Connection with the previous post (O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU): ROGER DEAKINGS was the DOP on both films.
RATINGS: IMDB ― 7.8/10, Rotten Tomatoes ― 77%, ME ― 85%
Q: It always makes me feel a bit melancholy. Grand old war ship. being ignominiously haunted away to scrap... The inevitability of time, don't you think? What do you see?
James Bond: A bloody big ship. Excuse me.
Q: 007. I'm your new Quartermaster.
James Bond: You must be joking.
Q: Why, because I'm not wearing a lab coat?
James Bond: Because you still have spots.
Q: My complexion is hardly relevant.
James Bond: Your competence is.
Q: Age is no guarantee of efficiency.
James Bond: And youth is no guarantee of innovation.
Q: Well, I'll hazard I can do more damage on my laptop sitting in my pajamas before my first cup of Earl Grey than you can do in a year in the field.
James Bond: Oh, so why do you need me?
Q: Every now and then a trigger has to be pulled.
James Bond: Or not pulled. It's hard to know which in your pajamas. Q.
Q: 007.
Ben Wishaw as Q and Daniel Craig as James Bond
Trivia (From IMDB):
Daniel Craig performed the stunt of leaping and sliding down the escalator rail himself.
After receiving a personal invitation from Queen Elizabeth II , Daniel Craig appeared as James Bond in promotion of this film at the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London in the games' introductory video originally entitled "The Arrival" but later known as "Happy and Glorious". The Daniel Craig and Queen Elizabeth II pretend entertainment segment features Craig as James Bond who meets with the Queen to escort her safely to the stadium. They are seen going to a helicopter which flies along the Thames River to the cauldron whereby stunt-doubles then 'skyfall' jumped out of the helicopters down to the awaiting ceremony to familiar James Bond music. The segment has been said to be the Queen's first ever acting role.
A few days after the film debuted in Britain, the real MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), took out a full page advertisement in "The Times" and "The Sunday Times" running with the headline, "If the qualities that make a good spy were obvious, they wouldn't make a very good spy". The aim of the ad was to debunk the legend and mythology associated with film fiction spies like James Bond in Skyfall (2012) saying that real life spy work is not "high-speed chases and shoot-outs", an average spy is not a "globe-trotting secret agent" and that psychological profiles of real life agents show that they are actually "far more ordinary". The ad also dismisses the white male spy stereotype saying that "the truth is we don't care what sex you are or where you're from, as long as you're a British national". The humorous advertising campaign is considered one of MI6's most open ever recruitment drives. But in true espionage fashion, the ad still warns of utmost secrecy and strict confidentiality advising potential candidates that they cannot disclose that they are making an application to anyone.
Judi Dench has more screen time in this film alone than Desmond Llewelyn had in his 17 films as Q, making her portrayal of M the most recurrent character in the series after Bond himself.
Hashima Island, the site of Silva's lair, is a tiny deserted industrialized island situated off the south west coast of Japan, 15 km from Nagasaki, and running just 480 meters long and 160 meters wide. The small isle is one of 505 uninhabited islands in the Nagasaki Prefecture. The isle is also known as "Ghost Island" as well as "Gunkanjima" which translates as "Battleship Island". The island was last significantly inhabited in 1974 and was once a thriving coal mining community. The island is notable for its character due to its sea wall and its untouched abandoned and derelict concrete buildings.
Daniel Craig performed many of his own stunts including the signature roof-top fight on the top of a moving train traveling at 50 kph (31 mph) during the film's opening sequence. Producer Barbara Broccoli has said: "Daniel contributes a great deal to designing the action and the fights in particular and he's the one who really pulls it off, because he wants to do as much of it as he possibly can. We were in Turkey for the train sequence and I had my heart in my mouth the whole time; he and Ola were fighting on the roof of a moving train and the moves that they were doing were just heart stopping. Daniel's the reason why the action works as well as it does because he sells it, he's up there and I think audiences know that."
Judi Dench played the role of M in this film at the age of 77. The performance is also Dench's 7th time playing M. This is Dench's largest ever on-screen role playing the M character, the most significant James Bond film ever to explore a relationship between the M and James Bond characters. Producer Barbara Broccoli says that the film explores this relationship perhaps more than in any of the 22 previous films. She has said, "We wanted to really mine the relationship between Bond and M, because it is the most significant relationship he has in his life. M is the only person who represents authority to him. You have two extraordinary actors, and we just thought - let's go all the way. It's worked extremely well. It's a very emotional story."
There is an implication in this movie that Bond's ancestors were Recusant Catholics. When Kincade shows M the secret escape passage in the chapel at the Bond ancestral estate, he explains that it was originally a hiding place for priests, which strongly refers to the very long period in British history during which Catholicism was illegal, and the families who continued to practice Catholicism, shelter priests, and refuse the authority of the official church (Church of Scotland aka Presbyterianism in this case) were referred to as "Recusants". One such prominent, real-life Recusant family from Dorset were named "Bond." Their Latin family motto was "Non sufficit orbis," which translates to "Not even the world is enough" - or, more colloquially, The World Is Not Enough (1999), a used in Fleming's novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service and the title of a later Bond movie. One member of this family, John Bond, was reportedly a spy for Sir Francis Drake during Elizabethan times (despite his family's Catholicism).
The role of Kincade played by Albert Finney was originally written with Sean Connery in mind. Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson originally wanted Connery to come out of retirement and make a surprise cameo. Director Sam Mendes told 'The Huffington Post', "There was a definite discussion about [Connery playing Kincade] - way, way early on. But I think that's problematic. Because, to me, it becomes too... it would take you out of the movie. Connery is Bond and he's not going to come back as another character. It's like, he's been there. So, it was a very brief flirtation with that thought, but it was never going to happen, because I thought it would distract."
The first time a character is audibly heard saying the "F word" in a Bond movie. In the 25th anniversary Bond film The Living Daylights (1987), Bond clearly says "For f***'s sake!" but it cannot be heard due to plane engine noise. 'Skyfall' is the first Bond film to ever use an audible variation of the "F word", said by M at Skyfall Lodge.
The passport used by Daniel Craig was not created by the props department, but an authentic document as issued by the British Home Office, according to producer Michael G. Wilson. Everything from the paper, print, photograph and jacket are entirely genuine on James Bond's 'official passport'. However, as a security measure, the passport is encoded with information that would instantly flag its improper use in any official transaction. The actual details shown on Bond's passport in the film are as follows: Name = John Adam Bryce; Date of Birth = 16th December 1968; Sex = Male; Place of Birth = London; Date of Issue = 22nd June 2012; and Expiry Date = 22nd August 2029.
Daniel Craig told 'Rolling Stone' magazine that he wanted this to be his third and final Bond movie, saying, "I've been trying to get out of this from the very moment I got into it but they won't let me go". Craig has signed on for the next two James Bond films, both Spectre (2015) and Bond 25
M (Judi Dench)'s house in the film is the former home of the legendary Bond composer John Barry. The filmmakers thought it would be a lovely tribute to the late composer who composed many of the James Bond film scores and defined the signature theme music in the series, his work being a core inspiration for the modern Bond music composed by David Arnold. John Barry passed away in 2011. Thomas Newman's score for 'Skyfall' has been said to pay tribute to Barry.
Daniel Craig said that he was worried by the delays in the production and was eager to get back into the role because, at the age of 43, he feels he is already getting too old to cope with the extreme physical demands of playing James Bond. Craig starts preparation for a Bond movie about six months prior to filming and works out for about two hours each day of principal photography after shooting has wrapped.
Daniel Craig bonded with Javier Bardem on the set over their shared love of rugby. In his youth, Craig played for Hoylake Rugby Football Club in Wirral, Merseyside. Bardem played for Club de Rugby Liceo Francés in Madrid, and even made the Spanish national team at underage level.
The film was influenced by Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008) by director Christopher Nolan according to the film's director Sam Mendes. A number of the early reviews of 'Skyfall' likened the mood of the film to that of The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Interestingly, a recurring line of dialogue in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) was "Permission To Die" - this is also the title of a 1989 James Bond comic book released. A shot of Bond standing on-top of a building looking-out over London with a flag of England evoke Batman perched on roof-tops looking-out over Gotham City. Mendes has said: "In terms of what [Nolan] achieved, specifically The Dark Knight (2008), the second movie, what it achieved, which is something exceptional. It was a game changer for everybody...What Nolan proved was that you can make a huge movie that is thrilling and entertaining and has a lot to say about the world we live in, even if, in the case with The Dark Knight (2008), it's not even set in our world... That did help give me the confidence to take this movie in directions that, without The Dark Knight (2008), might not have been possible." Nolan has often stated that the classic James Bond films have been an influence on his "Dark Knight" trilogy. As such, one can say that Bond has inspired Batman and that Batman has inspired Bond.
There were 85 versions of James Bond's Tom Ford suit tailor-made for the opening chase sequence. Thirty were made for actor Daniel Craig and thirty for his double and stunt-double. Each version of the suit was made specifically for a particular scene of the opening sequence. For example, when Craig was riding the motor-bike, a suit with longer sleeves was worn so that it wouldn't raise up over his forearms. Costume Designer Jany Temime has said: "Each suit had three fittings, like a real traditional Saville Row suit. It was very high class tailoring. The first suit was mohair, very lightweight, woolen silk. The tuxedo is woolen silk. They were all [made of] beautiful fabric. He [would be] jumping and fighting, and then he would stand up, and the suit would be perfect." Moreover, Craig's tie had to be weighted for the motorbike section of the chase. The weight kept the tie from flying around when he rode at high speeds.
On an October 2012 episode of The Graham Norton Show (2007), Judi Dench revealed how her mobile cell phone has a ringtone with the James Bond theme and how when it rang during filming on the set, it would often produce laughter, and after a while, her annoying 007 cell-phone ring-tone became an on-set running joke.
The film's opening sequence shot in Adana and Istanbul in Turkey took around two months to film, three months of rehearsals, four months of preparation, 200 crew members from England and another 200 local crew in order to produce around 12-14 minutes of screen time.
A number of the actors playing smaller parts in the movie never received a script to work with due to the production's strict secrecy protocols, so stringent and tight, that they reflect real life intelligence espionage. Greek actress Tonia Sotiropoulou did not know what she would be doing on the film until the time her scenes were shot. She commented, "I was one of the people who never had a script. I just got told what I'd be doing on the set by the director. They have to be so careful. You have quite strict contracts that say you can't say anything about the plot. And everyone respects that."
For the motorbike chase in Turkey, Coca-Cola was sprayed on the tarmac of the streets in Istanbul to keep the bikes from sliding. While Coca-Cola is not an official product placement in the movie there was a Coke Zero marketing campaign that tied in with the movie.
The production was criticized during principal photography in Turkey for allegedly damaging the rooftops of buildings in Istanbul where a rooftop motorcycle chase was being filmed. One such incident that made local headlines was when a stunt-rider rode off a roof and smashed the window of the renowned Bobeyi jewelery store. Producer Michael G. Wilson held a press conference and the claims were quashed as the roofing had been removed for the stunt riding and replaced with replicas until filming wrapped, whereupon the original tiling was returned. This is not the first Bond movie to feature a rooftop motor-cycle chase, it's the second, as one appeared in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).
The shooting location of Shanghai makes this the first Bond movie to have filmed in China. Originally, Licence to Kill (1989) was to be filmed in China but when the Chinese Government made a number restrictive demands such as veto rights over the script, the viability of the location fell through. This was once rumoured to feature a motorcycle chase along the Great Wall of China, a chase sequence originally intended for Licence to Kill (1989), but instead there is a roof-top motorbike chase filmed in Istanbul, Turkey. Another sequence, a fight sequence in the then recently discovered museum of ancient terracotta statues at Xian was also scheduled for Licence to Kill (1989) but this sequence wasn't used for this film either. Scriptwriter John Logan wanted to use Shanghai as a filming location because "What we were looking for was opposition to London. We wanted exotic locations that seem so unlike the world that he grew up in, the world that he functions in, in a way trying to find places for Bond to be uncomfortable."
Kevin Spacey was considered for a role, but declined due to scheduling conflicts. It is believed that director Sam Mendes originally offered Spacey the role of the villain, the part in the film played by Javier Bardem. Spacey worked with Mendes on American Beauty (1999), in which Kevin Spacey's character complains to his wife about missing a James Bond marathon on television.
At the 2013 Academy Awards ceremony, Skyfall (2012) became the first James Bond film to achieve a number of records in the franchise's history:
The highest number of Academy Award nominations ever received by a Bond film (five: Best Song, Score, Sound Mixing, Sound Effects Editing and Cinematography).
The first Bond film in three decades to receive Oscar nominations. The last time was in 1982, when For Your Eyes Only (1981) was nominated for Best Song. 1982 also saw producer Albert R. Broccoli receive the Honorary Thalberg Award.
First Bond film to win two Oscars (Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965) won just the one each)
The third Bond film to win an Academy Award and the first in forty-seven years, the last being Thunderball (1965).
Skyfall's tied Oscar for Sound Editing was not actually the first in that category, as Goldfinger (1964) had won for Best Effects, Sound Effects whilst Diamonds Are Forever (1971) had been nominated for Best Sound.
Although a number of Bond songs have being nominated for the Best Song Oscar (Live and Let Die (1973), For Your Eyes Only (1981), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and the unofficial Casino Royale (1967)), Adele's "Skyfall" became the first James Bond theme to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
The first Bond film in three decades to receive Oscar nominations. The last time was in 1982, when For Your Eyes Only (1981) was nominated for Best Song. 1982 also saw producer Albert R. Broccoli receive the Honorary Thalberg Award.
First Bond film to win two Oscars (Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965) won just the one each)
The third Bond film to win an Academy Award and the first in forty-seven years, the last being Thunderball (1965).
Skyfall's tied Oscar for Sound Editing was not actually the first in that category, as Goldfinger (1964) had won for Best Effects, Sound Effects whilst Diamonds Are Forever (1971) had been nominated for Best Sound.
Although a number of Bond songs have being nominated for the Best Song Oscar (Live and Let Die (1973), For Your Eyes Only (1981), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and the unofficial Casino Royale (1967)), Adele's "Skyfall" became the first James Bond theme to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Reportedly, sales of cut-throat razors increased by around 400% in the week following the film's launch. Online retailers of cut-throat razors reported sales increases of 50% to 400% due to the exposure generated by this film. The spike in sales has been attributed to the love scene in 'Skyfall' where Bond Girl Eve (Naomie Harris) gives James Bond (Daniel Craig) an erotic close-shave with an old style straight razor commenting with a classic line, "Sometimes the old ways are the best".
At two seconds shy of 143 minutes, this is the second-longest Bond movie of all time, the longest being Casino Royale (2006) at 144 minutes. The third-longest running time for a Bond movie is 142 minutes for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
The film deals with James Bond's Scottish ancestry. Bond's family history was created by Ian Fleming in the Bond novel "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", first published in 1964. Fleming was inspired to add the back-story of Bond's genealogy into the book after seeing the character played by Sean Connery (a Scotsman) in Dr. No (1962). This is the second time in the official James Bond film series that James Bond discusses the death of his parents, the first time was in GoldenEye (1995). Clan of Bond names created by the production for the plaques and headstones at the chapel and graveyard include Andrew Bond, Robert Bond, Monique Delacroix Bond, Celia Bond, Kathleen Bond, Elsa/Elsie Louise Bond, Ramsay William Bond, and Margaret Jean Davidson Bond.
The most successful ever James Bond movie at the international box-office in the official franchise's film history.
The quotation that M recites is from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "Ulysses", e.g. "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield". First published in 1842, its recitation in the film's 2012 release occurs on the poem's 170th Anniversary.
The top-secret Intelligence career of original James Bond producer Harry Saltzman was first revealed by fellow Canadian David Giammarco in his acclaimed 2002 book "For Your Eyes Only: Behind the Scenes of the James Bond Films" published for the 40th anniversary of the James Bond Films. For the 50th anniversary 007 film Skyfall (2012), longtime Bond franchise collaborator David Giammarco, along with contributions from Hilary Saltzman and Steven Saltzman, disclosed the full extent of their father's Intelligence work including previously-classified documents, photos and analysis in an exclusive feature for Vanity Fair Magazine titled "50 Years of 007: The Secret Spy Life of James Bond Producer Harry Saltzman". As part of the James Bond worldwide publicity for the golden milestone of cinema's longest-running series begun in 1962 by Albert R. Broccoli and Saltzman, this remarkable package of revelations - kept under extremely tight wraps by Giammarco and Vanity Fair for nearly a year - immediately sparked thrilling media headlines around the globe in the countdown to the highly-anticipated theatrical release of Skyfall (2012).
The villain's helicopter was an AgustaWestland AW101. Even though this was one of the newest and most advanced helicopters in the sky when the film was made, the sound effects editor did the common practice of dubbing in the sound of a two-bladed Bell Huey Vietnam-era helicopter developed in the late 1950s.
This movie is not a follow-on from the two previous films Quantum of Solace (2008) and Casino Royale (2006). Producer Barbara Broccoli said that the series "will go on to other different stories from now on." However, the reappearance of the QUANTUM organization in later films is still a possibility. Broccoli has said: "I think in some way, he will go after the [Quantum] organization. So in that sense, it may become a trilogy, but we haven't really structured it that way."
During the martini scene at the bar, the famous Bond drink catchphrase "Shaken, not stirred" isn't actually spoken, but the martini is explicitly concocted on screen and the bartender is shown shaking the martini before pouring it. Moreover, the bottle of alcohol that Silva offers Bond on his island says "1962" on its label, referencing the franchise's 50th anniversary. The ale is Heineken who contributed a rather large amount of money for the product placements. Bill Tanner is also seen drinking the beverage.
Adele's "Skyfall" is the first Billboard Top 10 hit to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song since Eminem's "Lose Yourself" from 8 Mile (2002), ten years earlier.
Final of twenty-three James Bond films for trumpet player Derek Watkins who had worked in the music department as a trumpeter on every James Bond film since he was seventeen years old when he worked on the first movie in the official series Dr. No (1962). Watkins passed away in 2013 around five months after the release of Skyfall (2012).
During principal photography, three Turkish youths bypassed tight security in Adana, Southern Turkey to infiltrate a closed film set where they filmed with their mobile phones footage of a train scene being shot. Fitting of the intrigue from the earlier Turkey set Bond movie From Russia with Love (1963), the three sneaked through alleyways and jumped a wire fence into a train station where Skyfall was being filmed. The trio slipped under train cars and rendezvoused at the repair depot where they went into spy disguise and put on off-duty worker's helmets and overalls. They were later caught by security, interrogated and removed from set.
In early drafts of the script, when M enters her house to find James Bond waiting for her, the line "007 reporting for duty" was followed by, "You're supposed to be dead." Bond's response was "I came back" and M said, "You only live twice, Mr. Bond" This would have been a reference to the 5th film of the series, You Only Live Twice (1967) starring Sean Connery.
Eminönü Square [aka Eminonu Square], a busy business district in Istanbul, was used for filming the movie's opening sequence and had to be closed for three weeks in order to do this. The place is one of Istanbul's oldest and most magnificent squares and is surrounded by the ancient Spice Bazaar and the fabulous Yeni Mosque. In a curious requirement for the bazaars, the shops could open but could not trade due to the area being off-limits to the public, traffic and pedestrians. Shop-keepers were reimbursed 750 Turkish Liras per day to cover their losses. The Turkish bazaar sequence in the film featured over 250 dressed market stalls created by the film's art and props department and was populated by around 500 extras and background artists.
For the first time in the famous gun-barrel sequence Bond is seen wearing a grey suit rather than a black one.
M's name is "Olivia Mansfield." A 2013 props exhibition revealed her full name to be visible in an inscription on the box given to Bond from Eve containing M's porcelain bulldog figurine. In 1995, the original script for GoldenEye (1995) had revealed M's name as "Barbara Mawdsley," but this was before the James Bond series "reboot" with Casino Royale (2006), so Judi Dench's interpretation of M is likely two different characters. Curiously, "Olivia" is Dench's middle name, and the first head of the British Secret Service was (George) Mansfield Smith-Cummings (known by the first letter of his last name "C"). According to fellow spy novelist John le Carré, Ian Fleming (ever tongue in cheek), designated the head of SIS as "M", using instead Cummings' first name. Keeping the Mansfield here as a surname is a twist but not intended in any of Fleming's original works. Fleming's "Man With the Golden Gun" gave his M's name as Myles Messervy.
When Bond and Q meet in the National Gallery in London, Q jokes about giving Bond an exploding pen when Bond moans about the tools received to fulfill the mission. Two previous film actually had Q giving Bond such a pen: Never Say Never Again (1983) and GoldenEye (1995).
Actor Javier Bardem has described his Raoul Silva villain character as "An angel of death - a very cleanshaven person who happens to be rotten on the inside. He has a very personal objective - he's not trying to destroy the world. And he is on a straight line to that objective: he is a man seeking revenge. It's about being focused on the one person he wants to eliminate." Bardem has also explained about finding the character inside the villain: "It's always about who's the person behind the character. It would be very difficult for me to play a role that I just saw as some kind of symbol. In this case, there is a man suffering, a man full of pain and frustration, who simply wants to fix the situation. Within that journey, there was room to be funny or aggressive, but I could perfectly understand who he was, and that helped me to portray him."
The film's title is not a word taken from any Ian Fleming James Bond story. The film's screen-writing team of Purvis & Wade thought up the film's "Skyfall" title at two in the morning. Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have said: "We needed a haunting place name. I just plucked it out of the air, and it turned out to be something that struck a chord with the filmmakers". 'Skyfall' is the only ever Bond film where the team provided the film's title. The World Is Not Enough (1999)'s title was taken from a true life Bond family motto and was mentioned by Ian Fleming in the novel of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) whilst the title of Die Another Day (2002) was taken from a phrase in A.E. Housman's poem "A Shropshire Lad". Both Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008) were titles taken from original Ian Fleming stories.
Sixth appearance in the official James Bond series of the classic silver-birch Aston Martin DB5 car. The film marks the return of the vehicle which first appeared in Goldfinger (1964) and last appeared in Casino Royale (2006). The DB5 has also appeared in Thunderball (1965), GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). The car also features in the James Bond video-games James Bond in Agent Under Fire (2001), 007 Racing (2000), James Bond 007: Bloodstone (2010) and From Russia with Love (2005) but not in the tie-in video-game 007 Legends (2012) which has instead the Aston Martin DBS. The license plate number of the DB5 in this film is BMT 216A, the same as it was in Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965), the complex the car drives out of resembling that from Goldfinger (1964). The famous DB series of Aston Martin cars is named after Sir David Brown. Brown was an entrepreneur, adventurer, and chairman of Aston Martin from the late 1940s to the 1970s.
Director Sam Mendes used to be in a relationship with actress Rachel Weisz who was once rumored to going to be cast in this movie. Weisz is now married to the actor playing James Bond, Daniel Craig. Weisz has also starred in espionage films such as The Bourne Legacy (2012) and The Constant Gardener (2005) for which she won an Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Supporting Actress, and which coincidentally also starred Ralph Fiennes.
The name of the World War II era French song heard playing on Silva's island lair is "Boum!" and is sung by the famous French singer / songwriter Charles Trenet. The song won the Grand Prix du Disque and was first released in 1938, its use in the film occurring around 74 years after it first debuted.
The promotional tie-in with Heineken Lager Beer for this movie has been valued at being (UK) £28 million (= US $45 million). The product placement caused a controversy in the media prior to release, criticism being made for lacking integrity, blatant commercialization with Daniel Craig actually appearing in a Heineken ad and being disrespectful to Bond's traditional drink, the shaken, not stirred martini. Producer Michael G. Wilson and actor Daniel Craig defended the financing by indicating that the Bond films cost a lot of money to make and the film could not be completed without this support; that many of the product placements are based around supply of the products with technical support and the fact that James Bond is still seen drinking a Vodka Martini.
The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is featured prominently during the film's opening chase sequence. The Grand Bazaar is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over three thousand shops attracting up to 400,000 visitors daily. Due to the hazardous nature of the sequence, access to the location for the film unit could only to be granted on Sunday, when the bazaar is closed. Through a combination of efforts from the locations department, set decoration, art and props teams, the bazaar was dressed overnight on preceding Saturday nights to look like the hive of activity that the one would expect from the location. 500 Turkish extras and stunt background were brought into the Grand Bazaar to provide the location with its usual crowded and buzzing atmosphere. The rooftops of the Bazaar served as a spectacular platform to view Istanbul's ancient and dynamic skyline. The production went to great lengths to protect and preserve the Grand Bazaar's historic architecture, which included floating reinforced steel roof panels over the existing tiles to protect the original structure. The age of the Grand Bazaar shop where a motorbike crashes through its window was around 330 years.
Second time in the official James Bond series that James Bond has broken into M's home as he did in Casino Royale (2006). That time, M said, "Don't ever break into my house again," though she fails to mention that in this film.
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First time that an Academy Award winning director (Sam Mendes (American Beauty (1999))) has directed a James Bond movie. The first Bond film seen by Mendes was Live and Let Die (1973) whilst his favorite is From Russia with Love (1963). During pre-production, Mendes was originally hired as a consultant during the MGM bankruptcy period so as to avoid a direct connection payment to Mendes from having been classified as a bona fide director to the production, and as such requiring an official director's payment. Reportedly, Mendes was offered the director's job at a party by Daniel Craig. A meeting was then arranged for Mendes with the producers and things rolled on from there. As a boy, Mendes owned a die-cast Corgi Toys model car of Bond's Aston Martin DB5 car which inspired him to include the vehicle in the film. Around the time of Casino Royale (2006), Mendes originally thought Craig was miscast as Bond. Mendes told 'Metro': "I was one of the people who said I didn't think he was the right casting. At the time, I was asked in an interview and I said, "I'm not sure, I would advise him not to do it". With a rating of PG-13, this is also Mendes' first non-R-rated film.
At two seconds shy of 143 minutes, this is the second-longest Bond movie of all time, the longest being Casino Royale (2006) at 144 minutes. The third-longest running time for a Bond movie is 142 minutes for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
The film deals with James Bond's Scottish ancestry. Bond's family history was created by Ian Fleming in the Bond novel "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", first published in 1964. Fleming was inspired to add the back-story of Bond's genealogy into the book after seeing the character played by Sean Connery (a Scotsman) in Dr. No (1962). This is the second time in the official James Bond film series that James Bond discusses the death of his parents, the first time was in GoldenEye (1995). Clan of Bond names created by the production for the plaques and headstones at the chapel and graveyard include Andrew Bond, Robert Bond, Monique Delacroix Bond, Celia Bond, Kathleen Bond, Elsa/Elsie Louise Bond, Ramsay William Bond, and Margaret Jean Davidson Bond.
The most successful ever James Bond movie at the international box-office in the official franchise's film history.
