN: Life-changing adventure.

 

Joey And James

Joey (43) and James (37) are two highly competitive brothers from South London 

You finally got to meet all the other contestants at the premiere. How was that?

JAMES: It was a real pleasure to catch up with everyone. You’re so wrapped up in your own journey while you’re doing it so to have a night that brought everyone together was so lovely. We are the only people in the world who have got this shared experience at this stage.

JOEY: Put it this way: the two Scottish girls, Grace and Daniella, started a WhatsApp group and it’s red hot. 

What was your favourite location?

JOEY: Jamaica!

JAMES: Obviously the weather helped. It was chilled but it was rugged. We were in the Caribbean sea and we then went through the streets. It was just brilliant.

 Which was the most challenging location?

JOEY: Challenge wise, I would say probably Brazil. We had a three-day trek through the Amazon jungle which obviously brings trials and tribulations. We slept out under the stars and then we had to climb Sugarloaf Mountain. It felt like it was never ending. That was a long stint of the expedition.

JAMES: I’ve got to say the Alps. Walking up some of those mountains in about five feet of snow is no easy task.

How life-changing has it been winning thousands of pounds?

JOEY: It speaks for itself. You can do a hell of a lot with it, it’s been life changing for me.

JAMES: Yeah. I am about to pay off my student loan. Joe and I are both self-employed so it gives us a bit of breathing space. The whole thing was an experience we will treasure forever.

What was your favourite Bond Easter Egg in the series?

JAMES: The bar we went into in Jamaica was great. And then obviously me being on top of the cable car in Brazil, that’s a classic — a bit of a hairy experience.

JOEY: Just ripping around the Caribbean sea — you wouldn’t do that in everyday life. Or if you did, it would have cost you a fortune and we were doing it for free. It’s just fantastic.

What is your ultimate James Bond film?

JOEY: Skyfall. I like the way it goes back to basics. There’s not the crazy gadgets like in the previous films. It’s more about Bond himself.

JAMES: I’ve gone back and watched every James Bond film. I always loved the older ones growing up. I love Roger Moore because he’s brought a perfect British comic aspect to it but I really feel like the Daniel Craig films which are in a league of their own.

What advice would you give to contestants in the next series of Road To A Million?

JOEY: Try and be a little bit fit. You are not as fit as you think you are! Use each other’s knowledge and bounce off each other to analyse the question but don’t over analyse it.

JAMES: I’d say just take one step at a time. Don’t try and think too far ahead, just try and enjoy it. Don’t come out of it with any regrets.

How would you sum up your Road To A Million experience in just three words?

JOEY: Best. Thing. Ever.

 

Kamara And Josh

Married couple Kamara (30) and Josh (42) met as youth workers in their local community. Parents to three young children.

What did you learn about each other during the adventure?

KAMARA: I know this is going to sound really gooey and cliché but it was his love for me, in terms of knowing he’s got my back. I think that was something that I needed to be reminded of. He’s 100% into making sure our relationship works, we are stronger and achieve our goals. I think before, like any relationship, there’s umming and ahhing, but Road To A Million really solidified our relationship. Josh is mine, he’s my husband.

JOSH: For me, it was a catalyst to what I already knew about Kamara. We needed something to happen in our lives that would reinforce and re-engage what we knew about each other. We knew how much love we had for each other, how much trust we had for each other, but there was nothing to actually demonstrate that until this adventure happened. Our relationship was a bit sketchy before. This absolutely put us back in line, the trust element and the love that we have for each other.

What location was the most challenging?

JOSH: Every stage was really challenging for me, because they read my profile. They knew my biggest fear was height. And most of the activities did involve some kind of height. I was like, “Really? Seriously?” In Chile, we were tasked to ascend one of the volcanoes, and I had every single emotion you can imagine. I laughed hysterically. I had to keep telling myself, “You got this Josh, keep going”. That experience will live with me until the day I die.

How life changing has winning the money been?

KAMARA: We don’t want to use that money in a silly manner in terms of splashing the cash. That’s not what we’re like. The money will be something to help us continue to build on.

What do you think you learn about yourself on this adventure?

KAMARA: I’ve learned to trust my decision making, and be a bit more confident in myself and our relationship as well.

JOSH: I’ve got these cobwebs that are all about self-doubt. I think I’ve got rid of some of them. There might be a few still lingering, but this experience certainly brushed away those cobwebs. I’m a lot more confident. There used to be a rigorous risk management process before I tackled anything, but now it’s like, “Just do it, Josh”.

