Skyfall

I think every generation has it’s own James Bond. Dad’s was Sean Connory (sp?), mum isn’t a fan of James Bond and mine’s Daniel Craig. Well, I did watch a few Pierce Brosnan 007 movies, but I was still school-aged then.

The newest James Bond movie, Skyfall, came out around November last year, and the three of us went along as a family to see it one Tuesday night, when the movies are cheapest!

So here are all my favourite quotes, trivia and goofs courtesy of imdb:

A/N: here be spoilers. If you haven’t seen the latest James Bond movie yet and don’t want to find out what happens, please stop reading. You have been warned. XD

Trivia first:

• This is the 23rd James Bond movie in the EON Productions official series and the 25th theatrically released James Bond film including the spoof Casino Royale and the unofficial Never Say Never Again. It is also the 26th James Bond film if counting the TV episode tele-movie Climax!: Casino Royale. Moreover, Skyfall's associated video-game, 007 Legends, which has a 'Skyfall' mission, is also the 23rd title in its James Bond video-game series.
• In 50 years of Bond movies, Skyfall is only the second film in which James Bond suffers a gunshot wound. (He is also shot in Thunderball during the junkanoo chase.) (A/N: aww, poor baby. XD)
• Bond Girls in the movie are played by Naomie Harris as Eve; Bérénice Marlohe as Sévérine; Tonia Sotiropoulou as Bond's Lover; and Elize du Toit as M's Assistant Vanessa. Actresses Freida Pinto, Olivia Wilde, Rachel Weisz, Esti Ginzburg, Margarita Levieva, Alice Eve, Ana Ventura, Emilia Fox and Ebru Akel were rumored and/or considered to appear as Bond Girls in the movie. Reportedly, 'Skyfall' is the first ever James Bond film in the official series where production notes and publicity materials generally refer to the leading actresses in the film as 'Bond Women' and not as 'Bond Girls'.
• Released in late 2012 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film series. Previous Bond films to be released in similar celebration include Die Another Day (2002) in the series' 40th anniversary year, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) in the 35th anniversary year, and The Living Daylights (1987) in the 25th anniversary year. 'Skyfall' world premiered within a couple of weeks of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Dr. No on 10 May 1962. Moreover, a new Bond documentary was made and released to tie-in with and celebrate the Golden Anniversary of the franchise, Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007, it premiering also on 5 October. (A/N: long live james bond! XD)

Daniel Craig's third outing playing James Bond. Craig's first was Casino Royale and his second was Quantum of Solace. The film is Daniel Craig's first James Bond film not to use an original Ian Fleming story for its title as his first two Bond movies used Fleming titles.

• Development and production was delayed for almost nine months during 2010-11 due to the bankruptcy and delayed sale of studio MGM, with the production being officially suspended on 19 April 2010. The press release from producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, for the film, then known as 'Bond 23', stated: "Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on 'Bond 23' indefinitely. We do not know when development will resume and do not have a date for the release of 'Bond 23'". During this period, some development and pre-production work continued on the film despite the canceled financing, with the goal to have this Bond film in theaters for the 50th Anniversary of the franchise. Production resumed in January 2011.

Actress Judi Dench and Mendes have previously worked together in theatre on Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" whilst James Bond actor Daniel Craig and Mendes previously worked together on Road to Perdition. Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins have also worked together previously on Revolutionary Road and Jarhead. Craig and actor Ben Whishaw previously worked together on Layer Cake. Skyfall is the second time Javier Bardem has worked with Director of Photography Roger Deakins. The first was No Country for Old Men. Bardem features as the main villain in both films.

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• Kevin Spacey was considered for a role, but declined due to scheduling conflicts. It is believed that director Sam Mendes originally offered the role of the villain to Spacey, the part in the film played by Javier Bardem. Spacey worked with this Mendes on American Beauty, in which Kevin Spacey's character complains to his wife about missing a James Bond marathon on television.
• James Bond actor Daniel Craig said that he was worried by the delays in the production of 'Skyfall' and was eager to get back into the role because, at the age of 43, he feels he is already getting too old to cope with the extreme physical demands of playing James Bond. Craig starts preparation for a Bond movie about six months prior to filming and works-out for about two hours each day of principal photography after shooting has wrapped.
• Second time in the official James Bond series that James Bond is seen with a beard, the first time was Pierce Brosnan in Die Another Day. In both pictures the character only has the stubble for a portion of the film. (A/N: not sure how bond gets to kiss his bond girls with a beard; mother demands that dearest dad be clean-shaven, else she won’t let him kiss her! XD)
• First Daniel Craig Bond movie not to feature the character of American CIA agent Felix Leiter, as portrayed by Jeffrey Wright in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Comparatively, Bond's ally Rene Mathis, played by Giancarlo Giannini in the previous two films, also does not appear.
• This is the third Bond film with an Asian shooting location and an actress of Asian descent playing one of the main Bond Girls. The first two were You Only Live Twice and Tomorrow Never Dies. 'Skyfall' Bond Girl Bérénice Marlohe was born to a Cambodian/Chinese father and a French mother. A few Bond films which shot in Asia did not feature a main Bond Girl who was from Asia, these were Die Another Day, Octopussy and The Man with the Golden Gun. However, these three films did have cast Asian women in minor Bond Girl roles.

First one-word Bond movie title in seventeen years since GoldenEye. While Dr. No is the shortest Bond title in terms of letters, 'Skyfall' is the shortest ever in terms of syllables.

