343 replies to this topic

[MkB]

My pleasure Kamran Shah! Of course you're welcome to post your contribution if you have any information or idea about the scene. Vauxhall and Shrublands have already shared their interesting views of the opening sequence(s) in Northern Italy, by the way.

Besides, maybe some bits of information contained in this thread could update an article about the Italian sequence(s) on the main site? I'm not sure how it works, in fact, maybe a mod could tell us?

[MkB]

The Corriere di Siena dated 02.29.2008 gives very thorough details about the chase in Siena. Original article (with photos) available here, p. 5 & 6 of the PDF.

They say that, as a 2nd unit is preparing the set in Siena (involving a bus), 4 stuntmen are currently rehearsing the stunts in London, and should arrive in Siena shortly after Easter Day (filming officially planned on March 14th and 15th). Then, Craig should be there in April.
The "foot" chase in Siena should begin at the Saint George church or "chiesa di San Giorgio" (in my opinion, a nice wink at Fleming's obsession with St George in the Bond novels! ), via Pantaneto 109. Bond will come out of the church, and jump on a bus driving at breakness speed against the traffic (and via Pantaneto is not a very large street!), in direction of the Ponte di Roma arch. There, a stuntman will jump from the second floor of a palace and land on the roof of the bus, that has been specially equipped with a modified body and tail pipe (OK for the body, but why a modified tail pipe???).

EDIT: sorry, I forgot the link to the original paper. here it is: http://www.mediateca...ebbraio2008.pdf

[Vauxhall]

Cool! Thanks MkB.

Loving the sound of this chase so far. My guess is that the underground safehouse opens out into the church and that's why Bond starts the pursuit from there. I wonder why the bus is driving against the traffic before Bond gets on it though.

A photo of the Chiesa di San Giorgio can be found here.

[MkB]

I wonder why the bus is driving against the traffic before Bond gets on it though.

Very good question, indeed. Bond could have taken over the bus for a reason or another and driven it against the traffic, but I don't think there's enough room in via Pantaneto for a bus to make a U turn.
Or maybe, the journalist states that in the filmed scenes the bus will be driving against the real-life traffic, i.e. that for filming purpose the circulation has been inverted in this street (because they wanted the other guy to jump from a palace at the other end of the street)?
Or any other good reason the screenwriters could have came up with

[MkB]

Oh, I just realised one thing: this Saint George church is on the territory of the Contrada del Leocorno (= unicorn), it's even a landmark of this contrada.
And which contrada won the last palio horse race, the one that has been filmed for Bond 22? The Contrada del Leocorno! There might well be a link there.
More about this contrada here.

Note: this could be a total coincidence, but there are not less than 17 contrade in Siena...

[Vauxhall]

I expect that is probably a coincidence, but an interesting bit of trivia nonetheless.

[MkB]

In the local newspaper La Nazione - Viareggio date March 1st 2008, a news about the car chase in the Apuan Alps (nothing really new, but some details about the dates of filming).
The production will be filming around the Passo del Vestito (city of Stazzena) from April 29th to May 1st. All roads and even mountain paths will be closed these days, 5 km around this point. Stuntmen and cars will be there, but not Craig or other actors.

Original article available here (p. 4 of the PDF)

[Shrublands]

...and should arrive in Siena shortly after Easter Day (filming officially planned on March 14th and 15th)...

Does that add up? Easter Day is on March the 23rd.

[MkB]

You're true, there's a problem (I didn't know which date Easter Day was this year). But this is what the article states. However, the two dates are given in different parts of the article. The scenes involving the bus are clearly given as being filmed on March 14th and 15th, then, elsewhere there's something about the 4 stuntmen rehearsing in London and who are expected in Siena "in the days followind Easter Day" to start rehearsing on the field, "on the rooftops of Siena", before 007 himself arrives middle of April.
So I think there are two options:
- either the journalist made a mistake about one of the two dates
- or there are two teams of stuntmen, one for the bus scene, fiming mid-March, another for the scene on the rooftops, filming in the end of March and / or in April.

[Skudor]

The Corriere di Siena dated 02.29.2008 gives very thorough details about the chase in Siena. Original article (with photos) available here, p. 5 & 6 of the PDF.