 

Keith And Nick

Keith (54) and Nick (54) are two retired police officers.

How was the 007: Road To A Million premiere?

KEITH: I’m still pinching myself. Being such a huge fan of the franchise to meet Barbara Broccoli was like meeting royalty.

NICK: It was very surreal meeting the other contestants. There was a bond when we walked in that room, even though we’d never met any of them. I know that sounds really bonkers but that bond was born from this unique thing we’ve all experienced.

What did you learn about each other during the adventure?

NICK: Keith snores!

Is there any sense this experience changed your relationship?

KEITH: It’s made it stronger.

NICK: Yep, if anything, it strengthened what we knew about each other.

What were the most memorable locations and challenges?

NICK: Scotland. I have a love of the mountains, the open space and to be pushed in an environment that I love, you couldn’t ask for more than that.

KEITH. I loved the scenery and the fact that within ten minutes of starting Nick managed to fall over. It was like, “Is this really how it’s going to be?” Also just looking at it screams Skyfall. If you had to pick an iconic location, Skyfall was it for me.

What is your ultimate favourite James Bond film?

NICK: I love the old ones, Sean Connery’s and Roger Moore’s, because they’re very suave and sophisticated. And there was an element to them that was fantastical. But then you’ve got Daniel Craig’s that were gritty and have much more depth. I love them all.

KEITH: I’ve got so many. The Spy Who Loved Me was the first one I saw when I was a child, so that’s always held a special place in my heart. Goldeneye, when I saw 007 going off that dam, I thought, “This is Bond”. And any of the Daniel Craig films. It sounds really daft, but I’m only a few months younger than Daniel Craig so he almost became like a wardrobe consultant for me. If he can get away with wearing it, I can get away with wearing it.

NICK: We’ve suggested that me and Keith would be pretty good for Bond: The Retirement Years.

KEITH: Or at least just henchman number two.

How would you sum up your 007: Road To A Million experience in three words?

KEITH: Hard. Fun. Amazing.

NICK: Challenging. Fantastic. Fun.

 

 

Sana And Saiqa

Siblings Sana (24), a process engineer, and Saiqa (23), a fraud analyst.

What did you learn about each other during the adventure?

SAIQA: Sana’s really good under pressure. She definitely carried us to the end. She’s not the most athletic person but she really pushes through. She keeps herself composed and manages the pressure really well. I’ve definitely learnt to be more calm minded because of her. I’m never going to say that ever again.

SANA: You’ve got that recorded, right? 

Has the experience changed your relationship in any way?

SAIQA: We’ve both realised the scope of what we’re capable of doing if we work together. There’s so many other experiences that we don’t want life to get in the way of. I think that’s one thing that this show has taught us: keeping time for this stuff is really important. You don’t see people who look like us on TV very often. The response that we’ve already received from our family and friends has been so inspiring and encouraging.

SANA: We’ve grown to a point where we’ve been doing our own things in our lives. On the show there were so many highs and lows, it was like a secret that only we had between ourselves. It brought us really close together.

What is your ultimate James Bond film?

SAIQA: We are the Skyfall generation. We don’t know the previous films but our grandfather talks about them a lot. When we came back from the premiere, and we told him that we met Barbara Broccoli, he was like, “You met Barbara Broccoli?” So, he’s an absolute fanatic. 

SANA: When we were younger we used to dress up as James Bond. We used to have our own secret language at home growing up. We were very much into that whole spy thing.

Now that you’ve been in a James Bond adventure, what advice would you have for other teams in future series?

SAIQA: The advice that we could give you is not going to match what’s actually going to happen because they will put you in situations that are out of your comfort zone. You should expect anything. Hit the gym. It’s definitely like a physical challenge.

SANA: Keep up to date on your general knowledge, especially in James Bond locations. Also pick a partner that you can go through everything and anything with.

How would you sum up your 007: Road To A Million experience in three words?

SAIQA: Outside comfort zone.

SANA: Mind-blowing. Although that’s only one compound word.

 

Grace And Daniella

Grace (31) and Daniella (30), two colleagues who met working in Scottish radio.

What are your most vivid memories of the premiere?

GRACE: Well, it was my first ever premiere so it was very glammy. Meeting Brian Cox was amazing.

DANIELLA: Brian Cox is a good Scottish man, He seems like he’s my Da. He was on very good form, looking very cool. His being connected to this series is crazy. 

