18 Monday Apr 2022
Posted in A View to a Kill
Tags
007, A View to a Kill, Eiffel Tower, filming location, France, James Bond, James Bond location, movie location, Paris
Real filming locations together with screens of scenes filmed in these places. Film scene on top and my location photo at the bottom.
30 Sunday Jan 2022
Posted in No Time to Die, No Time to Die
Tags
007, filming location, Great Britain, James Bond, James Bond location, London, movie location, No Time to Die, UK
Real filming locations together with screens of scenes filmed in these places. Film scene on top and my location photo at the bottom.
23 Sunday Jan 2022
Posted in Brigitte Millar, No Time to Die, Spectre
Tags
007, actress, Brigitte Millar, Dr. Vogel, interview, James Bond, No Time to Die, Spectre, Vogel
Brigitte Millar is an award-winning actress known to James Bond fans as Dr. Vogel in ‘Spectre’ and ‘No Time to Die’ (click here to watch Brigitte Millar in ‘Spectre’). Find more on her website: www.brigittemillar.com.
Piotr Zajac (bondlocations): Thank you very much that you agreed to meet and talk about your performances in James Bond movies. At first I would like to ask how you became an actress. As far as I know it is rather unusual story.
Brigitte Millar: When I did my A-Levels in Germany I was considering studying fine arts, but my parents didn’t want to hear about that. They thought that I wouldn’t be able to earn a living. I studied languages and then I was working as translator. After a short while, I found that office work was not very interesting. I was actually quite unhappy, because it was so unfulfilling. I eventually retrained and worked in the fitness industry as a fitness instructor at first and then as a fitness manager. Then I was made redundant from my job because the whole company was restructured. My brother said: ‘It is your chance to do something artistic’. I wanted to do a dance course, but it was fully booked. But there were spaces available on an acting course, so my brother said: ‘Why don’t you do this acting course’? At first, I wasn’t keen on it as I didn’t want to do any acting, I wanted the dance. In the end I did the acting and I loved it very much. The rest as they say is history….
It was a long way for you to become an actress. Can you say now that your dream came true?
Coming to acting was a real life saver for me because I had a real midlife crisis and I didn’t know what to do.
I guess that your experience from fitness industry could help you on set of ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ when you had to fly.
Yes, on a broomstick. The broomstick was mounted on a crane. It could move up and down, sideways and swing around. It was quite high up and it was really scary at first. Once I was up there and learned how to fly, it was a lot of fun. There was a tennis ball in front of me as a focal point that I had to follow with my eyes.
You played in the last two Bond films. How did you get the role in ‘Spectre’?
My agent submitted me to Debbie McWilliams, who is the casting director for Bond. I got a little speech in English that I had to learn for the audition. It had nothing to do with Bond. I came to the CDs office and did the speech. Then she said: ‘You are far too beautiful to be a villainess. Go to the bathroom and wipe off all your makeup.’ So I went to the bathroom to wipe off my makeup and did the speech again. I think that I really got into it. I enjoyed it so much and it must have come across, so they offered me the role.
Am I right saying that you are James Bond fan?
I’ve been watching Bond movies since I was a little girl.
Does it mean that as James Bond fan you wanted to be a part of the franchise so you asked your agent to submit you for a role in the movie?
No. He just submitted me for the role, because Dr. Vogel is a German scientist and I am German and speak German obviously. I was suitable for the role. I was also in the right age bracket.
So it was not on your request?
No. He did it by himself before telling me.
So it was nice surprise for you.
Yes, a very nice surprise.
Were you very nervous during that addition because it was for Bond movie?
Yes, I was a little nervous. I felt confident in the speech and I knew what I was going to do. I’m usually much more nervous afterwards, because then comes the waiting.
How long did you have to wait?
I think it was about 10 to 12 days.
Was the audition before they have started filming or was it during filming already?
They were already filming.
How much time has passed between your addition and your appearance on the set?
I think the audition was in January and we were filming in February.
Were you working on the set at Pinewood Studios?
Yes, we were filming a lot at Pinewood Studios, but we were also in Rome for the funeral scene.
How much time did you spend in Rome?
I think it was 4 or 5 days. We were filming for 2 days.
At Pinewood Studios you were filming the sequence in Palazzo Cardenza. I saw photos of the set. It looked amazing.
Yes, it was a hudge set.
You were speaking German. Is it right that it was first written in English?
Yes. I got it in English first. They asked me if I wanted to translate it myself. Of course I wanted to translate it myself. Writing my own nouns. (smiling)
So your speech was based only on what was in the script?
I translated it and changed the sentences a little bit to fit them to the character. There were very long sentences in the script. I just chopped them up a little bit to make them shorter and more precise because Dr. Vogel is a scientist. She is a woman in a room full of men so she wants to make it short to get everybody’s attention and to dominate the whole scene, to show her power. (smiling)
Did you look for an inspiration in old James Bond movies?
Yes, mainly on Rosa Klebb and Irma Bunt. They were my role models. I imagined myself to be the ‘niece’ or the ‘cousin’ of Rosa Klebb and Irma Bunt. A younger and more modern version of those two ladies.
Did you get detailed directions from the film director Sam Mendes how to play Dr. Vogel?
He only gave me one note. He said that when Oberhauser comes in, Dr. Vogel starts to feel really nervous, but then she gets more confident and continues the speech.
How long were you filming the sequence?
I was on set for about 7 days.
How long were the shooting days?
The days were very long. I‘d usually get up at 4 o’clock in the morning and read and rehearse my lines. The driver was to pick me up at about 5-5.30 a.m and I was on set by 6.30-7 a.m. One day, I was in my trailer taking off my costume. It was around 9 p.m. already. Somebody knocked on my door and said: Brigitte, you can’t take off your costume just yet. We need you to come back on set, because we had a technical problem with the camera. We need to do the scene again’. So I had to go back on set and do the speech 3 more times. It took roughly 45 minutes. There were around 100 extras around the table. They also had to be on the set very early and must have been so fed up and so tired. Naturally, they wanted to go home as soon as possible. I’m sure they were all thinking: ‘How long is this gonna take. I hope she’s not gonna fluff her lines and we have to do it over and over again.’ I did the speech flawlessly without any mistakes at all. By 10 o’clock we were all allowed to go home. I was at home about midnight and at 4 a.m. I had to get up again for the next day of filming. I had to do that speech everyday, because Daniel Craig likes to do 12-15 takes per day. I’ve done that speech for 5 days, so I must have done the speech more than 50 times. Eventually it feels like groundhog day, because in your brain nothing moves forward, you do the same thing over and over and over again. (smiling..)
Did you feel the pressure when you were acting in front of so big number of people on set?
Yes, there was a lot of pressure. A lot of attention was focused on me during the speech. Luckily, I was doing it in German so nobody could understand. (smiling) I think I fluffed my line only twice for the whole week of filming.
There was a stunt scene. One of the stuntman fell on the table near the place where you were sitting.
Yes, the stuntman was wearing a harness. At first, they lowered him slowly to try it out and see how it all worked. Then he came down very, very fast. He only had a split of a second to turn his head, or he would have fallen on his face and broken his nose.
Did he fall on the wooden table?
No. There was a mat on the table to absorb the impact of the fall.
Did you have a felling after ‘Spectre’ that you would return on the set of James Bond movie?
Yes, because my character didn’t get killed in ‘Spectre’. I wasn’t sure, but I was thinking that it would make sense for her to come back in the next James Bond movie.