The quotation that M recites is from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "Ulysses", e.g. "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield". First published in 1842, its recitation in the film's 2012 release occurs on the poem's 170th Anniversary.
The top-secret Intelligence career of original James Bond producer Harry Saltzman was first revealed by fellow Canadian David Giammarco in his acclaimed 2002 book "For Your Eyes Only: Behind the Scenes of the James Bond Films" published for the 40th anniversary of the James Bond Films. For the 50th anniversary 007 film Skyfall (2012), longtime Bond franchise collaborator David Giammarco, along with contributions from Hilary Saltzman and Steven Saltzman, disclosed the full extent of their father's Intelligence work including previously-classified documents, photos and analysis in an exclusive feature for Vanity Fair Magazine titled "50 Years of 007: The Secret Spy Life of James Bond Producer Harry Saltzman". As part of the James Bond worldwide publicity for the golden milestone of cinema's longest-running series begun in 1962 by Albert R. Broccoli and Saltzman, this remarkable package of revelations - kept under extremely tight wraps by Giammarco and Vanity Fair for nearly a year - immediately sparked thrilling media headlines around the globe in the countdown to the highly-anticipated theatrical release of Skyfall (2012).
The villain's helicopter was an AgustaWestland AW101. Even though this was one of the newest and most advanced helicopters in the sky when the film was made, the sound effects editor did the common practice of dubbing in the sound of a two-bladed Bell Huey Vietnam-era helicopter developed in the late 1950s.
This movie is not a follow-on from the two previous films Quantum of Solace (2008) and Casino Royale (2006). Producer Barbara Broccoli said that the series "will go on to other different stories from now on." However, the reappearance of the QUANTUM organization in later films is still a possibility. Broccoli has said: "I think in some way, he will go after the [Quantum] organization. So in that sense, it may become a trilogy, but we haven't really structured it that way."
During the martini scene at the bar, the famous Bond drink catchphrase "Shaken, not stirred" isn't actually spoken, but the martini is explicitly concocted on screen and the bartender is shown shaking the martini before pouring it. Moreover, the bottle of alcohol that Silva offers Bond on his island says "1962" on its label, referencing the franchise's 50th anniversary. The ale is Heineken who contributed a rather large amount of money for the product placements. Bill Tanner is also seen drinking the beverage.
Adele's "Skyfall" is the first Billboard Top 10 hit to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song since Eminem's "Lose Yourself" from 8 Mile (2002), ten years earlier.
Final of twenty-three James Bond films for trumpet player Derek Watkins who had worked in the music department as a trumpeter on every James Bond film since he was seventeen years old when he worked on the first movie in the official series Dr. No (1962). Watkins passed away in 2013 around five months after the release of Skyfall (2012).
During principal photography, three Turkish youths bypassed tight security in Adana, Southern Turkey to infiltrate a closed film set where they filmed with their mobile phones footage of a train scene being shot. Fitting of the intrigue from the earlier Turkey set Bond movie From Russia with Love (1963), the three sneaked through alleyways and jumped a wire fence into a train station where Skyfall was being filmed. The trio slipped under train cars and rendezvoused at the repair depot where they went into spy disguise and put on off-duty worker's helmets and overalls. They were later caught by security, interrogated and removed from set.
In early drafts of the script, when M enters her house to find James Bond waiting for her, the line "007 reporting for duty" was followed by, "You're supposed to be dead." Bond's response was "I came back" and M said, "You only live twice, Mr. Bond" This would have been a reference to the 5th film of the series, You Only Live Twice (1967) starring Sean Connery.
Eminönü Square [aka Eminonu Square], a busy business district in Istanbul, was used for filming the movie's opening sequence and had to be closed for three weeks in order to do this. The place is one of Istanbul's oldest and most magnificent squares and is surrounded by the ancient Spice Bazaar and the fabulous Yeni Mosque. In a curious requirement for the bazaars, the shops could open but could not trade due to the area being off-limits to the public, traffic and pedestrians. Shop-keepers were reimbursed 750 Turkish Liras per day to cover their losses. The Turkish bazaar sequence in the film featured over 250 dressed market stalls created by the film's art and props department and was populated by around 500 extras and background artists.
For the first time in the famous gun-barrel sequence Bond is seen wearing a grey suit rather than a black one.
M's name is "Olivia Mansfield." A 2013 props exhibition revealed her full name to be visible in an inscription on the box given to Bond from Eve containing M's porcelain bulldog figurine. In 1995, the original script for GoldenEye (1995) had revealed M's name as "Barbara Mawdsley," but this was before the James Bond series "reboot" with Casino Royale (2006), so Judi Dench's interpretation of M is likely two different characters. Curiously, "Olivia" is Dench's middle name, and the first head of the British Secret Service was (George) Mansfield Smith-Cummings (known by the first letter of his last name "C"). According to fellow spy novelist John le Carré, Ian Fleming (ever tongue in cheek), designated the head of SIS as "M", using instead Cummings' first name. Keeping the Mansfield here as a surname is a twist but not intended in any of Fleming's original works. Fleming's "Man With the Golden Gun" gave his M's name as Myles Messervy.
When Bond and Q meet in the National Gallery in London, Q jokes about giving Bond an exploding pen when Bond moans about the tools received to fulfill the mission. Two previous film actually had Q giving Bond such a pen: Never Say Never Again (1983) and GoldenEye (1995).
Actor Javier Bardem has described his Raoul Silva villain character as "An angel of death - a very cleanshaven person who happens to be rotten on the inside. He has a very personal objective - he's not trying to destroy the world. And he is on a straight line to that objective: he is a man seeking revenge. It's about being focused on the one person he wants to eliminate." Bardem has also explained about finding the character inside the villain: "It's always about who's the person behind the character. It would be very difficult for me to play a role that I just saw as some kind of symbol. In this case, there is a man suffering, a man full of pain and frustration, who simply wants to fix the situation. Within that journey, there was room to be funny or aggressive, but I could perfectly understand who he was, and that helped me to portray him."
The film's title is not a word taken from any Ian Fleming James Bond story. The film's screen-writing team of Purvis & Wade thought up the film's "Skyfall" title at two in the morning. Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have said: "We needed a haunting place name. I just plucked it out of the air, and it turned out to be something that struck a chord with the filmmakers". 'Skyfall' is the only ever Bond film where the team provided the film's title. The World Is Not Enough (1999)'s title was taken from a true life Bond family motto and was mentioned by Ian Fleming in the novel of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) whilst the title of Die Another Day (2002) was taken from a phrase in A.E. Housman's poem "A Shropshire Lad". Both Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008) were titles taken from original Ian Fleming stories.
Sixth appearance in the official James Bond series of the classic silver-birch Aston Martin DB5 car. The film marks the return of the vehicle which first appeared in Goldfinger (1964) and last appeared in Casino Royale (2006). The DB5 has also appeared in Thunderball (1965), GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). The car also features in the James Bond video-games James Bond in Agent Under Fire (2001), 007 Racing (2000), James Bond 007: Bloodstone (2010) and From Russia with Love (2005) but not in the tie-in video-game 007 Legends (2012) which has instead the Aston Martin DBS. The license plate number of the DB5 in this film is BMT 216A, the same as it was in Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965), the complex the car drives out of resembling that from Goldfinger (1964). The famous DB series of Aston Martin cars is named after Sir David Brown. Brown was an entrepreneur, adventurer, and chairman of Aston Martin from the late 1940s to the 1970s.
Director Sam Mendes used to be in a relationship with actress Rachel Weisz who was once rumored to going to be cast in this movie. Weisz is now married to the actor playing James Bond, Daniel Craig. Weisz has also starred in espionage films such as The Bourne Legacy (2012) and The Constant Gardener (2005) for which she won an Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Supporting Actress, and which coincidentally also starred Ralph Fiennes.
The name of the World War II era French song heard playing on Silva's island lair is "Boum!" and is sung by the famous French singer / songwriter Charles Trenet. The song won the Grand Prix du Disque and was first released in 1938, its use in the film occurring around 74 years after it first debuted.
The promotional tie-in with Heineken Lager Beer for this movie has been valued at being (UK) £28 million (= US $45 million). The product placement caused a controversy in the media prior to release, criticism being made for lacking integrity, blatant commercialization with Daniel Craig actually appearing in a Heineken ad and being disrespectful to Bond's traditional drink, the shaken, not stirred martini. Producer Michael G. Wilson and actor Daniel Craig defended the financing by indicating that the Bond films cost a lot of money to make and the film could not be completed without this support; that many of the product placements are based around supply of the products with technical support and the fact that James Bond is still seen drinking a Vodka Martini.
The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is featured prominently during the film's opening chase sequence. The Grand Bazaar is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over three thousand shops attracting up to 400,000 visitors daily. Due to the hazardous nature of the sequence, access to the location for the film unit could only to be granted on Sunday, when the bazaar is closed. Through a combination of efforts from the locations department, set decoration, art and props teams, the bazaar was dressed overnight on preceding Saturday nights to look like the hive of activity that the one would expect from the location. 500 Turkish extras and stunt background were brought into the Grand Bazaar to provide the location with its usual crowded and buzzing atmosphere. The rooftops of the Bazaar served as a spectacular platform to view Istanbul's ancient and dynamic skyline. The production went to great lengths to protect and preserve the Grand Bazaar's historic architecture, which included floating reinforced steel roof panels over the existing tiles to protect the original structure. The age of the Grand Bazaar shop where a motorbike crashes through its window was around 330 years.
Second time in the official James Bond series that James Bond has broken into M's home as he did in Casino Royale (2006). That time, M said, "Don't ever break into my house again," though she fails to mention that in this film.
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First time that an Academy Award winning director (Sam Mendes (American Beauty (1999))) has directed a James Bond movie. The first Bond film seen by Mendes was Live and Let Die (1973) whilst his favorite is From Russia with Love (1963). During pre-production, Mendes was originally hired as a consultant during the MGM bankruptcy period so as to avoid a direct connection payment to Mendes from having been classified as a bona fide director to the production, and as such requiring an official director's payment. Reportedly, Mendes was offered the director's job at a party by Daniel Craig. A meeting was then arranged for Mendes with the producers and things rolled on from there. As a boy, Mendes owned a die-cast Corgi Toys model car of Bond's Aston Martin DB5 car which inspired him to include the vehicle in the film. Around the time of Casino Royale (2006), Mendes originally thought Craig was miscast as Bond. Mendes told 'Metro': "I was one of the people who said I didn't think he was the right casting. At the time, I was asked in an interview and I said, "I'm not sure, I would advise him not to do it". With a rating of PG-13, this is also Mendes' first non-R-rated film.
The painting that Q and Bond view at the National Gallery is "The Fighting Temeraire" (1839) by J.M.W Turner. The painting depicts H.M.S Temeraire, being a part of the British armada that participated in the Battle of Trafalgar 1805 decommissioned and towed from Sheerness to Rotherhithe to be broken up in 1838. Turner's main motive of painting was to evoke a sense of loss rather than giving a recording of the event. In a metaphorical way, the painting's depiction provides a hint to the fate of one of the characters in the film. Other paintings and artworks seen include "Woman with a Fan (Luna Czechowska)" (1919) by Amedeo Modigliani and Joseph Wright of Derby's "An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump" (1768).
Ben Whishaw is the fourth actor to play Q in the official James Bond series. This marks the first time that Q is younger than James Bond. The producers have said that "When it came to trying to reintroduce the character of Q, it made sense that he would now be a young technical genius and the character was written with that in mind." Whishaw's character of Q has been likened to that of computer-genius types like Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg. Coincidentally, Whishaw has said that he doesn't even own a computer. Peter Burton first played Q under the character's real name of Major Boothroyd and nick-named the Armourer in Dr. No (1962) then Desmond Llewelyn played Q in 17 Bond films between 1963-1999 followed by John Cleese (as Q's assistant R) in The World Is Not Enough (1999) then as Q in Die Another Day (2002), the latter being the last time the character appeared in the official series before 'Skyfall', a gap of around a decade. Whishaw is the sixth actor to play Q if one counts the unofficial Bond films Casino Royale (1967) and Never Say Never Again (1983) where Q was played by Geoffrey Bayldon and Alec McCowen respectively. Q is an abbreviation for the word Quartermaster.
The four-year gap between the release of Quantum of Solace (2008) and this film ties for the second-longest period between James Bond films. This gap between films also represents the longest time between films without a casting change to the actor playing James Bond. Previous hiatuses between Licence to Kill (1989) and GoldenEye (1995) (the longest period between films in the franchise) and then between Die Another Day (2002) and Casino Royale (2006) were both accompanied by casting changes to the actor playing James Bond.
The exotic Calis Beach, a remote beach in Fethiye, a coastal town in the south of Turkey, was a great challenge for the locations department to secure for filming a sequence featuring James Bond. EON Productions had to negotiate with the six hundred and thirteen part-owners of the beach to allow filming to take place there.
The film's marketing has been said to have gone to a new level with the actual actor who plays James Bond (Daniel Craig) appearing in a number of commercial television advertisements for product placements seen in the film such as Heineken, Omega Watches and Sony Electronics. However, this has been justified, Daniel Craig has said, "The simple fact is that, without them, we couldn't do it. It's unfortunate but that's how it is. This movie costs a lot of money to make, it costs nearly as much again if not more to promote, so we go where we can."
Second time in the official James Bond series that James Bond is seen with a beard, the first time was Pierce Brosnan in Die Another Day (2002). In both pictures the character only has the beard for a portion of the film. In both instances we see the beard being shaved.
It was initially speculated that James Bond veteran composer David Arnold would be providing the score for this film despite a long-running collaboration between director Sam Mendes and composer Thomas Newman. However, in January 2012, it was finally announced that Newman would, in fact, be composing the score. This marks only the sixth time (out of twenty-three films) that a James Bond film has not been scored by either Monty Norman, John Barry, or David Arnold. It is a myth that Arnold was unable to score the film due to his duties as musical director for the 2012 London Olympics - in numerous interviews he has stated that Newman was simply chosen due to his ongoing work with Mendes. In October 2012, David Arnold revealed on Twitter that the producers had licensed some of his film score from Casino Royale (2006) for Skyfall.
The first James Bond film to be shot entirely using digital cinematography. Previously only part of one scene in Quantum of Solace (2008) was shot digitally. It is also the first film to use the Arri Alexa Studio camera, which cinematographer Roger Deakins selected because, unlike the other Alexa models, it has an optical viewfinder. It is also Deakins' second digitally-shot film, after In Time (2011), on which he also used the Alexa.
The Royal World Premiere of Skyfall (2012) marked a rare reunion for the families of James Bond producers Harry Saltzman, Albert R. Broccoli and author Ian Fleming on the 50th anniversary. Since Saltzman was able to secure the film right's for the 007 novels in 1962 from Fleming given both men's shared experience as Intelligence operatives, the unique seating arrangement at Royal Albert Hall reflected that relationship. In the Royal Box adjacent to His Royal Highness Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall (Camilla Parker-Bowles, the surviving family of Ian Fleming, including niece Lucy Fleming and cousin Sir Christopher Lee, who also served in British Intelligence, were seated alongside Saltzman's daughter Hilary Saltzman, son Steven Saltzman, and Canadian print and broadcast journalist David Giammarco, a longtime associate of the James Bond films and author of the book "For Your Eyes Only: Behind the Scenes of the James Bond Films". The Gala Charity Premiere of Skyfall (2012) benefited retired members of Britain's Intelligence agencies, for which HRH Prince Charles is England's Royal Patron.
The mug Q drinks from in his lab has the letter "Q" from the game Scrabble printed on it, complete with the number "10", the point value of the letter Q in the board game.
Javier Bardem apparently was once offered a role in an earlier James Bond film prior to this, perhaps even the role of James Bond himself (though this is unlikely). Bardem told CinemaBlend, "Years ago, I was [offered Bond]. I don't remember what movie it was for. But yeah, it just was not that time. I didn't feel that it was the time for me to do something like that. And also, I was doing something else, so I passed. This time, when I read it, I felt that it was very powerful material, and I wanted to join [a Bond movie]."
Glencoe in Scotland is a filming location that portrays its own setting: Glencoe. In the James Bond novel "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", author Ian Fleming gave Bond a sense of family background, writing that Bond's father Andrew Bond was from Glencoe. The Glencoe region has one of the most iconic landscapes in Scotland, the mountains contain some of the oldest sedimentary and volcanic strata in the world. In 'Skyfall', these mountains served as a beautiful backdrop for Bond and M's drive through Glencoe's scenic roads in the iconic silver-birch Aston Martin DB5.
Greek model-actress Tonia Sotiropoulou who appears as a minor Bond Girl early in the movie had auditioned for the other Bond Girl role of Sévérine but lost out to Bérénice Marlohe. After Casting Director Debbie McWilliams suggested that the production might be able to find another part for her, her management company Back Door Management resubmitted her for the film and she was successful. Tonia's Bond Girl character in the film has no name and is billed in the credits only as "Bond's Lover". Moreover, Sotiropoulou's brief role in the film is entirely mute making her the first Bond Girl to visibly consummate a relationship with Bond on screen (as opposed to one that is only implied) without actually saying even one word on screen.
Second Unit Director Alexander Witt and the second unit traveled to Shanghai in China to shoot establishing shots and driving sequences. The crew worked nights in the busy week leading up to the Chinese New Year to capture the exhilarating, ever-changing metropolis that is one of the most dynamic cities in the world. An aerial unit piloted by Marc Wolff was granted rare access to the skies above the city to shoot from a helicopter on loan from the Chinese Government. Production Designer Dennis Gassner and the art department then worked to create the rest of the Chinese environment on sound-stages at Pinewood Studios.
Development and production was delayed for almost nine months during 2010-11 due to the bankruptcy and delayed sale of studio MGM, with the production being officially suspended on 19 April 2010. The press release from producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, for the film, then known as 'Bond 23', stated: "Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on 'Bond 23' indefinitely. We do not know when development will resume and do not have a date for the release of 'Bond 23'". During this period, some development and pre-production work continued on the film despite the canceled financing, with the goal to have this Bond film in theaters for the 50th Anniversary of the franchise. Production resumed in January 2011.
The most successful ever James Bond movie at the international box-office in the official franchise's film history. Previously, it grossed $100 million at the international box-office in its first week. It also had the biggest ever opening weekend at the box-office for a Bond film in Britain.
Daniel Craig was injured during the rehearsal period for this movie whereupon rescheduling took place requiring two weeks rest for his injuries. Craig was not injured during principal photography. This is the second time in the franchise's history that a delay has been forced by an injury to the actor playing James Bond. The first was on Die Another Day (2002) where Pierce Brosnan blew his knee out during filming of the opening hovercraft sequence, shutting down production for around 1-2 weeks.
Naomie Harris's mother is from Jamaica where author Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond stories at his GoldenEye estate. At 35 years of age at the start of filming, Harris is one of the oldest actresses to play a major Bond Girl. Honor Blackman is tied for eldest to ever play one, being 37 years of age at the time of filming Goldfinger (1964), and Maud Adams was also 37 years old at time of filming for Octopussy (1983). Harris attended the film's Royal World Premiere with twenty-six members of her family.
According to the UK Sun newspaper, Bond Girl Bérénice Marlohe said that James Bond actor Daniel Craig was coy and hesitant before filming their love scene in the shower. Marlohe said: "He was very shy and when he saw me entering the shower, he was like, 'Oh my god'. He tried to keep his underpants on for the shower scenes but I said, 'No, come on, don't be shy. I will do anything to make you feel comfortable'".
Actress Judi Dench and Sam Mendes have previously worked together in theatre on Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" whilst James Bond actor Daniel Craig and Mendes previously worked together on Road to Perdition (2002). Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins have also worked together previously on Revolutionary Road (2008) and Jarhead (2005). Craig and actor Ben Whishaw previously worked together on 3 films: Layer Cake (2004), Enduring Love and The Trench. Skyfall is the second time Javier Bardem has worked with Director of Photography Roger Deakins. The first was No Country for Old Men (2007). Bardem features as the main villain in both films.
With the use of Quantum of Solace (2008), an original Ian Fleming James Bond story title, there now remains only four unused original Fleming titles that could possibly have been used as a title for this film. These are "The Property of a Lady", "The Hildebrand Rarity", "Risico" and "007 in New York" (aka "Agent 007 in New York"). However, none of these were used in favor of the original title, 'Skyfall'
The names of the leaked MI6 agents in the YouTube video are names of members of the production crew, though the corresponding faces shown are of professional actors. The names used include art director Paul Inglis, assistant executive producer Andy Surry, and special effects technician Steve Benelisha. The other two Mi6 agent names, Mansur Dimka and Ben Daheer, appear not to be based on anyone in particular. The handle of the YouTube poster posting the video in the film is "vials" which is an anagram for Silva, the last name of the film's villain Raoul Silva. Moreover, the runtime on the YouTube video is 0:07, a reference to James Bond's code number of 007.
Fourth time in an official Bond movie that an M character's home has been seen. The first time was M (Bernard Lee)'s manor Quarterdeck in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). The 2nd & 3rd times followed much later with M (Judi Dench)'s homes in Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008). 'Skyfall' is the fifth time if one counts the unofficial Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967) which also showed an M character's home.
The glass set depicting the inside of the Shanghai office skyscraper was nick-named "The Jellyfish." It was built at Pinewood Studios and was likened to being like "a hall of mirrors". Cinematographer Roger Deakins has said: "Because it was all glass, the crew walking through it kept bashing into things". For filming, Deakins lit the set with two gigantic LED (Light Emitting Diode) panels which were used to represent electronic billboards exterior to the skyscraper's office's windows. The production had originally location scouted for a Chinese skyscraper but this proved unsuccessful, the substitute set providing improvements by being multi-dimensionally made of glass. The sequence in 'Skyfall' that "The Jellyfish" is seen is when James Bond (Daniel Craig) is on the track of an assassin on the way to a Shanghai office complex. In the earlier James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), a hall of mirrors was seen during the opening sequence and at the film's denouement.
The type of lizards seen in the pit at the Golden Dragon floating casino are Komodo Dragons or Komodo Monitors, their species genus is "Varanus komodoensis", being part of the Varanidae monitor lizard species family. They are the both the largest species of reptillian dragons located in the Indonesian Islands and also the largest living species of lizard in the world, they can grow to a length of 10 ft (3 m) and weigh up to around 150 lb (70 kg). Track 13 of Thomas Newman's 'Skyfall' score soundtrack is called "Komodo Dragon". The name of the casino where the dragons are seen, "The Golden Dragon Casino", references the lizards which are housed in it.
With his casting, Javier Bardem becomes the second Academy Award winner to play a major Bond villain. The first was Christopher Walken in A View to a Kill (1985) who had won an Oscar for The Deer Hunter (1978). Both Academy Awards were for Best Supporting Actor, Bardem's statuette was for No Country for Old Men (2007). Bardem is not the only actor in 'Skyfall' to have a Best Supporting Acting Oscar, Judi Dench has one for Shakespeare in Love (1998).
This is the only James Bond film where there is no leading James Bond girl. Judi Dench, as M, has the pivotal female role by participating in the climax and holding the emotional crux of the story, but she is not a James Bond girl, since she and Bond don't have a romantic relationship. The secondary Bond Girls in the movie are played by Naomie Harris as Eve; Bérénice Marlohe as Sévérine and Tonia Sotiropoulou as Bond's Lover. Actresses Freida Pinto, Olivia Wilde, Rachel Weisz, Esti Ginzburg, Margarita Levieva, Alice Eve, Ana Ventura, Emilia Fox and Ebru Akel were rumored and/or considered to appear as Bond Girls in the movie. Reportedly, 'Skyfall' is the first ever James Bond film in the official series where production notes and publicity materials generally refer to the leading actresses in the film as 'Bond Women' and not as 'Bond Girls'.
According to Judi Dench, the secrecy surrounding the details of the film's plot was such, that advance copies of the script were individually stamped so they can be specifically traced to each official recipient in the event of negligent disclosure of plot details.
The train fight scene was supposed to shoot in India, with lot of people traveling on the roof of the train. However Indian government would not give permission saying that it will give a bad impression about India and its culture.
Actors Ralph Fiennes (M), Rory Kinnear (Tanner) and Ben Whishaw (Q), all now Mi6 regular characters in the James Bond film franchise , have all portrayed "Hamlet" on the stage, on Broadway, The National Theatre and The Old Vic respectively.
The film has been said to use a large amount of computer-generated imagery, around 500 CGI shots, the most since Die Another Day (2002). A large amount of the visual effects in the film were created by around 850 staff of Technicolor owned post-production house The Moving Picture Company (MPC), 250 in Bangalore and 600 in London. Animators, graphic artists, visual FX technicians and other VFX professionals worked for eight months creating literally thousands of frames, computer animations, graphic insertions and high-end visual effects integrating all the digital content for the movie.
The first James Bond film to be released in the IMAX format. Unlike most films blown up for an IMAX release, the film did not go through their DMR (Digital Media Remastering) process, as cinematographer Roger Deakins thought that the film's image quality was high enough to make it unnecessary. Deakins has said they "...shot 2.35:1 [aspect ratio] but because of the size of the chip, you've got so much space top and bottom that basically I shot it for both formats...the IMAX was clean and the image quality is fantastic because you're using the full size of the chip. So I had seen a lot of tests and was blown away by the IMAX. We did a 4K finish and it's down rez'd to 2K after that. It quite surprised me, the fantastic quality." Films shot in IMAX have an aspect ratio of 1.44:1 which takes up the entire IMAX screen. Skyfall wasn't shot in IMAX, but the aspect ratio of the IMAX 'Skyfall' prints is 1.90:1 compared to standard theater 'Skyfall' prints which have an aspect ratio of 2.40:1. The IMAX image is 26% larger at the top and bottom of the frame than the screen image in conventional theaters thereby giving audiences a taller depth of field to view.
The gun-barrel sequence was re-shot specially for this movie as it was in the previous film. With this third Daniel Craig Bond movie, Craig has still never appeared in a traditional series gun-barrel sequence shown at the start of the film (the last film to use the sequence at the beginning was Die Another Day (2002)). According to Sam Mendes, there was an attempt to put the gun-barrel walk before the pre-titles sequence but it did not work out artistically. It was also put at the end of the film so as to be able mark the Golden Anniversary of the franchise with Bond's 50th Anniversary logo. Daniel Craig is also the first actor to film three different gun-barrel sequences, which depict Bond wearing different suits and having different stances as he shoots. For the first time in the famous gun-barrel sequence, Bond is seen wearing a grey suit rather than a black one. Roger Moore is the other Bond actor to have shot more than one gun-barrel sequence as he had filmed one for Live and Let Die (1973), which was reused in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), and eventually would film a second one for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) that would be reused for the rest of the Bond films starring Moore.