• While some Bond films have original titles that do not come from the work of author Ian Fleming, 'Skyfall' is the first original title that has already pre-existed as the title of other fictional works. 'Skyfall' is the title of a 1966 novel by Harry Harrison, a 1987 novel by Thomas Block, a 2004 novel by Catherine Asaro, a 2007 novel by Anthony Eaton 'Skyfall', and is also the name of a 2002 Norweigan film Falling Sky, its literal English translation being "Falling Sky" or "The Sky Is Falling Down".
• The passport used by Daniel Craig was not created by the props department, but an authentic document as issued by the British Home Office, according to producer Michael G. Wilson. Everything from the paper, print, photograph and jacket are entirely genuine on James Bond's 'official passport'. However, as a security measure, the passport is encoded with information that would instantly flag its improper use in any official transaction. The actual details shown on Bond's passport in the film are as follows: Name = John Adam Bryce; Date of Birth = 16th December 1968; Sex = Male; Place of Birth = London; Date of Issue = 22nd June 2012; and Expiry Date = 22nd August 2029.
• After receiving a personal invitation from Queen Elizabeth II , Daniel Craig appeared as James Bond in promotion of this film at the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London in the games' introductory video originally entitled "The Arrival" but later known as "Happy and Glorious". The Daniel Craig and Queen Elizabeth II pretend entertainment segment features Craig as James Bond who meets with the Queen to escort her safely to the stadium. They are seen going to a helicopter which flies along the Thames River to the cauldron whereby stunt-doubles then 'skyfall' jumped out of the copters down to the awaiting ceremony to familiar James Bond music. The segment has been said to be the Queen's first ever acting role.
• In the film, James Bond (Daniel Craig) is given a Walther PPK/S 9mm short firearm by Q. The Walther PPK is considered the most popular and widely known Bond gun, since it is the one he has used the most. Originally, Bond used a Beretta, but that was later replaced with the Walter PPK. The hand-gun he has in 'Skyfall' is uses hand recognition coded to his palm prints. Timothy Dalton's Bond used a weapon with the same feature in 'License to Kill'.
• Adele's title song "Skyfall" is the first ever James Bond theme to debut in the Top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart, entering at No. #8. It's the 7th Bond song to reach the US Top 10 and the 13th to reach the US Top 100. It's the first to chart in the US Top 10 in a decade, the last time being Madonna's Die Another Day song in 2002. Adele's song sold 261,000 copies in the USA in its first three days. The song debuted in the UK Singles Chart at No. #4 within just 48 hours of release and then went to No. #2 within a week, tying with the previous record holder, Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill (Dance into the Fire)" as the highest ever charting Bond song in UK singles history. The song sold 84,000 copies in the UK in its first two days and had sold 92,000 copies within a week. The song went to No. #1 on the UK iTunes chart within 10 hours. On its first day of release worldwide, the song hit the Top 10 on the iTunes Charts in 21 countries. Of those, it also went to Number #1 in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.
• The film was originally going to be shot in six countries but budget cutbacks in January 2012 resulted in filming primarily taking place in England, on location and in studio. Additional shooting was set in Scotland, Turkey and China. Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands replaced Duntrune Castle in Argyll, Scotland as the location for the film's climatic action scenes though some of that was actually filmed at Surrey's Hankley Common in England. Scenes planned to be originally shot in India or South Africa were instead filmed in Turkey. In the end, the picture was filmed in five countries: England, Scotland, China, Turkey and Japan. In Japan, just a small amount of filming was done on Hashima Island.
• At two seconds shy of 143 minutes, this is the second longest Bond movie of all time, the longest being Casino Royale at 144 minutes. The third longest running time for a Bond movie is On Her Majesty's Secret Service which runs 142 minutes.

Bond Girl Naomie Harris's mother is from Jamaica where author Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond stories at his GoldenEye estate. At 35 years of age at the start of filming, Harris is one of the oldest actresses to play a major Bond Girl. Honor Blackman is tied for eldest to ever play one, being 37 years of age at the time of filming Goldfinger, and Maud Adams was also 37 years old at time of filming for Octopussy. Harris attended the Royal World Premiere of 'Skyfall' with twenty-six members of her family.

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• For a long time in development and pre-production "Skyfall" was simply known as "Bond 23". Reportedly, other titles that were considered for the movie were "A Killing Moon" and "Once Upon a Spy" and "Silver Bullet." False rumored titles that were touted in the media during 2011 were 'Carte Blanche' and 'Red Sky at Night'. Previously, in 2010, it was reported that a competition would run to pick a title for this film from the remaining Ian Fleming story titles, the two most popular being 'Risico' and 'The Property of a Lady'. In addition, 'The Hildebrand Rarity' had also been touted as a possible title.
• The movie's soundtrack composed by Thomas Newman features the most tracks (30) ever for a James Bond film score. The previous record holder in the official series had been Casino Royale with 25 whilst next is Quantum of Solace with 24. The previous record holder for any Bond movie and now second is the unofficial Never Say Never Again which has 26 tracks. The 'Skyfall' album is the second time that a James Bond soundtrack has not featured the title song (which is "Skyfall" sung by Adele). The first time was Chris Cornell's title song "You Know My Name" not appearing on the Casino Royale soundtrack. Skyfall's end titles utilize composer David Arnold's arrangement ("The Name's Bond... James Bond") of Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme" but this also does not feature on the soundtrack. Skyfall's film's score also contains interpolations of Monty Norman's original "James Bond Theme". The whole score on the soundtrack is composed and conducted by Thomas Newman except for the "Komodo Dragon" track which is an instrumental interpolation of the film's "Skyfall" theme song.

5th October 2012 was "Global James Bond Day". It was created by the 'Skyfall' production to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the James Bond film series and as a promotional tie-in for the release of 'Skyfall'. According to the official website 'Global James Bond Day' featured "Worldwide events celebrating Bond's golden anniversary [and] include[d] a global online and live charity auction event organized by Christie's in London, a global survey to discover the favorite Bond film country by country, a film retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, a Music of Bond night in Los Angeles hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Designing 007: 50 Years of James Bond Style [in Toronto]".