When did you get confirmation that you would be in ‘No Time to Die’?
That was in summer 2019. The casting director, Debbie Mcwilliams e-mailed me asking, if I would like to come back. I said yes, I would love to come back. I think we were supposed to film in July but it was pushed back until October.
The whole Cuba set was built at the backlot of Pinewood Studios. I remember that it was very cold when you were filming there.
It was freezing. The dance hall had stone walls and stone floors and it was very cold. The wardrobe ladies were so kind to us…they gave us big fluffy Ugg boots and thick winter anorak to keep us warm.
In the scene your character died and you had to fall down on the floor.
Yes, it was quite dangerous. The floor was very cold and slippery, because of the mist coming down from the ceiling. I was wearing really high heels and an evening gown and wondering, how I could convincingly fall to the ground. Eventually, I asked for a stunt man. He was standing in front of me and I put my arms around him and when he fell down, he took me with him. Under his suit he was wearing padding to protect him and I fell on top of him, so as not to hurt myself.
You had to fall down but also act as if you were dying. How did you prepare for that?
Cary Fukunaga asked me to think of a fish that has been taken out of the water and can’t breathe and is gasping for air. So that is what I did.
You also had special makeup for that scene.
Yes, the make up artists applied special make up that hardens so that is stays in place. that makeup off because it harden. It was almost like glue that sticks to your face. It makes the face feel very hard and doesn’t allow any facial expressions. You can’t peel it off because you would rip off your skin. We had to wait until the evening when the makeup artist took it off again. They put on a face cloth soaked in a special solution, which softens the makeup, so that it can be taken off safely.
How long did it take to put the makeup on and then take it off?
It was probably an hour to put it on and an hour to take it off.
Was it only one day with makeup?
I think it was 2 or 3 days.
Did anybody forget to take off the makeup before going home?
No, thankfully that didn’t happen. (smiling)
I was wondering how much you knew about the plot of ‘Spectre’ and then ‘No Time to Die’ when you were filming.
I didn’t know anything about the plot as I didn’t get the script. I only got my scene.
So you didn’t know much about your character.
No, I made up my own background story.
Can you tell more about working with two different directors and their attitude to the character?
I think that, for Sam Mendes, Dr. Vogel was actually quite an important character, in the sense that she was one of the key figures in Spectre. He just let me get on with it and gave me only one note. Sam Mendes can look at an actor or actress and know whether they need direction or not. He’ll concentrate only on actors, who need directions. I also got on very well with Cary Fukunaga. My scene in NTTD was completely improvised. It was not in the script. Cary was trying out different things, which I enjoyed very much. He gave me a lot of useful advices and that was fantastic. I love working with both Cary and Sam, although they are very different directors. Sam Mendes is a theatre director and Cary Fukunaga is a film director. Two very different directors with very different approaches, but both really good and strong.
January 12th 2022
29 Wednesday Apr 2020
Posted in Andy Lister, Skyfall, Spectre
Tags
007, Andy Lister, interview, James Bond, Skyfall, Spectre, stunt, stuntman
Andy Lister is a stuntman who has doubled Daniel Craig in ‘Skyfall’ and ‘Spectre’. There is a number of blockbusters full of action in his filmography: ‘X-Men: First Class’, ’47 Ronin’, ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’, ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ to name just a few. Andy Lister on Instagram: listersbox
Piotr Zajac (bondlocations): James Bond fans could see you in ‘Skyfall’ and ‘Spectre’ as Daniel Craig stunt double. It was amazing what you’ve done in these films. I’m always fascinated with great stunts. Not many people know when they see stuntman and when actor in a film. I would like to talk with you about your and other stuntmen performances, so more people would see how great is your work. That it is not just CGI, but real stunts.
– Andy Lister and Piotr Zajac during the interview
You have been a stuntman for nearly 10 years?
Andy Lister: Yes, that is right. It was September 17th 2010 when I proudly graduated on to the British Stunt Register!
How did you become a stuntman?
I’ve studied a martial art called Wushu since I was young and was fortunate enough to earn a place on the British wushu team and represent my country in various martial arts competitions. Then in 2004, there was a production company asking around different martial art schools for people to audition for a film. My wushu coach Jon Staples put me forward for the audition. I found out that it was for ‘Batman Begins’ and they needed extras for the League of Shadows team. I was so excited!! Even though I was just in the background it was an amazing experience! Seeing the professional stunt men rehearsing and performing on set made me hungry to chase my dream to be a stuntman!! I had always wanted to be a stuntman from watching Jackie Chan movies, and now here I was experiencing it!! Blew my mind!! So when I was on that job I started talking to the stunt performers and they explained to me the process of how to become a stuntman in the UK. You have to complete 6 different sports from a specific selection, have days in front of camera as an extra, to teach you set etiquette and how the industry works and lastly a 5 minute video of you performing your skills to prove you can actually do them! The 6 sports that I chose were martial arts (wushu), Gymnastics, Trampolining, High diving, Scuba Diving and Rock Climbing. Each sport has a different level that needs to be achieved, for example scuba diving is dive master level or above, rock climbing was the Single pitch award and martial arts was brown belt or above etc. You then gather all your sport certificates, receipts from the extra days and 5 minute video off to the British Stunt Register, where they have a meeting a few times a year. They look through your case and if you meet their standard then you’re in! If not, they tell you what needs to be amended and you try again in the next meeting. That’s how I got onto the register back in 2010! It was hard training for sure, but it gives you the right mentality for the industry! It can be tough, but if you work hard it’ll be the best thing ever!
How did you get to do all these movies from your filmography? Did you have to go for auditions or someone was asking you to perform in them?
It depends. Usually when you first get on to register you make a personal page in the Spotlight British stunt register book. It’ll have your headshot, full body shot, action shot, height, weight, measurements etc and some of the skills you can do.The Stunt Register book gets passed between stunt coordinators, producers and directors. They look through the book and they say: ‘I need a guy who is 5’10” – oh, this one looks OK; similar size, can do the physical action we need, let’s bring him in’. They call him up:’ Hey, are you free? You are? Brilliant’. Then they come in for an audition to see their skills and also how they interact with the team. That’s usually how it goes. Or it can be word of mouth when performers recommend you to coordinators, or coordinators to other coordinators.
How did you get into the James Bond films?
My first ever movie was ‘X-Men: First Class’. On that movie I met Lee Morrison. He was doubling a badass character called Azazel. Whilst working with him, he recommended me to Gary Powell (Bond stunt coordinator). I met with Gary and auditioned for the movie he was working on at the time called ’47 Ronin’. I was lucky to get onto the movie and learned so much from everyone on that film! It really started my career off to an amazing start!! After filming had finished, Garys next job was ‘Skyfall’! He pushed production for me to come onto Skyfall with him and be Bond double! It was crazy! It was a dream come true!! It was also only my 3rd movie, I still had a lot to learn and by the end I had learned so much! Really made me the person I am today!! That was an amazing experience! It was tough, no doubt about that, but I wouldn’t change it for the world!!
We could see you in ‘Skyfall’ jumping on train, fighting on train and falling from the bridge. In ‘Spectre’ you were fighting in helicopter and jumping in Blenheim Palace. Did I miss anything?
From memory on camera I did the silhouette fight in Shanghai, Casino fight, some of the ending scenes in the fields and various other bits and bobs.
How many stuntmen double Daniel Craig?