Seventh James Bond film where the villain resides on an island lair. Raoul Silva's home is Hashima Island, an abandoned island near Nagasaki, Japan. The others were Dr. No (1962)'s Crab Key island; Largo's Palmyra Estate on the Bahamas Islands in Thunderball (1965); Blofeld's Japanese island volcano lair in You Only Live Twice (1967); Mr Big / Dr Kananga's fictitious Carribean island of San Monique in Live and Let Die (1973); Elektra King and Renards' Kizkulesi Island (aka The Maiden's Tower) in Turkey's Bosphorus Sea in The World Is Not Enough (1999); and perhaps the most famous of all, Scaramanga's island in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
Released in late 2012 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film series. Previous Bond films to be released in similar celebration include Die Another Day (2002) in the series' 40th anniversary year, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) in the 35th anniversary year, The Living Daylights (1987) in the 25th anniversary year, and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) in the 15th anniversary year. This film world premiered within a couple of weeks of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Dr. No (1962) on 10 5 1962. Moreover, a new Bond documentary was made and released to tie in with and celebrate the Golden Anniversary of the franchise, Everything or Nothing (2012), it premiering also on 5 October.
The film has a lot in common with The World Is Not Enough (1999): both involve an abduction victim left to their fate by M, whom they view as a quasi-maternal figure, and M is forced to deal with the consequences of her decisions when said victim wants revenge. They are also the only Bond movies where M is actually part of the story rather than just giving Bond his briefing and sending him on his way. Both also feature scenes in Istanbul as well as a chase scene in London (a rarity for the franchise, despite London being in nearly every film), an explosion at the MI6 building, MI6 being temporarily relocated, Bond recovering from a shoulder injury sustained in the teaser, the introduction of a new Q, a female lackey who is terrified of her male terrorist employer, Bond being held captive in a chair by the Big Bad, the Big Bad using Bond to get to M, Bond pursuing a villain underground, a helicopter destroying Bond's car, Bond using gas to blow up a helicopter, and the bad guy being impaled by a metallic object.
Naomie Harris stated on The Graham Norton Show (2007) that she spent six weeks practicing for the razor shaving scene, trying it on members of the crew.
The traditional end-of-movie James Bond official series coda "James Bond Will Return" is included during the film's closing credits.
This is only the fourth James Bond movie in the official series which doesn't allow for marketing purposes the formation of the 007 symbol within the film's title wording by way of forming one or two of the '0's. The others include Thunderball (1965), Live and Let Die (1973), and The Living Daylights (1987). And it's the fifth if one includes the unofficial Never Say Never Again (1983).
Adele was pregnant when she recorded the theme to the film. In an interview with the BBC she said her pregnancy hormones caused her voice to go deeper, hense why her singing tone in this song is so low. She also said she is not able to recreate this low tone now.
If you watch the scene in the Komodo dragon pit closely, you will notice Daniel Craig has strange-looking, pudgy hands. This is because during filming, Craig had gone to the shops and purchased a pair of gloves that he thought were fitting for 007. Sam Mendes let him wear them in the scene, but later during the editing process, they realized the gloves didn't work with the logic of the scene: Bond's gun is picked up by a henchman, who is unable to fire it because the gun has been coded to Bond's palm-print, only allowing Bond to fire it. Therefore, Bond wearing gloves makes no sense, as he wouldn't be able to fire his gun. After some frantic calculations on how much re-shooting the scene would cost, it was deemed too expensive and Craig's hands were simply CGI'd in.
The film's theme song sung by Adele is the first Bond Song to share the same name as the film's title since Madonna's Die Another Day (2002) a decade earlier and the first Daniel Craig Bond film to do so. The 'Skyfall' song was released at 0.07am on Friday October 5th 2012 at 0:07 am BST/LONDON time (7:07pm EST on 4th October), the exact 50th Anniversary of the launch of Dr. No (1962). A 90-second version of the song was leaked online not long after Adele officially announced on Twitter that she was the artist singing the film's title song. The song was recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios with a full orchestra.
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Third consecutive James Bond film dealing with terrorism. The central type of terrorism depicted in 'Skyfall' is cyberterrorism. In an interview in the tie-in documentary Everything or Nothing (2012), producer Barbara Broccoli commented on how 9/11 made the producers think about doing something more serious and that it might be time to move on from the Pierce Brosnan style of Bond films. In another interview, Broccoli added: "In terms of 9/11, we thought Die Another Day (2002) had become too fantastical. That's something that's happened in previous Bond films along the way. There comes a time when you have to recalibrate the tone of the films to fit the times we live in".
John Cleese was reportedly not asked to reprise his role as Q. He later gave an interview to the Radio times, hinting that he was dropped from his role partly because film bosses wanted to please audiences in Asia.
The title was touted in the media during 2011 as either 'Carte Blanche' or 'Red Sky at Night'. Previously, in 2010, it was reported that a competition would run to pick a title for this film from the remaining Ian Fleming story titles - the two most popular being 'Risico' and 'The Property of a Lady'. In addition, 'The Hildebrand Rarity' had also been touted as a possible title. Around October 2011, the new rumored title became 'Skyfall' as the internet domain names JamesBond-Skyfall.com and Skyfallthefilm.com were registered prior to any official announcement by the movies' producers, financiers of the film, MGM and Sony pictures. The 'Skyfall' title proved to be correct, with producer Michael G. Wilson calling it "the worst kept secret in London" at the 03/11/2011 press conference. At that event, it was announced that 'Skyfall' would not be related to any previously published Ian Fleming James Bond novel or short-story.
Final Bond consecutive James Bond script written by the screen-writing team of Purvis and Wade. Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have been penning Bond scripts for 15 years and 5 films starting with The World Is Not Enough (1999). They have worked on Die Another Day (2002), Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008) and decided to move on after 'Skyfall'.
The Paddock Tank (aka the Exterior Tank) at Pinewood Studios doubled as the exterior of the Shanghai Golden Dragon Casino. The set was lit by three-hundred floating lanterns and two thirty-foot high dragon heads. Twelve artisans were flown in from China to create the authentic structures. They were made from wound steel cables, silk fabric and lit from within by 400 light bulbs.
Stuntman Gary Powell and other members of his family have worked on every EON Productions official series Bond movie since Dr. No (1962). Father and uncle Nosher Powell and Dinny Powell worked on all the early 60s and 70s Bonds with Sean Connery and George Lazenby; brother Greg Powell worked on the 70s and 80s Bonds with Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton whilst Gary has worked on all the 90s and 00s Bonds with Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig as well as 'Skyfall', the first Bond movie of the 2010s.
This marks the first time the f-word is audibly said in a Bond movie. M exclaims in the third act that she "really f***ed this up"
Bond's father's hunting rifle is a .500 Nitro Express, an extremely powerful elephant gun. During the final shootout, Bond is shown firing it from the hip. Its recoil would make this a very foolish thing to do, and a human being struck by one of the bullets would not merely fall down; a shot placed at center-mass would explode the entire chest cavity and likely blow the target's arms out of the shoulders.
The wounded agent that James Bond tries to save in the opening sequence is named Ronson. This is also the name of a popular brand of cigarette lighter used by Bond in Ian Fleming's novels.
Javier Bardem's casting marks the first time that a Spanish actor has played the lead villain in a James Bond movie, whilst Bardem is the third Spaniard to play any villain, after henchmen Simón Andreu in Die Another Day (2002) and Fernando Guillén Cuervo in Quantum of Solace (2008). Bardem's villain name of Raoul Silva in the film is actually an alias, the character's real name being Tiago Rodriguez. "Silva" / "Da Silva", is the most common surname in Portuguese-speaking countries such as Portugal and Brazil. Its meaning is derived from the Latin word "silva", meaning 'forest' or 'woodland'. It is also widespread in regions of the former Portuguese Empire in America (from Galicia (Spain)), Africa and Asia, including India and Sri Lanka. Movement of people has led to the name being used in many places. The film's writers wrote the script with Bardem in mind, whilst Bardem had the film's script translated into his native language of Spanish so as to achieve a better understanding of the story and his character. The first Bond movie Bardem ever saw was Moonraker (1979), its henchman Jaws being his favorite Bond villain.
This is the 23rd James Bond movie in the EON Productions official series and the 25th theatrically released James Bond film including the spoof Casino Royale (1967) and the unofficial Never Say Never Again (1983). It is also the 26th James Bond film if counting the TV episode tele-movie Climax!: Casino Royale (1954). Moreover, Skyfall's associated video-game, 007 Legends (2012), which has a 'Skyfall' mission, is also the 23rd title in its James Bond video-game series.
First James Bond movie to have two separate train action sequences involving different trains. From Russia with Love (1963), Live and Let Die (1973), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Octopussy (1983) and GoldenEye (1995) all had just the one locomotive. 'Skyfall' is also the second James Bond movie to have a roof-top fight on a train, the first was Octopussy (1983). Moreover, the Charing Cross Underground Station was used for location shooting for the Underground stations seen in the movie: Temple and Westminster.
Second consecutive James Bond film to have a car chase in the opening sequence. This vehicle chase was originally written and intended for the earlier also Istanbul-lensed Bond film The World Is Not Enough (1999) but was scrapped as the film's story had become too expansive. This film's car chase includes a fleet of twelve Land Rover Defenders and sixteen Audi A5's which were all modified and reinforced in different ways to the requirements of the stunt and camera departments. Two of the Defenders had driving 'Pods' fitted to the roof of Eve's (eight feet above the ground) car allowing her to concentrate on delivering dialogue while being driven by former 'Stig' Ben Collins at 50 mph (80 kph) through the packed streets of Istanbul. Multiple British rally car champion Mark Higgins was Harris' driving stunt double for wide-angle shots of the Land Rover weaving through traffic. Other modifications to the vehicles for the stunt sequence included spread wheels to give greater stability, conversion from manual to automatic, modified engines to enhance engine power and the addition of interior roll cages for protection and safety.
A total of twenty Honda CRF250R motorcycles were used for the opening motorcycle chase. The sequence is notable for being performed on narrow rooftop tracks and without any helmets or heavy-duty protective gear. The 'Police' and 'Street Merchant' bikes seen were ridden by stunt riders and due to the high speed of the chase, the stunt crew teams filming it also rode the bikes carrying the cameras. For the film, the Honda motorbikes were modified especially for the stunt sequence by the special effects team of Chris Corbould.
Second Bond film, following Die Another Day (2002) to feature four Oscar-winning or Oscar-nominated actors: Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney.
Although "Skyfall" had the largest amount of product placement of any Bond film compared to any before it, the film was the first in 23 years (since Licence to Kill (1989)) that did not either introduce a brand-new car model or highlight one in a major action sequence. Every Bond film since "Die Another Day" had featured a wide variety of vehicles produced by Ford's Premier Automotive Group, which at the time included Aston Martin, Land Rover, Jaguar and Volvo. After "Quantum of Solace" was filmed, however, Ford entirely disbanded its portfolio of foreign makes, and along with it the company's product-placement arrangement. As such, no Fords are seen in "Skyfall," and preexisting Land Rover- and Jaguar-produced vehicles are featured only in brief shots. The only car shown at length in "Skyfall" is Bond's famous 1964 Aston Martin DB5, first seen in "Goldfinger" and featured in a total of six Bond films. As an icon of the series as well as an automotive classic, the DB5's presence in the films has never been part of a product placement deal (although the company did pay to place its modern Vanquish and DBS models in earlier films). "Skyfall" is the last modern Bond film, as of 2015, to have this distinction, as Aston Martin is introducing its new DB10 model as part of its promotion deal for "Spectre."
The film features a recurring line of dialogue, "The old ways are usually the best". It occurs twice, said by both Eve and Kincade.
Daniel Craig's third outing playing James Bond. Craig's first was Casino Royale (2006) and his second was Quantum of Solace (2008). The film is Daniel Craig's first James Bond film not to use an original Ian Fleming story for its title as his first two Bond movies used Fleming titles.
Ola Rapace plays henchman Patrice who, despite being onscreen for more than 15 minutes in the pre-titles chase and Shanghai scenes, doesn't speak a single word of dialogue in the film. Ola is the ex-husband of Noomi Rapace who starred in the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009). James Bond actor Daniel Craig starred in its American remake The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). Swede Rapace is the fourth Scandinavian actor to play a James Bond villain in three Bond films. Danish actors Mads Mikkelsen played the villain Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (2006) whilst Jesper Christensen played the villain Mr. White in that film as well as Quantum of Solace (2008) and Ulrich Thomsen starred in The World Is Not Enough.
This film marks the return of title designer Daniel Kleinman who did the opening titles and gun-barrel sequences from GoldenEye (1995) to Casino Royale (2006). In the previous film, Quantum of Solace (2008), Kleinman was replaced by US special effects company MK12. 'Skyfall' is Kleinman's sixth collaboration as title designer in the series and his second one in a Bond film starring Daniel Craig.
Fourth James Bond movie to film in Scotland after From Russia with Love (1963) (various locations in the Argyll and Bute region), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) (the Faslane naval base) and The World Is Not Enough (1999) (Eilean Donan Castle at Kyle of Lochalsh in the Highlands). This is actually the fifth Bond film to shoot in Scotland if including the unofficial Casino Royale (1967) which shoot in Killin, Stirling. The first actor to play James Bond on the big screen was a Scot, Sean Connery. The Scottish Dalness Estate once belonged to the Fleming family and author Ian Fleming loved the Scottish region so much that he gave James Bond a Scottish genealogical lineage, the character's father Andrew coming from Glencoe where 'Skyfall' filmed alongside the Buachaille Etive Mor mountain. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), James Bond was seen wearing a kilt.
For a long time in development and pre-production the film was simply known as "Bond 23". Reportedly, other titles that were considered for the movie were "A Killing Moon" and "Once Upon a Spy" and "Silver Bullet." False rumoured titles that were touted in the media during 2011 were 'Carte Blanche' and 'Red Sky at Night'. Previously, in 2010, it was reported that a competition would run to pick a title for this film from the remaining Ian Fleming story titles, the two most popular being 'Risico' and 'The Property of a Lady'. In addition, 'The Hildebrand Rarity' had also been touted as a possible title.
Script-writer Peter Morgan left the production when development was suspended due to MGM's bankruptcy. Morgan later declared that ideas from his first draft were still retained by the Logan, Purvis & Wade screen-writing team including the film's "big hook". Character and plot details from the script were kept under tight wraps during principal photography with the names and identities of several characters such as those played by Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris and veteran Albert Finney being kept a secret for several months. The script was heavily revised by John Logan, even throughout filming. When filming wrapped, it had been revised thirteen times since the third draft.
When it came time to casting Silva's mercenaries, director Sam Mendes wanted actors rather than stuntmen. In order to find actors that could fit the physical bill, stunt coordinator Gary Powell set up a stunt training camp. Starting with forty-two men, the group had to learn how to throw punches, react to punches, hold guns and react to being shot. The group was eventually narrowed down to the seven men who looked most natural.
First James Bond film in 23 years where a "traditional" series M's office is seen, the last time was in Licence to Kill (1989). It's also the first time in the series that the old "traditional" and new "modern" types of M offices have been seen in the same Bond movie. In fact, there are actually three M's offices in 'Skyfall', the old "traditional' type, the new "modern" MI6 type as seen in the series ever since GoldenEye (1995) and M's temporary office in the underground bunker.
M, played by Judi Dench, mentions that she oversaw MI6's Hong Kong operations until 1997 even though Dench's first appearance as M was in GoldenEye (1995). The reason for this apparent contradiction is that the James Bond series was reset, or rebooted, beginning with Casino Royale (2006), and Dench has actually portrayed two separate versions of the same character.
In the film, James Bond (Daniel Craig) is given a Walther PPK/S 9mm short firearm by Q. The Walther PPK is considered the most popular and widely known Bond gun, since it is the one he has used the most. Originally, Bond used a Beretta, but that was later replaced with the Walther PPK. The hand-gun he has uses hand recognition coded to his palm prints. Timothy Dalton's Bond used a weapon with the same feature in Licence to Kill (1989).
Third James Bond movie to film in Istanbul, Turkey. The first was From Russia with Love (1963) and the second was The World Is Not Enough (1999). 'This shares two of the same filming locations that the classic James Bond film 'From Russia with Love' utilized: Turkey and Scotland (although the Scottish scenes in From Russia with Love (1963) were not set in the country). The film was also once rumoured to be titled 'Red Sky at Night', the word 'red' evoking Russia. Turkish locations that the film shares with From Russia with Love (1963) include Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square and the Hagia Sophia Mosque, now a museum. Producer Barbara Broccoli maintains that Istanbul was Ian Fleming's favourite city.
When Q delivers the Walther PPK & passport to Bond in the National Gallery in London, the painting behind him is Joseph Wright of Derby's 'An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768)', featuring a natural philosopher - a forerunner to a modern scientist - demonstrating an experiment to curious onlookers. This fits Q's role as scientific research/development for SIS/MI6 and 007.
First Daniel Craig Bond movie not to feature the character of American CIA agent Felix Leiter, as portrayed by Jeffrey Wright in Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008).
The number of individual Academy Awards totaled from this film's cast and crew is as follows. Crew: Director Sam Mendes (1 win), cinematographer Roger Deakins (12 nominations), first draft of script by Peter Morgan (2 nominations), final script by John Logan (3 nominations), composer Thomas Newman (12 nominations), Designer Dennis Gassner (1 win & 3 more nominations), and Chris Corbould on special effects (1 win). Cast: Javier Bardem (2 nominations, 1 win), Ralph Fiennes (2 nominations), Albert Finney (5 nominations) and Judi Dench (5 nominations & 1 more win) making at least 41 nominations, and 5 wins.
The film was originally going to be shot in six countries but budget cutbacks in January 2012 resulted in filming primarily taking place in England, on location and in studio. Additional shooting was set in Scotland, Turkey and China. Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands replaced Duntrune Castle in Argyll, Scotland, as the location for the film's climatic action scenes though some of that was actually filmed at Surrey's Hankley Common in England. Scenes planned to be originally shot in India or South Africa were instead filmed in Turkey. In the end, the picture was filmed in five countries: England, Scotland, China, Turkey and Japan. In Japan, just a small amount of filming was done on Hashima Island.
The movie's soundtrack composed by Thomas Newman features the most tracks (30) ever for a James Bond film score. The previous record holder in the official series had been Casino Royale (2006) with 25 whilst next is Quantum of Solace (2008) with 24. The previous record holder for any Bond movie and now second is the unofficial Never Say Never Again (1983) which has 26 tracks. The 'Skyfall' album is the second time that a James Bond soundtrack has not featured the title song (which is "Skyfall" sung by Adele). The first time was Chris Cornell's title song "You Know My Name" not appearing on the Casino Royale (2006) soundtrack. Skyfall's end titles utilize composer David Arnold's arrangement ("The Name's Bond... James Bond") of Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme" but this also does not feature on the soundtrack. Skyfall's film's score also contains interpolations of Monty Norman's original "James Bond Theme". The whole score on the soundtrack is composed and conducted by Thomas Newman except for the "Komodo Dragon" track which is an instrumental interpolation of the film's "Skyfall" theme song. "Skyfall" is also the first Daniel Craig Bond film to make use of Norman's original "James Bond Theme" throughout the entire film (in "Casino Royale" the fully orchestrated version was played during the end credits and in Quantum of Solace (2008) during the gun barrel sequence and at the start of the end credits).
5th October 2012 was "Global James Bond Day". It was created by the production to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the James Bond film series and as a promotional tie-in for the film's release. According to the official website 'Global James Bond Day' featured "Worldwide events celebrating Bond's golden anniversary [and] include[d] a global online and live charity auction event organized by Christie's in London, a global survey to discover the favorite Bond film country by country, a film retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, a Music of Bond night in Los Angeles hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Designing 007: 50 Years of James Bond Style [in Toronto]".
Some of the cast have favorites from the film series's history. Playing the villain in this film, Javier Bardem's favorite Bond villain is Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979) whilst Bond Girls Bérénice Marlohe and Naomi Harris say their favorite Bond Girls are Famke Janssen from GoldenEye (1995) and Grace Jones from A View to a Kill (1985) respectively.
The climax of the opening chase sequence takes place at the breathtaking Varda Bridge about an hour's travel out of Adana in southern Turkey. The stone arch structure is also known by a number of other names including Alman Köprüsü (German Viaduct), Koca Köprüthe (Big Viaduct), the Varda Viaduct and the Giaour Dere Viaduct. Construction was started in 1905 and was completed in 1916, the bridge being around 570 feet (174 m) long and 322 feet (98 m) high. The viaduct was originally designed and built by Imperial German engineers for the former Ottoman Empire as part of the Istanbul-Baghdad Railway Project.
The film represents the 10th Anniversary of the now regular "Bond On Set" book, a photo record of the filming of a Bond movie, with pictures that are shot by Bond regular stills photographer Greg Williams. The 'Skyfall' "Bond On Set" book is the fourth to be published, the first was in 2002 with the Die Another Day (2002) "Bond On Set" book. Prior to this, there had been "Making of" books for Bond films such as for GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).
At the film's Spanish Premiere at Madrid's Espanol Theatre on 29th October 2012, a number of the big red carpet stars of the film including Javier Bardem held posters in protest against the dismissal of theater workers during the film's premiere.
Skyfall is the first James Bond movie in its franchise to make a billion in the box office internationally.
English Naomie Harris is the fourth actress of Jamaican descent to play a Bond Girl in a Bond movie. American Grace Jones was the third in A View to a Kill (1985). Jones was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, whereas Harris' mother is from Jamaica, Naomie spending some time there as a child. James Bond creator Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond stories at Goldeneye in Jamaica. The first ever Bond Girl in the official series was Swiss actress Ursula Andress who was first seen in a white bikini emerging from the tranquil sea waters of Jamaica in Dr. No (1962). Marguerite LeWars was the first in Dr. No (1962). LeWars was the reigning Miss Jamaica and was cast in the film when the production crew encountered her at Kingston Airport where she had been an employee there. Martine Beswick is the second Jamaican actress, and the only Jamaican who was cast twice: as the gypsy Zora in From Russia with Love (1963) and as the doomed Paula in Thunderball (1965)
Weaponry and guns in the film include an Anderson Wheeler double-barreled chambered 500 NE (Nitro Express) hunting rifle belonging to James Bond's father; Silva's reproduction Percussion Cap Ardesa 1871 Duelling Pistol; Kincade's Colt Model 1878 shotgun; two Steyr M9-A1 pistols; various Heckler & Koch HK416 assault rifles belonging to Silva's men; Heckler & Koch G36C rifles with G36V carry handles used by the Metropolitan Police Service's CO19 officers; M4-style carbine assault rifles used by Mi6 security officers; Eve's Olympic Arms K23B rifle; various standard Glock 17 pistols; a 100 round drum mag semi-automatic Glock 18 machine pistol-class pistol used by Patrice who also has a sniper rifle and a hand recognition Walther PPK/S 9mm short firearm with a palm-sensitive hammer coded to James Bond's palm prints. For the weapons training, the cast went through 200,000 rounds of ammunition.
Some fans suggest that Silva may actually be M's son.
While speaking via microphones in "The Golden Dragon Casino", James Bond warns Eve Moneypenny to stop touching her ear. This is reference to Casino Royale (2006) where Bond warns agent Carter to stop touching his ear, while speaking to him.
For exterior scenes shot in Whitehall, halfway through the chase between James Bond and Raoul Silva, there were 100 background vehicles, 300 film crew, 750 extras, and massive multiple government agency bureaucracy co-operation. Permissions, negotiations and authorizations for the London chase sequence were permitted from such offices of English officialdom as the Westminster City Council, Transport For London (TFL) and TFL Buses, the Met and CHX Police, The London Underground, Network Rail, Herts Traffic Management Systems, the The Ministry of Defence (MOD), The Royal Parks, and The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Filming at Pinewood Studios utilized thirty-one different sets on eight different sound stages including the gigantic "007 Stage". Major sets included the Golden Dragon Casino on D Stage and the Paddock Lot, the exterior of the Dead City Island on the North Lot and the interior of MI6's underground bunker headquarters on the "007 Stage", the latter taking 9 weeks and 250 crew to build the set.
Reference to "Station H" in the film refers to MI6's Hong Kong office.
Producer Michael G. Wilson has commented on the film's audio-commentary that many people thought that leading Bond Girl Bérénice Marlohe was not in the movie enough.
Second time in a James Bond movie that Rory Kinnear plays MI6 chief of staff Bill Tanner. His first time was in Quantum of Solace (2008). With this film, Rory Kinnear has played Tanner twice on film and three times in video games, meaning he has portrayed the character more than any other actor.
Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins include Heineken Lager Beer; Coca Cola's Coke Zero; Bollinger Champagne; Visit Britain Tourism's 'Live Like Bond' campaign; "The James Bond Archives" and "SKYFALL: Bond On Set" books; Procter & Gamble fragrance; Virgin Atlantic; 'Literary Review' magazine; Tom Ford clothing; Cartamundi playing cards; Omega Watches including a 50th Anniversary Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M "SKYFALL" Limited Edition watch; Swarovski Jewelery; Corgi die-cast James Bond Skyfall toy Aston Martin DB5 cars; the London 2012 Olympics; Honda Motorcycles; Hornby Scalextric car sets; Jaguar & Land Rover vehicles; Activision's 007 Legends (2012) video-game; RT Marketing James Bond 007 merchandising; Sky TV's Sky Movies 007 HD Bond channel and Sony Electronics products including Bravia TVs, Vaio laptops & computers, and Xperia tablets & smart-phones, the Sony Xperia TL phone and Heineken beer being two of the products making brand-cameos in the film. The London 'Mirror' newspaper has reported that about £29 million or about a third of the film's budget was raised from commercial deals.
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Third consecutive official James Bond movie to be distributed by Sony Pictures after Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008). It is also expected that Sony will co-distribute the next James Bond film, Spectre (2015). The official 13th April 2011 press release stated: "Sony Pictures and MGM look forward to Sony Pictures co-financing and distributing Spectre (2015) on a similar basis". This is Sony Pictures' widest ever theatrical release in the UK and Ireland with the film launching on 1500 screens.
In preparing for his role, Javier Bardem had the script translated into his native Spanish to better understand his character, which Sam Mendes cited as being a sign of the actor's commitment to the film.
At one point it was rumored that this film would be shot in New York, leading to gossip that it would be based on the Fleming short story "007 in New York;" however, it turned out to be untrue and it appears that New York was never under consideration. Other rumors claimed that Israel would be used for several Bond films; that turned out to be false as well. A rumor that filming would take place in India was partially true; they were set to film a number of action scenes in India, but then plans were changed and all location shooting there was canceled.
The literal English translation of some of this film's foreign language titles have the film known in their respective regions as "Operation Skyfall".
To prepare for the grueling physical demands of her action role as Eve, actress Naomie Harris was given a personal trainer and worked-out for around two months for two hours a day, five days a week. For this, Harris did yoga, kick-boxing, running and circuit training. Moreover, for one day of the week, Harris did combat fighting training; for one-two days of the week, Harris did stunt driving training and for three days a week, Harris fired guns on a shooting range learning to shoot machine guns and Walther PPKs.