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• The film was influenced by Batman film series of director Christopher Nolan according to the 'Skyfall''s director Sam Mendes. Mendes has said: "In terms of what [Nolan] achieved, specifically The Dark Knight, the second movie, what it achieved, which is something exceptional. It was a game changer for everybody...What Nolan proved was that you can make a huge movie that is thrilling and entertaining and has a lot to say about the world we live in, even if, in the case with The Dark Knight, it's not even set in our world... That did help give me the confidence to take this movie in directions that, without The Dark Knight, might not have been possible." Nolan has often stated that the classic James Bond films have been an influence on his "Dark Knight" trilogy.
• Second Daniel Craig James Bond film to feature a casino and the first for him since Casino Royale, Craig being notable for having debuted in this 'Casino' titled Bond film. Not every Bond movie has a casino sequence but 'Skyfall' joins the ranks in the official series of those that have: Dr. No, Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, The Man with the Golden Gun, For Your Eyes Only, Licence to Kill, GoldenEye, The World Is Not Enough and Casino Royale. All the unofficial Bond films, Casino Royale, Never Say Never Again and Climax!: Casino Royale, have all featured a casino. 'Skyfall' is the first Bond movie since The Man with the Golden Gun to feature a casino in Asia. Its name is "The Golden Dragon Casino" and it's a floating-casino in Macau, China and is based on the actual real-life Macau floating casino, "The Macau Palace".
• The literal English translation of some of this film's foreign language titles have the film known in their respective regions as "Operation Skyfall".
• When it came time to casting Silva's mercenaries, director Sam Mendes wanted actors rather than stuntmen. In order to find actors that could fit the physical bill, stunt coordinator Gary Powell set up a stunt training camp. Starting with forty-two men, the group had to learn how to throw punches, react to punches, hold guns and react to being shot. The group was eventually narrowed down to the seven men who looked most natural.
• For the motorbike chase in Turkey, Coca-Cola was sprayed on the tarmac of the streets in Istanbul to keep the bikes from sliding. While Coca-Cola is not an official product placement in the movie there was a Coke Zero marketing campaign that tied in with the movie.
• The film's opening sequence shot in Adana and Istanbul in Turkey took around two months to film, three months of rehearsals, four months of preparation, 200 crew members from England and another 200 local crew in order to produce around 12-14 minutes of screen time.
• Seventh James Bond film where the villain resides on an island lair. Raoul Silva's home is the Dead City, an abandoned island off the coast of Macau. The others were Dr. No's Crab Key island; Largo's Palmyra Estate on the Bahamas Islands in Thunderball; Blofeld's Japanese island volcano lair in You Only Live Twice; Mr Big / Dr Kananga's fictitious Carribean island of San Monique in Live and Let Die; Elektra King and Renards' Kizkulesi Island (aka The Maiden's Tower) in Turkey's Bosphorus Sea in The World Is Not Enough; and perhaps the most famous of all, Scaramanga's island in The Man with the Golden Gun.
• Just prior to post-production lock-off, about ten minutes of footage were cut out of the film due to the picture's extensively long running time. These scenes and sequences include MI6 agents after the MI6 HQ explosion; a funeral procession for MI6 agents; Sévérine at Shanghai International Airport; an M and Mallory scene; early scenes with M's Assistant Vanessa; Bond running through Regent's Park; and scenes involving Sévérine's activities.
• Daniel Craig performed many of his own stunts including the signature roof-top fight on the top of a moving train traveling at 50 kph (31 mph) during the film's opening sequence. Producer Barbara Broccoli has said: "Daniel contributes a great deal to designing the action and the fights in particular and he's the one who really pulls it off, because he wants to do as much of it as he possibly can. We were in Turkey for the train sequence and I had my heart in my mouth the whole time; he and Ola were fighting on the roof of a moving train and the moves that they were doing were just heart stopping. Daniel's the reason why the action works as well as it does because he sells it, he's up there and I think audiences know that."
• Fourth time in an official Bond movie that an M character's home has been seen. The first time was M (Bernard Lee)'s manor Quarterdeck in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The 2nd & 3rd times followed much later with M (Judi Dench)'s homes in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. 'Skyfall' is the fifth time if one counts the unofficial Bond spoof Casino Royale which also showed an M character's home.
• On an October 2012 episode of The Graham Norton Show, Judi Dench revealed how her mobile cell phone has a ringtone with the James Bond theme and how when it rang during filming on the set, it would often produce laughter, and after a while, her annoying 007 cell-phone ring-tone became an on-set running joke.
• 'Skyfall' represents the 10th Anniversary of the now regular "Bond On Set" book, a photo record of the filming of a Bond movie, with pix that are shot by Bond regular stills photographer Greg Williams. The 'Skyfall' "Bond On Set" book is the fourth to be published, the first was in 2002 with the Die Another Day "Bond On Set" book. Prior to this, there had been "Making of" books for Bond films such as for GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies. (A/N: hey, that book sounds interesting! Will someone please please please buy me one for my birthday?? XD)
• Javier Bardem's casting marks the first time that a Spanish actor has played the lead villain in a James Bond movie, whilst Bardem is the third Spaniard to play any villain, after henchmen Simón Andreu in Die Another Day and Fernando Guillén Cuervo in Quantum of Solace. Bardem's villain name of Raoul Silva in the film is actually an alias, the character's real name being Tiago Rodriguez. The film's writers wrote the script with Bardem in mind whilst Bardem had the film's script translated into his native language of Spanish so as to achieve a better understanding of the story and his character. The first Bond movie Bardem ever saw was Moonraker, its henchman Jaws being his favorite Bond villa
• Hashima Island, the site of Silva's lair, is a tiny deserted industrialized island situated off the south west coast of Japan, 15 km from Nagasaki, and running just 480 meters long and 160 meters wide. The small isle is one of 505 uninhabited islands in the Nagasaki Prefecture. The isle is also known as "Ghost Island" as well as "Gunkanjima" which translates as "Battleship Island". The island was last significantly inhabited in 1974 and was once a thriving coal mining community. The island is notable for its character due to its sea wall and its untouched abandoned and derelict concrete buildings.
• The most successful ever James Bond movie at the international box-office in the official franchise's film history. Previously, 'Skyfall' grossed $100 million at the international box-office in its first week. 'Skyfall' also had the biggest ever opening weekend at the box-office for a Bond film in Britain.
• A few days after the film debuted in Britain, the real MI6, the Secret Inteligence Service (SIS), took out a full page advertisement in "The Times" and "The Sunday Times" running with the headline, "If the qualities that make a good spy were obvious, they wouldn't make a very good spy". The aim of the ad was to debunk the legend and mythology associated with film fiction spies like James Bond in Skyfall saying that real life spy work is not "high-speed chases and shoot-outs", an average spy is not a "globe-trotting secret agent" and that psychological profiles of real life agents show that they are actually "far more ordinary". The ad also dismisses the white male spy stereotype saying that "the truth is we don't care what sex you are or where you're from, as long as you're a British national". The humorous advertising campaign is considered one of MI6's most open ever recruitment drives. But in true espionage fashion, the ad still warns of utmost secrecy and strict confidentiality advising potential candidates that they cannot disclose that they are making an application to anyone.
