Bond 23 to shoot in Shanghai

Quote :

10 things we know about Bond 23
Tom Huddleston forages for details of the new James Bond movie


Daniel Craig in 'Casino Royale' Daniel Craig in 'Casino Royale'

The received wisdom that the James Bond franchise will continue as long as movies are being made has been put to its toughest test in the past two years, with legal issues, scripting problems and financial wrangles all delaying production. But as the new movie – ‘Bond 23’ – finally goes before the cameras, the rumour mill has gone into overdrive trying to figure out exactly what we’re likely to see when it hits cinemas `on October 26 2012. Here, we round up a few of the facts – and some of the fiction – to kick off our coverage of the biggest event in 2012’s British movie calendar.


1. The title is (probably) ‘Skyfall’!

There’s been no hard-and-fast confirmation of this yet, but since an eagle-eyed Bond geek spotted that Sony had been busy registering online domain names including ‘jamesbond-skyfall’, ‘jamesbondskyfall’ and ‘skyfall-thefilm’, speculation has gathered apace. It’s not the worst title in the world – that was ‘Quantum of Solace’ – but it’s hardly an earth-shatterer, either. Perhaps it’s just the sonic similarity to last year’s shabby alien-invasion shocker ‘Skyline’, but we’re finding it hard to get too excited.


2. There is a script (but no one knows what it’s about)!

It’s remarkable that not a single titbit of hard truth about the film’s plotline has been leaked to the press – but then again, even if it was, you’d never know whether to believe it. The scripting process for ‘Bond 23’ has been arduous in the extreme: ‘Frost/Nixon’ screenwriter Peter Morgan jumped ship after writing an initial treatment, talk of ‘The Day Today’ icon and ‘Closer’ scribe Patrick Marber replacing him proved false (unless he’s uncredited) and the final draft was bashed out by a three-man team comprising ‘Casino’/’Quantum’ scribes Robert Wade and Neal Purvis in collaboration with ‘Gladiator’ author John Logan. Morgan’s draft reportedly included a ‘shocking’ twist – M dies, anyone? – but the exact nature of the current shooting script remains shrouded in mystery.


3. Daniel Craig is back (and possibly bearded)!

Pierce who? Timothy why? Sean what? Despite having only appeared in two films, Cheshire bulldog Daniel Craig fits the part of James Bond so snugly it’s hard to remember how the series managed without him. Whether, as some have suggested, the upcoming instalment will prove to be his last remains uncertain, but we’d be perfectly happy for Craig to stay in the spy game until he’s old and grey. It has also been suggested that Dangerous Dan is planning on sporting a spot of facial furniture in the new movie – beards in action movies usually suggest our hero is facing some kind of (possibly alcohol-enhanced) emotional crisis, which is perfectly in keeping with the darker tone of recent entries. But a Time Out writer interviewed Craig in September 2011 and there was no sign of any chin whiskers at that stage.


4. Sam Mendes is directing!

This one’s hardly news, but it bears repeating. The British tabloids have had a field day with conjecture that the erstwhile darling of the London stage was planning to tone down the action in favour of a more dramatic tone, perhaps (it was suggested) spurred on by a desire to make the first Bond film to win a Best Picture Oscar. We have two responses to that: first, it’s almost certainly untrue as producers the Broccoli family are unlikely to sanction any Bond flick which doesn’t have its requisite share of fisticuffs, car chases and balletic violence. And second, is it such a bad thing? ‘Quantum of Solace’ was crammed to the gills with gunplay, and it didn’t exactly set the pulse racing. If Mendes can work a little harder on character at the expense of kiss-kiss-bang-bang, we’re all for it.
5. It’s going to be cheap!

Well, not exactly cheap, but rumours abound that the budget has been somewhat slashed. ‘Quantum of Solace’ was far from a box office flop, but its massive production outlay meant that returns were lower than the blockbusting ‘Casino Royale’. As a result, the Broccoli family have, perhaps wisely, trimmed back some of the more elaborate location work – all of which dovetails neatly into rumblings about Mendes’s supposed dramatic emphasis.