Vehicles featured in the film include a Range Rover Vogue SE; a 3.0 L V6 Diesel Jaguar XJ L; a Range Rover Evoque; black 2007 Audi A5 B8 cars; a Mercedes; a Stornoway metallic grey Land Rover Defender 110 wheelbase double cab ute; a 320D L Cat Hydraulic Excavator; 1998 Volkswagen Typ 1C New VW Beetles; an Agusta Westland Merlin AW101 helicopter; various Honda CRF 250R motor-bikes and the classic James bond car, the silver birch Aston Martin DB5.
When James uses his father Andrew Bond's rifle, an "AB" can be seen engraved on it. These are also the initials of classical Bond Producer Albert R. Broccoli but this is purely a coincidence.
The film started shooting in 2011 which was the 30th year that casting director Debbie McWilliams had being working on the series. McWilliams first Bond movie was For Your Eyes Only (1981) in 1981. For 'Skyfall', McWilliams coordinated casting sessions that took place in various locations all around the world which included, amongst others, Athens, Greece; Beijing and Shanghai in China; Istanbul, Turkey; London, England; Madrid, Spain; Stockholm, Sweden and Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
First James Bond film to feature MGM's new 2012 logo. The first James Bond movie to be released with the MGM Lion logo at the beginning was Octopussy (1983). MGM merged with United Artists in 1982, the year before the release of that movie which was the first Bond movie distributed by the then new company, MGM/UA Distribution Co.
Third James Bond movie to film in Japan. Hashima Island was for shooting villain Raoul Silva's island lair. The first Bond Bond film to lens in Japan where the largest amount of filming was done was for You Only Live Twice (1967). The second was for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) where filming was done there to get shots of exotic fish in Okinawa.
The name of the boat that Bond and Sévérine journey on in the film is called "The Chimera" which is from the Greek Mythology and is what co-inspired the Sévérine character. The vessel is in real life called the "SY Regina" and is also known as the "Medyat Regina".
The demand for the Wild and Wolf scrabble mug Q was using in the film soared soon after the movie's release, as did the Royal Doulton china bulldog paperweight.
Raoul Silva was modelled on The Joker from The Dark Knight (2008) and Col. Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds (2009).
Adele's title song "Skyfall" is the first ever James Bond theme to debut in the Top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart, entering at No. #8. It's the 7th Bond song to reach the US Top 10 and the 13th to reach the US Top 100. It's the first to chart in the US Top 10 in a decade, the last time being Madonna's Die Another Day (2002) song in 2002. Adele's song sold 261,000 copies in the USA in its first three days. The song debuted in the UK Singles Chart at No. #4 within just 48 hours of release and then went to No. #2 within a week, tying with the previous record holder, Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill (1985) (Dance into the Fire)" as the highest ever charting Bond song in UK singles history. The song sold 84,000 copies in the UK in its first two days and had sold 92,000 copies within a week. The song went to No. #1 on the UK iTunes chart within 10 hours. On its first day of release worldwide, the song hit the Top 10 on the iTunes Charts in 21 countries. Of those, it also went to Number #1 in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.
The Royal World Premiere was held on Tuesday 23rd October 2012 at Royal Albert Hall in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall (Camilla Parker-Bowles). At the request of HRH Prince Charles, the Gala Charity Premiere Benefit aided the support of former and current serving members of Britain's three intelligence agencies, GCHQ, the Security Service, and the Secret Intelligence Service. Prince Charles is England's Royal Patron of the Intelligence Services. Also in attendance were director Sam Mendes, and actors Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe, Albert Finney, Ben Whishaw and Judi Dench. The only ever previous Bond World Premiere to be held at the Royal Albert Hall was for the franchise's 40th Anniversary where Die Another Day (2002) debuted. The gala premiere raised UK £300,000+ in aid of the Prince's chosen charities.
The film is partly set in Istanbul, Turkey. Turkish producer Ali Akdeniz who has worked on both The World Is Not Enough (1999) and 'Skyfall' says that the location of this part of the film was particularly chosen as a homage to the James Bond character's connections with Istanbul, once known as "The City of Spies". James Bond creator Ian Fleming once visited Istanbul in June 1955 for an Interpol Conference which he was covering on behalf of "The Sunday Times". The event provided both a setting and much background information for his Bond novel of From Russia with Love (1963). For example, Fleming met Nazim Kalkavan, an Oxford educated man who inspired the Darko Kerim character. Moreover, whilst there, Fleming covered the "Istanbul Pogroms" aka "The Great Riot of Istanbul" which was published in "The Sunday Times" on 11th September 1955. When Fleming left the conference, he traveled by train, commenting that the experience was drab because there had been no dining car. Interestingly, both 'Skyfall' and From Russia with Love (1963) involve trains, both the London subway tube and a Turkish train in Adana in 'Skyfall' and The Orient Express in From Russia with Love (1963).
Danny Boyle was once erroneously touted in the media as having being asked to direct this film. One of this film's main Bond girls, Naomie Harris, appeared in Boyle's 28 Days Later... (2002) which was released in the same year as the last Bond film with a black Bond girl, Die Another Day (2002). Coincidentally, Boyle ended up directing the James Bond short with Daniel Craig and Queen Elizabeth II which opened the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony, London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder (2012).
Second Daniel Craig James Bond film to feature a casino and the first for him since Casino Royale (2006), Craig being notable for having debuted in this 'Casino' titled Bond film. Not every Bond movie has a casino sequence but 'Skyfall' joins the ranks in the official series of those that have: Dr. No (1962), Thunderball (1965), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), For Your Eyes Only (1981), Licence to Kill (1989), GoldenEye (1995), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Casino Royale (2006). All the unofficial Bond films, Casino Royale (1967), Never Say Never Again (1983) and Climax!: Casino Royale (1954), have all featured a casino. 'Skyfall' is the first Bond movie since The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) to feature a casino in Asia. Its name is "The Golden Dragon Casino" and it's a floating-casino in Macau, China and is based on the actual real-life Macau floating casino, "The Macau Palace".
First James Bond film in ten years to have a theme song that shared it's title with that of the film.
When Gareth Mallory is discussing a potential retirement plan with M, he says that she would be awarded "DCMG with honours". DCMG stands for Dame Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George, a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later King George IV, while he was acting as regent for his father, King George III. It is awarded to men and women who hold high office or who render extraordinary or important non-military service in a foreign country, and can also be conferred for important or loyal service in relation to foreign and Commonwealth affairs.
Bond's line to Moneypenny "Don't touch your ear." is the second time he has instructed a fellow operative to not give away their mission, the first time being in "Casino Royale" in the opening chase sequence that went awry when the operative did just that, alerting their prey to their presence.
The opening train action sequence was originally planned to be shot in the Sabarmati railway yard of the Konkan Railway in India. However, delays in getting permission to film there with the many complex problems meant the sequence was not filmed there. South Africa was considered to film this sequence but in the end it shot in Turkey.
First James Bond movie to film in both China and Japan since You Only Live Twice (1967) a gap of around forty-five years. Timothy Dalton's planned third Bond film "Property of a Lady" would have gone to these locations, as well as Scotland.
The DLC in the videogame 007 Legends (2012) is based on the Istanbul chase, and killing Patrice from Skyfall. Both of the cut scenes are (save for playing as Bond, as it is a first person shooter) exactly as in the movie, except for the graphics in the game. This was to promote the movie, as the DLC trailer was released alongside the movie.
Ben Whishaw as Q has more screen time in this film than John Cleese has in The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002).
Stuntwoman Tina Maskell, is credited twice as a stunt performer in the credits.
Sam Mendes has stated that he originally planned to open the film with the Bond Gun Barrel sequence, but realized it would have conflicted with the shot of Bond walking into focus in the first scene. (In a case of making lemonade from lemons, placing it at the end allowed the film to pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of the franchise).
The scene where Silva challenges Bond to a shooting contest is taken from the book "The Man With the Golden Gun".
M writing James Bond's obituary after he's presumed dead is from the novel "You Only Live Twice".
Ben Whishaw as Q marks the first time the character has been re-cast, as John Cleese's Q was his character R in The World is Not Enough (1999).
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
Bond uses both the Walther PPK and the Walther PPK/S in this film.
French actress Bérénice Marlohe has said that her characterization of Bond Girl Sévérine was inspired by two things: "The Chimera" from mythology and actress Famke Janssen's Xenia Onatopp Bond Girl character from GoldenEye (1995). Skyfall (2012) is the first English-speaking role for Marlohe who is the sixth French actress to play a leading Bond girl, the others being Claudine Auger (Thunderball (1965)), Corinne Cléry (Moonraker (1979)), Carole Bouquet (For Your Eyes Only (1981)), Sophie Marceau (The World Is Not Enough (1999)), and most recently, Eva Green in Casino Royale (2006). Prior to Skyfall (2012), Marlohe once appeared on a TV show wearing just a red wig and nothing else. Reportedly, Marlohe didn't have an agent prior to Skyfall (2012), got the part in the film on her own, and was cast quite late. Marlohe was born in Paris on 19th May 1979 which was just a few months after Moonraker (1979) had finished filming there.
This is the third Bond film with an Asian shooting location and an actress of Asian descent playing one of the main Bond Girls. The first two were You Only Live Twice (1967) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). 'Skyfall' Bond Girl Bérénice Marlohe was born to a Cambodian/Chinese father and a French mother. A few Bond films which shot in Asia did not feature a main Bond Girl who was from Asia, these were Die Another Day (2002), Octopussy (1983) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). However, these three films did have cast Asian women in minor Bond Girl roles.
Tenth James Bond film produced by Michael G. Wilson as a fully-fledged producer (excluding executive producer credits). The next James Bond film (Spectre (2015)) is expected to be released around 2014, that year will mark producer Wilson's 50th Golden Anniversary Year of his association with the James Bond official series, Wilson first appearing as an uncredited extra as a Soldier at Fort Knox in Goldfinger (1964). Similarly, the film was released in the Golden 50th Anniversary Year of the series in 2012. Wilson has also acted on the films as a screen-writer and as a legal/administrative/technical consultant and is also known for making regular cameo appearances in the franchise.
One of just a handful of Bond films to feature a British country home or manor house. Others include The Blayden Safe House in The Living Daylights (1987); Shrublands in both Thunderball (1965) and Never Say Never Again (1983) and M's home Quarterdeck in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
Patrice (Ola Rapace)'s gun in the film is a 100-round drum mag semi-automatic "Glock 18" machine pistol-class firearm which holds 100 rounds of ammunition and fires 20 rounds a second. The firearm has an effective range of 50 m (55 yd) and a muzzle velocity of 1,230 ft/s (375 m/s). It's an Austrian gun that was developed at the request of EKO Cobra, the Austrian counter-terrorist unit.
First one-word Bond movie title in seventeen years, the last was GoldenEye (1995). It is also the shortest ever one-word James Bond movie title. It is the only one ever with two syllables, most of them in the past having three (_Goldfinger_, Moonraker (1979), GoldenEye (1995) and Thunderball (1965) (which rhymes with 'Skyfall') whilst Octopussy (1983) had four. Dr. No (1962) remains the shortest ever Bond movie title with the least number of letters, having 5, whereas 'Skyfall' has 007. 'Skyfall' is the shortest Bond film title of all when 'Doctor No' is spelled in its unabbreviated form.
Second James Bond movie to be edited by Stuart Baird, after Casino Royale (2006). Also the second Bond film for production designer Dennis Gassner whose first was Quantum of Solace (2008). Third Bond movie as Stunt Coordinator for Gary Powell, who has worked in other stunt positions on four other bond films beginning with GoldenEye (1995). Also the seventh Bond film as Special Effects Supervisor for Chris Corbould whose tally totals thirteen Bond movies starting with The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).
The shoulder number on Silva's fake police uniform is 101, which is the non-emergency public contact telephone number for London's Metropolitan Police Force.
Released late 2012, the film played in theaters in early 2013 which marked the 30th Anniversary Year that producer Barbara Broccoli has officially been associated with the series, first officially credited as an executive assistant on Octopussy (1983). Broccoli's first start on the series however was as an uncredited second assistant director on Moonraker (1979), a 30th Anniversary milestone for this was in 2009 after the release of the previous Bond film Quantum of Solace (2008). The film's release year of 2012 also marks the 25th Anniversary Year for Broccoli as a producer on the series as her first credit as a producer was as an associate producer on The Living Daylights (1987) in 1987. It is also the 25th Year for executive producer and production manager Callum McDougall who started as an assistant director on the same Bond film.
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The word Sévérine (the name of the Bond Girl played by Bérénice Marlohe) is a French name of Latin origin from the French language and translates into English as meaning "stern". It is a French feminine variation of the Latin male name "Severus" which is a Saint's name. Sévérine is made up of eight letters, has three syllables and is pronounced "Sey-Vah-RIY-N". Sévérine is variant of the name "Severina" used in the Italian, German, Portugese, Romanian and Slavic languages. Other variant forms of the name are Severino, Severinus, Severo, Sevrin and Seweryn.
It has been claimed that the film has used Great Britain and specifically London for filming locations more than any other Bond film in the franchise's history. Several different locations in the city of London were used as interiors and exteriors for the film, some of which would not normally be accessible for filming. London locations included Vauxhall Bridge; Millbank; The Old Vic Tunnels; an underground car park on Great Suffolk Street; Trinity Square; the entrance to Broadgate Tower; The Virgin Active Pool in Canary Wharf; Cadogan Square, The National Portrait Gallery; Parliament Square; Tower Hill; the building roof of the Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC); the Smithfield Meat Market; St Bartholomew's Hospital; Charing Cross Underground Station; Greenwich's Old Royal Naval College; Southwark; Whitehall; and London's landmark Trafalgar Square.
The movie's features the expression "For Her Eyes Only" which is a variation on the earlier James Bond short story, compilation novel title, and movie title of For Your Eyes Only (1981). These were themselves a variation on the real life espionage term "Eyes Only" meaning restricted viewing to certain personnel. 'The Free Dictionary' website defines 'Eyes Only' as meaning "meant to be seen only by the addressee; confidential" and "official classification for documents; meant to be seen by only the person to whom it is directed".
The chase through Istanbul was originally planned for The World Is Not Enough (1999).
The opening few seconds are a homage to the traditional "gun barrel" openings of previous Bond films. The long, dark corridor with bright light at its end is similar to the shape of a gun barrel. Bond walks into frame from offstage holding a gun and is shillouetted at the end of the corridor. Just the first three notes of the Bond theme are then played.
Being that this was the 50th anniversary of the series there were several homages and references to the old films, for example, when Bond gave the scrap metal pieces to an agent he said "for her eyes only" this was an obvious reference to For Your Eyes Only (1981). The Aston Martin DB5, and the location that M asks Bond how old was he when his parents died was a reference to Goldfinger (1964). The hand print recognition gun grips were a reference to Licence to Kill (1989). The scene where Bond breaks into M's house is a reference to Casino Royale (2006). The explosion attack on MI6 was a reference to The World Is Not Enough (1999). The mention of Bond's parents was a reference to GoldenEye (1995). And of course, Bond giving his iconic "Bond, James Bond" introduction to lady while in a casino wearing a tuxedo, and Q giving Bond a Walther PPK was an obvious reference to those iconic moments to the very first James Bond film, Dr. No (1962).
This is the only film to star 'Daniel Craig (I)' (q) as James Bond that does not feature 'Jesper Christensen' as Mr. White or reference Vesper Lynd or the Quantum Organization.
On Hashima Island, Silva's lair, "Boum!" by Charles Trenet can be heard. In the final battle in Scotland when Silva's helicopter arrives, it plays through a loudspeaker a cover of John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom Boom Boom".
When James Bond meets Q for the first time in the National Gallery, they both stare at J.M.W. Turner's "The Fighting Temeraire," and as they stare at the painting, Q's first remark to Bond is "What do you see?" This line was also the opening of "Red," screenwriter John Logan's Tony Award-winning play, which is about modern artist Mark Rothko.
During the opening titles a number of daggers plunge into a graveyard. One of the daggers is a Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife, issued to British special forces from WWII until the present day as of 2013.
While some Bond films have original titles that do not come from the work of author Ian Fleming, 'Skyfall' is the first original title that has already pre-existed as the title of other fictional works. 'Skyfall' is also the title of a 1966 sci-fi novel by Harry Harrison, a 1987 novel by Thomas Block, a 2004 novel in the "Saga of the Skolian Empire" sci-fi series by Catherine Asaro, a 2007 novel by Anthony Eaton in the fantasy action "Darklands Trilogy", and also the name of a 2002 Norweigan film Falling Sky (2002), its literal English translation being "Falling Sky" or "The Sky Is Falling Down".
This marks the 10th anniversary of Gregg Wilson on the James Bond film series. The movie marks the milestone of Gregg being the first third-generation member of the Broccoli/Wilson family to achieve a senior producer credit on the series, that of an associate producer. Gregg is the son of Michael G. Wilson who is the stepson of co-founding producer Albert R. Broccoli. Gregg's first credit on the series was a decade earlier as development executive on Die Another Day (2002). Gregg was also an assistant producer on Quantum of Solace (2008).
Javier Bardem dyed his hair blond for the role after brainstorming ideas with Sam Mendes to come up with a distinct visual look for the character, which led some commentators to observe a similarity between the character and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Actress Bérénice Marlohe has said that she has based her inspiration on her Sévérine character on "The Chimera" which is from the Greek Mythology. Also known as "The Chimaera" or "The Chimæra", Wikipedia defines The Chimera as a "she-goat... a monstrous fire-breathing female creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of three animals: a lion, a serpent and a goat. Usually depicted as a lion, with the head of a goat arising from its back, and a tail that ended in a snake's head, the Chimera was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of such monsters as Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra. The term chimera has also come to describe any mythical or fictional animal with parts taken from various animals." Marlohe has said "I wanted to have that dangerousness spreading through her, but at the same time I wanted to create a real human being with a range of emotions and the inner struggles we go through as human beings." Moreover, the name of the boat that Bond and Sévérine journey on in the film is called "The Chimera".
Actor Albert Finney has said he remembers seeing the first James Bond movie Dr. No (1962). Other cast members were working actors in film and TV when Dr. No (1962) was in theaters. Actress Judi Dench, who plays M, was appearing as Anya in Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (1962) whilst Finney's closest film role to the release date of Dr. No (1962) was as another great lover, Tom Jones (1963), in which he starred with Diane Cilento, who was once married to cinema's first James Bond Sean Connery who was actually the original choice to play the Kincaid character. Producer Barbara Broccoli has said that her father, pioneer Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli, had been keen to work with Finney but the opportunity never arose.
The second time that James Bond is crying. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), he cried, when his bride Tracy is killed in a drive-by shooting by Blofeld and Bunt.
There are two henchmen in Skyfall (2012) played by Swedish Actors: Ola Rapace played as Patrice and Jens Hultén played as Silva's henchman whom Bond drowned in the lake in the last part of the movie. If only Dolph Lundgren characters as Venz in A View to a Kill (1985) is credited, then Skyfall (2012) is the second Bond Film which utilizes the Swedish Actors to play the henchmen roles. Jens Hultén then got a more substantial role in the other spy-genre Film Franchise Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) as Janik Vinter, released in the same year as another Bond Film Spectre (2015). Both in Skyfall (2012) and Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015), Hulten's characters ended up dead.
After his first conversation with Q, James Bond says to himself the phrase "Brave new world", which is a quote from William Shakespeare's play The Tempest (in this case, an observation on Q's youth).
During this film's development and early stages of pre-production, 'Variety' columnist Liz Smith once wrote about the film, then known as 'Bond 23', being filmed in New York using its Primola Restaurant as one of its locations. Published on Wednesday 10th September 2008, the piece read: "WHO WAS that blond stunner who froze forks mid-air at the posh Primola eatery in N.Y.? Oh yes indeed, it was Daniel Craig, 007 himself. The studly Daniel was accompanied by his producer Barbara Broccoli. (She is the daughter of Albert R. Broccoli aka "Cubby" who co-produced the James Bond films from Dr. No (1962) until Licence to Kill (1989). Barbara took over and now has a "license to film.") Daniel and Barbara talked about the next Bond epic, part of which will be filmed―for the very first time!―in New York [sic, Live and Let Die (1973) was filmed in New York]. Primola itself will have a little cameo. Maybe Daniel just wanted to see if the restaurant could handle those shoulders of his." It turned out that New York apparently was never actually under consideration as a filming location.
The production shoot for this film went for 127 days whilst the movie features 172 scenes.
The second James Bond film to have the gun barrel sequence at the beginning of the end credits. This is Daniel Craig's third different gun barrel sequence, making him the first ever James Bond actor to do more than two different ones like Sir Sean Connery and Sir Roger Moore.
One of five collaborations of actors Ben Whishaw and Daniel Craig. Prior to the Bond movies Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015), the pair had both worked on The Trench (1999), Layer Cake (2004) and Enduring Love (2004).
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The 007th cinema movie collaboration of cinematographer Roger Deakins and production designer Dennis Gassner. The two had both worked with Skyfall (2012) director Sam Mendes before on Jarhead (2005). The pair's other collaborations were all on Coen Brothers pictures for Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, they being Barton Fink (1991), The Ladykillers (2004), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000).
Principal photography was scheduled to take up 133 days, although the actual filming took 128.
Shooting of the finale was planned to take place at Duntrune Castle in Argyll, but was cancelled shortly after filming began. Glencoe was instead chosen for filming of these scenes.
First James Bond film since Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) to have someone other than the Bond Girl to receive second billing, in this case, Judi Dench as "M".
Ben Whishaw shares his birthday with former 007 Roger Moore who played James Bond from 1973 - 1985.
Javier Bardem who won an Oscar for best supporting actor for No Country for Old Men is the second Oscar winning actor to play a Bond villain. The first being Christopher Walken in A View to a Kill for his roll in the Deer Hunter.
The Aston-Martin in the film, while having many of the gadgets of the original, is not identical. Specifically, the original had a noticeable panel in the roof for the ejection seat. The one in this film has a smooth roof without the panel.
While clearly associated with Hashima Island, virtually none of what is shown corresponds to videos or to the many available photos of the actual place, nor with the Google satellite image. This indicates a combination of CG and studio work in addition to on-site filming.
The stags depicted at the entrance to the Skyfall estate were inspired by the pair at Duntrune Castle in Argyll.
In this film, Bond's ancestors are hinted at being recusant Catholics; Catholics who hid their faith when it was illegal in England. In Elizabeth (1998), Daniel Craig plays a Catholic priest sent by Rome to England to either kill/do harm to Queen Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) or undermine her attempt to form the Church of England. He is ultimately discovered hiding in the secret room of a house (similar purpose to the priest's hole in "Skyfall") by Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush), arrested and tortured.
Eve Moneypenny says there is more to Gareth Mallory "than meets the eye". This is the tagline of the "Transformers" franchise, about a group of shape-shifting robots. Many of the Transformers' names bear the name of "Skyfall".
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In 2012, media reports stated that Jessica Gomes and Nicole Trunfio auditioned for the role of Severine.
Actress Naomie Harris, who plays Miss Eve Moneypenny in the James Bond films, became the sixth major actor who has starred in motion pictures based on works of both John le Carré and 'Ian Fleming (I)', both famous spy novelists. Harris' role as Gail Perkins in Our Kind of Traitor (2016) follows her two previous appearances in Bond movies, in Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). Pierce Brosnan and Sean Connery are actors who have both previously portrayed James Bond on screen and both have starred in le Carré filmed adaptations, they being The Tailor of Panama (2001) and The Russia House (1990) respectively, the latter which has a title that evokes Fleming's From Russia with Love (1963) which starred Connery as Bond. Of Connery's 007 Bond films, his one unofficial Bond movie, Never Say Never Again (1983), co-starred Klaus Maria Brandauer, who also appeared in The Russia House (1990). Alas, Connery and Brandauer have starred in the same two Bond and le Carré spy movies. Moreover, Harris and Brosnan both appeared in the thriller adventure cinema movie After the Sunset (2004). The first actor to portray an M character in the Bond films, Bernard Lee, was the first actor ever to do both Bond and le Carré. Lee appeared as Patmore in le Carré's classic spy movie The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), which was the first ever filmed adaptation of a le Carré novel. The le Carré adaptation film The Constant Gardener (2005) starred Ralph Fiennes, who played Justin Quayle, and has portrayed the Bond series' new M character Gareth Mallory in both Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015), as has Harris played Eve Moneypenny in the two. Rachel Weisz, the wife of James Bond actor Daniel Craig, previously starred as Tessa Quayle in The Constant Gardener (2005), for which she won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, with Wiesz and Fiennes playing husband and wife in that movie. About thirty cast and crew personnel worked on both Spectre (2015) and the film of John le Carré's Our Kind of Traitor (2016).
With Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015), Ralph Fiennes became the 007th [= seventh] major actor or actress who has appeared in both the 'James Bond' and 'The Avengers' universes, the latter being the English spy one and not the comic super-heroes one. From the original television series The Avengers (1961), three actors appeared in Bond movies: Honor Blackman played Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964), Patrick Macnee portrayed Sir Godfrey Tibbett in A View to a Kill (1985), and Diana Rigg played Tracy Di Vicenzo in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). The latter film also featured as The English Girl actress Joanna Lumley who would later appear in The New Avengers (1976) which also starred Macnee. Whilst Nadim Sawalha appeared in both The Avengers (1998) cinema film as well as two Bond movies: The Living Daylights (1987) and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Fiennes actually appeared in The Avengers (1998) cinema movie co-starring with former James Bond Sean Connery who played the villain Sir August de Wynter. Of these seven actors, both Fiennes and Macnee have portrayed The Avengers' character of John Steed, in the theatrical film and television series respectively, with the latter also voicing the Invisible Jones character in The Avengers (1998) cinema movie. In this 1998 cinema film, John Steed (Ralph Fiennes) and Emma Peel (Uma Thurman) get across the frozen river by 'walking' on the surface inside inflatable plastic bubbles which is similar to how James Bond gets aboard Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Charles Gray)'s oil rig in Connery's final official series Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
In the Art Gallery Bond and Q sit in front of a Joseph Wright painting called "An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump", which is well-known for its use on the cover of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein".
Cameo ―
Michael G. Wilson: Producer Wilson has been doing regular cameos in the official James Bond series since The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), with his first being in Goldfinger (1964). Most of Wilson's cameo in this film mostly got cut out of the picture but there is one shot of him still in the movie thereby keeping intact the series tradition of the Wilson cameo. The sequence that got cut was a funeral procession of hearses, Wilson's cameo was as a pall bearer. Wilson is still seen in the film at a distance through a doorway during the sequence where Judi Dench is standing next to the Mi6 coffins covered with Union Jack flags.
Huw Edwards: The real-life BBC news-reader as a BBC News Anchor reading the BBC news.
Wolf Blitzer: The real-life CNN newscaster as a CNN News Anchor reporting on the Mi6 agency.
