PRODUCTION. 60 YEARS OF BOND
GoldenEye (1995) The Brosnan Bond debut saw Corbould take on his first senior position on the franchise, as special effects supervisor. One memorable scene sees 007 commandeer a tank and drive it through the streets of St Petersburg. “There hadn’t been a Bond film for six years and there had been some huge special effects movies,” says Corbould. “We had to make sure Bond was still relevant. “I knew that just doing things big doesn’t really work any more; look at superhero movies and everything blowing up on a huge scale. Different is important. A good example is the tank chase, which was really distinct. A tank chase in an urban environment, I think we really got it right with that. Part of the job I love now is thinking about what we can do that’s different. “The tank sequence evolved out of an idea of mine, and it was my job to buy them. I had to get two Russian tanks in England. When we came to travel, the agent said there was a problem at the border: one was still live! We had to weld bits here and there to make it safe.”
SHAKEN AND STIRRED High-flying scenes built from the ground up in the 2008 film
QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008)
his crippled plane into a dizzying climb, which was filmed in a special rig. “We built this little rig that you can see,” he says. “The whole thing is fabricated; it’s not a real aircraft body and could revolve around inside.”
The second Daniel Craig film was a direct sequel, picking up where Casino Royale left off. As Bond tracks the villain Dominic Greene, he acquires a DC-3 in Bolivia and heads into the desert with Camille. When a jet and chopper attack them, Bond forces
The World Is Not Enough (1999) This MI6 outing featured a huge set piece at a caviar factory on the Caspian Sea, involving Bond’s BMW Z8, which is eventually sawn in half by a helicopter wielding a huge timber-cutting saw. “I never felt the Z3 was a Bond car. But here we had the Z8. I’ve not seen one on the road – I think they only built 5000 of them – but it was a frightening performance car. “A car gets cut in half by a helicopter fitted with huge saws. They built the whole set at Pinewood Studios and we had to fly this helicopter, which – for obvious reasons – couldn’t be real. So, we got what was the biggest tower crane in Europe. “Then, we could fly the helicopter on wires underneath it. It was all computerised controls and we were cutting up the walkways, the caviar house and, eventually, the car. It was tricky. We had to cut a channel through the car because the blades on the helicopter, though they look menacing, couldn’t cut butter.”
DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002)
guys maximum traction, and so had to make modifications to the front ends of both cars. I argued against the invisible Aston Martin. I think we pushed the boundaries a little with that one, but it’s in there! “It was based on real technology being developed at the time, funnily enough, where something in the distance would have cameras and projectors. It was designed to camouflage something a few hundreds yards away.”
The first 007 film of the new millennium, and Brosnan’s final jaunt, witnessed the franchise rekindle its relationship with Aston Martin. Bond’s Vanquish – complete with cloaking device – battled a gadget-laden Jaguar XKR on a frozen lake. “We had loads of fun with these vehicles when director Lee Tamahori decided he wanted the car battle on an ice lake. “We wanted four-wheel- drive versions to give the stunt
10. DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
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