Skyfall is the twenty-third
James Bond film produced by Eon Productions. It was distributed by
MGM and Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2012. It features Daniel Craig
in his third performance as James Bond, and Javier Bardem as Raoul
Silva, the film's antagonist. The film was directed by Sam Mendes and
written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan.
The
film centres on Bond investigating an attack on MI6; the attack is
part of a plot by former MI6 operative Raoul Silva to humiliate,
discredit and kill M as revenge against her for betraying him. The
film sees the return of two recurring characters to the series after
an absence of two films: Q, played by Ben Whishaw, and Eve
Moneypenny, played by Naomie Harris. Skyfall is the last film of the
series for Judi Dench, who played M, a role that she had played in
the previous six films. The position is subsequently filled by Ralph
Fiennes' character, Gareth Mallory.
Mendes was approached to
direct the film after the release of Quantum of Solace in 2008.
Development was suspended when MGM encountered financial troubles and
did not resume until December 2010; during this time, Mendes remained
attached to the project as a consultant. The original screenwriter,
Peter Morgan, left the project during the suspension. When production
resumed, Logan, Purvis, and Wade continued writing what became the
final version of the script. Filming began in November 2011 and
primarily took place in the United Kingdom, China and Turkey.
Skyfall premiered in London
at the Royal Albert Hall on October 23rd 2012 and was released in the
United Kingdom on October 26th 2012 and the United States on November
9th 2012. It was the first James Bond film to be screened in IMAX
venues, although it was not filmed with IMAX cameras. The film's
release coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Bond series, which
began with Dr. No in 1962.
Skyfall
was positively received by critics and at the box office, becoming
the 14th film, as well as the first Bond film, to cross the $1
billion mark worldwide and the second-highest-grossing film of 2012.
The film won several accolades, including the BAFTA Awards for
Outstanding British Film and Best Film Music; the Screen Actors Guild
Award for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion
Picture; and was nominated for five Academy Awards, of which it won
two: Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers won the award for Best
Sound Editing, and Adele's theme song won Best Original Song. The
song also won Best Original Song at the Golden Globe Awards
After the release of
Quantum of Solace in 2008, producer Barbara Broccoli commented that
Skyfall, untitled at the time, may continue the plot of the Quantum
organisation, introduced in Casino Royale and continued in Quantum of
Solace. Ultimately, Skyfall was a stand-alone film.
In August 2011 the Serbian
newspaper Blic stated that Bond 23 would be entitled Carte Blanche
and would be an adaptation of the recent continuation novel by
Jeffery Deaver. On August 30th Eon Productions officially denied any
link between Bond 23 and Carte Blanche, stating that "the new
film is not going to be called Carte Blanche and will have nothing to
do with the Jeffery Deaver book". On October 3rd 2011 fifteen
domain names including 'jamesbond-skyfall.com' and
'skyfallthefilm.com' were reported to have been registered on behalf
of MGM and Sony Pictures by Internet brand-protection service
MarkMonitor. This led to supposition in the media that the film had
been given the name "Skyfall". These reports were not
confirmed at the time by Eon Productions, Sony or MGM. Skyfall was
later confirmed as the title at a press conference on November 3rd
2011, during which co-producer Barbara Broccoli said that the title
"has some emotional context which will be revealed in the
film". The title refers to the name of Bond's childhood home
"Skyfall", and the setting for the film's finale.
The
main cast of Skyfall was officially announced at a press conference
held at the Corinthia Hotel in London on November 3rd 2011, fifty
years to the day since Sean Connery was announced to play James Bond
in the film Dr. No. Daniel Craig returned as James Bond for the third
time, saying he felt lucky to have the chance to appear as 007.