• Judi Dench played the role of M in this film at the age of 77. The performance is also Dench's 7th time playing M. This is Dench's largest ever on-screen role playing the M character, the most significant James Bond film ever to explore a relationship between the M and James Bond characters. Producer Barbara Broccoli says that 'Skyfall' explores this relationship perhaps more than in any of the 22 previous films. She has said, "We wanted to really mine the relationship between Bond and M, because it is the most significant relationship he has in his life. M is the only person who represents authority to him. You have two extraordinary actors, and we just thought - let's go all the way. It's worked extremely well. It's a very emotional story." (A/N: more on that later …)
• Third James Bond movie to film in Japan. 'Skyfall' used Hashima Island for shooting villain Raoul Silva's island lair. The first Bond Bond film to lens in Japan where the largest amount of filming was done was for You Only Live Twice. The second was for The Spy Who Loved Me where filming was done there to get shots of exotic fish in Okinawa.
• Actor Javier Bardem has described his Raoul Silva villain character as "An angel of death - a very cleanshaven person who happens to be rotten on the inside. He has a very personal objective - he's not trying to destroy the world. And he is on a straight line to that objective: he is a man seeking revenge. It's about being focused on the one person he wants to eliminate." Bardem has also explained about finding the character inside the villain: "It's always about who's the person behind the character. It would be very difficult for me to play a role that I just saw as some kind of symbol. In this case, there is a man suffering, a man full of pain and frustration, who simply wants to fix the situation. Within that journey, there was room to be funny or aggressive, but I could perfectly understand who he was, and that helped me to portray him."
• According to the UK Sun newspaper, leading Bond Girl Bérénice Marlohe, said that James Bond actor Daniel Craig was coy and hesitant before filming their love scene in the shower. Marlohe said: "He was very shy and when he saw me entering the shower, he was like, 'Oh my god'. He tried to keep his underpants on for the shower scenes but I said, 'No, come on, don't be shy. I will do anything to make you feel comfortable".
• A number of the actors playing smaller parts in the movie never received a script to work with due to the production's strict secrecy protocols, so stringent and tight, that they reflect real life intelligence espionage. Greek actress Tonia Sotiropoulou did not know what she would be doing on the film until the time her scenes were shot. She commented, "I was one of the people who never had a script. I just got told what I'd be doing on the set by the director. They have to be so careful. You have quite strict contracts that say you can't say anything about the plot. And everyone respects that."
• The film deals with James Bond's Scottish ancestry. Bond's family history was created by Ian Fleming in his penultimate Bond novel "You Only Live Twice", first published in 1964, his 11th Bond novel. Fleming was inspired to add the back-story of Bond's genealogy into the book after seeing the character played by Sean Connery in 1962's Dr. No. 'Skyfall' is the second time in the official James Bond film series that James Bond discusses the death of his parents, the first time was in GoldenEye. Clan of Bond names created by the production for the plaques and headstones at the chapel and graveyard include Andrew Bond, Robert Bond, Monique Delacroix Bond, Celia Bond, Kathleen Bond, Elsa/Elsie Louise Bond, Ramsay William Bond, and Margaret Jean Davidson Bond.
• There were 85 versions of James Bond's Tom Ford suit tailor-made for the opening chase sequence. Thirty were made for actor Daniel Craig and thirty for his double and stunt-double. Each version of the suit was made specifically for a particular scene of the opening sequence. For example, when Craig was riding the motor-bike, a suit with longer sleeves was worn so that it wouldn't raise up over his forearms. Costume Designer Jany Temime has said: "Each suit had three fittings, like a real traditional Saville Row suit. It was very high class tailoring. The first suit was mohair, very lightweight, woolen silk. The tuxedo is woolen silk. They were all [made of] beautiful fabric. He [would be] jumping and fighting, and then he would stand up, and the suit would be perfect." Moreover, Craig's tie had to be weighted for the motorbike section of the chase. The weight kept the tie from flying around when he rode at high speeds.
• Ola Rapace plays henchman Patrice who, despite being onscreen for more than 15 minutes in the pre-titles chase and Shanghai scenes, doesn't speak a single word of dialogue in the film. Ola is the ex-husband of Noomi Rapace who starred in the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. James Bond actor Daniel Craig starred in its American remake The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Swede Rapace is the third Scandinavian actor to play a James Bond villain in three Bond films. Danish actors Mads Mikkelsen played the villain Le Chiffre in Casino Royale whilst Jesper Christensen played the villain Mr. White in that film as well as Quantum of Solace.
• Weaponry and guns in the film include an Anderson Wheeler double-barreled chambered 500 NE (Nitro Express) hunting rifle belonging to James Bond's father; Silva's reproduction Percussion Cap Ardesa 1871 Duelling Pistol; Kincade's Colt Model 1878 shotgun; two Steyr M9-A1 pistols; various Heckler & Koch HK416 assault rifles belonging to Silva's men; Heckler & Koch G36C rifles with G36V carry handles used by the Metropolitan Police Service's CO19 officers; M4-style carbine assault rifles used by Mi6 security officers; Eve's Olympic Arms K23B rifle; various standard Glock 17 pistols; a 100 round drum mag semi-automatic Glock 18 machine pistol-class pistol used by Patrice who also has a sniper rifle and a hand recognition Walther PPK/S 9mm short firearm with a palm-sensitive hammer coded to James Bond's palm prints. For the weapons training, the cast went through 200,000 rounds of ammunition.
• To prepare for the grueling physical demands of her action role as Eve, actress Naomie Harris was given a personal trainer and worked-out for around two months for two hours a day, five days a week. For this, Harris did yoga, kick-boxing, running and circuit training. Moreover, for one day of the week, Harris did combat fighting training; for one-two days of the week, Harris did stunt driving training and for three days a week, Harris fired guns on a shooting range learning to shoot machine guns and Walther PPKs.
• When Bond and Q meet in the National Gallery in London, Q makes a joke about to give an "exploding pen" to Bond when this one moans about the tools received to fulfill the mission. It's a nod for GoldenEye, where the previous Q (Desmond Llewelyn) gave an exploding pen to the previous Bond (Pierce Brosnan).
• The first time a character is audibly heard saying the "F word" in a Bond movie. In the 25th anniversary Bond film The Living Daylights, Bond clearly says "For f***'s sake!" but it cannot be heard due to plane engine noise. (A/N: guess I wasn’t very attentive; I missed it! XDA)
• The first time a character is audibly heard saying the "F word" in a Bond movie. In the 25th anniversary Bond film The Living Daylights, Bond clearly says "For f***'s sake!" but it cannot be heard due to plane engine noise.
• James Bond actor Daniel Craig told 'Rolling Stone' magazine that he wanted 'Skyfall' to be his third and final Bond movie, saying, "I've been trying to get out of this from the very moment I got into it but they won't let me go". Craig has signed on for the next two James Bond films, both Bond 24 and Bond 25
• Javier Bardem apparently was once offered a role in an earlier James Bond film prior to 'Skyfall', perhaps even the role of James Bond himself (though this is unlikely). Bardem told CinemaBlend, "Years ago, I was [offered Bond]. I don't remember what movie it was for. But yeah, it just was not that time. I didn't feel that it was the time for me to do something like that. And also, I was doing something else, so I passed. This time, when I read it, I felt that it was very powerful material, and I wanted to join [a Bond movie]."

