31 Wednesday Dec 2025
Posted in John Rhys-Davies
In 2018 I had a chance to photograph actor John Rhys-Davies at IV Warsaw Comic Con.
He is known for portraying General Leonid Pushkin in ‘The Living Daylights’.
Cinema fans also remember him as Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise or as Gimli in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
13 Saturday Sep 2025
Posted in Aston Martin DB5
Aston Martin DB5 known from the movie ‘Goldfinger’ was one of the vehicles taking part in ‘Legends Parade’ at Red Bull Ring in Austria. It was supporting event at Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix 2025. Several vehicles that were used for filming, such as Dodge Charger 440 R/T from ‘Bullitt’, Toyota Supra MK IV from ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ and Ford Mustang Fastback Shelby GT500 from ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’ were on display through weekend. Before the F1 race on Sunday they drove around the race track.
There were two cars used for ‘Goldfinger’ filming. The car with chassis number DB5/1486/R was generally used for close up, static and low speed sequences. The other car had all the gadgets. It was DB4 prototype, which is visually identical to the DB5. Its chassis number was DP/2161/1 (DP – development prototype).
After filming, the car with gadgets was used for promotional tour that lasted two years. EON Productions commissioned two additional cars for the ‘Goldfinger’ publicity campaign. Their numbers were DB5/2008/R and DB5/2017/R. This second car was presented at Red Bull Ring.
DB5/2017/R is known as Promotional car number 1. At the time, the price was £62,000, almost six times that of a standard DB5. In 1969 EON Productions sold both promotional cars. The second owner traded the DB5/2017/R for a Ferrari 250 GTO. Around 1983, the car underwent a restoration. After changing owners several times around 1990 the car was transported from North America to Europe. For more than half of its existence DB5/2017/R has been in the Louwman Museum in the Netherlands.
The car was equipped with legendary gadgets:
– two Browning machine guns mounted behind the front turn signals
– hydraulically extending bumpers for use as a battering ram
– rotating license plate with English, Swiss, and French license plates
– smoke generator for creating a smoke screen
– rear oil pump to smooth the road surface for pursuers
– mechanism for spreading crow’s feet on the road
– extendable bulletproof screen to cover the rear window
– navigation/radar system for tracking cars
– radar scanner in the right-hand side mirror
– drawer under the driver’s seat
– button under the gear knob to activate a so-called ejector seat
– telephone in the driver’s side armrest
I had a chance to seat in the car. Unfortunately not wearing the suit but F1 photographer tabard.
If you missed the Parade at Red Bull Ring or you want to see the car again, visit Louwman Museum https://louwmanmuseum.nl/en/
Thanks to Sjoerd van Bilsen from Louwman Museum for sharing with me all these interesting facts about Aston Martin db5 in Bond film.
23 Sunday Mar 2025
Posted in Live and Let Die
Tags
filming location, James Bond, James Bond location, Live and Let Die, movie location, New York, USA
Real filming locations together with screens of scenes filmed in these places. Film scene on top and my location photo at the bottom.
19 Sunday Jan 2025
Tags
007, Cadogan Square, filming location, James Bond, James Bond location, John Barry, London, movie location, Skyfall
At the end of opening sequence in ‘Skyfall’ James Bond (Daniel Craig) was shot. He fell into the river and disappeared. He was presumed dead, but suddenly appeared in London and surprised M (Judi Dench) in her apartment.
M returned home late in the evening. It was raining heavily. She entered the apartment and saw Bond waiting for her in the dark.
The scene with M returning home was filmed at Cadogan Square in London in February 2012. Special rain-maker rig was used to create an artificial torrential downpour.
The exterior of M’s apartment was filmed at 82 Cadogan Square. This address was actually the home of famous composer John Barry.
John Barry is very well known to all James Bond fans. He provided the musical scores for the following 11 Bond films: ‘From Russia with Love‘, ‘Goldfinger‘, ‘Thunderball‘, ‘You Only Live Twice‘, ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service‘, ‘Diamonds are Forever‘, ‘The Man with the Golden Gun‘, ‘Moonraker‘, ‘Octopussy‘, ‘A View to a Kill‘ and ‘The Living Daylights‘. In addition Barry is known for his jazz arrangement of famous ‘James Bond Theme’ from ‘Dr. No’.
Information source: www.mi6-hq.com
Go to LOCATIONS GALLERY – ‘SKYFALL’ to see locations photos compared with movie scenes.
04 Saturday Jan 2025
Posted in Matera, No Time to Die
Tags
007, filming location, Italy, James Bond, James Bond location, Matera, movie location, No Time to Die, Sassi di Matera
After an evening swim in the sea James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) in Aston Martin DB5 took the scenic road at the seaside. They drove out of the tunnel straight onto Sassi di Matera that is a historic part of the city of Matera.
The scenic road where they entered the tunnel was filmed at the Tyrrhenian Sea, about 200 km from Matera (read more in: Scenic road at the Tyrrhenian Sea in ‘No Time to Die’). The exit from the tunnel was filmed at Via D’Addozio in Sassi di Matera.
The end of the tunnel was built just for filming on the street Via D’Addozio next to Convent of Saint Agostino.
Aston Martin db5 drove out of the tunnel straight onto a viewpoint overlooking the city. You can notice in the film that the barrier at the viewpoint was covered so it looked like a stone wall.