6. They’re not going to India!

The original outline for ‘Bond 23’ contained extensive location shooting in India, but a number of setbacks – including government demands that a key stunt in which Bond drives a motorbike onto the top of a moving train be rewritten so as not to encourage copycats – have forced the producers to look elsewhere. Enter Johannesburg, whose officials have been publicly falling over themselves to attract Mendes and crew. There’s been no confirmation as yet, but India seems to have been decisively stricken out.


7. They are going to Istanbul! And Shanghai!

Turkish officials have confirmed that the opening scenes of the new movie will take place in and around some key Istanbul tourist attractions, including historic Sultanahmet Square. As the script for the movie is still so secret, we can only assume that it’ll involve Bond running through a crowded market, being chased by miscellaneous foreign types, and probably falling from a high place only to land on a convenient shop awning. When Time Out spoke to Craig in late September, he told us too that the production would also definitely be visiting Shanghai in China.


8. They’re definitely coming to Britain!

As with most previous Bonds, the bulk of the film is to be shot at Pinewood Studios outside London. But there’ll be some location work on these shores too, including scenes on London’s Vauxhall Bridge, so capital dwellers should keep an eye out over the coming weeks. They’re also planning to head north of the border to Duntune Castle in Argyll, where, it has been alleged, the climactic action scenes will be shot. We’ve already seen Craig in a swimsuit in ‘Casino Royale’ – could costume designer Tom Ford be pitching for the feminine vote by sticking 007 in a flapping kilt? And does anyone actually want to see that?


9. The cast is brilliant!

We’ve known for a while that scowling Spaniard Javier Bardem was up for the role of the villain this time around, and that seems locked in. It has been said that Ralph Fiennes is up for a part as another bad guy: we imagine Bardem as the gun-happy heavy, with Fiennes as the louche tycoon pulling all the strings. Other cast members include Albert Finney in an unconfirmed role (another villain, perhaps, or an MI6 bigwig?) and Judi Dench returning as M.


10. There will be women (but we don’t know who they are)!

After Eva Green’s dynamic, duplicitous turn in ‘Casino’, the role of the Bond girl seemed to be almost forgotten in ‘Quantum’. Sure, the idea of having a pretty girl kicking about the place just to keep the dads happy is a crass anachronism in the modern age – but so is almost everything that makes Bond popular. Among the names tipped for the new movie, ‘28 Days Later’ star Naomie Harris is by far the strongest. But the rumour mill keeps grinding away, with French actress Berenice Marlohe, ‘Lust, Caution’ star Tang Wei, former ‘Harry Potter’ bit-player Helen McRory and Virginian fashion model Brianna Meighan all tipped for a role.

http://www.timeout.com/london/feature/1738/10-things-we-know-about-bond-23#.TrGALIRYerc.twitter

Shanghai, fantastic, China is the economy of the moment, and Quatum seem to be a politico-economic organisation you would expect them to have the fingers in the pie somewhere

Istanbul, I'm not so sure about
images of Clive Owen and Matt Damon running through middle eastern alley ways and across rooftops still seem fresh in my mind...

Mendes said Shanghai "and other parts of China." Istanbul "and other parts of Turkey." It's these other parts that could prove particularly fascinating.

Seve wrote:

Shanghai, fantastic, China is the economy of the moment, and Quatum seem to be a politico-economic organisation you would expect them to have the fingers in the pie somewhere

According to Mendes in the conference, Quantum's not involved.

Sharky wrote:

Seve wrote:

Shanghai, fantastic, China is the economy of the moment, and Quatum seem to be a politico-economic organisation you would expect them to have the fingers in the pie somewhere

According to Mendes in the conference, Quantum's not involved.

myeh, what would he know
:suspect:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Mendes said Shanghai "and other parts of China." Istanbul "and other parts of Turkey." It's these other parts that could prove particularly fascinating.

Damn right. Can't wait to see where else in China and Turkey SKYFALL takes us.

Apparently one of the sets rumoured to be in Pinewood is the 67th floor of a Shanghai Office. There are only two buildings in the Shanghai skyline with 67 floors, and they're both situated together in the Pudong district - Shanghai's financial hub.

They are the 88 story Jin Mao Tower and the 101 story Shanghai World Financial Center.