Director Sam Mendes described Bond as experiencing a "combination
of lassitude, boredom, depression [and] difficulty with what he's
chosen to do for a living". Judi Dench returned as M for her
seventh and final appearance in the role. Over the course of the
film, M's ability to run MI6 is repeatedly called into question,
culminating in a public inquiry into her running of the service. As
the film's principal villain Javier Bardem was cast, playing a
cyberterrorist who is seeking revenge against those he holds
responsible for betraying him. Bardem described Silva as "more
than a villain", while Craig stated that Bond has a "very
important relationship" to Silva. In casting the role, director
Sam Mendes admitted that he lobbied hard for Bardem to accept the
part. Mendes saw the potential for the character to be recognised as
one of the most memorable characters in the series and wanted to
create "something [the audience] may consider to have been
absent from the Bond movies for a long time". He felt that
Bardem was one of the few actors up to the task of becoming
"colourless" and existing within the world of the film as
something more than a function of the plot. In preparing for the
role, Bardem had the script translated into his native Spanish to
better understand his character, which Mendes cited as being a sign
of the actor's commitment to the film. Bardem dyed his hair blond for
the role after brainstorming ideas with 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.
Ralph
Fiennes was cast as Gareth Mallory, a former lieutenant colonel in
the British Army and now the Chairman of the Intelligence and
Security Committee, which gives him the authority to regulate MI6. At
the end of the film, Mallory becomes the head of MI6, assuming the
title of M. During production, Fiennes stated that he could not say
anything specific about the role other than that it was a "really
interesting part which is really quite fun". To play the
returning character of Miss Moneypenny, Naomie Harris was cast.
Harris' role was initially presented as that of Eve, an MI6 field
agent who works closely with Bond. Despite ongoing speculation in the
media that Harris had been cast as Miss Moneypenny, this was not
confirmed by anyone involved in production of the film, with Harris
herself even going so far as to dismiss claims that Eve was in fact
Moneypenny, stating that "Eve is not remotely office-bound".
According to Harris, Eve "[believes] she is Bond's equal, but
she is really his junior". Another character returning to the
series was Q, played by Ben Whishaw. Mendes had initially declined to
confirm which part Whishaw would play, and later said the idea of the
re-introduction was his, saying "I offered ideas about
Moneypenny, Q and a flamboyant villain and they said yes".
Bérénice Marlohe was cast as Séverine, a
character who had been saved from the Macau sex trade by Silva and
now works as his representative. Marlohe described her character as
being "glamorous and enigmatic", and that she drew
inspiration from GoldenEye villain Xenia Onatopp (played by Famke
Janssen) in playing Séverine. To play the part of Kincade,
Mendes cast Albert Finney. The producers briefly considered
approaching Sean Connery to play the role in a nod to the 50th
anniversary of the film series, but elected not to as they felt
Connery's presence would be seen as stunt casting and disengage
audiences from the film.
Skyfall
director Sam Mendes, who had previously worked with Craig on Road to
Perdition, was approached after seeing Craig in a production of A
Steady Rain. The two met after a performance, where Craig broached
the subject of directing a Bond film for the first time. Mendes was
at first hesitant to accept the job as directing a Bond film had no
appeal to him, but he did not reject the offer immediately because of
Craig's involvement and enthusiasm for the project; Mendes described
Craig's casting and performance in Casino Royale as being precisely
what he felt the Bond franchise needed in its lead actor. He agreed
to direct after meeting with producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara
Broccoli and seeing the early direction the film was going to take.
Speculation in the media suggested that Mendes had commissioned
rewrites of the script to remove action scenes in favour of
characterful performances with the intention of bidding for an
Academy Award. Mendes denied the reports, stating that the film's
planned action scenes were an important part of the overall film.
Peter Morgan was originally
commissioned to write a script, but left the project when MGM filed
for bankruptcy and production of the film stalled; despite his
departure, Morgan later stated that the final script was based on his
original idea, retaining what he described as the film's "big
hook". Director Mendes adamantly denied this, stating that it
was "just not true" and that Morgan's script treatment had
been discarded once Mendes agreed to direct. The final script was
written by Bond screenwriting regulars Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and
John Logan. Logan recounted being brought into the project by his
long-time friend Sam Mendes, describing the process between Mendes
and the writers as "very collaborative", and that writing
Skyfall was one of the best experiences he had had in scripting a film.
