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| We visit the No Time To Die James Bond Villa Location in Port Antonio, Jamaica |
The first law for a secret agent is to get his geography right...
– Ian Fleming - The Man with the Golden Gun, 1965
This week marks the 60th anniversary of the start of Principal shooting on Dr No at Palisades Airport in Kingston, Jamaica, on 16 January 1962.
After my plans for an epic 2020 European related Bond adventure were delayed, I was stoked that some of my late 2021 plans were able to go ahead and I shot into Jamaica, the spiritual home of James Bond and more pointedly the home-away-from-home for Bond creator Ian Fleming. Jamaica is after all where Fleming wrote all of his published James Bond thrillers as well as presumably his originally unpublished Bond TV series treatments; some of which were reworked into his For Your Eyes Only collection of short stories, another 2 have subsequently made their way into Anthony Horowitz's Bond novels and apparently another 3 exist.
Jamaica is referenced across Fleming’s Bond book series and five Bond stories had events taking place in Jamaica. The film versions of Dr No (1962) and Live and Let Die (1973) featured Bond in Jamaica as well as of course most recently Cary Fukunaga’s No Time To Die (2021).
He had arrived at Royale-les-Eaux in time for luncheon two days before. There had been no attempt to contact him and there had been no flicker of curiosity when he had signed the register 'James Bond, Port Maria, Jamaica'.
M had expressed no interest in his cover.
'Once you start to make a set at Le Chiffre at the tables, you'll have had it,' he said. 'But wear a cover that will stick with the general public.'
Bond knew Jamaica well, so he asked to be controlled from there and to pass as a Jamaican plantocrat whose father had made his pile in tobacco and sugar and whose son chose to play it away on the stock markets and in casinos.
– Ian Fleming Casino Royale, 1953
With this preamble and some time to kill, I managed to visit some Jamaican locations with connections to Ian Fleming and Bond. These places included the “secret” location of James Bond's retirement home as featured in No Time To Die also sometimes referred to as – the James Bond Villa.
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| BOND 23 SKYFALL Filming on Hankley Common, Surrey |
By now everyone know that Skyfall has constructed a large building on MOD land on Hankley Common near Elstead in Surrey. The structure is rumoured to be a Monastery and that today helicopters were seen buzzing the area.
Well fortunately The Establishing Shot’s Surrey Field Agent Tim Page was quick on his feet and was able to do a thorough reconnaissance of the Skyfall location. Tim also got some cracking pictures and video (further below) of the on set action. Tim's photos show a Skyfall helicopter possibly commandeered by Captain Marc Wolff filming a military helicopter with some strange emblems above the Manor House/Monastery.
This afternoon they were rehearsing a helicopter sequence. There was a large military chopper which circled the manor house with a second helicopter with a camera on the front practising some shots, there was also some gunfire.
#Update - Our analysis of the Skyfall teaser trailer can be found here: http://www.theestablishingshot.com/2012/05/establishing-shot-skyfall-teaser.html
The place was quite busy with lots of security and Skyfall crew. I managed to chat with one of the locals who told me in confidence when filming will take place. There was also talk of the Aston Martin DB5 arriving at some point, to coincide with Bond arriving at the Manor. Ben Collins aka The Stig may be driving.
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There are now 3 sets - the Manor house which looks like its almost finished, a chapel which was only a shell last weekend, and a stone entrance gateway to the Manor.