There are quite a few! Lee Morrison, Jean-Pierre Goy and Robbie Maddison on motorbike. Mark Higgins, Ben Collins, Rob Hunt and Martin Ivanov were driving a car. Physical doubles were Ben Cooke, Bobby Hanton, James Embree, Gordon Alexander, Jean-Charles Rousseau, David Grant, Kai Martin and myself.
It depends on the scene really. If it’s a motorcycle stunt, car stunt or a fight, that will usually determine who will perform it. Different units will also sometimes have different doubles so two doubles may be filming on the same day.
You mentioned body shape. Do you have the same suits as Daniel Craig or maybe different with some inserts or something like that?
It is usually pretty similar. We have differently shaped heads but widthwise we are pretty similar. My frame is wider, but he has bigger muscles haha, so it usually evens out under the suit. But I think out of all of us I’m the one with the least similar body haha!
On a film set there is a director and a stunt coordinator. Is there also someone responsible for choreography of the stunt?
Yes that’s right, it was Roger Yuan on ‘Skyfall’ and Olivier Schneider on ‘Spectre’.
Do you perform stunts that they’ve created or do you discuss with them and co-create choreography of stunt fight?
Usually the fight coordinator has the idea of the overall fight and they work out the skeleton of it. If they need an extra move or something that will help, we add it. If they have the idea of crazy stunt that the person can’t do, they will adjust it. We try to bring their ideas to the performance on camera.
How long does it take to get ready to such big scenes like your fights in opening sequences in ‘Skyfall’ and ‘Spectre’? Do you train it before in the studio?
Yeah, for example on ‘Spectre’ the whole helicopter scene was choreographed and rehearsed a lot! We rehearsed countless, countless times with Olivier Schneider, his team (Yves & Patrick) and Rob Cooper with whom I did the fight. We started rehearsals in Pinewood studios in a steel frame simulating the helicopter. The fight team came up with the fight and Olivier filmed us performing it for the Pre-Viz. Pre-Viz is a previsualisation of the scene. It’s shot like the final shot in the movie so the stunt & fight coordinator can put their ideas across to the director. The director would have changes so we would add, change or take out various aspects of the choreography to fit with their plan for the scene. This process can take a long time, up to even the day of filming sometimes haha! Then from the studio rehearsals we flew out to Mexico! We went to rehearse in the actual helicopter we would be using on the day. The size was slightly different with the seat configuration, so we altered the fight a bit and rehearsed until we were all comfortable with it. Rob and I also tested out the rigging safety lines that would be attached to us while we were fighting on the outside of the helicopter, making sure we wouldn’t fly up into the rotor blades! Huge thanks to the riggers Marc Mailley, Tolga Keenan, Sam Trimming and Kev Lyons for keeping us safe up there!!! Then the next stage was testing up in the air! We did various tests to see how the helicopter reacted to us rolling around in it, us jumping on and off it, fighting on the side and making sure everything was safe! Gary Powell, Craig Silva and Olivier Schneider did such an awesome job in bringing that scene to life!!!
Were you doing those stunts in the helicopter over a group of extras?
The people directly underneath were created with CGI. There were people in the square just not under the helicopter… Just in case something would happen and the helicopter went down.
What did it feel like fighting in the air?
I loved it so much!! It was awesome! Total dream come true! Fighting on the outside of a helicopter!! It was one of the best moments in my career for sure!!!!!
You must have trusted the helicopter pilot a lot.
Oh yeah!! Chuck Aaron was awesome!! To fly a helicopter normally is difficult. To do it with two guys hanging on outside of it jumping up and down and a camera helicopter flying super close is next level difficult!!! Then on top of that add a few 360’s and barrel rolls and you got a dude with superhuman skill as a pilot!! Out of all the people in the world I trusted him with my life! In the movie there are actually two people playing the pilot. In the exterior shots Chuck Aaron was doing it. Back in Pinewood studios they filmed the interior on a gimble rig. We had a stunt guy (and also Bond double himself) Kai Martin play the part of the pilot for the movie. The Studio Gimble rig was the body of the helicopter put onto a special effects rig that rotated. We could then put Daniel and Alessandro Cremona inside safely and let them perform parts of the fight while the helicopter spun 360 degrees!
How are the dots for CGI placed on your face?
Usually they have an image where they should roughly place them, usually parts of the face that don’t move too much. They just put them on with either a brush, makeup pencil or small stickers that are glued on. For face replacement they use either dots, a rubber mask or facial prosthetics where they stick rubber segments onto the performers face so they look more like Daniel.
How long did it take to shoot the whole fight?
It took quite a while. We had a few days in Mexico and then I think it was a couple of weeks in Pinewood. I don’t remember exactly, but it was huge operation!
How was it with ‘Skyfall’ opening sequence? Did you also have preparations in Pinewood Studios?
That was another long prep! We started at Pinewood Studios in a rehearsal space and trained on mats with taped out sections to mimic the exact measurements of the top of the train. We went through several, several different versions with me fighting Damien Walters who was doubling Patrice. That went for a couple of months or so. Then we went out to Turkey and rehearsed on a stationary train. The top of the train was prepped specially for the fight with added grip and some sections with matting too. We then tested out the wire rigs that head rigger Diz Sharpe put in place to keep both us and the actors safe while the train was travelling at speed.
In ‘Skyfall’, before the fight, you jumped on the train. Was it also you on a motorbike?
No, that was the bike genius Lee Morrison. He did the motorbike stunt when he hit the bridge and then there was a cut. I then ran and jumped off the bridge with a special effects rig releasing the bike next to me. Timing was quite crucial as the train was speeding underneath, I had to time it so I landed on the right carriage and not end up missing it completely!
Did you have to jump few times?
I rehearsed it a few times for timing and camera, then they shot a few takes then that was it! I was on the train and the fight was on!!
I was always wondering how many times you had to repeat the scene with VW Beetles falling down from the train. I am sure it was not easy to get it ready for next shot.
There wasn’t that many from what I remember. I think it was only a couple of times. That was a pretty hectic sequence. I was in the excavator’s cabin and Mark Higgins was driving the Land Rover. I could see the arm smashing off all these cars in his direction and he was like a total driving ninja! Dodging each and everyone of them!! Then all the dust swallowed everything. I don’t know how he did it! Legend!
Was it you controlling the excavator?
Hahaha thankfully not! None of the levers I was pulling worked. The special effects guys did a great job controlling it all!!
Then you were climbing on the excavator?
No, that was Ben Cooke. I rehearsed it, but Ben did the shot on the day jumping into the train and then Daniel took over. Turned out great!!
When you were fighting on a roof of the train was it really so close to the tunnel?
On the rehearsals we got very close. We developed a good system. I was strangling Damien Walters who was doubling Ola Rapace and at some point he would his head slightly and could see the tunnel coming towards us. When he started to move to get out I knew that it was time to turn and duck! It looked close and it was pretty close haha! We also had people with horns in case we were getting too close though! As soon as we ducked, the roof of the tunnel was flying past us! So much fun!!
I can only imagine that, but for sure I wouldn’t be so brave. (both laughing) I’ve seen a documentry about Jackie Chan and how he was using different sounds during the fight to know where to expect kick or punch.
Yeah we use the same system! Let’s say there is one person fighting few people. Sometimes it’s hard to know exactly when they are coming in to attack if you can’t see them. However if they give a noise you know they are going to be right there in time for your next move. It is a great tool for timing! I have been lucky that I’ve been able to fight a lot of great performers! They’ve done it for years, so fighting them is easy, because they know about distancing and rhythm .
