58 replies to this topic

[Shrublands]

The inside doesn’t look at all like a Ken Adam set, it looks like a shopping centre or a corporate hotel, cheesy.

The interior is not being used in QoS anyway.

[Double-0-7]

Here you can see the Paranel dirt airstrip on a Google map, it runs parallel to the north-south road. The paved road running diagonally to the left leads into the mountains to the residencia village and observatory.

Airstrip runway has "01" and "19" numbers on the ends to indicate 10 degrees and 190 degrees map direction angles to pilots.

http://maps.google.c...4...mp;t=h&z=17

The observatory and residencia village look pretty cool from a satellite.

I'm glad Al Gore and I invented the internet and google maps!

[Captain Tightpants]

I'm just wondering that that thing far to the north is. Follow the road bast the Residencia and some time after the VLT array it turns to a dirt track that winds past a second telescope and continues off. It looks like a UFO crash-landing site that hasn't been covere up too well, but I'm told it a data collection station so that the ESO can pick the ideal location for its next big project. I seriously doubt it will feature in QUANTUM OF SOLACE, but it's still interesting.

[Jack Spang]

I'm sure the residents, when/if they see the film, will find it strange and amusing seeing their housing on the silver screen, atleast from the outside. While the place looks interesting from the inside, I'm sure the art department will make it look even more captivating.

Edited by Jack Spang, 29 March 2008 - 03:14 PM.

[frankwalker]

There is some Bond news on page 31 of the newspaper dated today (March 29) - in Spanish if anyone can translate, see my previous post about their viewer popup. http://www.mercurioantofagasta.cl/

Article starts with something about nationalistic concerns about the movie production, then on to some trivia about food etc, possibly some interesting information about the shoot at the end, various key personnel mentioned.

In a regular Adobe document you can copy the text to clipboard and then use a translator to figure out what they are talking about, but I can't find a way to do the copy to clipboard with their viewer.

From the newspaper it looks like Antofagasta is quite a modern and active city. Crew have a rare opportunity to check out that telescope in their off-time, place is apparently off-limits to tourists except on one day per month.

[Captain Tightpants]

There is some Bond news on page 31 of the newspaper dated today (March 29) - in Spanish if anyone can translate, see my previous post about their viewer popup. http://www.mercurioantofagasta.cl/

Article starts with something about nationalistic concerns about the movie production, then on to some trivia about food etc, possibly some interesting information about the shoot at the end, various key personnel mentioned.

In a regular Adobe document you can copy the text to clipboard and then use a translator to figure out what they are talking about, but I can't find a way to do the copy to clipboard with their viewer.

From the newspaper it looks like Antofagasta is quite a modern and active city. Crew have a rare opportunity to check out that telescope in their off-time, place is apparently off-limits to tourists except on one day per month.

The "nationalistic concerns" stem from the notion that Chile and Bolivia aren't exactly bosom buddies; the Bolivians are still smarting over losing a section of land to Chile - the same section QUANTUM OF SOLACE is currently filming in - over a hundred years ago. They're not the best of friends, but parts of Chile are being used to stand in for Bolivia in the film, which a lot of Chileans don't seem to like. They seem to be of the idea that Bond should either visit Chile or visit Bolivia, and not have one stand in for the other. But I don't think anyone told the Chileans that Bolivia is an integral part of the film's plot, and if they want to issue stupid "one or the other" ultimatums to the film crew, Craig, Foster and everyone involved will go to Bolivia.

[frankwalker]

There seemed to be something also in the Mercurio Bond article about Argentina in connection with nationalistic concerns, don't recall which day last week.

Today's (March 30) online El Mercurio has a short article on Bond on page 51. Not much there but there was mention of a possible additional actress Oona Chaplin. And a pic of 007 and M with the ocean in the background.

I think I saw in a Chile news article somewhere that shooting was now finished at the Paranel observatory residencia, so presumably they would now be filming down below at the airstrip, and near the coastal villages they named.

They said in the paper that "Bond Chica" Olga Kurylenko on Friday toured the observatory. I bet the astronomers didn't get much work done that day.

The observatory apparently will be updating their site with some information about the Bond shoot. Nothing much there yet, but the first page is cute!
http://www.eso.org/p.../outreach/bond/

[Captain Tightpants]

Whatever hapened to the press conference they called late last week? I know Craig and Foster were in attendance, so it was hardly a minor thing, but we haven't heard "boo" from any reporters on th subjct ...

[Donovan Mayne-Nicholls]

There is some Bond news on page 31 of the newspaper dated today (March 29) - in Spanish if anyone can translate, see my previous post about their viewer popup. http://www.mercurioantofagasta.cl/

Article starts with something about nationalistic concerns about the movie production, then on to some trivia about food etc, possibly some interesting information about the shoot at the end, various key personnel mentioned.

In a regular Adobe document you can copy the text to clipboard and then use a translator to figure out what they are talking about, but I can't find a way to do the copy to clipboard with their viewer.