Nicky Hayden: Uncredited, the professional motorcycle racer as a motor-bike rider during the film's opening chase sequence.
Gregg Wilson: Uncredited, the associate producer as a bar patron in the Turkish Bar.
Spoilers ―
Ben Whishaw is the fourth actor to play Q in the official James Bond series. This marks the first time that Q is younger than James Bond. The producers have said that "When it came to trying to reintroduce the character of Q, it made sense that he would now be a young technical genius and the character was written with that in mind." Whishaw's character of Q has been likened to that of computer-genius types like Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg. Coincidentally, Whishaw has said that he doesn't even own a computer. Peter Burton first played Q under the character's real name of Major Boothroyd and nick-named the Armourer in Dr. No (1962) then Desmond Llewelyn played Q in 17 Bond films between 1963-1999 followed by John Cleese (as Q's assistant R) in The World Is Not Enough (1999) then as Q in Die Another Day (2002), the latter being the last time the character appeared in the official series before 'Skyfall', a gap of around a decade. Whishaw is the sixth actor to play Q if one counts the unofficial Bond films Casino Royale (1967) and Never Say Never Again (1983) where Q was played by Geoffrey Bayldon and Alec McCowen respectively. Q is an abbreviation for the word Quartermaster.
The four-year gap between the release of Quantum of Solace (2008) and this film ties for the second-longest period between James Bond films. This gap between films also represents the longest time between films without a casting change to the actor playing James Bond. Previous hiatuses between Licence to Kill (1989) and GoldenEye (1995) (the longest period between films in the franchise) and then between Die Another Day (2002) and Casino Royale (2006) were both accompanied by casting changes to the actor playing James Bond.
The exotic Calis Beach, a remote beach in Fethiye, a coastal town in the south of Turkey, was a great challenge for the locations department to secure for filming a sequence featuring James Bond. EON Productions had to negotiate with the six hundred and thirteen part-owners of the beach to allow filming to take place there.
The film's marketing has been said to have gone to a new level with the actual actor who plays James Bond (Daniel Craig) appearing in a number of commercial television advertisements for product placements seen in the film such as Heineken, Omega Watches and Sony Electronics. However, this has been justified, Daniel Craig has said, "The simple fact is that, without them, we couldn't do it. It's unfortunate but that's how it is. This movie costs a lot of money to make, it costs nearly as much again if not more to promote, so we go where we can."
Second time in the official James Bond series that James Bond is seen with a beard, the first time was Pierce Brosnan in Die Another Day (2002). In both pictures the character only has the beard for a portion of the film. In both instances we see the beard being shaved.
It was initially speculated that James Bond veteran composer David Arnold would be providing the score for this film despite a long-running collaboration between director Sam Mendes and composer Thomas Newman. However, in January 2012, it was finally announced that Newman would, in fact, be composing the score. This marks only the sixth time (out of twenty-three films) that a James Bond film has not been scored by either Monty Norman, John Barry, or David Arnold. It is a myth that Arnold was unable to score the film due to his duties as musical director for the 2012 London Olympics - in numerous interviews he has stated that Newman was simply chosen due to his ongoing work with Mendes. In October 2012, David Arnold revealed on Twitter that the producers had licensed some of his film score from Casino Royale (2006) for Skyfall.
The first James Bond film to be shot entirely using digital cinematography. Previously only part of one scene in Quantum of Solace (2008) was shot digitally. It is also the first film to use the Arri Alexa Studio camera, which cinematographer Roger Deakins selected because, unlike the other Alexa models, it has an optical viewfinder. It is also Deakins' second digitally-shot film, after In Time (2011), on which he also used the Alexa.
The Royal World Premiere of Skyfall (2012) marked a rare reunion for the families of James Bond producers Harry Saltzman, Albert R. Broccoli and author Ian Fleming on the 50th anniversary. Since Saltzman was able to secure the film right's for the 007 novels in 1962 from Fleming given both men's shared experience as Intelligence operatives, the unique seating arrangement at Royal Albert Hall reflected that relationship. In the Royal Box adjacent to His Royal Highness Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall (Camilla Parker-Bowles, the surviving family of Ian Fleming, including niece Lucy Fleming and cousin Sir Christopher Lee, who also served in British Intelligence, were seated alongside Saltzman's daughter Hilary Saltzman, son Steven Saltzman, and Canadian print and broadcast journalist David Giammarco, a longtime associate of the James Bond films and author of the book "For Your Eyes Only: Behind the Scenes of the James Bond Films". The Gala Charity Premiere of Skyfall (2012) benefited retired members of Britain's Intelligence agencies, for which HRH Prince Charles is England's Royal Patron.
The mug Q drinks from in his lab has the letter "Q" from the game Scrabble printed on it, complete with the number "10", the point value of the letter Q in the board game.
Javier Bardem apparently was once offered a role in an earlier James Bond film prior to this, perhaps even the role of James Bond himself (though this is unlikely). Bardem told CinemaBlend, "Years ago, I was [offered Bond]. I don't remember what movie it was for. But yeah, it just was not that time. I didn't feel that it was the time for me to do something like that. And also, I was doing something else, so I passed. This time, when I read it, I felt that it was very powerful material, and I wanted to join [a Bond movie]."
Glencoe in Scotland is a filming location that portrays its own setting: Glencoe. In the James Bond novel "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", author Ian Fleming gave Bond a sense of family background, writing that Bond's father Andrew Bond was from Glencoe. The Glencoe region has one of the most iconic landscapes in Scotland, the mountains contain some of the oldest sedimentary and volcanic strata in the world. In 'Skyfall', these mountains served as a beautiful backdrop for Bond and M's drive through Glencoe's scenic roads in the iconic silver-birch Aston Martin DB5.
Greek model-actress Tonia Sotiropoulou who appears as a minor Bond Girl early in the movie had auditioned for the other Bond Girl role of Sévérine but lost out to Bérénice Marlohe. After Casting Director Debbie McWilliams suggested that the production might be able to find another part for her, her management company Back Door Management resubmitted her for the film and she was successful. Tonia's Bond Girl character in the film has no name and is billed in the credits only as "Bond's Lover". Moreover, Sotiropoulou's brief role in the film is entirely mute making her the first Bond Girl to visibly consummate a relationship with Bond on screen (as opposed to one that is only implied) without actually saying even one word on screen.
Second Unit Director Alexander Witt and the second unit traveled to Shanghai in China to shoot establishing shots and driving sequences. The crew worked nights in the busy week leading up to the Chinese New Year to capture the exhilarating, ever-changing metropolis that is one of the most dynamic cities in the world. An aerial unit piloted by Marc Wolff was granted rare access to the skies above the city to shoot from a helicopter on loan from the Chinese Government. Production Designer Dennis Gassner and the art department then worked to create the rest of the Chinese environment on sound-stages at Pinewood Studios.
Development and production was delayed for almost nine months during 2010-11 due to the bankruptcy and delayed sale of studio MGM, with the production being officially suspended on 19 April 2010. The press release from producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, for the film, then known as 'Bond 23', stated: "Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on 'Bond 23' indefinitely. We do not know when development will resume and do not have a date for the release of 'Bond 23'". During this period, some development and pre-production work continued on the film despite the canceled financing, with the goal to have this Bond film in theaters for the 50th Anniversary of the franchise. Production resumed in January 2011.
The most successful ever James Bond movie at the international box-office in the official franchise's film history. Previously, it grossed $100 million at the international box-office in its first week. It also had the biggest ever opening weekend at the box-office for a Bond film in Britain.
Daniel Craig was injured during the rehearsal period for this movie whereupon rescheduling took place requiring two weeks rest for his injuries. Craig was not injured during principal photography. This is the second time in the franchise's history that a delay has been forced by an injury to the actor playing James Bond. The first was on Die Another Day (2002) where Pierce Brosnan blew his knee out during filming of the opening hovercraft sequence, shutting down production for around 1-2 weeks.
Naomie Harris's mother is from Jamaica where author Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond stories at his GoldenEye estate. At 35 years of age at the start of filming, Harris is one of the oldest actresses to play a major Bond Girl. Honor Blackman is tied for eldest to ever play one, being 37 years of age at the time of filming Goldfinger (1964), and Maud Adams was also 37 years old at time of filming for Octopussy (1983). Harris attended the film's Royal World Premiere with twenty-six members of her family.
According to the UK Sun newspaper, Bond Girl Bérénice Marlohe said that James Bond actor Daniel Craig was coy and hesitant before filming their love scene in the shower. Marlohe said: "He was very shy and when he saw me entering the shower, he was like, 'Oh my god'. He tried to keep his underpants on for the shower scenes but I said, 'No, come on, don't be shy. I will do anything to make you feel comfortable'".
Actress Judi Dench and Sam Mendes have previously worked together in theatre on Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" whilst James Bond actor Daniel Craig and Mendes previously worked together on Road to Perdition (2002). Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins have also worked together previously on Revolutionary Road (2008) and Jarhead (2005). Craig and actor Ben Whishaw previously worked together on 3 films: Layer Cake (2004), Enduring Love and The Trench. Skyfall is the second time Javier Bardem has worked with Director of Photography Roger Deakins. The first was No Country for Old Men (2007). Bardem features as the main villain in both films.
With the use of Quantum of Solace (2008), an original Ian Fleming James Bond story title, there now remains only four unused original Fleming titles that could possibly have been used as a title for this film. These are "The Property of a Lady", "The Hildebrand Rarity", "Risico" and "007 in New York" (aka "Agent 007 in New York"). However, none of these were used in favor of the original title, 'Skyfall'
The names of the leaked MI6 agents in the YouTube video are names of members of the production crew, though the corresponding faces shown are of professional actors. The names used include art director Paul Inglis, assistant executive producer Andy Surry, and special effects technician Steve Benelisha. The other two Mi6 agent names, Mansur Dimka and Ben Daheer, appear not to be based on anyone in particular. The handle of the YouTube poster posting the video in the film is "vials" which is an anagram for Silva, the last name of the film's villain Raoul Silva. Moreover, the runtime on the YouTube video is 0:07, a reference to James Bond's code number of 007.
Fourth time in an official Bond movie that an M character's home has been seen. The first time was M (Bernard Lee)'s manor Quarterdeck in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). The 2nd & 3rd times followed much later with M (Judi Dench)'s homes in Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008). 'Skyfall' is the fifth time if one counts the unofficial Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967) which also showed an M character's home.
The glass set depicting the inside of the Shanghai office skyscraper was nick-named "The Jellyfish." It was built at Pinewood Studios and was likened to being like "a hall of mirrors". Cinematographer Roger Deakins has said: "Because it was all glass, the crew walking through it kept bashing into things". For filming, Deakins lit the set with two gigantic LED (Light Emitting Diode) panels which were used to represent electronic billboards exterior to the skyscraper's office's windows. The production had originally location scouted for a Chinese skyscraper but this proved unsuccessful, the substitute set providing improvements by being multi-dimensionally made of glass. The sequence in 'Skyfall' that "The Jellyfish" is seen is when James Bond (Daniel Craig) is on the track of an assassin on the way to a Shanghai office complex. In the earlier James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), a hall of mirrors was seen during the opening sequence and at the film's denouement.
The type of lizards seen in the pit at the Golden Dragon floating casino are Komodo Dragons or Komodo Monitors, their species genus is "Varanus komodoensis", being part of the Varanidae monitor lizard species family. They are the both the largest species of reptillian dragons located in the Indonesian Islands and also the largest living species of lizard in the world, they can grow to a length of 10 ft (3 m) and weigh up to around 150 lb (70 kg). Track 13 of Thomas Newman's 'Skyfall' score soundtrack is called "Komodo Dragon". The name of the casino where the dragons are seen, "The Golden Dragon Casino", references the lizards which are housed in it.
With his casting, Javier Bardem becomes the second Academy Award winner to play a major Bond villain. The first was Christopher Walken in A View to a Kill (1985) who had won an Oscar for The Deer Hunter (1978). Both Academy Awards were for Best Supporting Actor, Bardem's statuette was for No Country for Old Men (2007). Bardem is not the only actor in 'Skyfall' to have a Best Supporting Acting Oscar, Judi Dench has one for Shakespeare in Love (1998).
This is the only James Bond film where there is no leading James Bond girl. Judi Dench, as M, has the pivotal female role by participating in the climax and holding the emotional crux of the story, but she is not a James Bond girl, since she and Bond don't have a romantic relationship. The secondary Bond Girls in the movie are played by Naomie Harris as Eve; Bérénice Marlohe as Sévérine and Tonia Sotiropoulou as Bond's Lover. Actresses Freida Pinto, Olivia Wilde, Rachel Weisz, Esti Ginzburg, Margarita Levieva, Alice Eve, Ana Ventura, Emilia Fox and Ebru Akel were rumored and/or considered to appear as Bond Girls in the movie. Reportedly, 'Skyfall' is the first ever James Bond film in the official series where production notes and publicity materials generally refer to the leading actresses in the film as 'Bond Women' and not as 'Bond Girls'.
According to Judi Dench, the secrecy surrounding the details of the film's plot was such, that advance copies of the script were individually stamped so they can be specifically traced to each official recipient in the event of negligent disclosure of plot details.
The train fight scene was supposed to shoot in India, with lot of people traveling on the roof of the train. However Indian government would not give permission saying that it will give a bad impression about India and its culture.
Actors Ralph Fiennes (M), Rory Kinnear (Tanner) and Ben Whishaw (Q), all now Mi6 regular characters in the James Bond film franchise , have all portrayed "Hamlet" on the stage, on Broadway, The National Theatre and The Old Vic respectively.
The film has been said to use a large amount of computer-generated imagery, around 500 CGI shots, the most since Die Another Day (2002). A large amount of the visual effects in the film were created by around 850 staff of Technicolor owned post-production house The Moving Picture Company (MPC), 250 in Bangalore and 600 in London. Animators, graphic artists, visual FX technicians and other VFX professionals worked for eight months creating literally thousands of frames, computer animations, graphic insertions and high-end visual effects integrating all the digital content for the movie.
The first James Bond film to be released in the IMAX format. Unlike most films blown up for an IMAX release, the film did not go through their DMR (Digital Media Remastering) process, as cinematographer Roger Deakins thought that the film's image quality was high enough to make it unnecessary. Deakins has said they "...shot 2.35:1 [aspect ratio] but because of the size of the chip, you've got so much space top and bottom that basically I shot it for both formats...the IMAX was clean and the image quality is fantastic because you're using the full size of the chip. So I had seen a lot of tests and was blown away by the IMAX. We did a 4K finish and it's down rez'd to 2K after that. It quite surprised me, the fantastic quality." Films shot in IMAX have an aspect ratio of 1.44:1 which takes up the entire IMAX screen. Skyfall wasn't shot in IMAX, but the aspect ratio of the IMAX 'Skyfall' prints is 1.90:1 compared to standard theater 'Skyfall' prints which have an aspect ratio of 2.40:1. The IMAX image is 26% larger at the top and bottom of the frame than the screen image in conventional theaters thereby giving audiences a taller depth of field to view.
The gun-barrel sequence was re-shot specially for this movie as it was in the previous film. With this third Daniel Craig Bond movie, Craig has still never appeared in a traditional series gun-barrel sequence shown at the start of the film (the last film to use the sequence at the beginning was Die Another Day (2002)). According to Sam Mendes, there was an attempt to put the gun-barrel walk before the pre-titles sequence but it did not work out artistically. It was also put at the end of the film so as to be able mark the Golden Anniversary of the franchise with Bond's 50th Anniversary logo. Daniel Craig is also the first actor to film three different gun-barrel sequences, which depict Bond wearing different suits and having different stances as he shoots. For the first time in the famous gun-barrel sequence, Bond is seen wearing a grey suit rather than a black one. Roger Moore is the other Bond actor to have shot more than one gun-barrel sequence as he had filmed one for Live and Let Die (1973), which was reused in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), and eventually would film a second one for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) that would be reused for the rest of the Bond films starring Moore.
Seventh James Bond film where the villain resides on an island lair. Raoul Silva's home is Hashima Island, an abandoned island near Nagasaki, Japan. The others were Dr. No (1962)'s Crab Key island; Largo's Palmyra Estate on the Bahamas Islands in Thunderball (1965); Blofeld's Japanese island volcano lair in You Only Live Twice (1967); Mr Big / Dr Kananga's fictitious Carribean island of San Monique in Live and Let Die (1973); Elektra King and Renards' Kizkulesi Island (aka The Maiden's Tower) in Turkey's Bosphorus Sea in The World Is Not Enough (1999); and perhaps the most famous of all, Scaramanga's island in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
Released in late 2012 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film series. Previous Bond films to be released in similar celebration include Die Another Day (2002) in the series' 40th anniversary year, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) in the 35th anniversary year, The Living Daylights (1987) in the 25th anniversary year, and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) in the 15th anniversary year. This film world premiered within a couple of weeks of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Dr. No (1962) on 10 5 1962. Moreover, a new Bond documentary was made and released to tie in with and celebrate the Golden Anniversary of the franchise, Everything or Nothing (2012), it premiering also on 5 October.
The film has a lot in common with The World Is Not Enough (1999): both involve an abduction victim left to their fate by M, whom they view as a quasi-maternal figure, and M is forced to deal with the consequences of her decisions when said victim wants revenge. They are also the only Bond movies where M is actually part of the story rather than just giving Bond his briefing and sending him on his way. Both also feature scenes in Istanbul as well as a chase scene in London (a rarity for the franchise, despite London being in nearly every film), an explosion at the MI6 building, MI6 being temporarily relocated, Bond recovering from a shoulder injury sustained in the teaser, the introduction of a new Q, a female lackey who is terrified of her male terrorist employer, Bond being held captive in a chair by the Big Bad, the Big Bad using Bond to get to M, Bond pursuing a villain underground, a helicopter destroying Bond's car, Bond using gas to blow up a helicopter, and the bad guy being impaled by a metallic object.
Naomie Harris stated on The Graham Norton Show (2007) that she spent six weeks practicing for the razor shaving scene, trying it on members of the crew.
The traditional end-of-movie James Bond official series coda "James Bond Will Return" is included during the film's closing credits.
This is only the fourth James Bond movie in the official series which doesn't allow for marketing purposes the formation of the 007 symbol within the film's title wording by way of forming one or two of the '0's. The others include Thunderball (1965), Live and Let Die (1973), and The Living Daylights (1987). And it's the fifth if one includes the unofficial Never Say Never Again (1983).
Adele was pregnant when she recorded the theme to the film. In an interview with the BBC she said her pregnancy hormones caused her voice to go deeper, hense why her singing tone in this song is so low. She also said she is not able to recreate this low tone now.
If you watch the scene in the Komodo dragon pit closely, you will notice Daniel Craig has strange-looking, pudgy hands. This is because during filming, Craig had gone to the shops and purchased a pair of gloves that he thought were fitting for 007. Sam Mendes let him wear them in the scene, but later during the editing process, they realized the gloves didn't work with the logic of the scene: Bond's gun is picked up by a henchman, who is unable to fire it because the gun has been coded to Bond's palm-print, only allowing Bond to fire it. Therefore, Bond wearing gloves makes no sense, as he wouldn't be able to fire his gun. After some frantic calculations on how much re-shooting the scene would cost, it was deemed too expensive and Craig's hands were simply CGI'd in.
The film's theme song sung by Adele is the first Bond Song to share the same name as the film's title since Madonna's Die Another Day (2002) a decade earlier and the first Daniel Craig Bond film to do so. The 'Skyfall' song was released at 0.07am on Friday October 5th 2012 at 0:07 am BST/LONDON time (7:07pm EST on 4th October), the exact 50th Anniversary of the launch of Dr. No (1962). A 90-second version of the song was leaked online not long after Adele officially announced on Twitter that she was the artist singing the film's title song. The song was recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios with a full orchestra.
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Third consecutive James Bond film dealing with terrorism. The central type of terrorism depicted in 'Skyfall' is cyberterrorism. In an interview in the tie-in documentary Everything or Nothing (2012), producer Barbara Broccoli commented on how 9/11 made the producers think about doing something more serious and that it might be time to move on from the Pierce Brosnan style of Bond films. In another interview, Broccoli added: "In terms of 9/11, we thought Die Another Day (2002) had become too fantastical. That's something that's happened in previous Bond films along the way. There comes a time when you have to recalibrate the tone of the films to fit the times we live in".
John Cleese was reportedly not asked to reprise his role as Q. He later gave an interview to the Radio times, hinting that he was dropped from his role partly because film bosses wanted to please audiences in Asia.
The title was touted in the media during 2011 as either 'Carte Blanche' or 'Red Sky at Night'. Previously, in 2010, it was reported that a competition would run to pick a title for this film from the remaining Ian Fleming story titles - the two most popular being 'Risico' and 'The Property of a Lady'. In addition, 'The Hildebrand Rarity' had also been touted as a possible title. Around October 2011, the new rumored title became 'Skyfall' as the internet domain names JamesBond-Skyfall.com and Skyfallthefilm.com were registered prior to any official announcement by the movies' producers, financiers of the film, MGM and Sony pictures. The 'Skyfall' title proved to be correct, with producer Michael G. Wilson calling it "the worst kept secret in London" at the 03/11/2011 press conference. At that event, it was announced that 'Skyfall' would not be related to any previously published Ian Fleming James Bond novel or short-story.
Final Bond consecutive James Bond script written by the screen-writing team of Purvis and Wade. Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have been penning Bond scripts for 15 years and 5 films starting with The World Is Not Enough (1999). They have worked on Die Another Day (2002), Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008) and decided to move on after 'Skyfall'.
The Paddock Tank (aka the Exterior Tank) at Pinewood Studios doubled as the exterior of the Shanghai Golden Dragon Casino. The set was lit by three-hundred floating lanterns and two thirty-foot high dragon heads. Twelve artisans were flown in from China to create the authentic structures. They were made from wound steel cables, silk fabric and lit from within by 400 light bulbs.
Stuntman Gary Powell and other members of his family have worked on every EON Productions official series Bond movie since Dr. No (1962). Father and uncle Nosher Powell and Dinny Powell worked on all the early 60s and 70s Bonds with Sean Connery and George Lazenby; brother Greg Powell worked on the 70s and 80s Bonds with Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton whilst Gary has worked on all the 90s and 00s Bonds with Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig as well as 'Skyfall', the first Bond movie of the 2010s.
This marks the first time the f-word is audibly said in a Bond movie. M exclaims in the third act that she "really f***ed this up"
Bond's father's hunting rifle is a .500 Nitro Express, an extremely powerful elephant gun. During the final shootout, Bond is shown firing it from the hip. Its recoil would make this a very foolish thing to do, and a human being struck by one of the bullets would not merely fall down; a shot placed at center-mass would explode the entire chest cavity and likely blow the target's arms out of the shoulders.
The wounded agent that James Bond tries to save in the opening sequence is named Ronson. This is also the name of a popular brand of cigarette lighter used by Bond in Ian Fleming's novels.
Javier Bardem's casting marks the first time that a Spanish actor has played the lead villain in a James Bond movie, whilst Bardem is the third Spaniard to play any villain, after henchmen Simón Andreu in Die Another Day (2002) and Fernando Guillén Cuervo in Quantum of Solace (2008). Bardem's villain name of Raoul Silva in the film is actually an alias, the character's real name being Tiago Rodriguez. "Silva" / "Da Silva", is the most common surname in Portuguese-speaking countries such as Portugal and Brazil. Its meaning is derived from the Latin word "silva", meaning 'forest' or 'woodland'. It is also widespread in regions of the former Portuguese Empire in America (from Galicia (Spain)), Africa and Asia, including India and Sri Lanka. Movement of people has led to the name being used in many places. The film's writers wrote the script with Bardem in mind, whilst Bardem had the film's script translated into his native language of Spanish so as to achieve a better understanding of the story and his character. The first Bond movie Bardem ever saw was Moonraker (1979), its henchman Jaws being his favorite Bond villain.
This is the 23rd James Bond movie in the EON Productions official series and the 25th theatrically released James Bond film including the spoof Casino Royale (1967) and the unofficial Never Say Never Again (1983). It is also the 26th James Bond film if counting the TV episode tele-movie Climax!: Casino Royale (1954). Moreover, Skyfall's associated video-game, 007 Legends (2012), which has a 'Skyfall' mission, is also the 23rd title in its James Bond video-game series.
First James Bond movie to have two separate train action sequences involving different trains. From Russia with Love (1963), Live and Let Die (1973), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Octopussy (1983) and GoldenEye (1995) all had just the one locomotive. 'Skyfall' is also the second James Bond movie to have a roof-top fight on a train, the first was Octopussy (1983). Moreover, the Charing Cross Underground Station was used for location shooting for the Underground stations seen in the movie: Temple and Westminster.
Second consecutive James Bond film to have a car chase in the opening sequence. This vehicle chase was originally written and intended for the earlier also Istanbul-lensed Bond film The World Is Not Enough (1999) but was scrapped as the film's story had become too expansive. This film's car chase includes a fleet of twelve Land Rover Defenders and sixteen Audi A5's which were all modified and reinforced in different ways to the requirements of the stunt and camera departments. Two of the Defenders had driving 'Pods' fitted to the roof of Eve's (eight feet above the ground) car allowing her to concentrate on delivering dialogue while being driven by former 'Stig' Ben Collins at 50 mph (80 kph) through the packed streets of Istanbul. Multiple British rally car champion Mark Higgins was Harris' driving stunt double for wide-angle shots of the Land Rover weaving through traffic. Other modifications to the vehicles for the stunt sequence included spread wheels to give greater stability, conversion from manual to automatic, modified engines to enhance engine power and the addition of interior roll cages for protection and safety.
A total of twenty Honda CRF250R motorcycles were used for the opening motorcycle chase. The sequence is notable for being performed on narrow rooftop tracks and without any helmets or heavy-duty protective gear. The 'Police' and 'Street Merchant' bikes seen were ridden by stunt riders and due to the high speed of the chase, the stunt crew teams filming it also rode the bikes carrying the cameras. For the film, the Honda motorbikes were modified especially for the stunt sequence by the special effects team of Chris Corbould.
Second Bond film, following Die Another Day (2002) to feature four Oscar-winning or Oscar-nominated actors: Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney.
Although "Skyfall" had the largest amount of product placement of any Bond film compared to any before it, the film was the first in 23 years (since Licence to Kill (1989)) that did not either introduce a brand-new car model or highlight one in a major action sequence. Every Bond film since "Die Another Day" had featured a wide variety of vehicles produced by Ford's Premier Automotive Group, which at the time included Aston Martin, Land Rover, Jaguar and Volvo. After "Quantum of Solace" was filmed, however, Ford entirely disbanded its portfolio of foreign makes, and along with it the company's product-placement arrangement. As such, no Fords are seen in "Skyfall," and preexisting Land Rover- and Jaguar-produced vehicles are featured only in brief shots. The only car shown at length in "Skyfall" is Bond's famous 1964 Aston Martin DB5, first seen in "Goldfinger" and featured in a total of six Bond films. As an icon of the series as well as an automotive classic, the DB5's presence in the films has never been part of a product placement deal (although the company did pay to place its modern Vanquish and DBS models in earlier films). "Skyfall" is the last modern Bond film, as of 2015, to have this distinction, as Aston Martin is introducing its new DB10 model as part of its promotion deal for "Spectre."