After the fight on the train you were falling down from the bridge. How did you film it?
he first day they shot that part of the scene was with a fake train carriage. It was only the top and then boxes all around. Daniel did a great reaction of getting shot and fell off the set and into boxes. The next day they shot the full fall with me. In the movie there is water under the bridge. However under the real bridge there are just rocks and trees 300ft below; not something that you would really want to fall into. The train was parked in the middle of the bridge and next to the ‘jump carriage’ there was a crane that stretched over the gap with wires attached. I remember in the morning of the shoot day, one of the extending stabilisers of the crane wasn’t working. So they spent some time trying to fix it and ended up having to secure it with scaffolding. It didn’t help my nerves haha! Then I got up on top of the train and my wires were attached. The day before when they were shooting Daniel it was full sunshine, but of course the day we were shooting the fall, it was cloudy, so we had to wait until the clouds would pass and there was full sun. I remember standing up there waiting for a break in the clouds, then finally it came!! Full sun! I got ready and Terry Madden started to count down from 6! We started from 6 so the helicopter could be timed in. I heard ‘Ready and 6, 5, 4, no, no, no, stop, stop, stop!!!’ clouds had come back over!! I think it that happened three or four times. Then Terry got down to ‘2’ and then ‘1, ACTION!’ and I jumped. I have to thank Diz Sharpe, Sam Trimming, Kevin Lyons and Peter Miles! They were the rigging team that kept me alive!!!
Was it only one take?
No, there were three takes. First time I jumped but I moved my arm. I remember Gary saying: ‘Don’t move your arm. You are supposed to be dead!’. Then I jumped a second time and that was fine. The third time was for luck, just in case and I think that was the one they’ve used.
Did you also have to wait between takes for the sun?
After the first take we had to wait a little bit. The second and third were pretty much straight away.
Was it like bungee jumping?
It was kind of like bungee jumping. I free fell for 70/80ft and then a goldtail device was used to slow my fall and bring me to a stop. The full height of the bridge was around 300ft. That was the first big fall I had done in my career and I think the biggest so far to this day.
Did you repeat it later?
I went bungee jumping on holiday. (laughs)
Did you have a chance to see how other scenes for Bond moves were filmed?
Not usually, when they film drama scenes we are rehearsing. We rehearse every day, usually from 8a.m. to 6p.m. We are on set during the drama scenes if the actor needs us there for stunt pads or a mat. Or if the crew are at height, sometimes we are there to help with safety.
How do you prepare for a stunt. Do you have your own warm-up, stetching routine?
I try and keep pretty flexible so it doesn’t take too long to warm up before a scene. If an actor is about to do something physical we will sometimes be called in to warm them up, fit a harness and answer any questions they have regarding the action. The warm up comprises of basic stretches to get the blood flowing and prepare them for the next shot. For example if they are doing a lot of kicks or low stances, leg stretching would focused on more etc. And the same can be said for myself. I like to get nice and warm and stretched out as much as I can before a take. Although sometimes that’s not always possible. An action scene can really take it’s toll on the body! They can last days, weeks or even months!! The fight on the train in ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ took many many months! Constantly warming up and cooling down between shots can cause injury! So I try and stay as warm as possible.
‘Spectre’ was your second and also the last Bond film you were in so far. You didn’t take part in ‘No Time to Die’?
No sadly I was busy on another movie ‘The King’s Man’ with Brad Allen. It was another great movie to work on and a great take on the spy genre!
Do you have any plans to return as Bond?
Haha It depends on who the actor is and the stunt coordinator but I would love to do another Bond in the future!
Who should be the next James Bond in your opinion?
Somebody who is 5’10”. (laughs)
Thank you for great stories and good luck with becoming James Bond again.
22 Wednesday Apr 2020
Tags
007, Behind the Scenes, Casino Royale, Die Another Day, film set, interview, James Bond, production manager, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Terry Bamber, The Man with the Golden Gun, The World Is Not Enough, Tomorrow Never Dies
Terry Bamber is one of the luckiest James Bond fans ever as he got to work on 7 James Bond films with 3 actors who played 007. Amazing person with great personality, who agreed to tell fantastic stories behind the scenes of Bond films. It was marvelous experience to talk with Terry Bamber.
Piotr Zajac (bondlocations): First James Bond movie that you worked on was ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’, so it was quite a long time ago.
Terry Bamber: Yes, that was 1974. I just finished my A-Levels and I think, if I remember correctly, my dad was working at a Pinewood Studios on a Walt Disney film ‘One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing’ and he said to me: ‘Right, it is time now you have done your education, let’s get you out and see if we can get you a job’. I was unbelivably lucky. He took me down the old main corridor in the old building and first office we went into was Claude Hudson’s office, who was production manager on ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’. Dad had known Claude for many years. As luck would have it the young man that had been the unit runner in the office had just received the union ticket which meant he could start next job as 3rd assistant director. So they were looking for a runner to start on the following Monday and I got offered the job. My dad had worked on the earlier Bond films and I’ve adored the Bond films and now I was given a chance to work on one. It was so exciting to meet Sir Roger Moore. Derek Cracknell was the assistant director, he knew dad for years. Very, very kind man. It was a marvelous experience.
Is it right that you were buying sandwiches for Sir Roger Moore?
Yes. On my first day I was told that Sir Roger Moore at that time used to like tap chicken sandwitches on brown bread at the end of the day. My first task that day was to go in queue by the restaurant where they made sandwitches especially for them. In those days we didn’t put anything on them like tissue or cling film or anything. I went alone to his dressing room and I think I was so nervous by the time I got there that my hands were shaking and my knees were knocking. I knocked on the door and I think an assistant opened the door and Sir Roger was at the back of the room. As he looked up everything went to jelly and sandwitches fell out of my hands and of course bread down. He said I supposed to be watching my figure. He was just a wonderful man. My dad had worked with him on lots of files. He worked on ‘The Man Who Haunted Himself‘ which was Sir Roger’s favourite film. Dad was the second assistant director on that. Sir Roger used to get him on various second units on ‘Persuaders’ and programs like that. He was wonderful actor and a great man.
Your dad was working on the first James Bond film, ‘Dr. No’?
Yes. At that time Pinewood Studios was a proper studio that had his own workforce, that was hired out to any film that was going to be made there. Dad was a prop man and worked either as a dressing prop, which was dressing the sets ahead of the unit going into a film or he was a standby prop, which meant that he would standby during the filming and deal with all the props that actors at background were using on a day of filming. I think he was a dressing prop on ‘Dr. No’ and ‘From Russia with Love’. On ‘You Only Live Twice’ I remember him taking my sister and myself to see the volcano set which was just the most amizing thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It was briliant.
Was it your first contact with the universe of James Bond?
No. My first real memory of it was the music, was hearing the James Bond theme. I think it was in 1965, the year after ‘Goldfinger’ came out. Dad was in Spain making a film called ‘Lost command’. We were in Madrid and we managed to buy Shirley Bassey’s single of ‘Goldfinger’ which we played non stop the whole time we were there. It is the music that blew me away, the James Bond theme that blew me away. The first James Bond film that I saw in a cinema was ‘Thunderball’. Obviously I didn’t catch up with ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘From Russia with Love’ and ‘Dr. No’ on a big screen until later. I think in late 60’s, early 70’s cinemas did like a double bill: ‘Dr. No’ with ‘Goldfinger’, ‘From Russia with Love’ with ‘Thunderball’. Brilliant films.
What were your other tasks on the set of ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’?
