Bond 23 locations to include Istanbul, filming permission granted

Quote :

According to press reports in the country, the 23rd James Bond production will also be taking in the scenery of Istanbul, Turkey, when Daniel Craig suits up as 007 for the third time.

Director Sam Mendes is reportedly keen to use the city’s historical neighborhood Sultanahmet Square, and has received permission from Turkish Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay.

“Shooting will start within the next few months. We have discussed the issue and rather than closing the square completely, some parts could be partially closed from time to time for the filming,” Günay said, adding that it would be difficult to close the whole square. “We have to consider our tourists, but we can accommodate foreign film production companies that want to use Turkey as a platform.”

Two James Bond films have featured Istanbul: most notably "From Russia With Love" (1963), and to a lesser extent "The World Is Not Enough" (1999).

The major confirmed location for Bond 23 is India, with South Africa and China also rumoured.

Filming at Pinewood Studios is scheduled to start in November 2011, with the film's UK release just under a year later on 26th October 2012.

http://www.mi6-hq.com/news/index.php?itemid=9681&t=mi6&s=news

How about somewhere different for a change?

Bond has been to Istanbul at least twice!

How about Greece or Australia?

You may have a point there j7wild, and we've yet to see Bond down under.

BTW, welcome to the forums.

Nothing in Australia is worth having the Bond team here unfortunately. Let's try Canada, Denmark or The Seychelles please.

j7wild wrote:

How about somewhere different for a change?

Bond has been to Istanbul at least twice!

How about Greece or Australia?

Or Norway. Or Savannah, Ga or Charleston Sc. or San Antonio TX. or Aruba.

I like this news. Istanbul has been featured twice already, but it's such a fascinating city that it can come across differently on screen at least a dozen times. Venice has been visited thrice by Bond as well.

Over the moon about this, know Istanbul quite well, many friends there, I tell you, I'm determined to see at least one Bond movie filmed, I might take a trip. :cheers:

the Seychelles?

I always wanted to go there myself!!

With the increasing radical Islamization of Turkey, this may be a case of filming while the filming's good. Might not be long before western film crews will not be safe there. That said, surely there are fascinating and more unique places to film in Turkey than Istanbul. Ankara? Ismir?

Ed Tom Kowalsky wrote:

With the increasing radical Islamization of Turkey, this may be a case of filming while the filming's good. Might not be long before western film crews will not be safe there. That said, surely there are fascinating and more unique places to film in Turkey than Istanbul. Ankara? Ismir?

There's also the cave houses of Cappadocia.

















I believe the production designers on the original PLANET OF THE APES were said to be inspired by these, when designing the ape village for the Hollywood lot.

Another benignly bizarre wonder is the Pamukkale ("cotton castle") salt waterfalls.













Looks like a giant wedding cake. You could stage a pretty amazing fight sequence on that, with some stunning helicopter shots (a la.YOLT).

There ya' go. You've just demonstrated more originality and ingenuity than Eon, if they really do take Bond back to Turkey and confine him to Istanbul. I mean, how hard can it be to come up with evocative, captivating locations Bond has yet to visit? There's a whole big world out there and globetrotting Bond has only seen a tiny fraction of it. No need at all to retrace his steps again and again and again.

Must be a way of putting the Bond films in such capable hands. Probably involves assasination of some kind.

Sharky wrote:

I could so spend an hour in that bath with Daniel Craig.

Istanbul, take #3. Well, alright. New Bond's not been here, the location wasn't really used for anything interesting in TWINE, there's lots of lovely scenery to take in. Interesting globehopping going on here.

Istanbul is a very interesting city - will be curious to see just how much it features and what they do with it (JB's not exactly known to linger much...)

Sharky wrote:

Ed Tom Kowalsky wrote:

With the increasing radical Islamization of Turkey, this may be a case of filming while the filming's good. Might not be long before western film crews will not be safe there. That said, surely there are fascinating and more unique places to film in Turkey than Istanbul. Ankara? Ismir?

There's also the cave houses of Cappadocia.

















I believe the production designers on the original PLANET OF THE APES were said to be inspired by these, when designing the ape village for the Hollywood lot.

Another benignly bizarre wonder is the Pamukkale ("cotton castle") salt waterfalls.













Looks like a giant wedding cake. You could stage a pretty amazing fight sequence on that, with some stunning helicopter shots (a la.YOLT).