Roger
Deakins signed on as cinematographer, having previously worked with
Mendes on Jarhead and Revolutionary Road. Dennis Gassner returned as
production designer, the costume designer was Jany Temime, Alexander
Witt was director of the second unit, the stunt co-ordinator was Gary
Powell and Chris Corbould supervised the special effects, while the
visual effects supervisor was Steve Begg. All have worked on previous
Bond films. Daniel Kleinman returned to design the film's title
sequence after stepping aside to allow graphic design studio MK12 to
create the Quantum of Solace sequence.
Sam Mendes and Barbara
Broccoli travelled to South Africa for location scouting in April
2011. With the film moving into pre-production in August, reports
emerged that shooting would take place in India, with scenes to be
shot in the Sarojini Nagar district of New Delhi and on railway lines
between Goa and Ahmedabad. The production crew faced complications in
securing permission to close sections of the Konkan Railway. Similar
problems in obtaining filming permits were encountered by production
crews for The Dark Knight Rises and Mission: Impossible – Ghost
Protocol. Permission was eventually granted to the Bond production
crew; however, the production ultimately did not shoot in India.
Principal photography was
scheduled to take up 133 days, although the actual filming took 128.
Filming began on November 7th 2011 in and around London, with the
cinematographer Roger Deakins using Arri Alexa cameras to shoot the
entire film. St Bartholomew's Hospital was used as the filming
location for the scene in which Bond enters MI6's underground
headquarters, while the Old Vic Tunnels underneath Waterloo Station
in London served as the MI6 training grounds. For the meeting between
Q and Bond, production worked during the National Gallery's closing
hours at night. The Department of Energy and Climate Change was used
in the scene when Bond stood on the roof near the end of the film.
The Vauxhall Bridge and Millbank was closed to traffic for filming
the explosion at the MI6 headquarters at Vauxhall Cross. Unlike The
World Is Not Enough, which also featured an explosion at the building
(which was
filmed at a large scale replica) the explosion in Skyfall was added
digitally in post-production. 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. Although supposedly based in Scotland, Bond's family home of
Skyfall was constructed on Hankley Common in Surrey using plywood and
plaster to build a full-scale model of the building.
Untitled
Production
moved to Turkey in March 2012, with filming reported to be
continuing until May 6th. Adana stands in for the outskirts of
Istanbul in the film. A group of Turkish teenagers infiltrated a
closed set in a railway sidings in Adana to film rehearsals of a
fight scene on top of a train before being caught by security. The
train scene depicted in trailers showed the Varda Viaduct outside of
Adana. Bond stunt double, Andy Lister, dived backwards off the
300-foot drop for the scene. A crane was set up on a train carriage
to hold a safety line. Parts of Istanbul – including the Spice
Bazaar, Yeni Camii, the Main Post Office, Sultanahmet Square and the
Grand Bazaar — were closed for filming in April. Store owners in
the affected areas were reportedly allowed to open their shops, but
were not allowed to conduct business, instead being paid $418 per day
as compensation. Production faced criticism for allegedly damaging
buildings while filming a motorcycle chase across rooftops in the
city. Michael G. Wilson denied these claims, pointing out that the
film crew had removed sections of rooftops before filming began and
replaced them with replicas for the duration of the shoot; when
filming finished, the original rooftops would be restored. The
production team negotiated with 613 part owners of the Calis Beach in
Fethiye, to film along the coastline.