In those days it was mainly being in charge of getting call sheets round to everybody at the end of the day. Those days the call sheets were typed up on a stencil that was around the printing machine. It was a nightmare because stencils were always ripped somewhere and you had to try to ensure they were lined up, the ink didn’t splash across the page. That was always a nightmare. In those days you had to wrap in the studio by 5.30, so it was always a rush to get the call sheets all printed out by just before 5 and I had half an hour to go all around the studio to the post room, up to the telephone exchange, to make sure that everybody got the call sheet for the next day. Also on ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ I’ve got a chance for the first time on the set helping up second unit with filming part of the opening sequence when Scaramanga was having a duel. I had to give Sir Christopher Lee a cue for him to go through and I was so nervous with that, but luckily Mr Lee said: ‘I don’t think I’m gonna need this cue now, I can see when I’ve got to go’. No matter what I’ve done ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ was the thing that ment the most to me because I was only 18 and it was first James Bond film I’ve worked on. At the end of the film I was kept on to help sell off the props and costumes and everything and that was very exciting, but during that I managed to walk into a piece of wood which scratched my eye. Rather than waiting for an ambulance Mr Broccoli had sent his car down to pick me up with Roy, who was the driver, another lovely man. So I was taken to Wexham Park Hospital in Mr Broccoli’s Rolls Royce. And then funny enough I was invited for my first cast and crew screening of the film ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ which was in November 1974. I had to pass my driving test so I could go. Luckily I passed it a week before the showing. It was shown in what was then Theater 7 at Pinewood Studios, which is now being renamed to John Barry Theatre in honour of John Barry. In 2014 I did a sort of one man show that was supposed to show how I did teaching and talking about my career to celebrate at that time my 40 years in the film industry and in fact my great love of John Barry’s music and the contribution that he made not just in James Bond films but to films like ‘Dances with Wolves‘, ‘Out of Africa’, ‘The Ipcress File’; marvelous, marvelous music.
I’ve heard a story that you had dinner with John Barry.
It was another ambarassing night. When we were doing ‘Die Another Day’ we were filming down in Rissington. Vic Armstrong was a second unit director. I’ve always wanted to do the gun barrel sequence. We had great standby team, so they built a little gun barrel which was operated on rope to pull down. I could do that opening walking across, turning, aiming, firing and saying: my name is Bond. They’ve arranged with a special effects team to have snow hoses ready, so as soon as I’ve finished saying that, they turned on the snow hoses on me and absolutely covered me in snow. I was wearing my one and only dinner suit and this night was the night that I was gonna go to Stoke Poges, because there was the Variety Club tribute to John Barry and I’ve been invited to that. I had quickly brushed my dinner suite trying to get it ready but it was stiff as a board by the time I got to the party. I am affraid I had rather lot of drink while we were there. We were raising money for the charity. One of the prizes was to have dinner with John and Laurie Barry. I sort of staggered over were Mr Barry was sitting. The first bid went up so I put my hand. It quickly went to 500 pounds so I didn’t bid for that anymore. Barbara Broccoli was sitting next to Mr Barry and everytime the bid went up she kept putting my arm up. So I ended up bidding 1750 pounds and won the dinner. I was thinking how to tell my wife about that when I went home. But it was a marvelous evening and we had a wonderful dinner with him, although Barbara kept calling me John Barry’s stalker. Everytime I went to say something she was stopping me so my wife had a great time with John Barry and I only occasionaly got to say something but he was wonderful man and his wife Laurie was very, very kind. I met them again several times after that because a great friend of mine plays in the English Chamber Orchestra which Mr Barry used to use for recording the soundtracks. So in 1999 when they would do a concert in Royal Albert Hall and also in Birmingham I got a backstage pass so I could go and sit at the rehearsal at the Royal Albert Hall. I bumped in Mrs Barry and she was very, very kind. Then my friend in the orchestra introduced me again to John Barry and we got to talking about ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’, which Mr Barry didn’t want to talk much about. I think he had very rushed time period trying to get that score together. I think it is a great score, but I don’t think it is one of his favourites. John Barry was just a genius of what he did. ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ has got every piece of music, it is simply magical. It just makes the whole film fantastic experience. It is not just visual, auraly you are having a great time as well.
Your next James Bond film was ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’.
Yes. I’ve worked with Callum McDougall on ‘101 Dalmatians’ which we filmed in 1996. When ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ came out the miniatures unit was gonna go to the Rosarito tank in Baja, California. Callum suggested I could meet up with John Richardson, who was going to direct it and maybe go as his assistant director or production manager. I ended up going there as a production manager because there was an assistant director who would work on ‘Titanic’ and knew the studio. That was really exciting, because that was really my first trip across to America and I was having to go up to Los Angeles and doing deals with getting lightning and equipment. The studio manager of Rosarito was a lovely man called Charlie who had been there during ‘Titanic’. I ended up having James Cameron’s office. When they had finished we moved in and I ended using his office as my office, so that was quite nice. When you are doing the model unit or miniature unit you haven’t got the pressure of looking after actors and all the problems that would go with that. You could just really concentrate on the crew and getting the brilliant shots which they did. I think that the miniature work in ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ is superb with the stealth boats and sinking of a frigat and everything. I really, really enjoyed it. I have to thank Callum for that. After that there was ‘The World Is Not Enough’ in which Vic Armstrong was second unit director. I’ve been filming out in South Africa on a film with Hugh Hudson called ‘I Dreamed of Africa’ with Kim Basinger. I got a phone call to find out if I would be interested in working on ‘The World Is Not Enough’. I said: ‘Of course, abslolutely I would be interested’. When I got back to England I had an interview with Vic and also Terry Madden who was Vic’s first. I’ve known Terry since 1975. I was his unit runner and he was a third assistant director on film for Walt Disney Productions called ‘Pit Ponies’, which now has became ‘Escape from the Dark’. So I’ve known Terry for long time. He is a great friend. So I worked on ‘The World Is Not Enough’. We had a wonderful sequence up in the Chamonix. We had the amazing chase on the river Thames as well. I think that ‘The World Is Not Enough’ is very underrated film. There are somem great stuff in the film. The boat chase for me is just fantastic.
Have you been working on all these sequences?
Yes. I was in Chamonix and then I was in charge with the second unit on the Thames. I don’t know if you have ever had a chance to see extended version of the boat chase on 2-disc DVD version. That is the one where I am in. I played this French waiter that had to jump up when the boat crashes through the restaurant and impacts into the Thames near the O2 building. Unfortunately the sequence was going so long and my acting was so bad they cut it out in the main film. It was great fun.
I think it was difficult to get permission to film on the Thames.
There were lots of negotiations. We had a wonderful location department and location manager called Richard Sharkey and Simon Marsden. I remember going to lots of, lots of meetings, especially with the O2 as well, because it was coming up to the year 2000 and that was all getting ready for the turn of the millenium. The boat chase was passing by the Houses of Parliament. I remember that one of members of parliament complained about the noise of the boats but he was told not to warry about it because it was James Bond film and he was great representation of the British around the world, so he was told to be quiet.
When you were filming in Chamonix the weather conditions were not good?