What did you learn about each other during the adventure?

DANIELLA: Grace was strong enough and more than capable of doing these things.

GRACE: I learned nothing can make Daniella sad. She got midgey bites and looked so sore but she was laughing and giggling and still had the usual banter. She was the ray of sunshine you needed all the way through. I also learned if I ate more I wouldn’t be such a wee crabby thing.

How did your relationship change?

GRACE: We realised we can trust each other. At times I depended on her, at other times she depended on me. I also learned maybe we should open up to each other more. There’s stuff I didn’t know about her because I got to know her in a work capacity.

DANIELLA: I agree. That deep-rooted personal connection was perhaps something we glossed over in the past.

What was your favourite Bond Easter Egg in the series?

GRACE: We were on the roof of the museum in Venice and we could see the whole landscape, from the boats to all the tourists. That just felt like something straight out of a James Bond film.

DANIELLA: I thought our second day in Scotland was the most James Bond-y. We had to hijack a Land Rover, break into a castle, navigate our way through the gardens, track down an ancient house and break into it. That was fairly James Bond.

What’s your ultimate James Bond film?

DANIELLA: Daniel Craig ones. He brought the franchise more up to date.

GRACE: Probably one of the earlier ones from the ‘60s, maybe Goldfinger. That’s what I remember watching with my granddad and uncle when I was younger.

What did you learn about yourself?

GRACE: That I shouldn’t take life too seriously. I think the whole reason I went into this show was because I constantly work. I never do anything for me. So I learned to just do something a bit spontaneous, crazy and fun. Life’s too short is the lesson I’ve taken from this whole series.

DANIELLA: For me, it would be to trust myself. I went into it with all this pressure. I want to carry Scotland, I want to carry women, I want to do it for my family. I should have just been having a laugh with my pal but I just had this big backpack of responsibility on the whole time. I learned I should just do things for me, not in a selfish way, and just trust myself.

 

Danny And Colin

Danny (41) and Colin (51), two self-prescribed “brothers from another mother”. 

What are your most vivid memories of the premiere?

DANNY: It was fantastic. I’ve never been part of a premiere before.

COLIN: It’s not a normal Thursday evening when you are standing around at a party at Battersea Power Station and Barbara Broccoli comes over and starts chatting to you and your wife.

What did you learn about each other during the adventure?

DANNY: I learned two things. The first being we both like each other’s company. We were spending 24 hours a day with each other, sleeping in the same room. I learned that we’re very similar. The second thing would be how supportive Colin is. I never felt like I was a spare part. I always felt part of the adventure I was on. I think that’s a great leadership trait.

COLIN: I learned Danny is very curious about people. The other thing was watching him stepping up to the plate with some of these challenges. Watching him deal with them and grow was quite inspiring. I was proud of him.

What was the most difficult challenge?

COLIN: The producers know how to prey on your weaknesses. So, for me, water is not my thing.

DANNY: It was heights when we went to Turkey. I don’t like them. 

What was your favourite James Bond Easter Egg?

DANNY: I don’t know anything about James Bond so it was Colin who pointed out, “This is what happened in this film or that film.”

COLIN: I was geeking out all over the place. We’re standing outside the door of a hotel in Turkey. I was like, “This is where he comes out in Skyfall.” Every location just gave me goosebumps. I suppose the main one was being in Scotland. The road to Skyfall was on the bucket list and then we just got dropped off there in the middle of nowhere. That was a good one.

What is the ultimate James Bond film?

COLIN: I don’t have a favourite. I’m a Craig, Connery and Dalton fan. I prefer the hard-edge stuff. This interview is a full circle moment for me because my brother-in-law sent me some Dr. No casino chips that he bought for me from 007.com. I went to the website to have a look and that was where I saw the details of 007: Road To A Million. 

What did you learn about yourself during this process?

DANNY: We’ve got to try and take as many experiences as we can with the time we’ve got. I learned that the next holiday that I’ll go on is not going to be in a hotel where it’s all inclusive. I’m going to do something that’s not conventional. I’m going to do something that takes me out of my comfort zone.

COLIN: If you do the same thing over and over, you don’t grow. Whereas, if you put yourself in these situations and give it your all, you find out more about yourself.

How would you sum up your 007 Road To A Million experience in three words?

DANNY: Relationships. Experience. Uncomfortable.

COLIN: Experience. Resilience. Adventure.

 

James And Sam

James (50) and Sam (21) are a father and son team.

What were your most vivid memories of the premiere?