Mendes
confirmed that China would be featured in the film, with shooting
scheduled to take place in Shanghai and "other parts" of
the country. John Logan described that production deliberately sought
out locations that were "in opposition" to London with an
exotic quality that made them "places for Bond to be
uncomfortable". Many scenes were not filmed on location in
Shanghai. Instead, the Virgin Active Pool in London's Canary Wharf
acted as Bond's hotel pool in Shanghai, and the entrance to London's
fourth tallest building, Broadgate Tower, was also lit up to look
like an office building there; for the aerial footage of Shanghai,
the crew received rare access to shoot from a helicopter on loan from
the Chinese government. The interior of the Golden Dragon Casino in
Macau where Bond met Sévérine was constructed on a
sound stage at Pinewood, with 300 floating lanterns and two 30-foot
high dragon heads lighting the set. Additional scenes were filmed at
Ascot Racecourse, standing in for Shanghai Pudong International
Airport. The first official image from the film was released on
February 1st 2012, showing Daniel Craig on set at Pinewood Studios,
within a recreation of a skyscraper in Shanghai.
Set
reports dated April 2012 recorded that scenes would be set on
Hashima Island, an abandoned island off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan.
In actuality, the scene was set on an unnamed island off the coast of
Macau, though based on the real-life Hashima. Sam Mendes explained
that the location was a hybrid of a set and computer-generated
images. Production chose to include the Hashima model after Daniel
Craig met with Swedish film-maker Thomas Nordanstad whilst shooting
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in Stockholm. Nordanstad, who
produced a short documentary on Hashima Island in 2002 entitled
Hashima, recalled Craig taking extensive notes on the island at the
time of the meeting, but was unaware of his interest in it until
Skyfall was released.
The film was later
converted into the IMAX format for projection in IMAX cinemas.
Cinematographer Roger Deakins was unaware that the film was to be
released on IMAX until after he had made the decision to shoot the
film with the Arri Alexa cameras, and was unhappy with the IMAX tests
made from his footage as the colours "didn't look great".
After exploring the IMAX system further and discovering that the IMAX
Corporation was using their proprietary re-mastering process, Deakins
had further tests made without the process and found that "the
images looked spectacular on the big IMAX screen", quelling his
doubts about the format.
Thomas
Newman, who worked with Sam Mendes as composer for American Beauty,
Road to Perdition, Jarhead and Revolutionary Road, replaced David
Arnold as composer, becoming the ninth composer in the series'
history. When asked about the circumstances surrounding his departure
from the role, David Arnold commented that Newman had been selected
by Mendes because of their work together, rather than because of
Arnold's commitment to working with director Danny Boyle as composer
for the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics. The soundtrack
album was released on October 29th 2012 in the United Kingdom and on
November 6th 2012 in the United States. The film also features
Charles Trenet's 1938 song, "Boum !" during scenes in which
Silva shows Bond around his abandoned island, and The Animals' 1964
cover of John Lee Hooker's song, "Boom Boom" when Silva
assaults Skyfall in the film's finale.
In October 2012 British
singer-songwriter Adele confirmed that she had written and recorded
the film's theme song with her regular songwriter, Paul Epworth. She
later posted the cover for the "Skyfall" sheet music on
Twitter, crediting the songwriting to herself and Epworth, with
arrangements to both Epworth and orchestrator J. A. C. Redford. The
song was released online at 0:07 am BST on October 5th 2012, a day
dubbed "James Bond Day" by the producers as it marked fifty
years to the day of the release of Dr. No. The song was nominated for
and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. It was the first
time a Bond song had won, and only the fourth time one had been
nominated. "Skyfall" also won the Brit Award for Best
British Single at the 2013 BRIT Awards.