The production shoot for this film went for 127 days whilst the movie features 172 scenes.

• Actress Bérénice Marlohe has said that she has based her inspiration on her Sévérine character on "The Chimera" which is from the Greek Mythology. Also known as "The Chimaera" or "The Chimæra", Wikipedia defines The Chimera as a "she-goat... a monstrous fire-breathing female creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of three animals: a lion, a serpent and a goat. Usually depicted as a lion, with the head of a goat arising from its back, and a tail that ended in a snake's head, the Chimera was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of such monsters as Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra. The term chimera has also come to describe any mythical or fictional animal with parts taken from various animals." Marlohe has said "I wanted to have that dangerousness spreading through her, but at the same time I wanted to create a real human being with a range of emotions and the inner struggles we go through as human beings." Moreover, the name of the boat that Bond and Sévérine journey on in the film is called "The Chimera".

First James Bond film in 23 years where a "traditional" series M's office is seen, the last time was in Licence to Kill. It's also the first time in the series that the old "traditional" and new "modern" types of M offices have been seen in the same Bond movie. In fact, there are actually three M's offices in 'Skyfall', the old "traditional' type, the new "modern" MI6 type as seen in the series ever since GoldenEye and M's temporary office in the underground bunker.

• The type of lizards seen in the pit at the Golden Dragon floating casino are Komodo Dragons or Komodo Monitors, their species genus is "Varanus komodoensis", being part of the Varanidae monitor lizard species family. They are the both the largest species of reptillian dragons located in the Indonesian Islands and also the largest living species of lizard in the world, they can grow to a length of 10 ft (3 m) and weigh up to around 150 lb (70 kg). Track 13 of Thomas Newman's 'Skyfall' score soundtrack is called "Komodo Dragon". The name of the casino where the dragons are seen, "The Golden Dragon Casino", references the lizards which are housed in it.
• Second time in the official James Bond series that James Bond has broken into M's home as he did in Casino Royale. That time, M said, "Don't ever break into my apartment again" though she fails to reference this in 'Skyfall'.
• Daniel Craig was injured during the rehearsal period for this movie whereupon rescheduling took place requiring two weeks rest for his injuries. Craig was not injured during principal photography on 'Skyfall'. This is the second time in the franchise's history that a delay has been forced by an injury to the actor playing James Bond. The first was on Die Another Day where Pierce Brosnan blew his knee out during filming of the opening hovercraft sequence, shutting down production for around 1-2 weeks. (A/N: what does ‘blow your knee out’ mean?)
• The shoulder number on Silva's fake police uniform is 101, which is the non-emergency public contact telephone number for London's Metropolitan Police Force.
• The wounded agent that James Bond tries to save in the opening sequence is named Ronson. This is also the name of a popular brand of cigarette lighter used by Bond in Ian Fleming's novels.
• The movie does not feature any American actors or characters, which is unusual for a big budget English language film.
• The second time Bond cries openly. The first time was in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.(A/N; hey, only REAL men can cry, no? XD)
• The most successful ever James Bond movie at the international box-office in the official franchise's film history.
• For the first time in the famous gun-barrel sequence Bond is seen wearing a grey suit rather than a black one.
• There is an implication in this movie that Bond's ancestors were Recusant Catholics. When Kincade shows M the secret escape passage in the chapel at the Bond ancestral estate, he explains that it was originally a hiding place for priests, which strongly refers to the very long period in British history during which Catholicism was illegal, and the families who continued to practice Catholicism, shelter priests, and refuse the authority of the official church (Church of Scotland in this case) were referred to as "Recusants". One such prominent, real-life Recusant family from Dorset, the descendants of whom Ian Fleming had known as a schoolboy, were named "Bond." Their Latin family motto was "Non sufficit orbis," which translates to "Not even the world is enough" - or, more colloquially, "The World is Not Enough," a line from Ian Fleming's novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service and the title of 1999's Bond movie. One member of this family, John Bond, was reportedly a spy for Sir Francis Drake during Elizabethan times (despite his family's Catholicism).
• With a rating of PG-13 this is director Sam Mendes's first film not to be rated R.