The film features a recurring line of dialogue, "The old ways are usually the best". It occurs twice, said by both Eve and Kincade.
Daniel Craig's third outing playing James Bond. Craig's first was Casino Royale (2006) and his second was Quantum of Solace (2008). The film is Daniel Craig's first James Bond film not to use an original Ian Fleming story for its title as his first two Bond movies used Fleming titles.
Ola Rapace plays henchman Patrice who, despite being onscreen for more than 15 minutes in the pre-titles chase and Shanghai scenes, doesn't speak a single word of dialogue in the film. Ola is the ex-husband of Noomi Rapace who starred in the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009). James Bond actor Daniel Craig starred in its American remake The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). Swede Rapace is the fourth Scandinavian actor to play a James Bond villain in three Bond films. Danish actors Mads Mikkelsen played the villain Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (2006) whilst Jesper Christensen played the villain Mr. White in that film as well as Quantum of Solace (2008) and Ulrich Thomsen starred in The World Is Not Enough.
This film marks the return of title designer Daniel Kleinman who did the opening titles and gun-barrel sequences from GoldenEye (1995) to Casino Royale (2006). In the previous film, Quantum of Solace (2008), Kleinman was replaced by US special effects company MK12. 'Skyfall' is Kleinman's sixth collaboration as title designer in the series and his second one in a Bond film starring Daniel Craig.
Fourth James Bond movie to film in Scotland after From Russia with Love (1963) (various locations in the Argyll and Bute region), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) (the Faslane naval base) and The World Is Not Enough (1999) (Eilean Donan Castle at Kyle of Lochalsh in the Highlands). This is actually the fifth Bond film to shoot in Scotland if including the unofficial Casino Royale (1967) which shoot in Killin, Stirling. The first actor to play James Bond on the big screen was a Scot, Sean Connery. The Scottish Dalness Estate once belonged to the Fleming family and author Ian Fleming loved the Scottish region so much that he gave James Bond a Scottish genealogical lineage, the character's father Andrew coming from Glencoe where 'Skyfall' filmed alongside the Buachaille Etive Mor mountain. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), James Bond was seen wearing a kilt.
For a long time in development and pre-production the film was simply known as "Bond 23". Reportedly, other titles that were considered for the movie were "A Killing Moon" and "Once Upon a Spy" and "Silver Bullet." False rumoured titles that were touted in the media during 2011 were 'Carte Blanche' and 'Red Sky at Night'. Previously, in 2010, it was reported that a competition would run to pick a title for this film from the remaining Ian Fleming story titles, the two most popular being 'Risico' and 'The Property of a Lady'. In addition, 'The Hildebrand Rarity' had also been touted as a possible title.
Script-writer Peter Morgan left the production when development was suspended due to MGM's bankruptcy. Morgan later declared that ideas from his first draft were still retained by the Logan, Purvis & Wade screen-writing team including the film's "big hook". Character and plot details from the script were kept under tight wraps during principal photography with the names and identities of several characters such as those played by Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris and veteran Albert Finney being kept a secret for several months. The script was heavily revised by John Logan, even throughout filming. When filming wrapped, it had been revised thirteen times since the third draft.
When it came time to casting Silva's mercenaries, director Sam Mendes wanted actors rather than stuntmen. In order to find actors that could fit the physical bill, stunt coordinator Gary Powell set up a stunt training camp. Starting with forty-two men, the group had to learn how to throw punches, react to punches, hold guns and react to being shot. The group was eventually narrowed down to the seven men who looked most natural.
First James Bond film in 23 years where a "traditional" series M's office is seen, the last time was in Licence to Kill (1989). It's also the first time in the series that the old "traditional" and new "modern" types of M offices have been seen in the same Bond movie. In fact, there are actually three M's offices in 'Skyfall', the old "traditional' type, the new "modern" MI6 type as seen in the series ever since GoldenEye (1995) and M's temporary office in the underground bunker.
M, played by Judi Dench, mentions that she oversaw MI6's Hong Kong operations until 1997 even though Dench's first appearance as M was in GoldenEye (1995). The reason for this apparent contradiction is that the James Bond series was reset, or rebooted, beginning with Casino Royale (2006), and Dench has actually portrayed two separate versions of the same character.
In the film, James Bond (Daniel Craig) is given a Walther PPK/S 9mm short firearm by Q. The Walther PPK is considered the most popular and widely known Bond gun, since it is the one he has used the most. Originally, Bond used a Beretta, but that was later replaced with the Walther PPK. The hand-gun he has uses hand recognition coded to his palm prints. Timothy Dalton's Bond used a weapon with the same feature in Licence to Kill (1989).
Third James Bond movie to film in Istanbul, Turkey. The first was From Russia with Love (1963) and the second was The World Is Not Enough (1999). 'This shares two of the same filming locations that the classic James Bond film 'From Russia with Love' utilized: Turkey and Scotland (although the Scottish scenes in From Russia with Love (1963) were not set in the country). The film was also once rumoured to be titled 'Red Sky at Night', the word 'red' evoking Russia. Turkish locations that the film shares with From Russia with Love (1963) include Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square and the Hagia Sophia Mosque, now a museum. Producer Barbara Broccoli maintains that Istanbul was Ian Fleming's favourite city.
When Q delivers the Walther PPK & passport to Bond in the National Gallery in London, the painting behind him is Joseph Wright of Derby's 'An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768)', featuring a natural philosopher - a forerunner to a modern scientist - demonstrating an experiment to curious onlookers. This fits Q's role as scientific research/development for SIS/MI6 and 007.
First Daniel Craig Bond movie not to feature the character of American CIA agent Felix Leiter, as portrayed by Jeffrey Wright in Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008).
The number of individual Academy Awards totaled from this film's cast and crew is as follows. Crew: Director Sam Mendes (1 win), cinematographer Roger Deakins (12 nominations), first draft of script by Peter Morgan (2 nominations), final script by John Logan (3 nominations), composer Thomas Newman (12 nominations), Designer Dennis Gassner (1 win & 3 more nominations), and Chris Corbould on special effects (1 win). Cast: Javier Bardem (2 nominations, 1 win), Ralph Fiennes (2 nominations), Albert Finney (5 nominations) and Judi Dench (5 nominations & 1 more win) making at least 41 nominations, and 5 wins.
The film was originally going to be shot in six countries but budget cutbacks in January 2012 resulted in filming primarily taking place in England, on location and in studio. Additional shooting was set in Scotland, Turkey and China. Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands replaced Duntrune Castle in Argyll, Scotland, as the location for the film's climatic action scenes though some of that was actually filmed at Surrey's Hankley Common in England. Scenes planned to be originally shot in India or South Africa were instead filmed in Turkey. In the end, the picture was filmed in five countries: England, Scotland, China, Turkey and Japan. In Japan, just a small amount of filming was done on Hashima Island.
The movie's soundtrack composed by Thomas Newman features the most tracks (30) ever for a James Bond film score. The previous record holder in the official series had been Casino Royale (2006) with 25 whilst next is Quantum of Solace (2008) with 24. The previous record holder for any Bond movie and now second is the unofficial Never Say Never Again (1983) which has 26 tracks. The 'Skyfall' album is the second time that a James Bond soundtrack has not featured the title song (which is "Skyfall" sung by Adele). The first time was Chris Cornell's title song "You Know My Name" not appearing on the Casino Royale (2006) soundtrack. Skyfall's end titles utilize composer David Arnold's arrangement ("The Name's Bond... James Bond") of Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme" but this also does not feature on the soundtrack. Skyfall's film's score also contains interpolations of Monty Norman's original "James Bond Theme". The whole score on the soundtrack is composed and conducted by Thomas Newman except for the "Komodo Dragon" track which is an instrumental interpolation of the film's "Skyfall" theme song. "Skyfall" is also the first Daniel Craig Bond film to make use of Norman's original "James Bond Theme" throughout the entire film (in "Casino Royale" the fully orchestrated version was played during the end credits and in Quantum of Solace (2008) during the gun barrel sequence and at the start of the end credits).
5th October 2012 was "Global James Bond Day". It was created by the production to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the James Bond film series and as a promotional tie-in for the film's release. According to the official website 'Global James Bond Day' featured "Worldwide events celebrating Bond's golden anniversary [and] include[d] a global online and live charity auction event organized by Christie's in London, a global survey to discover the favorite Bond film country by country, a film retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, a Music of Bond night in Los Angeles hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Designing 007: 50 Years of James Bond Style [in Toronto]".
Some of the cast have favorites from the film series's history. Playing the villain in this film, Javier Bardem's favorite Bond villain is Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979) whilst Bond Girls Bérénice Marlohe and Naomi Harris say their favorite Bond Girls are Famke Janssen from GoldenEye (1995) and Grace Jones from A View to a Kill (1985) respectively.
The climax of the opening chase sequence takes place at the breathtaking Varda Bridge about an hour's travel out of Adana in southern Turkey. The stone arch structure is also known by a number of other names including Alman Köprüsü (German Viaduct), Koca Köprüthe (Big Viaduct), the Varda Viaduct and the Giaour Dere Viaduct. Construction was started in 1905 and was completed in 1916, the bridge being around 570 feet (174 m) long and 322 feet (98 m) high. The viaduct was originally designed and built by Imperial German engineers for the former Ottoman Empire as part of the Istanbul-Baghdad Railway Project.
The film represents the 10th Anniversary of the now regular "Bond On Set" book, a photo record of the filming of a Bond movie, with pictures that are shot by Bond regular stills photographer Greg Williams. The 'Skyfall' "Bond On Set" book is the fourth to be published, the first was in 2002 with the Die Another Day (2002) "Bond On Set" book. Prior to this, there had been "Making of" books for Bond films such as for GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).
At the film's Spanish Premiere at Madrid's Espanol Theatre on 29th October 2012, a number of the big red carpet stars of the film including Javier Bardem held posters in protest against the dismissal of theater workers during the film's premiere.
Skyfall is the first James Bond movie in its franchise to make a billion in the box office internationally.
English Naomie Harris is the fourth actress of Jamaican descent to play a Bond Girl in a Bond movie. American Grace Jones was the third in A View to a Kill (1985). Jones was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, whereas Harris' mother is from Jamaica, Naomie spending some time there as a child. James Bond creator Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond stories at Goldeneye in Jamaica. The first ever Bond Girl in the official series was Swiss actress Ursula Andress who was first seen in a white bikini emerging from the tranquil sea waters of Jamaica in Dr. No (1962). Marguerite LeWars was the first in Dr. No (1962). LeWars was the reigning Miss Jamaica and was cast in the film when the production crew encountered her at Kingston Airport where she had been an employee there. Martine Beswick is the second Jamaican actress, and the only Jamaican who was cast twice: as the gypsy Zora in From Russia with Love (1963) and as the doomed Paula in Thunderball (1965)
Weaponry and guns in the film include an Anderson Wheeler double-barreled chambered 500 NE (Nitro Express) hunting rifle belonging to James Bond's father; Silva's reproduction Percussion Cap Ardesa 1871 Duelling Pistol; Kincade's Colt Model 1878 shotgun; two Steyr M9-A1 pistols; various Heckler & Koch HK416 assault rifles belonging to Silva's men; Heckler & Koch G36C rifles with G36V carry handles used by the Metropolitan Police Service's CO19 officers; M4-style carbine assault rifles used by Mi6 security officers; Eve's Olympic Arms K23B rifle; various standard Glock 17 pistols; a 100 round drum mag semi-automatic Glock 18 machine pistol-class pistol used by Patrice who also has a sniper rifle and a hand recognition Walther PPK/S 9mm short firearm with a palm-sensitive hammer coded to James Bond's palm prints. For the weapons training, the cast went through 200,000 rounds of ammunition.
Some fans suggest that Silva may actually be M's son.
While speaking via microphones in "The Golden Dragon Casino", James Bond warns Eve Moneypenny to stop touching her ear. This is reference to Casino Royale (2006) where Bond warns agent Carter to stop touching his ear, while speaking to him.
For exterior scenes shot in Whitehall, halfway through the chase between James Bond and Raoul Silva, there were 100 background vehicles, 300 film crew, 750 extras, and massive multiple government agency bureaucracy co-operation. Permissions, negotiations and authorizations for the London chase sequence were permitted from such offices of English officialdom as the Westminster City Council, Transport For London (TFL) and TFL Buses, the Met and CHX Police, The London Underground, Network Rail, Herts Traffic Management Systems, the The Ministry of Defence (MOD), The Royal Parks, and The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Filming at Pinewood Studios utilized thirty-one different sets on eight different sound stages including the gigantic "007 Stage". Major sets included the Golden Dragon Casino on D Stage and the Paddock Lot, the exterior of the Dead City Island on the North Lot and the interior of MI6's underground bunker headquarters on the "007 Stage", the latter taking 9 weeks and 250 crew to build the set.
Reference to "Station H" in the film refers to MI6's Hong Kong office.
Producer Michael G. Wilson has commented on the film's audio-commentary that many people thought that leading Bond Girl Bérénice Marlohe was not in the movie enough.
Second time in a James Bond movie that Rory Kinnear plays MI6 chief of staff Bill Tanner. His first time was in Quantum of Solace (2008). With this film, Rory Kinnear has played Tanner twice on film and three times in video games, meaning he has portrayed the character more than any other actor.
Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins include Heineken Lager Beer; Coca Cola's Coke Zero; Bollinger Champagne; Visit Britain Tourism's 'Live Like Bond' campaign; "The James Bond Archives" and "SKYFALL: Bond On Set" books; Procter & Gamble fragrance; Virgin Atlantic; 'Literary Review' magazine; Tom Ford clothing; Cartamundi playing cards; Omega Watches including a 50th Anniversary Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M "SKYFALL" Limited Edition watch; Swarovski Jewelery; Corgi die-cast James Bond Skyfall toy Aston Martin DB5 cars; the London 2012 Olympics; Honda Motorcycles; Hornby Scalextric car sets; Jaguar & Land Rover vehicles; Activision's 007 Legends (2012) video-game; RT Marketing James Bond 007 merchandising; Sky TV's Sky Movies 007 HD Bond channel and Sony Electronics products including Bravia TVs, Vaio laptops & computers, and Xperia tablets & smart-phones, the Sony Xperia TL phone and Heineken beer being two of the products making brand-cameos in the film. The London 'Mirror' newspaper has reported that about £29 million or about a third of the film's budget was raised from commercial deals.
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Third consecutive official James Bond movie to be distributed by Sony Pictures after Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008). It is also expected that Sony will co-distribute the next James Bond film, Spectre (2015). The official 13th April 2011 press release stated: "Sony Pictures and MGM look forward to Sony Pictures co-financing and distributing Spectre (2015) on a similar basis". This is Sony Pictures' widest ever theatrical release in the UK and Ireland with the film launching on 1500 screens.
In preparing for his role, Javier Bardem had the script translated into his native Spanish to better understand his character, which Sam Mendes cited as being a sign of the actor's commitment to the film.
At one point it was rumored that this film would be shot in New York, leading to gossip that it would be based on the Fleming short story "007 in New York;" however, it turned out to be untrue and it appears that New York was never under consideration. Other rumors claimed that Israel would be used for several Bond films; that turned out to be false as well. A rumor that filming would take place in India was partially true; they were set to film a number of action scenes in India, but then plans were changed and all location shooting there was canceled.
The literal English translation of some of this film's foreign language titles have the film known in their respective regions as "Operation Skyfall".
To prepare for the grueling physical demands of her action role as Eve, actress Naomie Harris was given a personal trainer and worked-out for around two months for two hours a day, five days a week. For this, Harris did yoga, kick-boxing, running and circuit training. Moreover, for one day of the week, Harris did combat fighting training; for one-two days of the week, Harris did stunt driving training and for three days a week, Harris fired guns on a shooting range learning to shoot machine guns and Walther PPKs.
Vehicles featured in the film include a Range Rover Vogue SE; a 3.0 L V6 Diesel Jaguar XJ L; a Range Rover Evoque; black 2007 Audi A5 B8 cars; a Mercedes; a Stornoway metallic grey Land Rover Defender 110 wheelbase double cab ute; a 320D L Cat Hydraulic Excavator; 1998 Volkswagen Typ 1C New VW Beetles; an Agusta Westland Merlin AW101 helicopter; various Honda CRF 250R motor-bikes and the classic James bond car, the silver birch Aston Martin DB5.
When James uses his father Andrew Bond's rifle, an "AB" can be seen engraved on it. These are also the initials of classical Bond Producer Albert R. Broccoli but this is purely a coincidence.
The film started shooting in 2011 which was the 30th year that casting director Debbie McWilliams had being working on the series. McWilliams first Bond movie was For Your Eyes Only (1981) in 1981. For 'Skyfall', McWilliams coordinated casting sessions that took place in various locations all around the world which included, amongst others, Athens, Greece; Beijing and Shanghai in China; Istanbul, Turkey; London, England; Madrid, Spain; Stockholm, Sweden and Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
First James Bond film to feature MGM's new 2012 logo. The first James Bond movie to be released with the MGM Lion logo at the beginning was Octopussy (1983). MGM merged with United Artists in 1982, the year before the release of that movie which was the first Bond movie distributed by the then new company, MGM/UA Distribution Co.
Third James Bond movie to film in Japan. Hashima Island was for shooting villain Raoul Silva's island lair. The first Bond Bond film to lens in Japan where the largest amount of filming was done was for You Only Live Twice (1967). The second was for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) where filming was done there to get shots of exotic fish in Okinawa.
The name of the boat that Bond and Sévérine journey on in the film is called "The Chimera" which is from the Greek Mythology and is what co-inspired the Sévérine character. The vessel is in real life called the "SY Regina" and is also known as the "Medyat Regina".
The demand for the Wild and Wolf scrabble mug Q was using in the film soared soon after the movie's release, as did the Royal Doulton china bulldog paperweight.
Raoul Silva was modelled on The Joker from The Dark Knight (2008) and Col. Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds (2009).
Adele's title song "Skyfall" is the first ever James Bond theme to debut in the Top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart, entering at No. #8. It's the 7th Bond song to reach the US Top 10 and the 13th to reach the US Top 100. It's the first to chart in the US Top 10 in a decade, the last time being Madonna's Die Another Day (2002) song in 2002. Adele's song sold 261,000 copies in the USA in its first three days. The song debuted in the UK Singles Chart at No. #4 within just 48 hours of release and then went to No. #2 within a week, tying with the previous record holder, Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill (1985) (Dance into the Fire)" as the highest ever charting Bond song in UK singles history. The song sold 84,000 copies in the UK in its first two days and had sold 92,000 copies within a week. The song went to No. #1 on the UK iTunes chart within 10 hours. On its first day of release worldwide, the song hit the Top 10 on the iTunes Charts in 21 countries. Of those, it also went to Number #1 in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.
The Royal World Premiere was held on Tuesday 23rd October 2012 at Royal Albert Hall in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall (Camilla Parker-Bowles). At the request of HRH Prince Charles, the Gala Charity Premiere Benefit aided the support of former and current serving members of Britain's three intelligence agencies, GCHQ, the Security Service, and the Secret Intelligence Service. Prince Charles is England's Royal Patron of the Intelligence Services. Also in attendance were director Sam Mendes, and actors Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe, Albert Finney, Ben Whishaw and Judi Dench. The only ever previous Bond World Premiere to be held at the Royal Albert Hall was for the franchise's 40th Anniversary where Die Another Day (2002) debuted. The gala premiere raised UK £300,000+ in aid of the Prince's chosen charities.
The film is partly set in Istanbul, Turkey. Turkish producer Ali Akdeniz who has worked on both The World Is Not Enough (1999) and 'Skyfall' says that the location of this part of the film was particularly chosen as a homage to the James Bond character's connections with Istanbul, once known as "The City of Spies". James Bond creator Ian Fleming once visited Istanbul in June 1955 for an Interpol Conference which he was covering on behalf of "The Sunday Times". The event provided both a setting and much background information for his Bond novel of From Russia with Love (1963). For example, Fleming met Nazim Kalkavan, an Oxford educated man who inspired the Darko Kerim character. Moreover, whilst there, Fleming covered the "Istanbul Pogroms" aka "The Great Riot of Istanbul" which was published in "The Sunday Times" on 11th September 1955. When Fleming left the conference, he traveled by train, commenting that the experience was drab because there had been no dining car. Interestingly, both 'Skyfall' and From Russia with Love (1963) involve trains, both the London subway tube and a Turkish train in Adana in 'Skyfall' and The Orient Express in From Russia with Love (1963).
Danny Boyle was once erroneously touted in the media as having being asked to direct this film. One of this film's main Bond girls, Naomie Harris, appeared in Boyle's 28 Days Later... (2002) which was released in the same year as the last Bond film with a black Bond girl, Die Another Day (2002). Coincidentally, Boyle ended up directing the James Bond short with Daniel Craig and Queen Elizabeth II which opened the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony, London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder (2012).
Second Daniel Craig James Bond film to feature a casino and the first for him since Casino Royale (2006), Craig being notable for having debuted in this 'Casino' titled Bond film. Not every Bond movie has a casino sequence but 'Skyfall' joins the ranks in the official series of those that have: Dr. No (1962), Thunderball (1965), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), For Your Eyes Only (1981), Licence to Kill (1989), GoldenEye (1995), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Casino Royale (2006). All the unofficial Bond films, Casino Royale (1967), Never Say Never Again (1983) and Climax!: Casino Royale (1954), have all featured a casino. 'Skyfall' is the first Bond movie since The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) to feature a casino in Asia. Its name is "The Golden Dragon Casino" and it's a floating-casino in Macau, China and is based on the actual real-life Macau floating casino, "The Macau Palace".
First James Bond film in ten years to have a theme song that shared it's title with that of the film.
When Gareth Mallory is discussing a potential retirement plan with M, he says that she would be awarded "DCMG with honours". DCMG stands for Dame Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George, a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later King George IV, while he was acting as regent for his father, King George III. It is awarded to men and women who hold high office or who render extraordinary or important non-military service in a foreign country, and can also be conferred for important or loyal service in relation to foreign and Commonwealth affairs.
Bond's line to Moneypenny "Don't touch your ear." is the second time he has instructed a fellow operative to not give away their mission, the first time being in "Casino Royale" in the opening chase sequence that went awry when the operative did just that, alerting their prey to their presence.
The opening train action sequence was originally planned to be shot in the Sabarmati railway yard of the Konkan Railway in India. However, delays in getting permission to film there with the many complex problems meant the sequence was not filmed there. South Africa was considered to film this sequence but in the end it shot in Turkey.
First James Bond movie to film in both China and Japan since You Only Live Twice (1967) a gap of around forty-five years. Timothy Dalton's planned third Bond film "Property of a Lady" would have gone to these locations, as well as Scotland.
The DLC in the videogame 007 Legends (2012) is based on the Istanbul chase, and killing Patrice from Skyfall. Both of the cut scenes are (save for playing as Bond, as it is a first person shooter) exactly as in the movie, except for the graphics in the game. This was to promote the movie, as the DLC trailer was released alongside the movie.
Ben Whishaw as Q has more screen time in this film than John Cleese has in The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002).
Stuntwoman Tina Maskell, is credited twice as a stunt performer in the credits.
Sam Mendes has stated that he originally planned to open the film with the Bond Gun Barrel sequence, but realized it would have conflicted with the shot of Bond walking into focus in the first scene. (In a case of making lemonade from lemons, placing it at the end allowed the film to pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of the franchise).
The scene where Silva challenges Bond to a shooting contest is taken from the book "The Man With the Golden Gun".
M writing James Bond's obituary after he's presumed dead is from the novel "You Only Live Twice".
Ben Whishaw as Q marks the first time the character has been re-cast, as John Cleese's Q was his character R in The World is Not Enough (1999).
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
Bond uses both the Walther PPK and the Walther PPK/S in this film.
French actress Bérénice Marlohe has said that her characterization of Bond Girl Sévérine was inspired by two things: "The Chimera" from mythology and actress Famke Janssen's Xenia Onatopp Bond Girl character from GoldenEye (1995). Skyfall (2012) is the first English-speaking role for Marlohe who is the sixth French actress to play a leading Bond girl, the others being Claudine Auger (Thunderball (1965)), Corinne Cléry (Moonraker (1979)), Carole Bouquet (For Your Eyes Only (1981)), Sophie Marceau (The World Is Not Enough (1999)), and most recently, Eva Green in Casino Royale (2006). Prior to Skyfall (2012), Marlohe once appeared on a TV show wearing just a red wig and nothing else. Reportedly, Marlohe didn't have an agent prior to Skyfall (2012), got the part in the film on her own, and was cast quite late. Marlohe was born in Paris on 19th May 1979 which was just a few months after Moonraker (1979) had finished filming there.
This is the third Bond film with an Asian shooting location and an actress of Asian descent playing one of the main Bond Girls. The first two were You Only Live Twice (1967) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). 'Skyfall' Bond Girl Bérénice Marlohe was born to a Cambodian/Chinese father and a French mother. A few Bond films which shot in Asia did not feature a main Bond Girl who was from Asia, these were Die Another Day (2002), Octopussy (1983) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). However, these three films did have cast Asian women in minor Bond Girl roles.
Tenth James Bond film produced by Michael G. Wilson as a fully-fledged producer (excluding executive producer credits). The next James Bond film (Spectre (2015)) is expected to be released around 2014, that year will mark producer Wilson's 50th Golden Anniversary Year of his association with the James Bond official series, Wilson first appearing as an uncredited extra as a Soldier at Fort Knox in Goldfinger (1964). Similarly, the film was released in the Golden 50th Anniversary Year of the series in 2012. Wilson has also acted on the films as a screen-writer and as a legal/administrative/technical consultant and is also known for making regular cameo appearances in the franchise.
One of just a handful of Bond films to feature a British country home or manor house. Others include The Blayden Safe House in The Living Daylights (1987); Shrublands in both Thunderball (1965) and Never Say Never Again (1983) and M's home Quarterdeck in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
Patrice (Ola Rapace)'s gun in the film is a 100-round drum mag semi-automatic "Glock 18" machine pistol-class firearm which holds 100 rounds of ammunition and fires 20 rounds a second. The firearm has an effective range of 50 m (55 yd) and a muzzle velocity of 1,230 ft/s (375 m/s). It's an Austrian gun that was developed at the request of EKO Cobra, the Austrian counter-terrorist unit.
