50 replies to this topic

[DaveBond21]

Here are some scenes from the Bond movies, where England doubles as a more exotic location. Can anyone think of any more? Which ones look the most realistic?



Goldfinger - the car chase was filmed at Pinewood, not in Switzerland where it is supposed to be taking place.

YOLT - The English countryside is seen in the scene when Bond is fighting to gain control of the plane.

Goldeneye - the Russian church where Natalya meets Boris is in London.

TND - Brent Cross Shopping Centre car park is used for the carpark car chase. Stoke Poges golf club is used for the interiors of the Hamburg Hotel Bond stays at.

TWINE - Swindon doubles for Azerbaijan for many scenes, including the church and contruction site scenes when Bond first meets Elektra.

DAD - Cornwall doubles for Korea during the beach scenes at the very start and also the Dome (supposedly in Iceland) is also in Cornwall.

Casino Royale - Black Park, Buckinghamshire, England, doubles for Uganda in the first scene following the titles. And many of the Miami runway scenes were filmed at Dunsford, England.

[Publius]

Afghanistan in The Living Daylights. Which explains the palm trees.

[Bondian]

Great thread, Dave.

The airport scene in Goldfinger was filmed at my local airport.

Evidence can be found at the other site, or here.

http://www.007.info/...eGoldfinger.asp

Film Locations
Pinewood Studios, London, England
Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, England
Esso oil refinery, Stanwell, England (opening sequence)
Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA
Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Miami, Florida, USA
Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, UK
Stoke Park House, Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, England
Switzerland

The tower still stands and that place is exactly the same.

Cheers,



Ian

[DaveBond21]

Thanks.

The tower still stands and that place is exactly the same.

Cool. Do you have any photos for us??

[Jim]

From Russia with Love - SPECTRE Island (which I think we are meant to assume is not off the coast of Lincolnshire) is Pinewood. The boat chase is Scotland (are we really referring to the United Kingdom rather than just England?).

Goldfinger - Auric Stud isn't in Kentucky.

GoldenEye - Russian airport is Ascot racecourse.

Tomorrow Never Dies - the German newspaper printing presses are (I think) the ones that otherwise spew out the Daily Mail. They'll print anything these days.

Die Another Day - I seem to recall that quite a few shots and stunts in the ice lake car chase were filmed in a car park in The Cotswolds. And the temple at the end looks suspiciously like Cornwall, or perhaps Wales. The DMZ hovercrafts were at Aldershot, I think.

On the flipside, the Houses of Parliament in Casino Royale - some library or other in Prague.

[Bond... Raybond]

Great thread.

TLD: Some of the Tangiers sequences (particularly when Bond is in the market, prior to being 'kidnapped' by Leiter's girls) were filmed in London (according to the DVD).

None of this is strange though, Kubrick filmed all of his movies in England (except Spartacus, obviously): London's Isle of Dogs standing in for Vietnam in Full Metal Jacket. But then how many 'foreign' desert sequences are filmed in the Mojave Desert.
Indeed Bond has used that a couple of times.

Not a dig, just pointing out that Bond is not alone in using locations closer to the production base. ie's LTK's WaveKrest crash dock - meant to be Isthmus - is Key West, whilst CR's Madagascar is actually the Bahamas, Drax's French chateau in Moonraker supposedly in California - did they really expect us to believe that?

Sorry to expand the thread, but the use of any location to represent another one is another good discussion.

[Jim]

Another curious one - when England stood in for England - is the Ministry of Defence in Tomorrow Never Dies; that isn't the exterior of the Ministry of Defence. Security issues aside, I assume they picked Somerset House because lovely James could drive his lovely car in whilst his lovely theme tune plays.

Oxford and Hamburg excluded, is anywhere in Tomorrow Never Dies where it's meant to be? The "South China Sea airbase" is England too.

[Skudor]

Octopussy - The Cuban airport obviously isn't in Cuba at all. It's actually in blooming Ruislip by the A40.

[Vauxhall]

GoldenEye - Russian airport is Ascot racecourse.

It's actually Epsom Downs Racecourse - very close to my home. They used the recently opened Queen's Stand as the airport terminal, which unfortunately was glaringly obvious as not being in Russia due to the fact that coverage of the opening had been all over the national press in previous months.

In DIE ANOTHER DAY, the Cuban factory is actually in Stoke Newington.

For QUANTUM OF SOLACE, an army barracks in Aldershot is supposed to resemble Moscow. In addition, I remember reading that due to bad weather in Peru, they would be recreating Machu Picchu in the East End of London.

[Zorin Industries]

Very good thread.