Ya know, I'd still really love to see these locations in SKYFALL.

I think I like the cave houses more than the saltfalls. Although the saltfalls would look good if shot right.

Somehow, though, I doubt SKYFALL will shoot there.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/film/2012/01/18/james-bond-on-a-budget-skyfall-being-filmed-in-bognor-regis-after-cuts-115875-23705143/

Not really knowing much about the media in England, I don't know what to make of THE DAILY MIRROR. But considering everything I know about BOND 23 I learned from the Internet and the rumors turned out to be true, I'm not going to be so quick to dismiss this article. Something tells me that somewhere in the story there is a kernel of truth:

His car’s an Aston Martin, his martini is shaken not stirred and his suit’s perfectly tailored – but perhaps not for much longer.

James Bond producers have had to slash their budget and are shooting in Bognor Regis after scrapping plans to head for six different exotic countries to make the next 007 film Skyfall.

Instead of distant locations such as India, China and Bali, they are using various UK beaches. Skyfall will also rely heavily on special effects and advanced sets at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.

A source said: A source said: “To say some of the cast and crew are a bit gutted is an understatement.

“Originally six different countries were selected to film certain scenes but after several technical and financial problems, it was decided to scale back and just use Turkey as the sole foreign location.


Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/film/2012/01/18/james-bond-on-a-budget-skyfall-being-filmed-in-bognor-regis-after-cuts-115875-23705143/#ixzz1jwc2Vigo

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Not really knowing much about the media in England, I don't know what to make of THE DAILY MIRROR.

The Daily Mirror's one of the vilest rags we've got, and is perniciously anti-Bond. The "James Bland" article after Craig was cast was from them, and they'll do anything to humiliate EON.

Sharky wrote:

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Not really knowing much about the media in England, I don't know what to make of THE DAILY MIRROR.

The Daily Mirror's one of the vilest rags we've got, and is perniciously anti-Bond. The "James Bland" article after Craig was cast was from them, and they'll do anything to humiliate EON.

That should make it the flagship paper for many on BaB.

:)

Sharky wrote:

they'll do anything to humiliate EON.

Is there a particular reason for their dislike of EON and Bond? I know they don't like Daniel Craig because he doesn't think much of tabloids (which they have interpreted as a challenge to their collective manhood), but what about Bond? Do they just not like EON because so many other tabloids do, or is this some long-standing grudge, like EON black-listing them after they broke an embargo years ago?

Sharky wrote:

The Daily Mirror's one of the vilest rags we've got, and is perniciously anti-Bond.

Oh, so it's edited by Barbara Broccoli then.

There are quite a few stories now about the Bognor Regis location. I've written a blog about it on my site - http://www.filmnav.co.uk/2012/01/21/from-bognor-regis-with-love/

Sorry, willy, but there are four major points in the stories that prove just how rubbish they are:

1) They claim filming was going to take place in Bali - but there were never any plans to shoot there.
2) They claim shooting in Shanghai has been scrapped - but Daniel Craig is believed to be there right now.
3) They claim shooting in India has been scrapped - but we know it was dropped back in September.
4) They claim shooting will instead take place in Bognor Regis - but the local government has said they have received no requests for filming permission.

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Sorry, willy, but there are four major points in the stories that prove just how rubbish they are:

1) They claim filming was going to take place in Bali - but there were never any plans to shoot there.
2) They claim shooting in Shanghai has been scrapped - but Daniel Craig is believed to be there right now.
3) They claim shooting in India has been scrapped - but we know it was dropped back in September.
4) They claim shooting will instead take place in Bognor Regis - but the local government has said they have received no requests for filming permission.

Supposedly many of the Shanghai scenes have been doubled in the UK, but no doubt certain cover and establishing shots will need to be done in Shanghai. Maybe Craig is over there for a few days to do these scenes, who knows.

India has been scrapped, dropped, whatever. I don't see what your point is. This is confirming that India has been dropped as a location, regardless of whether it was back in September or not.

I doubt Bognor Regis or EON will want everyone knowing a Bond shoot will be taking place on their beaches if it has to be a private location scene, so I would take whatever the local government says with a pinch of salt.

Either way, I'm not bothered by this story. All I care about is the end film. If we get something as decent as CR, but filmed on a shoestring budget with Withernsea or Skegness doubling up as Barbados, it wouldn't bother me in the slightest.....