The
premiere of Skyfall was on October 23rd 2012 at the Royal Albert
Hall in London. The event was attended by Charles, Prince of Wales,
and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. The film was released in
the UK three days later and into US cinemas on November 8th. Skyfall
was the first Bond film to be screened in IMAX venues and was
released into IMAX cinemas in North America a day earlier than the
conventional cinema release. In the UK the film grossed £20.1
million on its opening weekend, making it the second-highest
Friday-to-Sunday debut ever behind Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows – Part 2. It also achieved the second-highest IMAX debut
to date behind The Dark Knight Rises. In North America, the film
opened in 3,505 cinemas, the widest opening for a Bond film. The film
earned $2.4 million from midnight showings on its opening day and a
further $2.2 million from IMAX and large-format cinemas.CinemaScore
polls reported that the average grade filmgoers gave the film was an
"A" on an A+ to F scale. Skyfall went on to gross $30.8
million on its opening day in the US and Canada, and $88.4 million in
its opening weekend, the biggest debut to date for a Bond film.
Skyfall
received generally positive reviews from critics with a number of
critics asking whether Skyfall was the best Bond film ever produced.
The Daily Telegraph's film reviewer, Robbie Collin, considered
Skyfall to be "often dazzling, always audacious", with
excellent action sequences in a film that contained humour and
emotion. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter thought that Skyfall
was "dramatically gripping while still brandishing a droll
undercurrent of humor", going on to say that it was a film that
had "some weight and complexity to it". Variety's Peter
DeBruge suggested that the film's greatest strength lay in its
willingness to put as much focus on characterisation as it did action set-pieces,
allowing the two to co-exist rather than compete for the audience's
attention. Kim Newman, reviewing the film for Empire, concluded,
"Skyfall is pretty much all you could want from a 21st Century
Bond: cool but not camp, respectful of tradition but up to the
moment, serious in its thrills and relatively complex in its
characters but with the sense of fun that hasn't always been evident
lately". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 4
out of 4 stars, describing it as "a full-blooded, joyous,
intelligent celebration of a beloved cultural icon". Reviewing
for the New Statesman, Ryan Gilbey saw that "nostalgia permeates
the movie", going on to say that "sometimes the old ways
are the best".
A number of reviewers
praised Daniel Craig in Skyfall saying he manages to get out of the
shadow of Connery and relaxed into Bond without losing any
steeliness. The supporting cast also received praise. Roger Ebert
reflected that Skyfall "at last provides a role worthy of Judi
Dench, one of the best actors of her generation. She is all but the
co-star of the film, with a lot of screen time, poignant dialogue,
and a character who is far more complex and sympathetic than we
expect in this series". Henry K Miller considered Javier
Bardems' character "the most authentically Bondian Bond villain
in decades". Ann Hornaday, writing for The Washington Post,
thought Sam Mendes had reinvigorated the series, with Skyfall being
"sleek, crisp, classy ... exhibiting just the right proportion
of respect for legacy and embrace of novelty".
AV
CLUB FEATURETTE DEPARTMENT
Untitled
Bond's loyalty to M is
tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under
attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how
personal the cost. Add
Skyfall to your DVD collection.
The film did not escape
criticism, with reviews pointing to its two and a half-hour running
time, and the final third of the film being "protracted",
and not matching the first two thirds in its momentum as the
underlying flaws in the film. Xan Brooks of The Guardian, in an
otherwise positive review, criticised the "touchy-feely
indulgence" of "the bold decision to open Bond up – to
probe at the character's back-story and raise a toast to his
relationship with M".
After
the success of Skyfall Daniel Craig played Bond in a short film,
Happy and Glorious, produced by Lisa Osborne for the BBC and directed
by Danny Boyle as part of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer
Olympics in London. In the film Bond is summoned to Buckingham Palace
by Queen Elizabeth II, played by herself, and escorts her by
helicopter to the Olympic Stadium. Bond and Her Majesty jump from the
helicopter into the stadium with Union Flag parachutes.
For the parachute jump, the
Queen was played by BASE jumper and stuntman Gary Connery (below
right). Mark Sutton (below center) acted as Craig's stunt double
during the jump. After the film was shown, the Queen appeared and
formally opened the Games.
AV
CLUB SLIDESHOW DEPARTMENT
My Neat Stuff Slideshow - Jssor Slider, Slideshow with Javascript Source Code
Skyfall
was positively received by critics and at the box office, becoming
the 14th film, as well as the first Bond film, to cross the $1
billion mark worldwide and the second-highest-grossing film of 2012.