ZORIN's mines at the end of A VIEW TO A KILL are in fact The Amberley Chalk Pits in West Sussex. I went there once in the late 1980's and they'd barely cleared the Zorin Industries rolling stock. The lake in which BOND and the Rolls Royce are dumped in is not in France but near Staines, Surrey.

The railway lines in OCTOPUSSY / West Berlin and GOLDENEYE / Russia are in fact the Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough.

Miami Airport in CASINO ROYALE is in fact the Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey where BBC2's TOP GEAR is now based. I know because I learnt to drive on the same landing strip that BOND causes Stateside havoc on.

The Russian church that NATALYA takes refuge in in GOLDENEYE is a synagogue on the Edgware Road, London.

In DIE ANOTHER DAY, the opening Korean beach was in fact the sands of Holywell Bay, near Newquay. And the Cornish based Eden Project became part of GUSTAV GRAVES ice palace.





Judi Dench is not actually Judi Dench and is a listed English Heritage site now owned by the National Trust.

[Simon]

(this last - very amusing)

[Skudor]

Judi Dench is not actually Judi Dench and is a listed English Heritage site now owned by the National Trust.

LOL

[marktmurphy]

Oxford and Hamburg excluded, is anywhere in Tomorrow Never Dies where it's meant to be? The "South China Sea airbase" is England too.

I think DAD's worse for that, isn't it? Some of the crew popped up to Iceland for a weekend; that's about it. Buck Palace might be real too. At least Pierce and co. went to Hamburg for TND.
Actually, TWINE's pretty bad too- Spain's real at the beginning but everywhere else is fake, I think. The Motorola Building in Swindon is the pipe control place where M gets kidnapped from. Oh, and I think Chatham stands in for bits of London in the boat chase too.

I really love that scene in GoldenEye where Wade's car breaks down: all shot in London but is very believably St. Petersberg somehow. I think the Queen's Stand is rather good thinking too: quite clever of the location fella to come up with that as an airport- it does work.

And yes to Amberley Chalk Pit- I went there about ten years ago and the Zorin mine carts were still in some undergrowth. Plus there's a sign saying 'main strike mine' over the mine entrance

[Bondian]

Another curious one - when England stood in for England - is the Ministry of Defence in Tomorrow Never Dies; that isn't the exterior of the Ministry of Defence. Security issues aside, I assume they picked Somerset House because lovely James could drive his lovely car in whilst his lovely theme tune plays.

Oxford and Hamburg excluded, is anywhere in Tomorrow Never Dies where it's meant to be? The "South China Sea airbase" is England too.

Tomorrow Never Dies? Didn't that film star that Chinese actor of 'Remington Steele' named Yo-Yo Minge?

[Jim]

On reflection, Casino Royale is a weird film for this. I know that they can't go to all the places, and it's testament to their creativity, but in white and black it does look odd.

Prague plays Prague - assuming the building in the black and white bit is in Prague (I've no idea); given the rest of it, it could really be in Bermuda.

Prague plays London.

The Home Counties play Uganda. Hmm.

The Bahamas play Madagascar.

The Bahamas play The Bahamas. "Just be yourself". etc.

Prague and Guildford play Miami.

Various bits of Czechia play Montenegro.

Venice plays Venice. Is that bit on the lido actually the lido or is that The Bahamas again?

Madness, when you think about it. Creative, though.

But I still don't understand - save for a last minute decision by the Vietnamese government - why Bangkok has to play Saigon in Tomorrow Never Dies. Surely it could just as acceptably have played Bangkok without anything being any different? It's not as if whatever horrible row and BMW product placement it is that happens in "Saigon" has to happen in "Saigon", is it? All very odd.

Tomorrow Never Dies is full of peculiar things

The French Alps play The Khyber Pass
Saigon plays Bangkok
"Staggeringly obviously Thailand" plays the Chinese coast
Pierce Brosnan plays an actor

Most eccentric. Is this:-

a ) a clever meta-comment, given the "theme" of the "script", that the gullible public can be made to believe any old nonsense; or

b ) a bit peculiar?

[DaveBond21]

Another one from Tomorrow Never Dies:-


The IBM building at Bedfont Lakes, Middlesex, England plays the Carver Media Group building.

[Mr. Blofeld]

In Dr. No, a room in Pinewoods with a screen set up portrays the Bahamian roadway on which Bond is attacked by the Three Blind Mice; especially suspect, considering the earlier car chase was actually filmed on location.

[DaveBond21]

And yes to Amberley Chalk Pit- I went there about ten years ago and the Zorin mine carts were still in some undergrowth. Plus there's a sign saying 'main strike mine' over the mine entrance

That's amazing!

