In a chilly, cavernous hangar outside London, an ice palace is taking shape to host a centrepiece stunt of the 20th, as yet unnamed, James Bond epic.
Builders hammer, saw and nail away, columns of fake ice wait to be hoisted into position and planks form the floor of a balcony encircling the colonnaded arena.
In the movie, due for release in late November, the debonair British secret agent gets drawn into a spectacular car chase inside the palace as 300 guests mingle at a party.
The latest adventure will have all the traditional elements of the 19 previous Bond movies in the popular series which began 40 years ago with Dr No: fast cars, beautiful women, reality-defying stunts and lots of pyrotechnics.
So the mood was light, the sense of anticipation palpable, as Bond's current incarnation, Pierce Brosnan, breezed onto stage to launch full shooting.
"Thank you ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Here we go again," he said, promising "wall-to-wall action" for his fourth outing as agent 007.
"This one feels good.
The movie's makers have block-booked space at Pinewood studios, set in the English countryside about 30 minutes' drive from London, for 24 weeks until mid-June.
Of course they could have sent everybody off to Iceland for the ice palace scenes, "but it was minus 15 and we couldn't really have 250 people there for six weeks," a spokeswoman said.
Bond must unmask a traitor to prevent a war of disastrous consequences, and will use all the charm and skills which have become loved by fans in the four decades since the famous spy first took to the big screen.
No one is revealing too much about the gadgets likely to feature on screen. "That would spoil the surprise," says director Lee Tamahori.
But producers promise that fans will not be disappointed when gadget-man Q, played by ex-Monty Python star John Cleese, takes our hero through his hi-tech aids.
Early drawings from the art department give a hint of what to expect.
There's a Robocop-style armoured suit, complete with a firepower brassard and removable wrist control panel.
Another design is for an ice yacht, inspired by real-life versions used in Michigan, in the United States, to skim across a frozen landscape.
There are various designs for night-vision goggles; a Polaris satellite; a hovercraft; and, of course, cars.
In fact, in a nearby workshop, mechanics are working on four Aston Martins and four Jaguars. After three movies where Bond controversially drove a German BMW, he is back behind the wheel of a luxury British car.
Sean Connory was the first Bond to drive an Aston Martin some 38 years ago in the film Goldfinger.
On that occasion, the DB5 was fitted with extras such as ejector seats and rocket launchers.
Makers of the new movie have refused to reveal what gadgets will feature in the new V12 Vanquish.
Suffice to say, that with all the chases Bond gets involved in, eight cars - four Aston Martins and four Jags - will have been written off by the time shooting ends.
Such is the secrecy over the exact design of the cars that they cannot be photographed Gadgets have always played a big role in previous Bond films.
The Rolex watch in Live and Let Die was fitted with an electro-magnet to deflect bullets and a rotating face that could slice through rope. Octopussy had a wrist dart-gun which fired armour-piercing cyanide darts, while a keyring in The Living Daylights sprayed stun gas when Bond whistled the first bar of Rule Britannia.
I just can say: WOW. It's getting more excited from day to day...!
Regards,