The film won several accolades, including the BAFTA Awards for
Outstanding British Film and Best Film Music; the Screen Actors Guild
Award for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion
Picture; and was nominated for five Academy Awards, of which it won
two: Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers won the award for Best
Sound Editing, and Adele's theme song won Best Original Song. The
song also won Best Original Song at the Golden Globe Awards
The
main cast of Skyfall was officially announced at a press conference
held at the Corinthia Hotel in London on November 3rd 2011, fifty
years to the day since Sean Connery was announced to play James Bond
in the film Dr. No. Daniel Craig returned as James Bond for the third
time, saying he felt lucky to have the chance to appear as 007.
Director Sam Mendes described Bond as experiencing a "combination
of lassitude, boredom, depression [and] difficulty with what he's
chosen to do for a living". Judi Dench returned as M for her
seventh and final appearance in the role. Over the course of the
film, M's ability to run MI6 is repeatedly called into question,
culminating in a public inquiry into her running of the service. As
the film's principal villain Javier Bardem was cast, playing a
cyberterrorist who is seeking revenge against those he holds
responsible for betraying him. Bardem described Silva as "more
than a villain", while Craig stated that Bond has a "very
important relationship" to Silva. In casting the role, director
Sam Mendes admitted that he lobbied hard for Bardem to accept the
part. Mendes saw the potential for the character to be recognised as
one of the most memorable characters in the series and wanted to
create "something [the audience] may consider to have been
absent from the Bond movies for a long time". He felt that
Bardem was one of the few actors up to the task of becoming
"colourless" and existing within the world of the film as
something more than a function of the plot. In preparing for the
role, Bardem had the script translated into his native Spanish to
better understand his character, which Mendes cited as being a sign
of the actor's commitment to the film. Bardem dyed his hair blond for
the role after brainstorming ideas with 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.
Ralph
Fiennes was cast as Gareth Mallory, a former lieutenant colonel in
the British Army and now the Chairman of the Intelligence and
Security Committee, which gives him the authority to regulate MI6. At
the end of the film, Mallory becomes the head of MI6, assuming the
title of M. During production, Fiennes stated that he could not say
anything specific about the role other than that it was a "really
interesting part which is really quite fun". To play the
returning character of Miss Moneypenny, Naomie Harris was cast.
Harris' role was initially presented as that of Eve, an MI6 field
agent who works closely with Bond. Despite ongoing speculation in the
media that Harris had been cast as Miss Moneypenny, this was not
confirmed by anyone involved in production of the film, with Harris
herself even going so far as to dismiss claims that Eve was in fact
Moneypenny, stating that "Eve is not remotely office-bound".
According to Harris, Eve "[believes] she is Bond's equal, but
she is really his junior". Another character returning to the
series was Q, played by Ben Whishaw. Mendes had initially declined to
confirm which part Whishaw would play, and later said the idea of the
re-introduction was his, saying "I offered ideas about
Moneypenny, Q and a flamboyant villain and they said yes".
Bérénice Marlohe was cast as Séverine, a
character who had been saved from the Macau sex trade by Silva and
now works as his representative. Marlohe described her character as
being "glamorous and enigmatic", and that she drew
inspiration from GoldenEye villain Xenia Onatopp (played by Famke
Janssen) in playing Séverine. To play the part of Kincade,
Mendes cast Albert Finney. The producers briefly considered
approaching Sean Connery to play the role in a nod to the 50th
anniversary of the film series, but elected not to as they felt
Connery's presence would be seen as stunt casting and disengage
audiences from the film.