First one-word Bond movie title in seventeen years, the last was GoldenEye (1995). It is also the shortest ever one-word James Bond movie title. It is the only one ever with two syllables, most of them in the past having three (_Goldfinger_, Moonraker (1979), GoldenEye (1995) and Thunderball (1965) (which rhymes with 'Skyfall') whilst Octopussy (1983) had four. Dr. No (1962) remains the shortest ever Bond movie title with the least number of letters, having 5, whereas 'Skyfall' has 007. 'Skyfall' is the shortest Bond film title of all when 'Doctor No' is spelled in its unabbreviated form.
Second James Bond movie to be edited by Stuart Baird, after Casino Royale (2006). Also the second Bond film for production designer Dennis Gassner whose first was Quantum of Solace (2008). Third Bond movie as Stunt Coordinator for Gary Powell, who has worked in other stunt positions on four other bond films beginning with GoldenEye (1995). Also the seventh Bond film as Special Effects Supervisor for Chris Corbould whose tally totals thirteen Bond movies starting with The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).
The shoulder number on Silva's fake police uniform is 101, which is the non-emergency public contact telephone number for London's Metropolitan Police Force.
Released late 2012, the film played in theaters in early 2013 which marked the 30th Anniversary Year that producer Barbara Broccoli has officially been associated with the series, first officially credited as an executive assistant on Octopussy (1983). Broccoli's first start on the series however was as an uncredited second assistant director on Moonraker (1979), a 30th Anniversary milestone for this was in 2009 after the release of the previous Bond film Quantum of Solace (2008). The film's release year of 2012 also marks the 25th Anniversary Year for Broccoli as a producer on the series as her first credit as a producer was as an associate producer on The Living Daylights (1987) in 1987. It is also the 25th Year for executive producer and production manager Callum McDougall who started as an assistant director on the same Bond film.
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The word Sévérine (the name of the Bond Girl played by Bérénice Marlohe) is a French name of Latin origin from the French language and translates into English as meaning "stern". It is a French feminine variation of the Latin male name "Severus" which is a Saint's name. Sévérine is made up of eight letters, has three syllables and is pronounced "Sey-Vah-RIY-N". Sévérine is variant of the name "Severina" used in the Italian, German, Portugese, Romanian and Slavic languages. Other variant forms of the name are Severino, Severinus, Severo, Sevrin and Seweryn.
It has been claimed that the film has used Great Britain and specifically London for filming locations more than any other Bond film in the franchise's history. Several different locations in the city of London were used as interiors and exteriors for the film, some of which would not normally be accessible for filming. London locations included Vauxhall Bridge; Millbank; The Old Vic Tunnels; an underground car park on Great Suffolk Street; Trinity Square; the entrance to Broadgate Tower; The Virgin Active Pool in Canary Wharf; Cadogan Square, The National Portrait Gallery; Parliament Square; Tower Hill; the building roof of the Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC); the Smithfield Meat Market; St Bartholomew's Hospital; Charing Cross Underground Station; Greenwich's Old Royal Naval College; Southwark; Whitehall; and London's landmark Trafalgar Square.
The movie's features the expression "For Her Eyes Only" which is a variation on the earlier James Bond short story, compilation novel title, and movie title of For Your Eyes Only (1981). These were themselves a variation on the real life espionage term "Eyes Only" meaning restricted viewing to certain personnel. 'The Free Dictionary' website defines 'Eyes Only' as meaning "meant to be seen only by the addressee; confidential" and "official classification for documents; meant to be seen by only the person to whom it is directed".
The chase through Istanbul was originally planned for The World Is Not Enough (1999).
The opening few seconds are a homage to the traditional "gun barrel" openings of previous Bond films. The long, dark corridor with bright light at its end is similar to the shape of a gun barrel. Bond walks into frame from offstage holding a gun and is shillouetted at the end of the corridor. Just the first three notes of the Bond theme are then played.
Being that this was the 50th anniversary of the series there were several homages and references to the old films, for example, when Bond gave the scrap metal pieces to an agent he said "for her eyes only" this was an obvious reference to For Your Eyes Only (1981). The Aston Martin DB5, and the location that M asks Bond how old was he when his parents died was a reference to Goldfinger (1964). The hand print recognition gun grips were a reference to Licence to Kill (1989). The scene where Bond breaks into M's house is a reference to Casino Royale (2006). The explosion attack on MI6 was a reference to The World Is Not Enough (1999). The mention of Bond's parents was a reference to GoldenEye (1995). And of course, Bond giving his iconic "Bond, James Bond" introduction to lady while in a casino wearing a tuxedo, and Q giving Bond a Walther PPK was an obvious reference to those iconic moments to the very first James Bond film, Dr. No (1962).
This is the only film to star 'Daniel Craig (I)' (q) as James Bond that does not feature 'Jesper Christensen' as Mr. White or reference Vesper Lynd or the Quantum Organization.
On Hashima Island, Silva's lair, "Boum!" by Charles Trenet can be heard. In the final battle in Scotland when Silva's helicopter arrives, it plays through a loudspeaker a cover of John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom Boom Boom".
When James Bond meets Q for the first time in the National Gallery, they both stare at J.M.W. Turner's "The Fighting Temeraire," and as they stare at the painting, Q's first remark to Bond is "What do you see?" This line was also the opening of "Red," screenwriter John Logan's Tony Award-winning play, which is about modern artist Mark Rothko.
During the opening titles a number of daggers plunge into a graveyard. One of the daggers is a Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife, issued to British special forces from WWII until the present day as of 2013.
While some Bond films have original titles that do not come from the work of author Ian Fleming, 'Skyfall' is the first original title that has already pre-existed as the title of other fictional works. 'Skyfall' is also the title of a 1966 sci-fi novel by Harry Harrison, a 1987 novel by Thomas Block, a 2004 novel in the "Saga of the Skolian Empire" sci-fi series by Catherine Asaro, a 2007 novel by Anthony Eaton in the fantasy action "Darklands Trilogy", and also the name of a 2002 Norweigan film Falling Sky (2002), its literal English translation being "Falling Sky" or "The Sky Is Falling Down".
This marks the 10th anniversary of Gregg Wilson on the James Bond film series. The movie marks the milestone of Gregg being the first third-generation member of the Broccoli/Wilson family to achieve a senior producer credit on the series, that of an associate producer. Gregg is the son of Michael G. Wilson who is the stepson of co-founding producer Albert R. Broccoli. Gregg's first credit on the series was a decade earlier as development executive on Die Another Day (2002). Gregg was also an assistant producer on Quantum of Solace (2008).
Javier Bardem dyed his hair blond for the role after brainstorming ideas with Sam Mendes to come up with a distinct visual look for the character, which led some commentators to observe a similarity between the character and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Actress Bérénice Marlohe has said that she has based her inspiration on her Sévérine character on "The Chimera" which is from the Greek Mythology. Also known as "The Chimaera" or "The Chimæra", Wikipedia defines The Chimera as a "she-goat... a monstrous fire-breathing female creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of three animals: a lion, a serpent and a goat. Usually depicted as a lion, with the head of a goat arising from its back, and a tail that ended in a snake's head, the Chimera was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of such monsters as Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra. The term chimera has also come to describe any mythical or fictional animal with parts taken from various animals." Marlohe has said "I wanted to have that dangerousness spreading through her, but at the same time I wanted to create a real human being with a range of emotions and the inner struggles we go through as human beings." Moreover, the name of the boat that Bond and Sévérine journey on in the film is called "The Chimera".
Actor Albert Finney has said he remembers seeing the first James Bond movie Dr. No (1962). Other cast members were working actors in film and TV when Dr. No (1962) was in theaters. Actress Judi Dench, who plays M, was appearing as Anya in Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (1962) whilst Finney's closest film role to the release date of Dr. No (1962) was as another great lover, Tom Jones (1963), in which he starred with Diane Cilento, who was once married to cinema's first James Bond Sean Connery who was actually the original choice to play the Kincaid character. Producer Barbara Broccoli has said that her father, pioneer Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli, had been keen to work with Finney but the opportunity never arose.
The second time that James Bond is crying. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), he cried, when his bride Tracy is killed in a drive-by shooting by Blofeld and Bunt.
There are two henchmen in Skyfall (2012) played by Swedish Actors: Ola Rapace played as Patrice and Jens Hultén played as Silva's henchman whom Bond drowned in the lake in the last part of the movie. If only Dolph Lundgren characters as Venz in A View to a Kill (1985) is credited, then Skyfall (2012) is the second Bond Film which utilizes the Swedish Actors to play the henchmen roles. Jens Hultén then got a more substantial role in the other spy-genre Film Franchise Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) as Janik Vinter, released in the same year as another Bond Film Spectre (2015). Both in Skyfall (2012) and Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015), Hulten's characters ended up dead.
After his first conversation with Q, James Bond says to himself the phrase "Brave new world", which is a quote from William Shakespeare's play The Tempest (in this case, an observation on Q's youth).
During this film's development and early stages of pre-production, 'Variety' columnist Liz Smith once wrote about the film, then known as 'Bond 23', being filmed in New York using its Primola Restaurant as one of its locations. Published on Wednesday 10th September 2008, the piece read: "WHO WAS that blond stunner who froze forks mid-air at the posh Primola eatery in N.Y.? Oh yes indeed, it was Daniel Craig, 007 himself. The studly Daniel was accompanied by his producer Barbara Broccoli. (She is the daughter of Albert R. Broccoli aka "Cubby" who co-produced the James Bond films from Dr. No (1962) until Licence to Kill (1989). Barbara took over and now has a "license to film.") Daniel and Barbara talked about the next Bond epic, part of which will be filmed―for the very first time!―in New York [sic, Live and Let Die (1973) was filmed in New York]. Primola itself will have a little cameo. Maybe Daniel just wanted to see if the restaurant could handle those shoulders of his." It turned out that New York apparently was never actually under consideration as a filming location.
The production shoot for this film went for 127 days whilst the movie features 172 scenes.
The second James Bond film to have the gun barrel sequence at the beginning of the end credits. This is Daniel Craig's third different gun barrel sequence, making him the first ever James Bond actor to do more than two different ones like Sir Sean Connery and Sir Roger Moore.
One of five collaborations of actors Ben Whishaw and Daniel Craig. Prior to the Bond movies Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015), the pair had both worked on The Trench (1999), Layer Cake (2004) and Enduring Love (2004).
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The 007th cinema movie collaboration of cinematographer Roger Deakins and production designer Dennis Gassner. The two had both worked with Skyfall (2012) director Sam Mendes before on Jarhead (2005). The pair's other collaborations were all on Coen Brothers pictures for Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, they being Barton Fink (1991), The Ladykillers (2004), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000).
Principal photography was scheduled to take up 133 days, although the actual filming took 128.
Shooting of the finale was planned to take place at Duntrune Castle in Argyll, but was cancelled shortly after filming began. Glencoe was instead chosen for filming of these scenes.
First James Bond film since Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) to have someone other than the Bond Girl to receive second billing, in this case, Judi Dench as "M".
Ben Whishaw shares his birthday with former 007 Roger Moore who played James Bond from 1973 - 1985.
Javier Bardem who won an Oscar for best supporting actor for No Country for Old Men is the second Oscar winning actor to play a Bond villain. The first being Christopher Walken in A View to a Kill for his roll in the Deer Hunter.
The Aston-Martin in the film, while having many of the gadgets of the original, is not identical. Specifically, the original had a noticeable panel in the roof for the ejection seat. The one in this film has a smooth roof without the panel.
While clearly associated with Hashima Island, virtually none of what is shown corresponds to videos or to the many available photos of the actual place, nor with the Google satellite image. This indicates a combination of CG and studio work in addition to on-site filming.
The stags depicted at the entrance to the Skyfall estate were inspired by the pair at Duntrune Castle in Argyll.
In this film, Bond's ancestors are hinted at being recusant Catholics; Catholics who hid their faith when it was illegal in England. In Elizabeth (1998), Daniel Craig plays a Catholic priest sent by Rome to England to either kill/do harm to Queen Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) or undermine her attempt to form the Church of England. He is ultimately discovered hiding in the secret room of a house (similar purpose to the priest's hole in "Skyfall") by Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush), arrested and tortured.
Eve Moneypenny says there is more to Gareth Mallory "than meets the eye". This is the tagline of the "Transformers" franchise, about a group of shape-shifting robots. Many of the Transformers' names bear the name of "Skyfall".
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In 2012, media reports stated that Jessica Gomes and Nicole Trunfio auditioned for the role of Severine.
Actress Naomie Harris, who plays Miss Eve Moneypenny in the James Bond films, became the sixth major actor who has starred in motion pictures based on works of both John le Carré and 'Ian Fleming (I)', both famous spy novelists. Harris' role as Gail Perkins in Our Kind of Traitor (2016) follows her two previous appearances in Bond movies, in Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). Pierce Brosnan and Sean Connery are actors who have both previously portrayed James Bond on screen and both have starred in le Carré filmed adaptations, they being The Tailor of Panama (2001) and The Russia House (1990) respectively, the latter which has a title that evokes Fleming's From Russia with Love (1963) which starred Connery as Bond. Of Connery's 007 Bond films, his one unofficial Bond movie, Never Say Never Again (1983), co-starred Klaus Maria Brandauer, who also appeared in The Russia House (1990). Alas, Connery and Brandauer have starred in the same two Bond and le Carré spy movies. Moreover, Harris and Brosnan both appeared in the thriller adventure cinema movie After the Sunset (2004). The first actor to portray an M character in the Bond films, Bernard Lee, was the first actor ever to do both Bond and le Carré. Lee appeared as Patmore in le Carré's classic spy movie The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), which was the first ever filmed adaptation of a le Carré novel. The le Carré adaptation film The Constant Gardener (2005) starred Ralph Fiennes, who played Justin Quayle, and has portrayed the Bond series' new M character Gareth Mallory in both Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015), as has Harris played Eve Moneypenny in the two. Rachel Weisz, the wife of James Bond actor Daniel Craig, previously starred as Tessa Quayle in The Constant Gardener (2005), for which she won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, with Wiesz and Fiennes playing husband and wife in that movie. About thirty cast and crew personnel worked on both Spectre (2015) and the film of John le Carré's Our Kind of Traitor (2016).
With Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015), Ralph Fiennes became the 007th [= seventh] major actor or actress who has appeared in both the 'James Bond' and 'The Avengers' universes, the latter being the English spy one and not the comic super-heroes one. From the original television series The Avengers (1961), three actors appeared in Bond movies: Honor Blackman played Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964), Patrick Macnee portrayed Sir Godfrey Tibbett in A View to a Kill (1985), and Diana Rigg played Tracy Di Vicenzo in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). The latter film also featured as The English Girl actress Joanna Lumley who would later appear in The New Avengers (1976) which also starred Macnee. Whilst Nadim Sawalha appeared in both The Avengers (1998) cinema film as well as two Bond movies: The Living Daylights (1987) and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Fiennes actually appeared in The Avengers (1998) cinema movie co-starring with former James Bond Sean Connery who played the villain Sir August de Wynter. Of these seven actors, both Fiennes and Macnee have portrayed The Avengers' character of John Steed, in the theatrical film and television series respectively, with the latter also voicing the Invisible Jones character in The Avengers (1998) cinema movie. In this 1998 cinema film, John Steed (Ralph Fiennes) and Emma Peel (Uma Thurman) get across the frozen river by 'walking' on the surface inside inflatable plastic bubbles which is similar to how James Bond gets aboard Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Charles Gray)'s oil rig in Connery's final official series Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
In the Art Gallery Bond and Q sit in front of a Joseph Wright painting called "An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump", which is well-known for its use on the cover of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein".
Cameo ―
Michael G. Wilson: Producer Wilson has been doing regular cameos in the official James Bond series since The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), with his first being in Goldfinger (1964). Most of Wilson's cameo in this film mostly got cut out of the picture but there is one shot of him still in the movie thereby keeping intact the series tradition of the Wilson cameo. The sequence that got cut was a funeral procession of hearses, Wilson's cameo was as a pall bearer. Wilson is still seen in the film at a distance through a doorway during the sequence where Judi Dench is standing next to the Mi6 coffins covered with Union Jack flags.
Huw Edwards: The real-life BBC news-reader as a BBC News Anchor reading the BBC news.
Wolf Blitzer: The real-life CNN newscaster as a CNN News Anchor reporting on the Mi6 agency.
Nicky Hayden: Uncredited, the professional motorcycle racer as a motor-bike rider during the film's opening chase sequence.
Gregg Wilson: Uncredited, the associate producer as a bar patron in the Turkish Bar.
Spoilers ―
First Bond film in which the villain is successful in completing his primary objective (the death of M).
The film introduces three new actors to play three recurring roles in the series. They are Naomie Harris as Miss Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw as Q and Ralph Fiennes as M. In each case, each of the three actors is the fourth person to play their respective character in the official James Bond series.
The porcelain bulldog on M's desk (which she later gives to Bond) is draped in the Union Jack. These bulldog figurines were created by Royal Doulton during World War II to represent Patriotism. In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Control (John Hurt), the head of MI6, has two Royal Doulton bulldogs sitting on his desk.
In 50 years of Bond movies, this is only the second film in which James Bond suffers a gunshot wound. (He is also shot in Thunderball (1965) during the Junkanoo chase.)
This film is the first time that two actors playing the character of M, in this case Judi Dench and M successor Ralph Fiennes, have shared the screen in the same scenes.
First ever James Bond movie where the series traditional Bond car, an Aston Martin DB5, is blown-up.
The second time Bond cries openly. The first time was in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
In three consecutive Bond movies―Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), and Skyfall (2012)―every featured girl Bond sleeps with or fools around with winds up dying. This includes: Solange, Vesper Lynd, Strawberry Fields and Sévérine. He doesn't sleep with Camille Montes or Eve Moneypenny (though a liaison with the latter was strongly suggested, happening off-screen if so) and they both live.
When Bond tracks Patrice to Shanghai, Patrice assassinates a man (identified in the credits as "Shanghai Art Collector") while he is viewing a painting. The painting is "Woman with a Fan (Luna Czechowska)", painted by Amedeo Modigliani in 1919. In reality, on May 20, 2010, this painting was stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, along with works by Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger. The paintings are still missing, and their collective worth has been estimated at $200 million.
First Daniel Craig James Bond movie where Bond kills the lead villain. The main villains in both Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008) were killed by their own people.
In October 2012 controversy broke out in the media and the web about the film's homo-erotic overtones from Raoul Silva directed towards James Bond, Bond traditionally being a devout heterosexual ladies' man. The furor suggests that Silva may be the first ever male Bond Girl and that James Bond may actually be bisexual. However, it's not the first time that a male Bond villain has been suggested to be gay as the Mr Wint and Mr Kidd characters in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) were camp henchmen. This is the second time in three Daniel Craig films that his James Bond has been tied to a chair and tormented by the main villain. In Casino Royale (2006), Bond had his testicles beaten by Le Chiffre with a knotted rope. Here, Bond's chest is caressed by Raoul Silva, then both his legs are then groped with two hands by Silva. There is an out-of-shot inference that Bond's testicles were fondled between shots, making the scene controversial in a similar way to the scene in Casino Royale (2006).
This marks the third consecutive James Bond movie which ends with James Bond alone, where most other films in the series he is seen with one of the leading Bond Girls.
For the destruction of the Aston Martin DB5, the production crew naturally did not rely on the real car. Instead the model shop turned to a German company that created parts of the car utilizing vintage 3D printer technology. The built model was at a 1:3 scale and then destroyed in front of the cameras.
The first James Bond film where M (or any top-ranking MI6 official) dies on-screen.
Judi Dench's seventh and final major appearance playing the M character. Dench has played the role of M for seventeen years between 1995 until 2012, her first being in GoldenEye (1995). This record ties with Bernard Lee who played the M character for the same amount of time except Lee appeared in eleven Bond movies whilst Dench appeared in seven. Additionally this puts Dench at the same number of Bond films as Roger Moore, as well as Sean Connery (if one counts the unofficial Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983)) and Walter Gotell (who played the roles of Morzeny in From Russia with Love (1963) and then General Gogol for six films consecutively from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) to The Living Daylights (1987)). However, Dench would later play a cameo role in the following film Spectre (2015) three years later in a special video appearance.
Raoul Silva, the main villain, does not appear until around 70 minutes into the film.
The London underground tube train crash that occurs when James Bond chases Raoul Silva was filmed at Pinewood Studio's mammoth 007 Stage which has been the filming home to most of the super-scale Bond set pieces of the past. For the crash, filmed on "The Catacombs Set", crew built two full size fabricated replica Tube train carriages, each weighing around 5-7 tons, the real ones weigh around 25-30 tons. The Tube carriages were raised onto a track about 20 feet above the base of the set. Near the ceiling of the set, broken Tube tracks curved downwards with a monorail supporting the carriages from above. The trains were then accelerated on the elevated track guided by the monorail as they veer off the tracks and crash through the catacombs ceiling which was composed of breakaway elements. When the train crashed, it dismantled the majority of the 007 Stage. Digital visual effects were later added in post-production to supplement the practical special effects. It was too dangerous to allow people to stay on the sound stage during the filming of the crash, so eleven remotely-operated cameras were placed around the 007 Stage to cover the crash from various angles.
The computer main-frame room in which Silva gives his introductory speech was specially constructed so that it would be the right length for a one take shot in which Javier Bardem leisurely walks and ends up right at Bond when at the end of the speech. The other significant room that Silva is seen in during the film is a plexiglass enclosure which was nicknamed by Javier Bardem as a "Crystal Cage".
During the final assault on Skyfall Lodge, the downdraft from the helicopter (an Agusta Westland Merlin AW101) was so powerful, it blew the false teeth out of Javier Bardem's mouth.
Skyfall Lodge is not an actual real-life building but a purpose-built exterior set construction made of just plywood and plaster stone. The custom-built artificial house in the film's story is a countryside residence, its setting is in Glencoe, Scotland, but the filming location for it was actually Hankley Common in south-west Surrey.
Stunt-man and Bond stunt-double Andy Lister performed the opening sequence's fall from the bridge into the river. Riggers were set up a crane on a train carriage to hold a safety line. Andy then reacted to the gun shot by limply diving backwards off the 300 foot (92 m) drop. This jump stunt is a typical Bondian 'Skyfall' jump stunt synonymous with the series. Skyfall jumps having appeared regularly since The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), with others in Moonraker (1979), For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983), A View to a Kill (1985), The Living Daylights (1987), Licence to Kill (1989), GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999), Die Another Day (2002) and Quantum of Solace (2008).
For the first time in the EON series both the first and last name of M, Gareth Mallory, is revealed (albeit before he becomes M). Bernard Lee 's M's first name, Miles, was spoken aloud in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and his successor Robert Brown has been confirmed by producers to be the same Miles, and not Admiral Hargreaves (played by Brown in The Spy Who Loved Me) as some fans believe. Neither Judi Dench 's M's first or last names were ever revealed, although in Casino Royale (2006), Bond says that one of her names does begin with the letter M before being cut off by her (and some drafts of the screenplay for GoldenEye (1995) give her name as Barbara Mawdsley, but it was never spoken aloud in the final film).
The film's villain Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) is an ex-MI6 agent. It's not the first time that a rogue ex-agent has been the main villain in a Bond movie. GoldenEye (1995)'s main villain was Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean, a former fellow agent whose code number had been 006. Die Another Day (2002), Casino Royale (2006), and Quantum of Solace (2008) had MI6 turncoats as assistant villains.
This is the 11th time in the official James Bond series that Bond is seen playing a game or entering in some kind of sport with the main villain. Here, Bond is forced to partake in a shooting contest with Raoul Silva using reproduction Percussion Cap Ardesa 1871 Duelling Pistols. Bond's previous rounds with villains included playing golf with Goldfinger (1964), Texas Hold 'Em Poker with Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (2006), Baccarat and skeet shooting with Emilio Largo in Thunderball (1965), playing backgammon with Kamal Khan in Octopussy (1983), tarot cards with Mr Big / Dr Kananga in Live and Let Die (1973), pheasant shooting with Drax in Moonraker (1979), horse-riding with Max Zorin in A View to a Kill (1985), toy board war-games with Brad Whitaker in The Living Daylights (1987), fencing with Gustave Graves in Die Another Day (2002) and pistols dueling and fun-house games with Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). It's the 12th time if one counts the World Domination video-game with Maximillian Largo in the unofficial Never Say Never Again (1983).
This the only film in the entire James Bond Series that has M shooting a gun with both actors portraying the character doing so.
When Ralph Fiennes confirmed that his character is a government agent, it led to rampant speculation that his character would be the new "M" in the series and that Dench's "M" would be depicted as retiring. None of that was ever confirmed, but Fiennes' confirmation of his role's nature put an end to speculation that he would be playing Bond's old nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. In the end, the speculation proved true, as Fiennes' character Gareth Mallory, a former lieutenant colonel in the British Army and the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, becomes M at the end of the film. Fiennes' M is the first time a male has played the part since Robert Brown in Licence to Kill (1989), a gap of around twenty-three years.
The explosion sequence in the film's climax was shot over two consecutive nights. It's the second consecutive Bond film where the film's climax and denouement results in the blowing-up and explosion of a landmark building. In Quantum of Solace (2008) it was a facility in the desert, here it's a mansion in the Scottish countryside. Ironically, prior to the big bang, Javier Bardem was banned from smoking at the on-set location because of the fire-risk of the dry grass in the field where the set was located.
Since the first James Bond film Dr. No (1962), its only the second time in the James Bond series where 3+ new actors playing recurring characters have all been introduced simultaneously in the same Bond film. In GoldenEye (1995), three new actors were introduced in three recurring roles. They were Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, Judi Dench as M and Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny. In 'Skyfall, there are also three, they are Ralph Fiennes as M, Ben Whishaw as Q and Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny. In The Living Daylights (1987), two new actors playing recurring characters were introduced, Timothy Dalton as James Bond and Caroline Bliss as Miss Moneypenny.
Sévérine (Bérénice Marlohe) is the eighth Bond Girl in the official series to be killed by the main Bond villain after falling for the charms of James Bond and then failing/betraying the villain. Often one of the two Bond Girls is a sacrificial lamb story element anyway (they're just "Another Girl Who'll Die") and end up dead but not all of them are always killed by the villain, but some are. In 'Skyfall', Sévérine is tortured then shot by Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem). Sévérine's predecessors include Jill Masterton (Shirley Eaton) - painted entirely in gold by Oddjob and/or Goldfinger suffocating her skin in Goldfinger (1964), Helga Brandt (Karin Dor) - fed to piranhas by Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967), Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry) - shot by a gun in a scarecrow of Mr Big / Dr Kananga in Live and Let Die (1973), Andrea Anders (Maud Adams) - shot by Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Corinne Dufour (Corinne Cléry) - mauled to death by Drax's Doberman dogs after Drax terminates her employment in Moonraker (1979), Paris Carver (Teri Hatcher) - shot by Elliot Carver's assassin Dr. Kaufman in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and Solange (Caterina Murino) - tortured, murdered and wrapped in a hammock by Le Chiffre's henchmen in Casino Royale (2006). Those who have survived betraying the villain include Domino (Claudine Auger) in Thunderball (1965), Solitaire (Jane Seymour) in Live and Let Die (1973), and Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto) in Licence to Kill (1989).