Yes, we lost lots of time. I think that sadly nearly 50 people were killed in various avalanches during the time we were filming there. So we had a lot of time that we had to stand the unit down and try to catch up the time afterwards. I think we had to shoot 10 days in a row if the weather stayed well and obviously make sure that the crew got rested and were looked after, but the weather was very ugly when we were there. I don’t know if you remember that the week after we finished filming there was this terrible fire in a Mont Blanc tunnel, which killed many, many people. It was very tiring time, but the French people vere lovely looking after us. I remember that crew were desperate for English sausages, so we had to keep trying to get people to bring sausages with them whenever they came from Pinewood Studios to Chamonix. There was a time I think, that Virgin trains had just started and on the Virgin trains they had this people called Rocket Men that had dispensers that could dispense hot tee or hot coffee or hot chockolate walking around the trains. We thought that we could use it for our skiers. We got a team to help with catering going around with some very good skiers, local skiers with this Rocket Man bags on their backs and they could go to where the different cameras were, where people were set up and make sure that people got hot soup and water. That worked very well. But that were very tiring conditions. We had some very bad weather there, but as always we got lucky when we needed to get lucky.
Your next film was ‘Die Another Day’.
We shot the opening sequence with hoovercrafts on the army training grounds in Aldershot in a very bad weather conditions. I’ve never seen mud like that. In fact it was so, when the main unit were doing close ups with Pierce. It all was supposed to be shot on location, but the weather was so bad that we had to shoot plates for it and then shot it back in the studio. I think that is the great thing, the great art of production designers like Peter Lamont with all the Iceland sequence. He recreated all those icebergs in RAF land base in Rissington. I don’t think you can tell the difference between the real Iceland where we shot and Rissington. Peter Lamont was just briliant man like Ken Adam. Both Ken and Peter Lamont helped my dad in his career so much. They were both geniuses and lovely people to work for. My dad had always wanted to be an assistant director and he was working as prop man on ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ on which Ken was production designer. I think Peter was set decorator or art director. They gave dad a chance to work as an assistant set decorator which ment he got a union card. Once he got his union card that meant that he could work as an assistant director. He did some work on ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ as the assistant set decorator then went in the another film where he worked as an assistant director and then came back onto ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ to work on the opening sequence of the motorcar races which Peter Hunt directed. He was brilliant editor of the early Bonds and of course the director of my favourite all time Bond ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’.
There was a funny story with your pass that you got while filming ‘Die Another Day’ on Iceland.
Toby Hefferman who is now a very good first assistant director was a second assistant director when we were doing ‘Die Another Day’ on Iceland. To make sure that everybody was kept safe on the ice we issued passes which gave access on the ice during filming. He put down on my pass that my job was ‘ice cream man’, because they were determined not to let me on the ice because I was always slipping over and falling over. Everybody knows that I love ice creams. I’m always trying to organize ice creams on set. That is why they put me down as the ‘ice cream man’ rather then the production manager. That was a joke from Toby and Terry Madden, who was the first.
Did you have any problems with filming on ice?
We were very lucky with ‘Die Another Day’. When we were due to go to Island to do the chase the lake hadn’t frozen properly. We were all worried that it was not going to freeze enough and be solid for us to actually go there. We had to go to Alaska one weekend to do a recognition to see if we may have to move all shoot there. Luckily the ice did freeze so we were able to go to Iceland, but on the last day of filming on the lake began to melt. We just had enough time to do what we needed.
Piotr Zajac (bondlocations): After ‘Die Another Day’ you were working on ‘Casino Royale’ with Daniel Craig as Bond. It was not the first time you met him on film set?
Terry Bamber: I was working in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa with Hugh Hudson and Kim Basinger on a film called ‘I Dreamed of Africa’ and that was the first time I met Daniel. He had a part in it. It was hilarious because we were all staying in different lodges around the place and Daniel’s car was always getting lost. There was a wonderful American sitcom called ‘Car 54, Where Are You?’ in the 60’s. We put on a call sheet ‘Daniel Craig’s car 54, where are you?’. Daniel used to play football at lunchtime. We all used to play with locals. It was a great experience. In fact I doubled Daniel in that film. There was the sequence where they were battling to capture a python and my wife doubled Kim Basinger and I doubled Daniel. You could see my wife in it doing the action, but you couldn’t see me. That was dangerous scene. The snake was curling around legs, it was close around me, so it was a bit scary. Great adventure.
How do you remember working on ‘Casino Royale’?
We shot the opening scene in the Bahamas with the free running. It was so exciting. We got some of the best shots ever because we had wonderful, beautiful turquoise blue Bahamas scene in the background when they were jumping from crane to crane. I was actually lucky enough to be part of it. It was amazing.
I think that it was quite difficult to do that stunt because of the height as I’ve seen in a documentary about filming that scene. When the stuntmen were jumping from one crane to another is was windy.
I don’t rember if we had to postpone it for a day or two. When we were doing the aerial photography, I am pretty sure, we shot that on Sunday and we tried to shot with as minimum crew as possible. We had wonderful Mark Wolff who was the helicopter pilot. There were lots of complications. Unfortunately we managed to get rid of two cameras in that sequence. I don’t know if you remember when Bond turns and shoots into bulldozer. The first time we did it we built protection for the cameras but somehow something broke through and we smashed up one camera. We had to do it again the next day. We promised Barbara and Michael that we knew what we were doing. You wouldn’t belive it, it couldn’t be more protected if we were trying to protect the Queen, but one piece of metal or something broke off, shot through the only possible gap it could get through and smashed up the second camera. In the Panavision they weren’t very happy with this and neither were in the main office back in London.
Did you really destroy the building where you were filming opening sequence?
We didn’t really destroy it. We built break away pieces, so we could rebuild it for take two etc. I still don’t know what has happened to that building. I think they were gonna turn it into a police academy and then they stopped it which was why we had the access and we were there. In fact this time now I was probably in the Bahamas 14 years ago while we were setting up for and getting ready for filming.
Do you remember any other interesting facts from the time you were filming ‘Casino Royale’?
We got to shoot Pendolino train flying through the station. We shot the real train going pass the real station with the second unit. The day we shot it was the day when West Ham were playing with Liverpool in a FA Cup final. It was heartbreaking because we’ve lost on penalties to Liverpool. I’ll always remember that because we’ve set it up and we went back to watch some of the fotball because the train wasn’t due to go through until much later that day. We saw some of the football and went back to actually do the shot. So I was very fed up that day. Whenever I see ‘Casino Royale’ that shot with train going by always reminds me how sad it was when West Ham lost to Liverpool.
While watching ‘Casino Royale’ I was wondering how did you film scenes with collapsing building at the end.
The visual effects team did all the plate work. There were Steve Begg and of course Chris Corbould, special effects team. We shot actual sinking house, other than the model that we did in Pinewood, in a tank on 007 stage. I had to go on set to talk to Martin Campbell and I didn’t want to interrupt the filming, so I went at the back of the set. I slid in a scaffold and ended up falling in the tank. Several special effects people had to rescue me because I was not the world’s greatest swimmer.
The whole sequence with sinking house is absolutely stunning. In the plane chase when the 747 is comming into land and it blows the police cars off that is also the combination of special effects art department and visual effects. You can not see any of rejoints. Your suspension or disbelief is held all the way through because you don’t get disrupted, you don’t think: ‘oh, this is a model shot, oh this is CGI’ because it is so briliantly put together. For me that is what true visual effects and computer imaging should be. You shouldn’t think: ‘oh, that is just computer’. You can’t avoid it on film like ‘Transformers’ and all films like that, but on a film like we’ve done where we tried to do everything in camera it was just perfect.
After ‘Casino Royale’ you’ve worked on ‘Quantum of Solace’. There was great opening sequence with car chase filmed at the Lake Garda and Carrara in Italy.