SAM: Oh, it was absolutely amazing. It blew our socks off. We were expecting maybe a couple of cameras but then there was a helicopter parked outside in front of us. And then Barbara Broccoli came up to us with open arms like she had known us for years. It was out of this world.

What was favourite location, and which was the most challenging?

JAMES: My particular favourite was when we spent an entire day and night crossing the Atacama desert in Chile, watching the sun go down. It was so humbling just to see a spectacular sunset and feel so isolated in the middle of nowhere.

SAM: The most challenging one was the time trial in Italy. It was a race against the clock. That was after we had just finished the F1 at Monza. It was like we actually got a taste of being Bond. It was nuts.

Do you think it changed your relationship in any way?

JAMES: It brought us to a deeper level. I’ve always had a relationship with my son where he’s been my child. But he’s not a child anymore, he’s a young man. So, given the opportunity to spend so much time together, I feel like the show brought the relationship from a father’s relationship with his child to an old man’s relationship with a young adult.

SAM: I’ve always idolised my dad. I guess I just got to see the adventurous side of him. I hope we can do more stuff like this really. 

What was your favourite Bond Easter Egg in the series?

SAM: James Bond has three main tropes: cars, watches, and expensive drinks. Whether it was driving a classic Jag around Lake Como, sipping Bollinger out of the bottle or wearing OMEGA watches in awesome locations, we got to experience every last bit of it. It was just too cool.

JAMES: For me the most iconic Bond moment was when we hit this location beacon in the desert that features in Spectre, it calls in the cavalry, and we were just waiting. In the morning, as the sun’s coming up, we see this cloud of smoke in the distance. As it gets closer and closer this Rolls Royce with a chauffeur pulls up. He opens the door and doesn’t say a word. That was the most iconic Bond moment. 

What is your ultimate James Bond film?

JAMES: I’m a real Sean Connery fan. It was a very different kind of James Bond character from the ones that followed. Having said that, I am also like Timothy Dalton.  So, I’m torn between any of the Sean Connery ones and The Living Daylights.

SAM: I’m going to say Daniel Craig fan because he’s the Bond that I grew up with.

What did you learn about yourselves during this session?

JAMES: I’m at a stage in life where I’ve reached the pinnacle of my career. I’m over the hill in terms of my age, and going on this adventure showed me there’s still a bit of fight in the old pup yet. I’ve still got plenty of adventure left in me. In fact, Sam has been saying to me, “Dad, this is just the beginning.” I’m up for that.

 

Tanaka And James

Old school friends Tanaka (28) and James (28).

What were your favourite locations during the adventure?

TANAKA: Scotland was really nice. We went to the Isle of Skye. We were really lucky with the weather, it was really beautiful. It was a hiking challenge where we had to navigate instructions and then we went in a rowing boat. Fortunately, James was able to lead the way on the rowing boat because I didn’t have a clue. Then he had to jump into a pool.

JAMES: It was the coldest water I’ve ever touched in my life. The case I had to retrieve was so heavy as well. Tanaka didn’t help me!

TANAKA: I was cheering you on. I was lifting the case in spirit.

What did you learn about each other during the adventure?

TANAKA: I learnt that he can row a boat. I think if James wants to do something, he can do it. 

JAMES: Tanaka’s like my right hand. I feel like I know him very well, we’re very similar.

What was your favourite Bond Easter Egg in the series?

TANAKA: It felt most like James Bond before filming even started. When we got to the airport, everything was secret. They took our phones off us and then we were sent to this house in the middle of nowhere. I thought this was basically survival mode, anything could happen to us.

JAMES: When we got in the taxi to go to the first place, the person who was transitioning us didn’t want us to know anything. I asked the taxi driver how long the journey would be and he said, “Two hours.” That’s when I knew we were in for an adventure.

What is your ultimate James Bond film?

TANAKA: I’d say Die Another Day. I think that was the one that when I was younger I was able to watch properly and understand what was going on.

JAMES: My favourite James Bond was Pierce Brosnan.

TANAKA: He was probably the Bond of our generation growing up.

Now that you’ve been in a James Bond adventure, what advice would you have for other teams in a potential future series?

TANAKA: Don’t stress, just have fun. The money is not yours. What is money at the end of the day? It’s about having a good time with your friend or relative.

JAMES: Respect the camera crew. I felt like we were one big family. The crew were so funny. They made loads of jokes and we gave them a bit of banter. I would love to meet them again.