From the newspaper it looks like Antofagasta is quite a modern and active city. Crew have a rare opportunity to check out that telescope in their off-time, place is apparently off-limits to tourists except on one day per month.

The "nationalistic concerns" stem from the notion that Chile and Bolivia aren't exactly bosom buddies; the Bolivians are still smarting over losing a section of land to Chile - the same section QUANTUM OF SOLACE is currently filming in - over a hundred years ago. They're not the best of friends, but parts of Chile are being used to stand in for Bolivia in the film, which a lot of Chileans don't seem to like. They seem to be of the idea that Bond should either visit Chile or visit Bolivia, and not have one stand in for the other. But I don't think anyone told the Chileans that Bolivia is an integral part of the film's plot, and if they want to issue stupid "one or the other" ultimatums to the film crew, Craig, Foster and everyone involved will go to Bolivia.

It's a bit more complicated than that. Latin Americans in general (especially us Chileans) have very fragile cultural identity and are always scrutinizing foreigners to confirm that everybody underestimates us. Everything becomes an insult to our national pride, etc, so QoS being set in Bolivia but shot in Chile is unacceptable as it is, of course, the first time in film history a location has doubled for a country that cannot be used. Between this and obsessing about football championships we can safely avoid issues such as poverty, illiteracy, dictatorship, etc.
The firts QoS press release failed to mention two things: the name of the Latin American country Bond travels to and the Chilean shoot, even though the latter had been arranged months before. US-financed films usually do not mention Latin American countries in an unflattering fiction. Unlike LTK, where a fictional Latin American country was created (a rather tacky device, if you ask me, and one that makes itdifficult for me to get into a movie: I'm told from day one what I'm watching could never be real), QoS includes a corrupt military officer (how shocking, everybody should know by now military are uncorruptable patriots) involved in some sort of coup. Eon knew it couldn't shoot in Bolivia just like DAD couldn't have been shot in Korea, north or otherwise. They also knew the less specific their press release, the later Bolivians and Chileans would start bitching about the shoot. So far, the press here have stressed Craig's abnormal obsession with privacy (he's a thing against Chile, you know) and blown an incident where he took a towel from a gym completely out of proportion.
The funny thing is, northern Chileans do look like Bolivians and are indeed racially from the same origin. However, Chileans perceive ourselves to be "whiter" than other Latin Americans and hence the ultimate insult!

[Captain Tightpants]

Thank you for clearing that up. I didn't know most of that, and my response was written in between assignments (but I do agree with the whole fictional country thing; they did the same thing in Die Hard 2).

Still wondering what happened to that press conferene, though. No matter how hard I look (which, admittedly, isn't much; again there's assignmentage to be done), I can't seem to find anything.

[AngryPolarBear]

Why can't they shoot the film in Bolivia?

[Jim]

Why can't they shoot the film in Bolivia?

I suspect it's because they're not going to be very polite about Bolivian political infrastructure.

In much the same way as Montenegro has corrupt police chiefs and North Korea is brimful of genetically modified lunatics.

[AngryPolarBear]

I didn't think the political climate in Bolivia was that extreme.

Edited by AngryPolarBear, 31 March 2008 - 08:46 AM.

[Captain Tightpants]

And as they're South American's poorest nation, the Bolivian film industry is ... well, non-existent. There will at least be some form of support in Chile, even if Bolivian sentiment there isn't exactly warm and fuzzy. Surely the injection of cash into the local economy will help overcome some of the concerns the Chileans have at the moment.

I didn't think the political climate in Bolivia was that extreme.

It's not so much the current Bolivian government, but the way the film portrays it. They are, after all, staging a coup in the film.

Edited by Captain Tightpants, 31 March 2008 - 08:50 AM.

[Vauxhall]

I'm liking the Bond at Paranal feature on the ESO website, and the manner in which it parodies the official website and teaser poster! Hopefully this will be updated with some interesting information in the next few weeks and months.

EDIT: Apologies, I see someone posted the link before me. Still, good fun!

[AngryPolarBear]

It's not so much the current Bolivian government, but the way the film portrays it. They are, after all, staging a coup in the film.

Wouldn't those behind the coup be portrayed as the bad guys, and the current government as the good and legal one?

[Jim]

It's not so much the current Bolivian government, but the way the film portrays it. They are, after all, staging a coup in the film.

Wouldn't those behind the coup be portrayed as the bad guys, and the current government as the good and legal one?

If one readily subject to having a coup staged against it.

I suspect they wouldn't welcome a film company coming in, making a film about them being undermined and then having one foreign agent come in and save their necks (if that is indeed the plot).

[AngryPolarBear]

Yeah, that may hurt the governments integrity.

[HildebrandRarity]

This is too ing funny. No one ever complains if the bad guy's a German or white or Anglo-Saxon or Catholic. If it's not one of these, then there's a ing uproar from (usually an insignifant) minority group that comprises a less than a teeny-tiney minority of the box office.