At the Lake Garda we had to close the road. We had to shoot on one side of the road first and then shoot on second side. We kept one road opened for people getting in and out of town. We also had to arrange for ferry to take people in and out of town. Unfortunatelly there was an accident when one of the Aston Martins crashed into the lake. We were setting up for filming and the driver was bringing the Aston Martin for photo shoot. I think it was raining that morning and he lost control on a bend but luckily he hit the barrier. In fact the barrier speared the Aston like it did in the film with the lorry and the car and it flipped backwards over the barrier into the lake. The car hit the water upside down and sank to the bottom. The driver told me the story that it was like James Bond sequence. It must have knocked him down slightly. When he came round he was upside down. It was pitch black. He had to get seatbelts off then his jacket that he was wearing. Luckily the window had smashed so he was able to get out and swim up, because it was only 150 ft. deep there. By that time people were there to rescue him. I can remember that it happened 28 minutes past 6 that I heard about the accident because I thought that it would be another insurance claim, but fortunatelly it wasn’t that bad. I think he had a broken collarbone and had some stitches on his face. It was quite an amazing story how he survived, but that was nothing to do with us. He was doing a publicity shooting arranged by Aston Martin and wasn’t part of filming. There was also an awful accident with a stuntman that happened while we were filming. We had the Medivac standing by that could fly the stuntman directly to hospital. He was in a coma for a long while. It showed again that Barbara and Michael were fantastic there, making sure that we looked after the family, they went to visit him to make sure that everything was OK. It was quite a horrible moment when that happened.
There was an interesting story with Barbara Broccoli going for shopping.
It was on a day off, when I was going to hospital to see the injured stuntman and Barbara said that she wanted to go as well, but she had to do some shopping first. I said: ‘OK, let me know when you are ready and I will drive down with my driver and we will pick you up’. Unfortunately that day there was something going on in Carrara town so they closed all the roads around. Trying to find her was quite difficult. When I found her she had been walking for about half an hour with about six carrier bags of shopping. When I’ve found her I said: ‘I’ve got you, I’m here now’. She hit me and attacked me with the shopping bags and called me with all the names under the sun. At least she got her shopping. We put it to the car and drove up to visit the stuntman.
How did you shoot Palio in Siena?
The year before we actually went into production the Palio was recorded for real with I think 17 cameras. The year before we were filming ‘Quantum of Solace’ we got all the footage of horse racing, so we never actually had to shoot any of the racing when we went to Siena. We just recreated it with a crowd of about 300 extras. Within the square the art department built a hatchway for Bond and the villian to climb out of. That was built to suggest that they came out of the tunnels underneath.
When I was in Siena, I was trying to find the balconies that were used in foot chase sequence in ‘Quantum of Solace’.
The major problem we had in Siena were the cranes that we needed for the harnesses for the camera and to put on the stuntmen for the jumping from building to building. Siena was built on a web of tunnels under the streets and it ended up to cost us a fortune to bring extra cranes and put in a bases down to spread the weight of cranes so we didn’t crash through the steet and ended up underneath. Filming in Siena became very expensive. At one point we had talked about shooting the actual balconies sequencies on a set in Pinewood and then just getting the plates from Siena, but it was decided that we should do it actually in Siena. It is great sequence but very costly.
I couldn’t find these balconies, because they were not real. They were built just for filming, but I expected to see at least some extra holes or extra marks on walls where they were attached.
What we did, we had extra scaffolds in around it. Obviously we were not allowed to damage any of the buildings, so wherever possible we built scaffold in around so we didn’t dig any rigging into the actual framework of the building.
There was also the scene with James Bond jumping on a bus.
The jump on a bus was filmed in different location to the other balconies where they were going from roof to roof. I accidentally made a mark on a wall of one of the buildings which was very unfortunate because it was a very expensive building.
Which parts of that sequence were filmed in Pinewood Studio.
We built the tunnel for the chase in Pinewood and also the church tower. The bell tower. We had all the background plates from Siena that were added by visual effects team. I think it looks convincing, the combination of what we’ve shot and the great work of the visual effects team. I’ve only ever been able to be first assistant on a Bond film on very few days when Terry Madden was busy or he was doing something else. That tower sequence was one of the days when I was firsting for Dan Bradley and that was with Daniel. That was great fun.
In which sequences you were involved in ‘Skyfall’ ?
We did the opening sequence which we did in Istambul and Adana. Very small second unit went to Shanghai.
I thought that most of Shanghai scenes were filmed in London.
Exactly. It was like Miami in ‘Casino Royale’. A small unit went to get the establishes of Shanghai. The actual sequence when Bond was shooting and so on was done in the studio. In the old days on special TV programmes you would buy a little bit of footage of the city and you would put its name and then cut to wherever you were shooting on location in London or in a studio. At least now we always try to get some part of the location for real, so you realy do believe you are in there. It is a commond feature of filmmaking that rather than trying to take the whole first unit with actors to other country with all the cost it would involve, that you shoot them in the studio under control in safe conditions and the stunt team goes out to do all the hard work with the visual effect team to get plates we need to.
How did you film the opening sequence with motorbikes chase on rooftop in Istambul?
We had big scaffolding rig on which we put the video village so we could see what was being filmed. We’ve built some ramps there. There is a scene where they jump through the window. We had to build ramps to get bikes up. Obviously the art department and special effects would break the window for the boys to crush through there. There were hardly any safe ramps built along a rooftops for the boys that would actually ride in the bikes. There were some points where we had to reinforce but that was as much as possible done for real on that rooftop.
Do you have some interesting stories to tell not related to Bond?
I was working in India on ‘Ra.One’. We were filming in Mumbai. Shah Rukh Khan, whose company was producing the film, was the star. It is well known that Bollywood artists are very difficult to get on set very early in the morning. This particulat day Nicola Pecorini who was director of photography told me that I should tell Shah Rukh Khan off because everybody was ready to go and he was late. I said: ‘I can’t tell Shah Rukh Khan off’. Anyway Shah Rukh Khan arrives and Nicola says to him: ‘Terry is very upset with you. He kept the whole set waiting’. Shah Rukh Khan who had so many followers on Twitter decided to put there: ‘Our first assistant just shouted on me’. Within half an hour I received 300 death threats from his fans. Everybody decided that it was a great joke to play. Some of the stuntmen pretended to be fans trying to break into the studio. Shah Rukh Khan gave me his bodyguards with guns. The English camera crew being very brave put big sign with arrow pointing at me saying: ‘This one is Terry Bamber’. It was only towards the end of a day. Even my driver came up and said: ‘I can’t give you a drive back to the hotel Mr. Terry because I’ve got a wife and two children and we might get killed. Shah Rukh Khan finally decided to put on Twitter that I hadn’t really shouted and I was a nice person. Suddenly I got 300 new friends on Twitter after that. That was a hilarius day, very funny. I love working on Bollywood films, I love working with Indian crew. In fact one of my oldest friends is lovely man called Rajen Rajkhowa with whom I first worked in 1992 when we were doing ‘Young Indiana Jones’. He had worked as a sound assistand on ‘Octopussy’. He’s got some great pictures of him and on a set with Sie Roger Moore and everybody. Everybody loves working on Bond films. Everybody loves being involved in Bond films. It is a fantastic way of staying in touch with everybody around the world. It is something that is always part of my life. I can remember looking at the ‘You Can Only Live Twice’ volcano set as if it was yesterday and the impact it had on me. They are great films, great music.