Skyfall
director Sam Mendes, who had previously worked with Craig on Road to
Perdition, was approached after seeing Craig in a production of A
Steady Rain. The two met after a performance, where Craig broached
the subject of directing a Bond film for the first time. Mendes was
at first hesitant to accept the job as directing a Bond film had no
appeal to him, but he did not reject the offer immediately because of
Craig's involvement and enthusiasm for the project; Mendes described
Craig's casting and performance in Casino Royale as being precisely
what he felt the Bond franchise needed in its lead actor. He agreed
to direct after meeting with producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara
Broccoli and seeing the early direction the film was going to take.
Speculation in the media suggested that Mendes had commissioned
rewrites of the script to remove action scenes in favour of
characterful performances with the intention of bidding for an
Academy Award. Mendes denied the reports, stating that the film's
planned action scenes were an important part of the overall film.
Roger
Deakins signed on as cinematographer, having previously worked with
Mendes on Jarhead and Revolutionary Road. Dennis Gassner returned as
production designer, the costume designer was Jany Temime, Alexander
Witt was director of the second unit, the stunt co-ordinator was Gary
Powell and Chris Corbould supervised the special effects, while the
visual effects supervisor was Steve Begg. All have worked on previous
Bond films. Daniel Kleinman returned to design the film's title
sequence after stepping aside to allow graphic design studio MK12 to
create the Quantum of Solace sequence.
was
filmed at a large scale replica) the explosion in Skyfall was added
digitally in post-production. 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. Although supposedly based in Scotland, Bond's family home of
Skyfall was constructed on Hankley Common in Surrey using plywood and
plaster to build a full-scale model of the building.
Production
moved to Turkey in March 2012, with filming reported to be
continuing until May 6th. Adana stands in for the outskirts of
Istanbul in the film. A group of Turkish teenagers infiltrated a
closed set in a railway sidings in Adana to film rehearsals of a
fight scene on top of a train before being caught by security. The
train scene depicted in trailers showed the Varda Viaduct outside of
Adana. Bond stunt double, Andy Lister, dived backwards off the
300-foot drop for the scene. A crane was set up on a train carriage
to hold a safety line. Parts of Istanbul – including the Spice
Bazaar, Yeni Camii, the Main Post Office, Sultanahmet Square and the
Grand Bazaar — were closed for filming in April. Store owners in
the affected areas were reportedly allowed to open their shops, but
were not allowed to conduct business, instead being paid $418 per day
as compensation. Production faced criticism for allegedly damaging
buildings while filming a motorcycle chase across rooftops in the
city. Michael G. Wilson denied these claims, pointing out that the
film crew had removed sections of rooftops before filming began and
replaced them with replicas for the duration of the shoot; when
filming finished, the original rooftops would be restored. The
production team negotiated with 613 part owners of the Calis Beach in
Fethiye, to film along the coastline.
Mendes
confirmed that China would be featured in the film, with shooting
scheduled to take place in Shanghai and "other parts" of
the country. John Logan described that production deliberately sought
out locations that were "in opposition" to London with an
exotic quality that made them "places for Bond to be
uncomfortable". Many scenes were not filmed on location in
Shanghai. Instead, the Virgin Active Pool in London's Canary Wharf
acted as Bond's hotel pool in Shanghai, and the entrance to London's
fourth tallest building, Broadgate Tower, was also lit up to look
like an office building there; for the aerial footage of Shanghai,
the crew received rare access to shoot from a helicopter on loan from
the Chinese government. The interior of the Golden Dragon Casino in
Macau where Bond met Sévérine was constructed on a
sound stage at Pinewood, with 300 floating lanterns and two 30-foot
high dragon heads lighting the set. Additional scenes were filmed at
Ascot Racecourse, standing in for Shanghai Pudong International
Airport. The first official image from the film was released on
February 1st 2012, showing Daniel Craig on set at Pinewood Studios,
within a recreation of a skyscraper in Shanghai.
Set
reports dated April 2012 recorded that scenes would be set on
Hashima Island, an abandoned island off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan.
