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8 things to know about the new James Bond film Spectre

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DailyBiteNov 20, 2015 | 12:14

8 things to know about the new James Bond film Spectre

Spectre has just been revealed to have had the most successful UK box office opening ever of a British film, raking in more than £53m in the first week. The James Bond film (the 24th in the franchise) has easily smashed records since it was unleashed on cinemas on October 26, and it’s no surprise. Months upon months of tireless efforts from director Sam Mendes, the talented cast (of well over 1,500) and enormous crew, and millions of pounds spent across five stunning, key locations have made this latest 007 outing perhaps the most spectacular yet. But what really goes into creating a movie behemoth like Spectre to make it an unmissable one to watch? Here are the astonishing truths behind the making of this year’s most talked about film.

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1. No expense spared 

Spectre is the longest of all the Bond movies, at two hours 28 minutes long, and it had the biggest budget of all the Bond movies, too. While its predecessor Skyfall had a reported total budget of $200m, Spectre’s was $250m. Still, it has landed a place in the top 10 most expensive movies of all time, along with the blockbuster likes of Harry Potter And The HalfBlood Prince, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($378.5m), and The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies ($250m).

2. Injured hero

It’s not easy being James Bond, something leading man Daniel Craig has learnt the hard way. Earlier this year, the 47-year-old was flown away from the film's set in Austria to undergo an operation on his knee, which had previously been badly damaged. Production on Spectre was only held up for two weeks, though, as its British star was determined not to delay the film and its eventual release any more.

3. Luxury car

Aston Martin marked its 50-year partnership with Bond by creating the incredibly slick DB10, a car just for the big screen: not one is available for sale. Designed for Spectre, just 10 bespoke cars were built for filming with eight used in the film, while the final two were manufactured for promotional use.

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4. Expensive crashes

A whopping £24m worth of cars were destroyed during the making of Spectre, including seven of the Aston Martin DB10s. The streamlined silver stunner was involved in a thrilling car chase through Rome, in which it was followed by a Jaguar C-X75, and came perilously close to The Vatican. In terms of timing, it took 18 nights over the course of three weeks to shoot the scene in its entirety. To add to that, Land Rovers were engulfed in flames in the scenes in Austria on the side of a snowy mountain, after one typically James Bondstyle land and air pursuit.

5. Auditioning

Mexican actress Stephanie Sigman, who appears as the dazzling and distracting Estrella during the Day of the Dead scene at the start of the film, landed the role after impressing Mendes with her rather bizarre audition, conducted from her kitchen. “I got a camera and did an audition in my kitchen with a friend,” she explained in an interview with the Evening Standard. “I did what I thought was right, then they called me after a month and said the director Sam Mendes wanted to meet me in Mexico City.”

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6. Second time lucky

New Bond girl Lea Seydoux, who stars opposite Daniel as Bond’s accomplice and love interest Dr. Madeleine Swann, almost lost out on the part after flailing in her first audition. Thanks to her inner doubts, the French actress blundered her way through the trial run, after having enjoyed an alcoholic beverage.

7. Magnificent Mexico

Spectre opens with the visually stunning and jam-packed day of the Dead scene in Mexico. And it was certainly no mean feat, with a whopping 1,520 extras used to create the mass crowd in Mexico City's Tolsa Square and Zocolo Square, settings for the airborne helicopter fracas between Bond and his nemesis. For every day of filming, the extras (none of whom were clad in identical costumes; every single one was unique) would take three and a half hours to be prepared by more than 100 make-up artists. The crew initiated a "traffic light" system with the mirrors, to ensure that every single person was prompt and that no time was wasted.

8. Making music

A Bond film isn’t a Bond film without its soundtrack. It took Sam Smith just 20 minutes to pen his epic tune, "Writing’s On The Wall", something he gladly boasted after it was finally revealed he was the man behind the music, despite months of denying he was linked to it.

(Courtesy of DailyMail)

Last updated: November 20, 2015 | 12:24
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