According to Judi Dench, the secrecy surrounding the details of the film's plot was such, that advance copies of the script were individually stamped so they can be specifically traced to each official recipient in the event of negligent disclosure of plot details.

• Judi Dench's seventh and final time playing the M character. Dench has played the role of M for seventeen years between 1995 until 2012, her first being in GoldenEye. This record ties with Bernard Lee who played the M character for the same amount of time except Lee appeared in eleven Bond movies whilst Dench appeared in seven. Additionally this puts Dench at the same number of Bond films as Roger Moore, as well as Sean Connery (if one counts the unofficial Bond film Never Say Never Again). (A/N; more on that later …)
• When Ralph Fiennes confirmed that his character is a government agent, it led to rampant speculation that his character would be the new "M" in the series and that Dench's "M" would be depicted as retiring in 'Skyfall'. None of that was ever confirmed, but Fiennes' confirmation of his role's nature put an end to speculation that he would be playing Bond's old nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. In the end, the speculation proved true, as Fiennes' character Gareth Mallory, a former lieutenant colonel in the British Army and the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, becomes M at the end of the film. Fiennes' M is the first time a male has played the part since Robert Brown in Licence to Kill, a gap of around twenty-three years. (A/N; more on that later, too!)

In October 2012 controversy broke out in the media and the web about the film's homo-erotic overtones from villain character Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) directed towards James Bond (Daniel Craig), Bond traditionally being a devout heterosexual ladies' man. The furor suggests that Silva may be the first ever male Bond Girl and that James Bond may actually be bisexual. However, it's not the first time that a male Bond villain has been suggested to be gay as the Mr Wint and Mr Kidd characters in Diamonds Are Forever were camp henchmen. 'Skyfall' is the second time in three Daniel Craig films that his James Bond has been tied to a chair and tormented by the main villain. In Casino Royale, Bond had his testicles beaten by Le Chiffre with a knotted rope. In 'Skyfall', Bond's chest is caressed by Raoul Silva, then both his legs are then groped with two hands by Silva. There is an out-of-shot inference that Bond's testicles were fondled between shots, making the scene controversial in a similar way to the scene in Casino Royale.

• The film's villain Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) is an ex-MI6 agent. It's not the first time that a rogue ex-agent has been the main villain in a Bond movie. Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean in GoldenEye was a former fellow agent of 007, his code number being 006. In Die Another Day, Bond's fellow British agent Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) turned out to be a double-agent.
• A sizable amount of the film's story takes place below London's street surface, an underground environment that is based on what was historically known as "The Churchill Bunker System". During World War II, many government offices were relocated underground for protection from German bombing during "The Blitz". In 'Skyfall', after the headquarters at MI6 are the subject of a terrorist attack, M makes the decision to relocate underground, just like Winston Churchill did during the Second World War.
• Ralph Fiennes is the fourth actor to play the M character in the official series. Fiennes' character Gareth Mallory becomes M at the end of the film. Bernard Lee was the first actor to play M between 1962 and 1979 through the Connery, Lazenby and some Moore films. Robert Brown then played M for four films for the rest of Moore's films and the two-film Dalton era. Judi Dench played M between 1995 and 2012 with her last appearance being in 'Skyfall'. Fiennes' M is the sixth actor to play the character if one counts the unofficial Bond films where John Huston and Edward Fox played M in Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again respectively. (like I said before, more on him later …)
• First Daniel Craig James Bond movie where Bond kills the lead villain. The main villains in both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were killed by their own people.
• Villains in the Bond movie series have often had some physiological dysfunction or trait that makes them distinguishable. For this movie, the Raoul Silva villain played by Javier Bardem has a false jaw. This was caused by his attempted suicide when a hydrogen cyanide capsule implant in one his back left molar was broken open and left his mandible lower jawbone (aka the inferior maxillary jaw bone) physically scarred. Interestingly, Jaws from Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me, another villain with a false jaw, is actually Bardem's favorite Bond villain.
• First ever James Bond movie where the series traditional Bond car, an Aston Martin DB5, is blown-up.
• This marks the third consecutive James Bond movie which ends with James Bond alone, where most other films in the series he is seen with one of the leading Bond Girls.

Hey, sorry, just realised that I’ve waffled on for like about twelve pages just on the trivia alone! XD well, quotes next:

·       James Bond: There's some men coming to kill us. We've got to kill them first.

·       [Bond enters the interrogation room to take his psychological test]
Psychologist: I'm going to say a word, and I want you to say the first word that comes into your head. For example, if I say, 'day', you say...
James Bond: Wasted.
Psychologist: Agent.
James Bond: Provocateur.
Psychologist: Woman?
James Bond: Provocatrix.
Psychologist: M.
James Bond: Bitch.
[M sighs from the other side of the interrogation room]
Psychologist: Gun.
James Bond: Shot.
Psychologist: Murder.
James Bond: Occupation.
Psychologist: Country.
James Bond: England.
Psychologist: Skyfall.
[Bond suddenly pauses]
Psychologist: Skyfall.
[Continued pause]
James Bond: Done.
[Bond walks out]

·       [from trailer]
Q: The Walther PPK/S nine-millimeter short. It's been coded to your palmprint so only you can fire it. Less of a random killing machine, more of a personal statement. (A/N: hey, more on Q later, too…)

·       [from trailer]
Raoul Silva: She sent you after me, knowing you're not ready, knowing you would likely die. Mommy was very bad.

·       [from trailer]
James Bond: Everyone needs a hobby...
Raoul Silva: So what's yours?
James Bond: Resurrection.

·       [M arrives at her home and prepares a drink when she suddenly hears the sound of glass clanging from behind her. She sees a silhouette of Bond near the window]
M: Where the hell have you been?
James Bond: Enjoying death. 007 reporting for duty.

Sévérine: What do you know?
James Bond: Well, it takes a certain type of woman to wear a backless dress with a Beretta 70 strapped to her thigh.