[Bondian]

Thanks.

The tower still stands and that place is exactly the same.

Cool. Do you have any photos for us??

Cannot find any online, mate. But I'll pop down there one day and take a few. I may get shot, but the hospital's only half-a-mile away. rofl

Another tid bit. There's also a retired Vulcan there. For a few quid you can take a look around. A few times a year the beast fires up and you can take a ride down the runway. Then it's a puke fest at the McDonald's that overlooks the airport.

[marktmurphy]

Prague plays Prague - assuming the building in the black and white bit is in Prague (I've no idea); given the rest of it, it could really be in Bermuda.

Prague plays London.

The Home Counties play Uganda. Hmm.

The Bahamas play Madagascar.

The Bahamas play The Bahamas. "Just be yourself". etc.

Yeah, I never really got the idea of having the Bahamas as Madagascar and showing the sea in the crane bit- it looks just like the Bahamas later in the film. I expect a lot of people just thought the two bits were supposed to be in the same country when they saw it, location captions aside.

But I still don't understand - save for a last minute decision by the Vietnamese government - why Bangkok has to play Saigon in Tomorrow Never Dies. Surely it could just as acceptably have played Bangkok without anything being any different? It's not as if whatever horrible row and BMW product placement it is that happens in "Saigon" has to happen in "Saigon", is it? All very odd.

Well there's the whole problem with Vietnam waters being a problem, but then that's not a huge part of the plot.

[ACE]

Thetford in Norfolk was the site of the Norz Afriken Trate Konferenz in TLD.

There is a great website for all this stuff:
http://www.dmd-digit...onthetracks.htm

Apart from logistics and expense and convenience, sometimes strange decisions are made for funding/tax/grant purposes.

A film I know of was set in Manchester, England. However, because it was being co-funded by a German company, we were going to shoot exteriors in Manchester and then recreate interiors and selected exteriors in studio facilities in Hamburg!

[Skudor]

Apart from logistics and expense and convenience, sometimes strange decisions are made for funding/tax/grant purposes.

Absolutely. Wasn't that a big part of Cubby's original 'business plan' - make British films to attract tax benefits.

I have no problem with places doubling for other places - sometimes I wouldn't even know if I, ahem, didn't already know.

[marktmurphy]

A film I know of was set in Manchester, England. However, because it was being co-funded by a German company, we were going to shoot exteriors in Manchester and then recreate interiors and selected exteriors in studio facilities in Hamburg!

Indeed; and there's the odd case of the Alfie remake (set in New York) being shot on the streets of Manchester and Liverpool!

[DaveBond21]

Thetford in Norfolk was the site of the Norz Afriken Trate Konferenz in TLD.

There is a great website for all this stuff:
http://www.dmd-digit...onthetracks.htm

Apart from logistics and expense and convenience, sometimes strange decisions are made for funding/tax/grant purposes.

A film I know of was set in Manchester, England. However, because it was being co-funded by a German company, we were going to shoot exteriors in Manchester and then recreate interiors and selected exteriors in studio facilities in Hamburg!

That looks like an interesting website.

[Bondian]

Cool. Do you have any photos for us??

Took these yesterday.

The Tower


The Vulcan


The Wanker


Could get the proper angle of the tower because the airport was shut. lol

Cheers,


Ian

[DaveBond21]

Great shots, Bondian, thanks for those.

[DaveBond21]

TWINE - Swindon doubles for Azerbaijan for many scenes, including the church and contruction site scenes when Bond first meets Elektra.

Here is a shot of Swindon as Azerbaijan in TWINE.

Attached Files

•  Swindon_as_Azerbaijan_TWINE.jpg   52.52KB   35 downloads

[Vauxhall]

Thanks Dave. I never realised those shots were done in Swindon! I thought it was just the Motorola factory they'd used.

[DaveBond21]

Two more, this time from Quantum of Solace:-

Bruneval Barracks, Montgomery Lines, Aldershot, England - portrayed Kazan in Russia, covered with snow, where Bond tracks down Yusef, the Algerian who betrayed Vesper, and delivers him to MI6.

TAG Farnborough Airport was used to stage the mysterious meeting between the CIA and Dominic Greene at the airport of Bregenz, Austria. Within the building of the terminal, the credit card of Bond is denied when disqualified by M and added to the list of those to be "captured or killed" by MI6.

[Forward Look]

In Thunderball, the highway where Count Lippe gets blown up is actually a racetrack. Another case of England substituting for, well, uh, England.