We're dealing in a movie, folk! It's called 2-and-change hours of escapist, aspirational entertaiment.

Let's chill and hope Eon take the bold step of either naming the area (instead of making up a fictional country/region/city-state) or leaving it un-named.

[frankwalker]

EDIT: I just checked yesterday's Mercurio (March 30) and they said (page 48) the Baquedano filming location was a more confrontational place, with 60 locals yesterday staging a protest against the film, with Chilean flags waving.

Funny, there was an ad for the local movie theatre under the Bond news, they have Casino Royale playing at reduced ticket prices.

Today March 31 there was no mention of demonstrations as of mid-day, so maybe it's all blown over now. Or the protestors went to see CR and have now become Bond fans. /end EDIT

http://www.mercurioantofagasta.cl/

From March 31 El Mercurio, page 28 si - my guessed notes:
- says Daniel Craig visited Galapagos before arriving in Chile
- picture of DC(?) near what might be a midsize private jet
- 200 crew plus some security guards
- filming near ocean around Cobija of villain Mathieu Amalric
- also filming at Baquedano
- shot 5 minutes of film around some ancient stone ruins, and houses that were repainted yellow
- picture of crew with what appears to be paint sprayer & brush
- picture of DC3 airplane
- something about Aston Martin and Ford Ka, maybe just writer commenting on something he saw on the internet
- DC has a tour of the Valley of the Moon.
- DC staying at a hotel popular with well-off visitors, looks excellent

btw they had a 2006 French movie "The Singer" on local TV here with Mathieu Amalric, he had a fairly small part. Starring Gerard Depardieu as a lounge or cabaret singer (?!). Movie gets excellent ratings, might be worth seeing if you can understand French or see a subtitled version.

Edited by frankwalker, 31 March 2008 - 11:31 PM.

[Leon]

This thread has just turned into a completely different topic

[Vauxhall]

I don't know if these have been posted elsewhere but there are several videos from Chilevision referring to the filming in Antofagasta. I can't translate them as the Spanish is too quick for me to keep up, but there are some interesting shots of a plane taxiing across the desert in the first, most recent, one.

On the trail of James Bond (31/3/2008)
Exclusive details of Bond in northern Chile (28/3/2008)
Antofagasta confirmed to appear as Bolivia in Bond movie (28/3/2008)
In search of James Bond (27/3/2008)

[MarcAngeDraco]

Thanks, Vauxhall!

[Donovan Mayne-Nicholls]

This is too ing funny. No one ever complains if the bad guy's a German or white or Anglo-Saxon or Catholic. If it's not one of these, then there's a ing uproar from (usually an insignifant) minority group that comprises a less than a teeny-tiney minority of the box office.

We're dealing in a movie, folk! It's called 2-and-change hours of escapist, aspirational entertaiment.

Let's chill and hope Eon take the bold step of either naming the area (instead of making up a fictional country/region/city-state) or leaving it un-named.

According to reports, cars in the film actually carry Bolivian licence plates.

Incidentally, the name is PARANAL not Paranel.

Why can't they shoot the film in Bolivia?

For the same reason they didn't shoot DAD in Korea.

[HildebrandRarity]

Incidentally, the name is PARANAL not Paranel.

...as opposed to ILOVEANAL.

[Donovan Mayne-Nicholls]

It's not so much the current Bolivian government, but the way the film portrays it. They are, after all, staging a coup in the film.

Wouldn't those behind the coup be portrayed as the bad guys, and the current government as the good and legal one?

Try to make Bolivians understand that when Chileans can't seem to get that movies are shot wherever is possible rather than the actual place.

Whatever hapened to the press conference they called late last week? I know Craig and Foster were in attendance, so it was hardly a minor thing, but we haven't heard "boo" from any reporters on th subjct ...

It indeed took place for a very few selected media. I enquired about the possibility of attending but it was restricted to the big TV channels and newspapers who, since they're so interested covering the circus around the shoot, didn't bother to print anything about the conference.

[Captain Tightpants]

Ah, damn. I was expecting some more news, not all this coverage of the crew annoying Chile.

[Leon]

Beats shooting "Korea" in the UK...

[Vauxhall]

Ah, damn. I was expecting some more news, not all this coverage of the crew annoying Chile.

According to another thread, it seems there is an embargo on the content from this news conference until later in the week, so hopefully we will get some information then.

[Captain Tightpants]

Ah, damn. I was expecting some more news, not all this coverage of the crew annoying Chile.

According to another thread, it seems there is an embargo on the content from this news conference until later in the week, so hopefully we will get some information then.

Yeah, the same was reported over at MI6 but the person who posted it has made some outlandish reports before, so I wasn't too sure on the subject.

Anyway, if there's an embargo, the question remains: why? Why hold a press conference and then impose a week-long media blackout on it instead of holding the press conference later? EON are waiting for something to happen; the only question is what it is.