They say that, as a 2nd unit is preparing the set in Siena (involving a bus), 4 stuntmen are currently rehearsing the stunts in London, and should arrive in Siena shortly after Easter Day (filming officially planned on March 14th and 15th). Then, Craig should be there in April.
The "foot" chase in Siena should begin at the Saint George church or "chiesa di San Giorgio" (in my opinion, a nice wink at Fleming's obsession with St George in the Bond novels! ), via Pantaneto 109. Bond will come out of the church, and jump on a bus driving at breakness speed against the traffic (and via Pantaneto is not a very large street!), in direction of the Ponte di Roma arch. There, a stuntman will jump from the second floor of a palace and land on the roof of the bus, that has been specially equipped with a modified body and tail pipe (OK for the body, but why a modified tail pipe???).

Sounds like Quantum of Solace is turning out to be a real action fest! This jumping on buses sounds a little like jumping onto the tanker in Casino Royale - but that's probably just because of my lack of imagination!

[sharpshooter]

Action fest indeed!

I'm liking the sound of all of it.

[Skudor]

Action fest indeed!

I'm liking the sound of all of it.

I know there is always an element of wanting Bond films to be more gritty and thriller like - and that's great. But frankly I don't mind it sometimes being far more action oriented, as long as the action is good. No - excellent! I'm talking about the skiing in [film=99]On Her Majesty

[Shrublands]

You're true, there's a problem (I didn't know which date Easter Day was this year). But this is what the article states. However, the two dates are given in different parts of the article. The scenes involving the bus are clearly given as being filmed on March 14th and 15th, then, elsewhere there's something about the 4 stuntmen rehearsing in London and who are expected in Siena "in the days followind Easter Day" to start rehearsing on the field, "on the rooftops of Siena", before 007 himself arrives middle of April.
So I think there are two options:
- either the journalist made a mistake about one of the two dates
- or there are two teams of stuntmen, one for the bus scene, fiming mid-March, another for the scene on the rooftops, filming in the end of March and / or in April.

I see, I think your second option is the most likely.

[sharpshooter]

I was thinking of the action in this film. I think that we will get a FRWL style film on steroids. The nature of the film will be spy oriented, but Bond will have a lot more to do to stay alive.

[MkB]

I think that we will get a FRWL style film on steroids.

LOL, I like the idea and the way you express it, Sharpshooter!

[MkB]

Zencat just posted a Quick News on CBn that confirms what we were thinking about the very long PTS:
http://commanderbond...n...&item=45678

Here is an exerpt of the article:

New James Bond film opening sequence is longest ever
The opening sequence of the new Bond movie will be the longest yet, stretching to 30 minutes before the credits appear.
Daniel Craig has spent three months filming a chase scene in Panama for Quantum Of Solace.
A Bond insider said: "It will be full-on action from the first second. Craig leaps from a Harrier jump jet into a speedboat and ends up in his Aston Martin. There is also a fight between helicopters.

Even if the journalist seems to infer that the chase scene has been filmed in Panama, I'm sure the PTS will be the Italian sequence from the lake with Mr White to Siena.
If so, this means the speedboat chase will really occur in Italy (which fits with what Cerasuolo declared)! The only thing is that I can't see how the Harrier fits in what we already know about the Italian chase scenes?

[Vauxhall]

Yeah, I also saw this article, but I'm taking this with a ridiculously large pinch of salt. It contradicts so much that we already know, plus it's from The Sunday Mirror.

I'm almost positive that the speedboat chase filmed in Colon (and not for "three months" as stated in the article) is intended to be set in Haiti. There is absolutely no way that they could film on the beaches of Panama and make it look like the lakes of northern Italy.

I also think that the Harrier and helicopter sequences fit into the movie at a later stage. Unless Bond is being chased from the air by the Italian police.

My reaction remains that the PTS will be Bond being chased in his Aston Martin away from the lakeside home of Mr White before ending in Siena. I really hope that this claim about a 30-minute sequence isn't true. That would be overkill. The action needs to be evenly spread.

[MkB]

Vauxhall, you're certainly true about the large pinch of salt

However, and even if the journalist is obviously not an expert (well, The Sunday Mirror... ), there might well be a speedboat chase filmed on the Lago di Garda (according to what G. Cerasuolo, the local Italian poducer, declared : http://debrief.comma...p...st&p=837113 ). If the production really plans to be at work there for 2 months, I'm sure there'll be some breathtaking action to initiate the chase!
And there were repeated mentions of helicopter involved in Carrara (cf. supra), which could fit with the police chasing Bond by car too.