·       Q: It always makes me feel a bit melancholy. Grand old war ship. being ignominiously haunted away to scrap... The inevitability of time, don't you think? What do you see?
James Bond: A bloody big ship. Excuse me.
Q: 007. I'm your new Quartermaster.
James Bond: You must be joking.
Q: Why, because I'm not wearing a lab coat?
James Bond: Because you still have spots.
Q: My complexion is hardly relevant.
James Bond: Your competence is.
Q: Age is no guarantee of efficiency.
James Bond: And youth is no guarantee of innovation.
Q: Well, I'll hazard I can do more damage on my laptop sitting in my pajamas before my first cup of Earl Grey than you can do in a year in the field.
James Bond: Oh, so why do you need me?
Q: Every now and then a trigger has to be pulled.
James Bond: Or not pulled. It's hard to know which in your pajamas. Q.
Q: 007.

·       Sévérine: How much do you know about fear?
James Bond: All there is.
Sévérine: Well, not like this... Not like him...

·       Q: What did you expect, an exploding pen?

·       M: [quoting Ulysses] Though much is taken, much abides, and though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are... One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

·       Gareth Mallory: Eleanor, be sensible. Retire with dignity...
M: Dignity! To Hell with dignity! I'll retire when my goddamn job is finally done.

M: Regret is not part of our profession.
Raoul Silva: You left me for five months in a room with no air, the property of the Chinese. Did I betray you? No. I stayed strong and protected you and kept you safe, while I had to suffer, and suffer, and suffer. Then, finally, when I understood you would not save me, I broke the cyanide tooth... but I lived. What it did to my insides I can't even explain, but I lived. Life clung to me like a disease. But I finally understood, that I had to live in order to see you one last time, to ask... why?
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·       [Bond and M drive off in the Aston Martin DB5]
M: Not very comfortable, is it?
James Bond: [Flips up the shift knob cap to reveal the ejector seat button underneath] You gonna complain all the way?
M: Go on! Eject me! See if I care!
[Bond reconsiders the thought and closes the shift knob while driving] (A/N: shame, I would’ve liked to see M’s reaction if bond really HAD ejected her! XD)

·       Raoul Silva: [caresses Bond] There's always a first time...
James Bond: [tied to a chair] What makes you think this is my first time?

·       James Bond: [speaking of M] She never tied me to a chair.
Raoul Silva: Her loss.

·       James Bond: [dodging an explosion] Was that for me?
Raoul Silva: [laughing] No, but that is.
[a subway train crashes after Bond]

·       Raoul Silva: Do you see what comes of all this running around, Mr. Bond? All this jumping and fighting, it's exhausting! Relax. You need to relax... Ah well, mother's calling. I will give her a good-bye kiss for you.

·       [Bond stares at the porcelain bulldog statue on M's desk]
James Bond: The whole office goes up in smoke and that bloody thing survives?
M: I've always valued your advice on interior decorations, 007.

·       Kincade: So who are we going up against?
James Bond: This isn't your fight.
Kincade: Try and stop me, you jumped-up little shit.

·       Husband at Tube Station: [after Bond has leapt onto a moving underground train] He's keen to get home.

·       James Bond: [as his boyhood home burns down] I always hated this place.

·       [as Bond is tied to a chair, an elevator lowers in front of him, and Silva appears and walks toward him]
Raoul Silva: Hello James, welcome. Do you like the island? My grandmother had an island when I was a boy. Nothing to boast of. You could walk along it in an hour. But for us it was paradise. One summer, we came for a visit and discovered the whole place had become infested with rats. They came on a fishing boat and gorged on the coconut. So how do you get rats off an island? My grandmother showed me. You put an oil drum in a pit and hinge open the lid. Then you coat the lid in the coconut. The rats come for the coconut and plink, plink, plink, plink, plink, plink, plink; they fall into the trap. Then what do you do? Throw it in the ocean? Burn it? No. You just leave it. And then one by one...
[mimics rat munching sound]
Raoul Silva: They start eating each other until there are only two left. The two survivors. Then what do you do? Kill them? No. You release them into the trees. But they will not eat coconut anymore. Now they will only eat rat. You have changed their nature. The two survivors, this is what she made us.

·       [Bond runs and jumps on the end of the train, hanging on the door as the female conductor looks at him in confusion]
James Bond: Open the door, please!
[Conductor still stares at him]
James Bond: Open the door!
[Conductor finally opens the door before Bond walks in]
James Bond: Health and Safety. Carry on.

·       James Bond: [to Sévérine when they are in the shower together] I like you better without your Beretta.
Sévérine: I feel naked without it.

·       James Bond: [after a scene with heavy shooting] Are you hurt?
M: Only my pride is hurt.

·       Q: There are only about six people in the world who could set up fail-safes like this.
James Bond: Can you get past them?
Q: I invented them.

·       James Bond: [to M] So this is it, then. We're both played out.

·       Eve: [watches Bond shave] A straight razor. How modern.
James Bond: Is there anything wrong with sticking to the old ways?
Eve: Sometimes, the old ways are best. (A/N: I’m female; know nothing about razors. Are they usually curved? XD)

Gareth Mallory: There's a hearing at ten tomorrow. You're expected to attend.
M: Attend in stocks? Who's old-fashioned now?
Gareth Mallory: Oh, please! This is a democracy, we're responsible to the people we're supposed to defend! We can't walk in the shadows anymore, there are no more shadows!
M: Don't you get it? He knows us! He's one of us! He comes from the same place as Bond, a place you say doesn't exist: the shadows!

• [Bond is gifted the porcelain bulldog]
  Eve: I think she was encouraging you to take a desk job.
  James Bond: More like the opposite. (A/N: okay, idiot me confesses; why did bond get that gift? Me no understand. XD)

Raoul Silva: [Silva goes to the desk, accessing Bond's debriefing results from his computer] Medical evaluation: fail. Physical evaluation: fail. Psychological evaluation, alcohol and substance addiction indicated. Ooh! Pathological rejection of authority based on unresolved childhood trauma.
[glances to Bond then back to the computer]
Raoul Silva: Subject is not approved for field duty and immediate suspension for service advised.
[rises from the desk, going to Bond]
Raoul Silva: What is this if not betrayal? She sent you off to me, knowing you're not ready, knowing you're likely die. Mommy was very bad.