Sharky wrote:

I got vertigo just looking at some of these pictures and the Youtube videos. If there's any action sequence involving these buildings, I hope it comes across a bit better than the skyscraper stunt in TOMORROW NEVER LIES, which I thought was done better in ENTRAPMENT. In ENTRAPMENT I actually felt like I was on the Petronas Towers and I can remember feeling dizzy at seeing Connery and Zeta-Jones scaling the building; not so much with TOMORROW NEVER LIES.

The Shark is a bloodhound.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Mendes said Shanghai "and other parts of China." Istanbul "and other parts of Turkey." It's these other parts that could prove particularly fascinating.

"Turkish officials have confirmed that the opening scenes of the new movie will take place in and around some key Istanbul tourist attractions, including historic Sultanahmet Square."
sounds like Turkey will only be used for the pre credit sequence, so they are unlikely to get out of Istanbul

Shanghai on it's own should also offer enough flash for one James Bond movie
it will be interesting to find out what the villain's scheme involves
I would imagine the Chinese politbureau would be harder to square away than the Indians or South Africans
no villainous plots involving corrupt peoples officials, Tibetan independence or spiking milk with melamine etc

"They’re also planning to head north of the border to Duntrune Castle in Argyll, where, it has been alleged, the climactic action scenes will be shot."
the prospect of "exotic" Scotland not drawing so much comment?

Seve wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Mendes said Shanghai "and other parts of China." Istanbul "and other parts of Turkey." It's these other parts that could prove particularly fascinating.

"Turkish officials have confirmed that the opening scenes of the new movie will take place in and around some key Istanbul tourist attractions, including historic Sultanahmet Square."
sounds like Turkey will only be used for the pre credit sequence, so they are unlikely to get out of Istanbul

Unless Bond stays in Turkey over the titles. QUANTUM OF SOLACE started in Italy and kept going in Italy after the titles. I see no reason why SKYFALL cannot do the same, with a PTS in Istanbul, before the film proper picks up again somewhere outside the city.

Perhaps the Istanbul sequence doesn't have to involve Bond, or at least not during the pre-titles? It would be a neat idea to have various people connected to Skyfall killed off, rather like the Wint & Kidd murders in DAF.

Sharky wrote:

It would be a neat idea to have various people connected to Skyfall killed off, rather like the Wint & Kidd murders in DAF.

That's what I was thinking when I wrote up my idea of how the plot might play out - M knows more than she is letting on because people connected to the conspiracy are being killed off, and she can't say anything without implicating herself.

Seve wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Mendes said Shanghai "and other parts of China." Istanbul "and other parts of Turkey." It's these other parts that could prove particularly fascinating.

"Turkish officials have confirmed that the opening scenes of the new movie will take place in and around some key Istanbul tourist attractions, including historic Sultanahmet Square."
sounds like Turkey will only be used for the pre credit sequence, so they are unlikely to get out of Istanbul

Shanghai on it's own should also offer enough flash for one James Bond movie
it will be interesting to find out what the villain's scheme involves
I would imagine the Chinese politbureau would be harder to square away than the Indians or South Africans
no villainous plots involving corrupt peoples officials, Tibetan independence or spiking milk with melamine etc

"They’re also planning to head north of the border to Duntrune Castle in Argyll, where, it has been alleged, the climactic action scenes will be shot."
the prospect of "exotic" Scotland not drawing so much comment?

I'm all for Scotland. It's not terribly exotic, I suppose, but it is stark and picturesque.

Sharky wrote:

Perhaps the Istanbul sequence doesn't have to involve Bond, or at least not during the pre-titles? It would be a neat idea to have various people connected to Skyfall killed off, rather like the Wint & Kidd murders in DAF.

No, I think I'd like to see Bond in the PTS. In LALD, the PTS was rather mediocre, and TMWTGG's, while intriguing, fails to match the excitement and thrill of OP, GF, GE, OHMSS, QOS, TWINE, etc.

I like the 80s and TND's PTS, where there is a scene with Bond, and the scene(s) directly after the credits, sets a foundation for the story. FYEO, for example, has Bond doing his usual awesomeness, credits, then the sinking of St.George sets up the mission to find the ATAC, and then Melina's revenge is established. OP does the similar thing, though with the clown/agent with the Farbege (sp?) egg to set the story up. I like that element. Especially after LALD, TMWTGG and MR, where it goes straight to the briefing.

Or, what if there is no PTS, to pay homage to DN?