And I concur about a 30 minute PTS being too long: if they do so, the title sequence won't be a title sequence, it'll be an interlude!

[Col. Sun]

Zencat just posted a Quick News on CBn that confirms what we were thinking about the very long PTS:
http://commanderbond...n...&item=45678

Here is an exerpt of the article:

New James Bond film opening sequence is longest ever
The opening sequence of the new Bond movie will be the longest yet, stretching to 30 minutes before the credits appear.
Daniel Craig has spent three months filming a chase scene in Panama for Quantum Of Solace.
A Bond insider said: "It will be full-on action from the first second. Craig leaps from a Harrier jump jet into a speedboat and ends up in his Aston Martin. There is also a fight between helicopters.

Even if the journalist seems to infer that the chase scene has been filmed in Panama, I'm sure the PTS will be the Italian sequence from the lake with Mr White to Siena.
If so, this means the speedboat chase will really occur in Italy (which fits with what Cerasuolo declared)! The only thing is that I can't see how the Harrier fits in what we already know about the Italian chase scenes?

I know crew members working on QOS and the speed boat action has been filming in Panama for the past couple of weeks with the stunt team. The Pre-title seq. is an edge of the seat car chase in Italy.

[Shrublands]

Zencat just posted a Quick News on CBn that confirms...

The article in The Mirror confirms nothing other than the fact that The Mirror is the world

[MkB]

[quote name='Shrublands' post='848587' date='9 March 2008 - 15:50'][quote name='MkB' post='848576' date='9 March 2008 - 14:26']Zencat just posted a Quick News on CBn that confirms...[/quote]

The article in The Mirror confirms nothing other than the fact that The Mirror is the world

[tdalton]

And I concur about a 30 minute PTS being too long: if they do so, the title sequence won't be a title sequence, it'll be an interlude!

If the pre-titles end up being a half hour long, then I suspect that we won't be seeing a title sequence at all. There would be absolutely no reason to have one at that point, IMO.

I think that a 30 minute PTS is, by a rather wide margin, one of the worst ideas I've ever heard of regarding a Bond film. TWINE's sequence was way too long, and that one only clocked in somewhere around 14 minutes if I'm not mistaken.

What was wrong with the pre-titles for CASINO ROYALE? That was the best sequence of the entire series, and it was around 3 minutes or so.

[Mr. Blofeld]

I hope to God that EON knows what they're doing...

[tdalton]

I hope to God that EON knows what they're doing...

It almost seems that, at least to me, that now CASINO ROYALE may just have been a film that was made in order to get the fanbase back on board with the franchise after DAD. Now that they have us back, it's back to business as usual.

[Mr. Blofeld]

I hope to God that EON knows what they're doing...

It almost seems that, at least to me, that now CASINO ROYALE may just have been a film that was made in order to get the fanbase back on board with the franchise after DAD. Now that they have us back, it's back to business as usual.

Like Octopussy after FYEO...

[zencat]

[quote name='Shrublands' post='848587' date='9 March 2008 - 06:50'][quote name='MkB' post='848576' date='9 March 2008 - 14:26']Zencat just posted a Quick News on CBn that confirms...[/quote]

The article in The Mirror confirms nothing other than the fact that The Mirror is the world

[stromberg]

A 30 minute PTS? Forster said that he's aiming at a total running time of exactly 2 hours. That would make the PTS a quarter of the entire film. I don't believe this for a second. Sounds like humbug, and makes the rest of the story sound like humbug, too.

[doubler83]

It almost seems that, at least to me, that now CASINO ROYALE may just have been a film that was made in order to get the fanbase back on board with the franchise after DAD. Now that they have us back, it's back to business as usual.

I said something similar about a week/week-and-a-half ago, and was pretty much told that I was being paranoid about the whole thing.

Time will tell.

[stamper]

I'm worried by the signals. We'll see when the film comes out, but so far, it looks like another WINE DUD, only with Craig in it instead of Brosnan. So far, not one thing they have communicated about is in any way remotely Flemingian. There's nothing. Nada. The big nothingness, filled with ACTION THIS, ACTION THAT, TWICE THE ACTION, MORE ACTION THAN LAST TIME, EVEN MORE ACTION AND, OH, ACTION.

[Red Barchetta]

I'm looking forward to Craig getting behind the wheel in his first real car chase as Bond.

I second that!

And it sounds like there will be beautiful location shots of it too!