In actuality, the scene was set on an unnamed island off the coast of
Macau, though based on the real-life Hashima. Sam Mendes explained
that the location was a hybrid of a set and computer-generated
images. Production chose to include the Hashima model after Daniel
Craig met with Swedish film-maker Thomas Nordanstad whilst shooting
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in Stockholm. Nordanstad, who
produced a short documentary on Hashima Island in 2002 entitled
Hashima, recalled Craig taking extensive notes on the island at the
time of the meeting, but was unaware of his interest in it until
Skyfall was released.
Thomas
Newman, who worked with Sam Mendes as composer for American Beauty,
Road to Perdition, Jarhead and Revolutionary Road, replaced David
Arnold as composer, becoming the ninth composer in the series'
history. When asked about the circumstances surrounding his departure
from the role, David Arnold commented that Newman had been selected
by Mendes because of their work together, rather than because of
Arnold's commitment to working with director Danny Boyle as composer
for the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics. The soundtrack
album was released on October 29th 2012 in the United Kingdom and on
November 6th 2012 in the United States. The film also features
Charles Trenet's 1938 song, "Boum !" during scenes in which
Silva shows Bond around his abandoned island, and The Animals' 1964
cover of John Lee Hooker's song, "Boom Boom" when Silva
assaults Skyfall in the film's finale.
The
premiere of Skyfall was on October 23rd 2012 at the Royal Albert
Hall in London. The event was attended by Charles, Prince of Wales,
and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. The film was released in
the UK three days later and into US cinemas on November 8th. Skyfall
was the first Bond film to be screened in IMAX venues and was
released into IMAX cinemas in North America a day earlier than the
conventional cinema release. In the UK the film grossed £20.1
million on its opening weekend, making it the second-highest
Friday-to-Sunday debut ever behind Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows – Part 2. It also achieved the second-highest IMAX debut
to date behind The Dark Knight Rises. In North America, the film
opened in 3,505 cinemas, the widest opening for a Bond film. The film
earned $2.4 million from midnight showings on its opening day and a
further $2.2 million from IMAX and large-format cinemas.CinemaScore
polls reported that the average grade filmgoers gave the film was an
"A" on an A+ to F scale. Skyfall went on to gross $30.8
million on its opening day in the US and Canada, and $88.4 million in
its opening weekend, the biggest debut to date for a Bond film.
Skyfall
received generally positive reviews from critics with a number of
critics asking whether Skyfall was the best Bond film ever produced.
The Daily Telegraph's film reviewer, Robbie Collin, considered
Skyfall to be "often dazzling, always audacious", with
excellent action sequences in a film that contained humour and
emotion. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter thought that Skyfall
was "dramatically gripping while still brandishing a droll
undercurrent of humor", going on to say that it was a film that
had "some weight and complexity to it". Variety's Peter
DeBruge suggested that the film's greatest strength lay in its
willingness to put as much focus on characterisation as it did action set-pieces,
allowing the two to co-exist rather than compete for the audience's
attention. Kim Newman, reviewing the film for Empire, concluded,
"Skyfall is pretty much all you could want from a 21st Century
Bond: cool but not camp, respectful of tradition but up to the
moment, serious in its thrills and relatively complex in its
characters but with the sense of fun that hasn't always been evident
lately". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 4
out of 4 stars, describing it as "a full-blooded, joyous,
intelligent celebration of a beloved cultural icon". Reviewing
for the New Statesman, Ryan Gilbey saw that "nostalgia permeates
the movie", going on to say that "sometimes the old ways
are the best".
After
the success of Skyfall Daniel Craig played Bond in a short film,
Happy and Glorious, produced by Lisa Osborne for the BBC and directed
by Danny Boyle as part of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer
Olympics in London. In the film Bond is summoned to Buckingham Palace
by Queen Elizabeth II, played by herself, and escorts her by
helicopter to the Olympic Stadium. Bond and Her Majesty jump from the
helicopter into the stadium with Union Flag parachutes.