And finally, my favourite: goofs!

• The dress worn by Bérénice Marlohe is described (and referred to by Bond) as backless. There is clearly sheer fabric encrusted with crystals - hardly backless.
• When Bond is about to fight Patrice in Shanghai, the hammer of his gun changes its position (cocked and un-cocked) multiple times.
• n the Shanghai Tower scene, the terrorist/sniper is seen operating a manual, bolt action rifle. Right after during the fight with James Bond, the gun is shot several times just as if it was a semi-automatic weapon.
• When M is first debriefed by Gareth Mallory, she enters carrying a handbag, which she places on the floor beside her. The meeting ends abruptly and she leaves, and is not carrying her handbag, but she is not seen picking it up.
• When Bond and Sévérine are walking in the island, her shoes change color between shots.
• Before Patrice enters the elevator in Shanghai, the button for his floor is already lit. After he motions to press the floor button, it is no longer lit. Later, as the elevator is moving up, the button is lit again.
• When Bond is in M's flat, he puts down a bottle of Macallan whisky. When he is seen again, the bottle has been turned round, displaying the front label. In the next shot, the bottle is back to as it was.
• When M is testifying to the ministers at parliamentary hearing, near the beginning of the scene, her wrist watch shows the time at 3:00. After about 5-10 minutes of dialogue, Silva approaching and Bond running down Whitehall, when they show M again reading poetry, her wrist watch shows the time at 3:55.
• The wristwatches of the participants in the Ministerial Hearing are set to a variety of different times - even among participants sitting at the same table.
• In the gallery Bond and Q sit on separate benches when seen from behind, but in the frontal shot they sit on the same.
• When M first meets Silva her necklace is off center, but in the following shots it's straight.
•  In the intro scene when James Bond's train car is uncoupled, the car's brake pipe is disconnected as well. Train brakes work on positive pressure, so if the brake pipe were disconnected, the uncoupled cars would immediately stop within a short distance, and the rest of the train would shortly follow. In the movie, the uncoupled cars continue closely following the train as if nothing had happened.
• Silva says that after he bit the capsule with hydrogen cyanide it "burnt his insides" but he "didn't die" because "life clang to him", and then shows the "effects of hydrogen cyanide". All of those statements are goofs. It's impossible for life to cling to anyone who ingests this chemical and he or she invariably dies within 1 to 10 minutes. The chemical doesn't "burn the insides"; it causes oxygen deprivation and death. It was used in Nazi Germany under the infamous name Zyklon B to kill people in extermination camps. It also doesn't cause any of the deformities shown by Silva.
• After the terrorist attack on MI6, TV reporter explains that 6 people died and others were injured in the hospital. In the next scene, when M stands next to the coffins, we can count 8 coffins that were the victims of the attack. However, the additional coffins could be explained that two of the injured had subsequently died of their injuries.
• When Bond and M are in Scotland during the shootout, M shoots and misses a henchman with Bond's Walther pk before Bond kills him. This would not work as Bond's gun is programmed to only let him fire it.
• When the tube train falls through the hole into the area below, all its lights are still working. Once each carriage leaves the rails, which carry the electric current, these would all have gone out and the train would have been in darkness.
• In the closing scene on the rooftop of MI6, Big Ben's clock shows it is a few minutes before 6, and it is daytime. As it is presumably winter (given the frozen lake in Scotland a few scenes earlier, which was presumably no more than a few weeks earlier), if it were a few minutes before 6 in London (which is fairly far north, at 51 degrees latitude), it would be dark (the sun would not yet be up at 6 a.m., and it would have already set at 6 p.m.).
• In the end when Bond and Eve stand on the roof Big Ben's clock shows a few minutes to six and Eve says: "Her will was read today", so it's presumably afternoon. But when they go inside Tanner greets Bond by saying: "Good morning".

Righteo, one final warning for those who haven’t seen skyfall and don’t want to find out what happens: SHOO, HERE BE SPOILERS!

So, everyone still here knows what happens, right?

*BURSTS INTO TEARS AND WAILS* M DIES!!! >< she was M for all Daniel Craig’s Bond movies and I remember for some (if not all) of Pierce Brosnan’s movies!!! And even worse, the new m is VOLDEMORT!!! Okay, so not Voldemort, but the actor who plays Voldemort, what’s his name … Ralph Fiennes. Lol, when James Bond returns in the next Bond instalment, this new M/Voldemort will probably try for world domination, muhahahaha~ XD

Anyways, I’ve mentioned before that mother is hopelessly sentimental, right? Usually, if anything even remotely emotional happens during a movie, she’s there blubbering her eyes out. However, for this movie, when M dies, I looked at her, scandalised. “Mother, why aren’t you crying?!” I hissed. “I wanna cry!!!” XD At first, I was also confused, coz from what I could see in the movie, when M was escaping with that butler dude from James Bond’s childhood, her hand was bleeding. Ok, I’m sure that would’ve hurt like hell, but you’re not gonna DIE from a gunshot wound to the hand, are you?? Mother explained to me that poor M had actually been shot somewhere more fatal, but she’d been using her hand to try stop the blood flow, so as not to freak out the dude that she was running away with. Ah, that made more sense. ^^

I’m not sure how much longer Daniel Craig will continue being James Bond, considering he supposedly failed all those tests that let him return to field work … lol, I remember when he first took over from Pierce Brosnan and there was all this talk about him being the ‘blond bond’ and all … is it perhaps time for a new bond?

Anyways, I’ve waffled on about this movie long enough … final word: if you haven’t seen it yet, please do!

Next post here … well, I’m attending an Australia day party tomorrow! Bbl with that soon!

Until then,

Cheers,

Em. ^^

P.S. dug through my old blog, found out my review of Daniel Craig’s first 007 movie. Check it out here: http://victishonor.livejournal.com/22744.html