April 2020
29 Wednesday Jan 2020
Posted in NEWS
Tags
007, Bond music, Bond symfonicznie, concert, James Bond, Poland, Wroclaw
On January 18th, 2020 the ‘007 Bond symfonicznie’ concert was held in Radio Wrocław Concert Hall in Wroclaw, Poland. James Bond fans could listen to a number of 007 films title songs performed by orchestra, Quiet Classic choir and soloists: Anna Michałowska, Katarzyna Góras and Mateusz Obroślak. As a surprise for listeners Michalina Goławska from Quiet Classic choir also performed one song solo. Paweł Błędowski was announcing all songs with interesting stories from Bond films. They all deserved a standing ovation.
Tribute to the authors of this project: Emilia Siepkowska and Aleksander Resiak. Great concept, amazing musical arrangements and fantastic performance of all songs.
For information about future concerts visit: bondsymfonicznie.pl
12 Tuesday Nov 2019
Posted in Casino Royale, Moonraker, Venice
Tags
007, 007 location, Casino Royale, filming location, Italy, James Bond, James Bond location, james Bond locations, James Bond movie locations, Moonraker, movie location, Saint Mark's Square, St Mark's Basilica, St. Mark's Square, Venice
When I returned to Venice in Italy this summer, I’ve decided to take some photos that were missing from my previous articles: “Moonraker” in Venice and ‘Casino Royale’ in Venice. This time I would like to invite you for a walk around St Mark’s Square.
Let’s begin the tour from small square called Piazzetta dei Leoncini next to St Mark’s Basilica and the north corner of St Mark’s Square. You will find there Venini shop, known from ‘Moonraker’.
It’s been 40 years already since Roger Moore as James Bond entered Venini Glass, but not many detailes have changed. There is no sunblind above the antrance to the shop as in the movie and the door has been moved a bit, but every Bond fan will recognize that place.
Next to the shop there is a clock tower called Torre dell’Orologio, that was filmed at the end of fight scene with James Bond and the villain Chang (Toshiro Suga), also in ‘Moonraker’.
When they were fighting, there was a live concert right below the tower. Chang fell on the piano that was standing in the same place as the group of tourists in the next photo.
Walking along the north side of the square you will get to the passage called Sotoportego del Cavalletto. It was filming location of the scene with James Bond (Daniel Craig) noticing Vesper (Eva Green) walking away with suitcase full of money in ‘Casino Royale’.
A few steps away in the eastern corner of the square you will get to Longchamp shop. It was Basel Bank in ‘Casino Royale’.
Through the window you can see interior of the shop that was designed as a bank lobby just for the film.
Standing there you would notice that James Bond didn’t take the shortest route from the hotel to the bank. He ran into the square from its southern corner (right side of the photo below). Later the camera was directed towards St Mark’s Basilica as in the photo below. 007 was running from left (eastern corner) to the right (southern corner). 
Finally he came to the Basel Bank located in the corner on the left (eastern corner).
Visit LOCATIONS GALLERY on top of the page to see locations photos compared with movie scenes.
Posted in NEWS
Tags
007, 007 location, Casino Royale, filming location, James Bond, James Bond location, james Bond locations, James Bond movie locations, Moonraker, movie location, Quantum of Solace, Spectre, travel
New section on the blog (see top of the page)!!! In LOCATIONS GALLERY you will find photos from filming locations together with screens of actual scenes filmed in these places.
31 Monday Dec 2018
Posted in Quantum of Solace, Siena
Tags
007, 007 location, filming location, Italy, James Bond, Quantum of Solace, Siena, travel, Tuscany
I’ve written about foot chase in ‘Quantum of Solace’ that was filmed in Siena, Italy already (‘Quantum of Solace’ in Siena, Italy), but I skipped the sequence with James Bond jumping from one balcony to another. It was difficult to find exact filming location of that sequence, because it turned out that balconies seen in the movie were built just for the purpuse of filming. I’ve found only one existing balcony (see photos below) above intersection of Via del Rialto and Vicolo del Vannello streets. It was the one seen in background behind 007 chasing Craig Mitchell. All other balconies from the movie were built on the left from that one.
In the next photo you can see Via del Rialto with Torre del Mangia at Piazza del Campo in background. While taking this photo I was standing right below the place where the balcony from the movie was built.
In that filming location there is a small square at intersection of Via del Rialto and Vicolo del Vannello, so the distance to jump would be too big even for 007. To make it a narrow street as it was visible in the movie, artificial buildings had been built.
In that sequence Daniel Craig was doubled by stuntman Bobby Holland Hanton, Craig Mitchell was played by Glenn Foster. It was filmed by stunt cameraman Diz Sharpe.
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21 Saturday Jul 2018
Posted in Die Another Day, London
Tags
007, Buckingham Palace, Die Another Day, filming location, Great Britain, James Bond, James Bond location, London, movie location, travel, UK
Media representatives were waiting for Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) at Buckingham Palace in London. There was also his assistant, Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike), waiting for her boss. Right on time he appeared in the sky with Union Jack parachute. He landed between them, answered a few questions and together with Miranda Frost went by car to receive his knighthood from the Queen. James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) was standing in the crowd and just looking at the villain. 
That sequence was filmed in April 2002. Film crew got permision to work around the Buckingham Palace for one day only, until lunch time.
There was parachute jump of 3 stuntmen planned for the scene. To fly helicopter less than 1 kilometer above the Buckingham Palace it was necessary to get special permissions from Anti-Terrorist Units. Executive Producer Anthony Waye said that according to the script the scene was supposed to be filmed at the House of Parliament. About 2-3 weeks before filmimg it was decided to try to shoot at the Buckingham Palace. When they were trying to get permissions, Queen Mother died and all the offices were closed for 10 days. Permision to shoot there was received less that a week before planned filming day.
About 250 members of the film crew arrived on the set very early that day. Actress Rosamund Pike said that she had to wake up at 4 a.m. At 6.30 a.m. filming could begin as sun was rising.
At first the scene with parachuting Gustav Graves was filmed. Three stuntmen, who were made up to look like the villain in the film, were ready for the jump. They were flying in a helicoper with pilot Mark Wolff, who has flown helicopters for 8 previous James Bond films.
The first jumper was the team leader Allan Hewitt. Film director Lee Tamahori was happy with the shot. He decided to film second jump as backup. There was no time for third stuntmen to jump.
Afterwards the scene with Gustav Graves landing in the crowd was filmed. Actor Toby Stephens was suspended under the arm of crane 40 feet in the air. It was moving down so it looked like Stephens was parachuting.
Film crew had to clean the area before 9.30 a.m. as the Life Guards began preparations for the Changing of the Guard.
In the next photo that was taken at night you can see the Buckingham Palace, the square where the scene with Gustav Graves talking to media representatives was filmed and the Canada Gate where he was heading.
Film crew moved to the park behind Canada Gate (see photo below) to complete filming the scene. At that time houndreds of tourists were gathering to see Changing of the Guard. 
About an hour before end of filming, Pierce Brosnan arrived on the set. In his brief appearence in the scene he was standing in the crowd and looking at his rival getting into Range Rover.
At the end the scene with Miranda Frost and media representatives waiting for Gustav Graves was filmed. In the film it was shown before all other scened filmed that day.
Sources:
– ‘Die Another Day’ audio commentary, „Die Another Day” Special Edition, Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation, 2006
– ‘Just Another Day’, dir. Roger Penny, A Special Treats Production, 2002
JAMES BOND 