With the cooperation and assistance of the London Mayor's Office and Transportation For London, the production was able to shut down both Vauxhall Bridge and Millbank for a scene where M witnesses a terrorist attack on MI6 headquarters. The explosion of the MI6 HQ was represented by a few fireworks on the day, but then an MI6 model miniature was later rebuilt at third scale on the back-lot at Pinewood Studios where long-time Bond FXpert Chris Corbould, the film's special effects and miniature effects supervisor, used twenty-eight explosives to replicate the attack.
Just prior to post-production lock-off, about ten minutes of footage were cut out of the film due to the picture's extensively long running time. These scenes and sequences include MI6 agents after the MI6 HQ explosion; a funeral procession for MI6 agents; Sévérine at Shanghai International Airport; an M and Mallory scene; early scenes with M's Assistant Vanessa; Bond running through Regent's Park; and scenes involving Sévérine's activities.
Gadgets featured in the film include a tiny radio tracking device; a NFC (Near field communication) enabled Sony Xperia T smart-phone (aka "The Bond Phone"); an Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Mid-Sized Chronometer watch; an Agusta Westland Merlin AW101 helicopter with a Public Address (PA) system fitted on its undercarriage to play music; an original silver-birch Aston Martin DB5 car with various gadgets including an ejector seat (unused) and two 20mm Browning Machine Gun headlights; a Sony VAIO laptop computer; a Sony Xperia Tablet; and a hand recognition Walther PPK/S 9mm short firearm with a palm-sensitive hammer coded to James Bond's palm prints.
The meaning and relevance of the film's title is that it refers to 'Skyfall Lodge' (aka 'Skyfall Glencoe' or 'Skyfall House'), the name of James Bond's Scottish childhood ancestral home. In the Bond books, author Ian Fleming gave his James Bond character a real life lineage to the Bonds of Peckham. The real life Bond family motto "Orbis non sufficit" ("The World is not enough") was used in the novel of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and as a title for the Bond film The World Is Not Enough (1999). The Bond Family Arms were once displayed prominently in St. Giles Church in Camberwell but were destroyed in a fire in the 1800s. Similarly, an explosion of fire is the fate of 'Skyfall' in the film. 'Skyfall' forms the third part of an unofficial trilogy in the James Bond franchise dealing with Bond's ancestry, the first and second parts being On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and The World Is Not Enough (1999). Producer Barbara Broccoli has said that the film's 'Skyfall' title "has some emotional context which will be revealed in the film". This was also the case with the previous Bond film Quantum of Solace (2008).
A sizable amount of the film's story takes place below London's street surface, an underground environment that is based on what was historically known as "The Churchill Bunker System". During World War II, many government offices were relocated underground for protection from German bombing during "The Blitz". Here, after the headquarters at MI6 are the subject of a terrorist attack, M makes the decision to relocate underground, just like Winston Churchill did during the Second World War.
Layer Cake (2004) Actor Ben Whishaw who plays Q, James Bond (Daniel Craig)'s gadget man, was also the one to take him out at the end scene in Layer Cake (2004).
M's death is foreshadowed in the opening credits. Judi Dench's credit is displayed over a graveyard.
Villains in the Bond movie series have often had some physiological dysfunction or trait that makes them distinguishable. For this movie, the Raoul Silva villain played by Javier Bardem has a false jaw. This was caused by his attempted suicide when a hydrogen cyanide capsule implant in one his back left molar was broken open and left his mandible lower jawbone (aka the inferior maxillary jaw bone) physically scarred. Interestingly, Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979), another villain with a false jaw, is Bardem's favorite Bond villain. Similarly, Sévérine, played by Bérénice Marlohe, who is initially represented as an antagonistic femme fatale working with Silva, has the distinguishing feature of the tattoo on her wrist. However, as her true character is explored, it is discovered the tattoo meant she belonged to the sex trade of Macau.
Ralph Fiennes is the fourth actor to play the M character in the official series. Fiennes' character Gareth Mallory becomes M at the end of the film. Bernard Lee was the first actor to play M between 1962 and 1979 through the Connery, Lazenby and some Moore films. Robert Brown then played M for four films for the rest of Moore's films and the two-film Dalton era. Judi Dench played M between 1995 and 2012 with her last appearance being in 'Skyfall'. Fiennes' M is the sixth actor to play the character if one counts the unofficial Bond films where John Huston and Edward Fox played M in Casino Royale (1967) and Never Say Never Again (1983) respectively.
Naomie Harris is the fourth actress in the official series to play Miss Moneypenny. Harris is the fifth if one counts Pamela Salem from the unofficial Never Say Never Again (1983) and the sixth if one counts Barbara Bouchet from the unofficial Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967) where the character was technically Miss Moneypenny's daughter. Harris' Moneypenny is called Eve making her characterization the first time in the official series that the character has had a first name. 'Skyfall' is the first time the character has appeared in the series since Die Another Day (2002), a gap of around a decade. Harris is also the first black actress to play the part. Lois Maxwell first played Moneypenny in 14 Bond films between 1962 and 1985 through all of the Connery, Lazenby and Moore movies. Maxwell was then followed by Caroline Bliss for two films during the Dalton era and then Samantha Bond for four films during the Brosnan era. 'Skyfall' represents the first time that Miss Moneypenny is a fully-fledged main Bond Girl and not a supporting character.
In the Macau casino scene, Fukutu (Tom So), one of the high stakes gamblers from Casino Royale (2006), can be clearly seen playing billiards in the background.
The influence of three of Ian Fleming's novels can be seen in the movie: the early sequences of Bond "missing/presumed dead" are reminiscent of the end of "You Only Live Twice" wherein Bond is suffering from amnesia and is "missing/presumed dead" and M writes the obituary for the London Times. When he returns to London, the evaluation he goes through is similar to the tests he goes through at the start of "The Man With the Golden Gun" upon returning from Japan and Russia. And the emotional ending is reminiscent of the end of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" where Bond mourns the loss of his wife in his arms.
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The movie's explosive finale at the Bond homestead "Skyfall" has often been likened by both the public and production personnel including the director Sam Mendes to the booby-trapped obstacle climax of the earlier picture Home Alone (1990). Two sound department crew, Dino Dimuro and David Young, worked on both films.
Second James Bond film to feature an attack on MI6 headquarters in London; the first was in The World Is Not Enough (1999). Similarly, a raid on MI6's countryside Blayden Safe House was seen in The Living Daylights (1987).
Silva's helicopter attacking the Skyfall estate bears an orange-red logo that looks just like the logo of the Austrian Air Force, though the movie leaves it open whether this is a hint at any of Silva's connections or not.
Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) is the second main Bond villain to die from a knife on the back, after Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only (1981).
Although the film does not feature Mr. White or the Quantum organization. Mr. White would return in Spectre (2015) and it would be also be revealed in the following film that Raoul Silva and Mr. White were members of the Spectre organization.
Bond crying when M dies from her wound has a message behind it: 'No matter how many people wanted him dead or how many people told her he'd gone rogue. She always believed in him.'.
This film marks the second film in which a character played by Javier Bardem uses cyanide pills. Raoul Silva breaks a tooth containing hydrogen cyanide after being held and tortured for months, in an attempt to commit suicide. Rather than killing him though, the cyanide disfigures him. However, in The Sea Inside (2004), Bardem's character, Ramon Sampedro, a quadriplegic, is administered a potassium cyanide solution by his friend, allowing him to die after fighting for 2 decades for his right to assisted suicide. His suicide is successful.
It's revealed in the following film Spectre (2015) where Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) is revealed to have worked for SPECTRE.
The 2nd film in the 007 film franchise which James Bond cries. In On Our Majesty's Secret Service (1969) Bond cries when his wife Tracey Draco is shot and killed by Blofeld and Irma Bunt.
For The Brothers Grimsby (2016): Penélope Cruz portrays that spy spoof movie's arch-villainess Rhonda George. Cruz's husband, Javier Bardem, played the arch-villain in the James Bond espionage movie Skyfall (2012). Moreover, the villain's scheme in The Brothers Grimsby (2016) is similar to Drax (Michael Lonsdale)'s in Moonraker (1979).
The film introduces three new actors to play three recurring roles in the series. They are Naomie Harris as Miss Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw as Q and Ralph Fiennes as M. In each case, each of the three actors is the fourth person to play their respective character in the official James Bond series.
The porcelain bulldog on M's desk (which she later gives to Bond) is draped in the Union Jack. These bulldog figurines were created by Royal Doulton during World War II to represent Patriotism. In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Control (John Hurt), the head of MI6, has two Royal Doulton bulldogs sitting on his desk.
In 50 years of Bond movies, this is only the second film in which James Bond suffers a gunshot wound. (He is also shot in Thunderball (1965) during the Junkanoo chase.)
This film is the first time that two actors playing the character of M, in this case Judi Dench and M successor Ralph Fiennes, have shared the screen in the same scenes.
First ever James Bond movie where the series traditional Bond car, an Aston Martin DB5, is blown-up.
The second time Bond cries openly. The first time was in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
In three consecutive Bond movies―Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), and Skyfall (2012)―every featured girl Bond sleeps with or fools around with winds up dying. This includes: Solange, Vesper Lynd, Strawberry Fields and Sévérine. He doesn't sleep with Camille Montes or Eve Moneypenny (though a liaison with the latter was strongly suggested, happening off-screen if so) and they both live.
When Bond tracks Patrice to Shanghai, Patrice assassinates a man (identified in the credits as "Shanghai Art Collector") while he is viewing a painting. The painting is "Woman with a Fan (Luna Czechowska)", painted by Amedeo Modigliani in 1919. In reality, on May 20, 2010, this painting was stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, along with works by Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger. The paintings are still missing, and their collective worth has been estimated at $200 million.
First Daniel Craig James Bond movie where Bond kills the lead villain. The main villains in both Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008) were killed by their own people.
In October 2012 controversy broke out in the media and the web about the film's homo-erotic overtones from Raoul Silva directed towards James Bond, Bond traditionally being a devout heterosexual ladies' man. The furor suggests that Silva may be the first ever male Bond Girl and that James Bond may actually be bisexual. However, it's not the first time that a male Bond villain has been suggested to be gay as the Mr Wint and Mr Kidd characters in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) were camp henchmen. This is the second time in three Daniel Craig films that his James Bond has been tied to a chair and tormented by the main villain. In Casino Royale (2006), Bond had his testicles beaten by Le Chiffre with a knotted rope. Here, Bond's chest is caressed by Raoul Silva, then both his legs are then groped with two hands by Silva. There is an out-of-shot inference that Bond's testicles were fondled between shots, making the scene controversial in a similar way to the scene in Casino Royale (2006).
This marks the third consecutive James Bond movie which ends with James Bond alone, where most other films in the series he is seen with one of the leading Bond Girls.
For the destruction of the Aston Martin DB5, the production crew naturally did not rely on the real car. Instead the model shop turned to a German company that created parts of the car utilizing vintage 3D printer technology. The built model was at a 1:3 scale and then destroyed in front of the cameras.
The first James Bond film where M (or any top-ranking MI6 official) dies on-screen.
Judi Dench's seventh and final major appearance playing the M character. Dench has played the role of M for seventeen years between 1995 until 2012, her first being in GoldenEye (1995). This record ties with Bernard Lee who played the M character for the same amount of time except Lee appeared in eleven Bond movies whilst Dench appeared in seven. Additionally this puts Dench at the same number of Bond films as Roger Moore, as well as Sean Connery (if one counts the unofficial Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983)) and Walter Gotell (who played the roles of Morzeny in From Russia with Love (1963) and then General Gogol for six films consecutively from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) to The Living Daylights (1987)). However, Dench would later play a cameo role in the following film Spectre (2015) three years later in a special video appearance.
Raoul Silva, the main villain, does not appear until around 70 minutes into the film.
The London underground tube train crash that occurs when James Bond chases Raoul Silva was filmed at Pinewood Studio's mammoth 007 Stage which has been the filming home to most of the super-scale Bond set pieces of the past. For the crash, filmed on "The Catacombs Set", crew built two full size fabricated replica Tube train carriages, each weighing around 5-7 tons, the real ones weigh around 25-30 tons. The Tube carriages were raised onto a track about 20 feet above the base of the set. Near the ceiling of the set, broken Tube tracks curved downwards with a monorail supporting the carriages from above. The trains were then accelerated on the elevated track guided by the monorail as they veer off the tracks and crash through the catacombs ceiling which was composed of breakaway elements. When the train crashed, it dismantled the majority of the 007 Stage. Digital visual effects were later added in post-production to supplement the practical special effects. It was too dangerous to allow people to stay on the sound stage during the filming of the crash, so eleven remotely-operated cameras were placed around the 007 Stage to cover the crash from various angles.
The computer main-frame room in which Silva gives his introductory speech was specially constructed so that it would be the right length for a one take shot in which Javier Bardem leisurely walks and ends up right at Bond when at the end of the speech. The other significant room that Silva is seen in during the film is a plexiglass enclosure which was nicknamed by Javier Bardem as a "Crystal Cage".
During the final assault on Skyfall Lodge, the downdraft from the helicopter (an Agusta Westland Merlin AW101) was so powerful, it blew the false teeth out of Javier Bardem's mouth.
Skyfall Lodge is not an actual real-life building but a purpose-built exterior set construction made of just plywood and plaster stone. The custom-built artificial house in the film's story is a countryside residence, its setting is in Glencoe, Scotland, but the filming location for it was actually Hankley Common in south-west Surrey.
Stunt-man and Bond stunt-double Andy Lister performed the opening sequence's fall from the bridge into the river. Riggers were set up a crane on a train carriage to hold a safety line. Andy then reacted to the gun shot by limply diving backwards off the 300 foot (92 m) drop. This jump stunt is a typical Bondian 'Skyfall' jump stunt synonymous with the series. Skyfall jumps having appeared regularly since The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), with others in Moonraker (1979), For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983), A View to a Kill (1985), The Living Daylights (1987), Licence to Kill (1989), GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999), Die Another Day (2002) and Quantum of Solace (2008).
For the first time in the EON series both the first and last name of M, Gareth Mallory, is revealed (albeit before he becomes M). Bernard Lee 's M's first name, Miles, was spoken aloud in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and his successor Robert Brown has been confirmed by producers to be the same Miles, and not Admiral Hargreaves (played by Brown in The Spy Who Loved Me) as some fans believe. Neither Judi Dench 's M's first or last names were ever revealed, although in Casino Royale (2006), Bond says that one of her names does begin with the letter M before being cut off by her (and some drafts of the screenplay for GoldenEye (1995) give her name as Barbara Mawdsley, but it was never spoken aloud in the final film).
The film's villain Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) is an ex-MI6 agent. It's not the first time that a rogue ex-agent has been the main villain in a Bond movie. GoldenEye (1995)'s main villain was Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean, a former fellow agent whose code number had been 006. Die Another Day (2002), Casino Royale (2006), and Quantum of Solace (2008) had MI6 turncoats as assistant villains.
This is the 11th time in the official James Bond series that Bond is seen playing a game or entering in some kind of sport with the main villain. Here, Bond is forced to partake in a shooting contest with Raoul Silva using reproduction Percussion Cap Ardesa 1871 Duelling Pistols. Bond's previous rounds with villains included playing golf with Goldfinger (1964), Texas Hold 'Em Poker with Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (2006), Baccarat and skeet shooting with Emilio Largo in Thunderball (1965), playing backgammon with Kamal Khan in Octopussy (1983), tarot cards with Mr Big / Dr Kananga in Live and Let Die (1973), pheasant shooting with Drax in Moonraker (1979), horse-riding with Max Zorin in A View to a Kill (1985), toy board war-games with Brad Whitaker in The Living Daylights (1987), fencing with Gustave Graves in Die Another Day (2002) and pistols dueling and fun-house games with Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). It's the 12th time if one counts the World Domination video-game with Maximillian Largo in the unofficial Never Say Never Again (1983).
This the only film in the entire James Bond Series that has M shooting a gun with both actors portraying the character doing so.
When Ralph Fiennes confirmed that his character is a government agent, it led to rampant speculation that his character would be the new "M" in the series and that Dench's "M" would be depicted as retiring. None of that was ever confirmed, but Fiennes' confirmation of his role's nature put an end to speculation that he would be playing Bond's old nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. In the end, the speculation proved true, as Fiennes' character Gareth Mallory, a former lieutenant colonel in the British Army and the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, becomes M at the end of the film. Fiennes' M is the first time a male has played the part since Robert Brown in Licence to Kill (1989), a gap of around twenty-three years.
The explosion sequence in the film's climax was shot over two consecutive nights. It's the second consecutive Bond film where the film's climax and denouement results in the blowing-up and explosion of a landmark building. In Quantum of Solace (2008) it was a facility in the desert, here it's a mansion in the Scottish countryside. Ironically, prior to the big bang, Javier Bardem was banned from smoking at the on-set location because of the fire-risk of the dry grass in the field where the set was located.
Since the first James Bond film Dr. No (1962), its only the second time in the James Bond series where 3+ new actors playing recurring characters have all been introduced simultaneously in the same Bond film. In GoldenEye (1995), three new actors were introduced in three recurring roles. They were Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, Judi Dench as M and Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny. In 'Skyfall, there are also three, they are Ralph Fiennes as M, Ben Whishaw as Q and Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny. In The Living Daylights (1987), two new actors playing recurring characters were introduced, Timothy Dalton as James Bond and Caroline Bliss as Miss Moneypenny.
Sévérine (Bérénice Marlohe) is the eighth Bond Girl in the official series to be killed by the main Bond villain after falling for the charms of James Bond and then failing/betraying the villain. Often one of the two Bond Girls is a sacrificial lamb story element anyway (they're just "Another Girl Who'll Die") and end up dead but not all of them are always killed by the villain, but some are. In 'Skyfall', Sévérine is tortured then shot by Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem). Sévérine's predecessors include Jill Masterton (Shirley Eaton) - painted entirely in gold by Oddjob and/or Goldfinger suffocating her skin in Goldfinger (1964), Helga Brandt (Karin Dor) - fed to piranhas by Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967), Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry) - shot by a gun in a scarecrow of Mr Big / Dr Kananga in Live and Let Die (1973), Andrea Anders (Maud Adams) - shot by Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Corinne Dufour (Corinne Cléry) - mauled to death by Drax's Doberman dogs after Drax terminates her employment in Moonraker (1979), Paris Carver (Teri Hatcher) - shot by Elliot Carver's assassin Dr. Kaufman in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and Solange (Caterina Murino) - tortured, murdered and wrapped in a hammock by Le Chiffre's henchmen in Casino Royale (2006). Those who have survived betraying the villain include Domino (Claudine Auger) in Thunderball (1965), Solitaire (Jane Seymour) in Live and Let Die (1973), and Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto) in Licence to Kill (1989).
With the cooperation and assistance of the London Mayor's Office and Transportation For London, the production was able to shut down both Vauxhall Bridge and Millbank for a scene where M witnesses a terrorist attack on MI6 headquarters. The explosion of the MI6 HQ was represented by a few fireworks on the day, but then an MI6 model miniature was later rebuilt at third scale on the back-lot at Pinewood Studios where long-time Bond FXpert Chris Corbould, the film's special effects and miniature effects supervisor, used twenty-eight explosives to replicate the attack.
Just prior to post-production lock-off, about ten minutes of footage were cut out of the film due to the picture's extensively long running time. These scenes and sequences include MI6 agents after the MI6 HQ explosion; a funeral procession for MI6 agents; Sévérine at Shanghai International Airport; an M and Mallory scene; early scenes with M's Assistant Vanessa; Bond running through Regent's Park; and scenes involving Sévérine's activities.
Gadgets featured in the film include a tiny radio tracking device; a NFC (Near field communication) enabled Sony Xperia T smart-phone (aka "The Bond Phone"); an Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Mid-Sized Chronometer watch; an Agusta Westland Merlin AW101 helicopter with a Public Address (PA) system fitted on its undercarriage to play music; an original silver-birch Aston Martin DB5 car with various gadgets including an ejector seat (unused) and two 20mm Browning Machine Gun headlights; a Sony VAIO laptop computer; a Sony Xperia Tablet; and a hand recognition Walther PPK/S 9mm short firearm with a palm-sensitive hammer coded to James Bond's palm prints.
The meaning and relevance of the film's title is that it refers to 'Skyfall Lodge' (aka 'Skyfall Glencoe' or 'Skyfall House'), the name of James Bond's Scottish childhood ancestral home. In the Bond books, author Ian Fleming gave his James Bond character a real life lineage to the Bonds of Peckham. The real life Bond family motto "Orbis non sufficit" ("The World is not enough") was used in the novel of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and as a title for the Bond film The World Is Not Enough (1999). The Bond Family Arms were once displayed prominently in St. Giles Church in Camberwell but were destroyed in a fire in the 1800s. Similarly, an explosion of fire is the fate of 'Skyfall' in the film. 'Skyfall' forms the third part of an unofficial trilogy in the James Bond franchise dealing with Bond's ancestry, the first and second parts being On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and The World Is Not Enough (1999). Producer Barbara Broccoli has said that the film's 'Skyfall' title "has some emotional context which will be revealed in the film". This was also the case with the previous Bond film Quantum of Solace (2008).
A sizable amount of the film's story takes place below London's street surface, an underground environment that is based on what was historically known as "The Churchill Bunker System". During World War II, many government offices were relocated underground for protection from German bombing during "The Blitz". Here, after the headquarters at MI6 are the subject of a terrorist attack, M makes the decision to relocate underground, just like Winston Churchill did during the Second World War.
Layer Cake (2004) Actor Ben Whishaw who plays Q, James Bond (Daniel Craig)'s gadget man, was also the one to take him out at the end scene in Layer Cake (2004).
M's death is foreshadowed in the opening credits. Judi Dench's credit is displayed over a graveyard.
Villains in the Bond movie series have often had some physiological dysfunction or trait that makes them distinguishable. For this movie, the Raoul Silva villain played by Javier Bardem has a false jaw. This was caused by his attempted suicide when a hydrogen cyanide capsule implant in one his back left molar was broken open and left his mandible lower jawbone (aka the inferior maxillary jaw bone) physically scarred. Interestingly, Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979), another villain with a false jaw, is Bardem's favorite Bond villain. Similarly, Sévérine, played by Bérénice Marlohe, who is initially represented as an antagonistic femme fatale working with Silva, has the distinguishing feature of the tattoo on her wrist. However, as her true character is explored, it is discovered the tattoo meant she belonged to the sex trade of Macau.
Ralph Fiennes is the fourth actor to play the M character in the official series. Fiennes' character Gareth Mallory becomes M at the end of the film. Bernard Lee was the first actor to play M between 1962 and 1979 through the Connery, Lazenby and some Moore films. Robert Brown then played M for four films for the rest of Moore's films and the two-film Dalton era. Judi Dench played M between 1995 and 2012 with her last appearance being in 'Skyfall'. Fiennes' M is the sixth actor to play the character if one counts the unofficial Bond films where John Huston and Edward Fox played M in Casino Royale (1967) and Never Say Never Again (1983) respectively.
Naomie Harris is the fourth actress in the official series to play Miss Moneypenny. Harris is the fifth if one counts Pamela Salem from the unofficial Never Say Never Again (1983) and the sixth if one counts Barbara Bouchet from the unofficial Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967) where the character was technically Miss Moneypenny's daughter. Harris' Moneypenny is called Eve making her characterization the first time in the official series that the character has had a first name. 'Skyfall' is the first time the character has appeared in the series since Die Another Day (2002), a gap of around a decade. Harris is also the first black actress to play the part. Lois Maxwell first played Moneypenny in 14 Bond films between 1962 and 1985 through all of the Connery, Lazenby and Moore movies. Maxwell was then followed by Caroline Bliss for two films during the Dalton era and then Samantha Bond for four films during the Brosnan era. 'Skyfall' represents the first time that Miss Moneypenny is a fully-fledged main Bond Girl and not a supporting character.
In the Macau casino scene, Fukutu (Tom So), one of the high stakes gamblers from Casino Royale (2006), can be clearly seen playing billiards in the background.
The influence of three of Ian Fleming's novels can be seen in the movie: the early sequences of Bond "missing/presumed dead" are reminiscent of the end of "You Only Live Twice" wherein Bond is suffering from amnesia and is "missing/presumed dead" and M writes the obituary for the London Times. When he returns to London, the evaluation he goes through is similar to the tests he goes through at the start of "The Man With the Golden Gun" upon returning from Japan and Russia. And the emotional ending is reminiscent of the end of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" where Bond mourns the loss of his wife in his arms.
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The movie's explosive finale at the Bond homestead "Skyfall" has often been likened by both the public and production personnel including the director Sam Mendes to the booby-trapped obstacle climax of the earlier picture Home Alone (1990). Two sound department crew, Dino Dimuro and David Young, worked on both films.
Second James Bond film to feature an attack on MI6 headquarters in London; the first was in The World Is Not Enough (1999). Similarly, a raid on MI6's countryside Blayden Safe House was seen in The Living Daylights (1987).
Silva's helicopter attacking the Skyfall estate bears an orange-red logo that looks just like the logo of the Austrian Air Force, though the movie leaves it open whether this is a hint at any of Silva's connections or not.
Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) is the second main Bond villain to die from a knife on the back, after Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only (1981).
Although the film does not feature Mr. White or the Quantum organization. Mr. White would return in Spectre (2015) and it would be also be revealed in the following film that Raoul Silva and Mr. White were members of the Spectre organization.
Bond crying when M dies from her wound has a message behind it: 'No matter how many people wanted him dead or how many people told her he'd gone rogue. She always believed in him.'.
This film marks the second film in which a character played by Javier Bardem uses cyanide pills. Raoul Silva breaks a tooth containing hydrogen cyanide after being held and tortured for months, in an attempt to commit suicide. Rather than killing him though, the cyanide disfigures him. However, in The Sea Inside (2004), Bardem's character, Ramon Sampedro, a quadriplegic, is administered a potassium cyanide solution by his friend, allowing him to die after fighting for 2 decades for his right to assisted suicide. His suicide is successful.
It's revealed in the following film Spectre (2015) where Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) is revealed to have worked for SPECTRE.
The 2nd film in the 007 film franchise which James Bond cries. In On Our Majesty's Secret Service (1969) Bond cries when his wife Tracey Draco is shot and killed by Blofeld and Irma Bunt.
For The Brothers Grimsby (2016): Penélope Cruz portrays that spy spoof movie's arch-villainess Rhonda George. Cruz's husband, Javier Bardem, played the arch-villain in the James Bond espionage movie Skyfall (2012). Moreover, the villain's scheme in The Brothers Grimsby (2016) is similar to Drax (Michael Lonsdale)'s in Moonraker (1979).
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