Standing at the viewpoint you can see the difference between the real view and the one shown in the movie. There was some CGI used to create it. In the film you can see a stone bridge against the background of the hills to the left of the city. The bridge was filmed in Gravina in Puglia and pasted into the view of Sassi di Matera.
James Bond parked the car in the city center. He and Madeleine Swann walked slowly up the stairs to the hotel.
The scene where Bond and Madeleine got out of the car was filmed at Via Bruno Buozzi at the intersection with Rione Pianelle, just a few steps from Piazza San Pietro Caveoso.
The next scene where the couple was walking to the hotel was filmed at via Muro.
At night Madeleine Swann went out onto the hotel balcony.
For that scene part of the hotel including front wall and the balcony was built at Belvedere di Piazza Giovanni Pascoli. It is one of the most popular viewpoints in Sassi di Matera. If you stand there, you will see exactly the same view as Madeleine.
Fake hotel room was built on scaffolding so that it was at the level of the square Piazzetta Pascoli. If you look down from the viewpoint, you will see the place where the scaffolding was set up.
In that footage of the Italian TV you can see how the hotel was built:
The film crew was working in Sassi di Matera in September 2019.
Go to LOCATIONS GALLERY – ‘NO TIME TO DIE’ to see locations photos compared with movie scenes.
More photos from Matera:
27 Wednesday Nov 2024
Tags
007, Dr. No, filming location, James Bond, James Bond location, Le Cercle, Les Ambassadeurs Casino, Les Ambassadeurs Club, London, movie location
‘Bond, James Bond’ – that’s how 007 introduced himself to Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson) at the beginning of ‘Dr. No’. They were playing card game Chemin De Fer (Baccarat) at Le Cercle at the Les Ambassadeurs Club in London.
The Club was established at the beginning of 19th Century. In 1950 Les Ambassadeurs Club was relocated to No. 5 Hamilton Place in the Mayfair area of London. Gaming club Le Cercle was opened to members of Les Ambassadeurs only in May 1961.
The sequence was filmed on March 2nd 1962 but not in the Les Ambassadeurs Club. Ken Adams recreated its interior at the Pinewood Studios located in the village of Iver Heath near London.
13 Sunday Oct 2024
Posted in Casino Royale, Prague
Tags
007, Casino Royale, Czech Republic, filming location, James Bond, James Bond location, movie location, Prague
In ‘Casino Royale’ James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) sailed to Venice in Italy. They stayed at a hotel overlooking the St. Mark’s Square.
In reality there is no such place. The lobby of the luxury hotel in Venice was filmed inside the Historical Building of the National Museum in Prague, Czech Republic.
The entrance to the Historical Building of the museum is located on the upper part of the Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí 68). It is called Historical in distinction from the New Building that belongs to Museum Complex of the National Museum as well.
The scene with Bond and Vesper walking together to the exit door of the hotel was filmed at the main entrance to the museum. You can access this area without buying tickets.
To enter the grand hall you need to purchase a ticket to the museum. You can find ticket prices and opening hours on the official website of the museum.
You can recognize this location also from other movies such as: ‘Mission Impossible’ (1996), ‘From Hell’ (2001), ‘EuroTrip’ (2004), or ‘The Omen’ (2006).
Go to LOCATIONS GALLERY – ‘CASINO ROYALE’ to see locations photos compared with movie scenes.
24 Sunday Mar 2024
Posted in Cary Fukunaga
‘No Time to Die’ director Cary Fukunaga attended EnergaCamerimage International Film Festival in Torun, Poland on Saturday 20th November 2021 (see also Cary Fukunaga and Linus Sandgren at 29. EnergaCamerimage International Film Festival in Torun, Poland). I was there as photographer. I hope that you will enjoy my photo gallery of monochromatic portraits taken at that event.
12 Tuesday Mar 2024
Posted in London, The Living Daylights
Tags
007, filming location, James Bond, James Bond location, London, movie location, The Living Daylights, TLD, Trafalgar Square
In “The Living Daylights” James Bond (Timothy Dalton) helped KGB General Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé) to escape from Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. Koskov was smuggled in pipeline across the border to Austria and then taken to UK by military aircraft. After completing the mission Bond returned to MI6 headquarters in London, UK.
In a short establishing shot the entrance to the laboratory of Q was shown. It was Malaysia House at Trafalgar Square in London, UK. There was a sign above the entrance saying “Universal Exports LTD”.
When you visit this place you can see Tourism Malaysia logo instead of “Universal Exports”
Currently in Malaysia House there is a Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board. Prior to that the Malaysian High Commission was located in the building.
Source:
– High Comission of Malaysia, London
20 Saturday Jan 2024
Posted in A View to a Kill, Carole Ashby, Octopussy
Tags
A View to a Kill, actress, Bond girl, Carole Ashby, monochromatic, Octopussy, portrait, portrait session
Carole Ashby played in two James Bond films: “Octopussy” and “A View to a Kill”.
In “Ocopussy” she was cast as one of Octopussy girls. In “A View to a Kill” she played Dominique, called “whistling girl”, who performed in the Tour Eiffel Restaurant in a routine called “Dominique and the Enchanted Papillons” (Butterflies).
I portrayed her in December at ‘Bond in Motion’ exhibition in Prague, Czech Republic.
JAMES BOND 