Spectre (film)

Film — Soundtrack — Song — Locations — Equipment — Characters — Organisation — Releases

Cast & Crew
James Bond:	Daniel Craig
Director:	Sam Mendes
Producer(s):	Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli
Writer(s):	Ian Fleming (Characters) John Logan (Screenplay) Neal Purvis (Screenplay) Robert Wade (Screenplay) Jez Butterworth (Screenplay)
Cinematographer:	Hoyte van Hoytema
Editor:	Lee Smith
Music:	Thomas Newman
Theme song:	"Writing's on the Wall"
Theme composer:	Sam Smith & Jimmy Napes
Theme performer:	Sam Smith
Facts & Figures
Budget:	$230 million
Gross:	$880,674,609
Distributed By:	Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Released:	October 26, 2015 (United Kingdom) November 5, 2015 (Singapore) November 5, 2015 (Taiwan) November 6, 2015 (Indonesia) November 6, 2015 (United States)
Running Time:	148 minutes
Preceded By:	Skyfall
Followed By:	No Time to Die

"You are a kite dancing in a hurricane, Mr. Bond. So long!"

― Mr. White to James Bond

Spectre is the twenty-fourth film in the James Bond series produced by EON Productions. Like the previous film Skyfall, Spectre was written by John Logan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade is directed by Sam Mendes and features Daniel Craig in his fourth performance as James Bond. The film was released in the UK on 26 October 2015, fifty years after release of Thunderball (1965), thirty years after release of A View to a Kill (1985), and twenty years after release of GoldenEye (1995), and worldwide on 6 November 2015 in regular and IMAX theatres. It continues a story arc which started in Craig's first three films: Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall.

In the film, a cryptic message from Bond’s past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind Spectre.

The film's title is derived from the criminal organisation SPECTRE, which was prominent during the original Bond films and several Ian Fleming novels. The organisation's logo, an octopus, is also referenced in the official teaser poster.

Plot

Hunting Spectre

During the Day of the Dead festival in Mexico City, James Bond kills two men arranging to blow up a stadium, before shooting a briefcase containing their bomb. In doing so, the building they are in explodes and collapses. Bond gives chase to a criminal operative named Marco Sciarra, who survived the blast and, in an attempt to escape, boards a helicopter. Bond follows and in the ensuing struggle he throws both Sciarra and the pilot out of the helicopter to their deaths, while in the process, stealing Sciarra's band ring, which has an octopus symbol on it. Bond's actions are revealed to be him working on the unofficial orders of the previous M, who told him that if she died, he was to kill Sciarra and attend his funeral. On his return to London, Bond is indefinitely taken off field duty by the current M, who is in the midst of a power struggle with Max Denbigh (also known as the code name 'C', assigned to him by Bond), the head of the newly created Joint Intelligence Service, which consists of the recently merged MI5 and MI6. C also wants to create the "Nine Eyes" intelligence co-operation agreement between nine countries, and close down the '00' section in the process.

Bond disobeys M's orders and travels to Rome to attend Sciarra's funeral. That evening he visits and seduces Sciarra's widow Lucia, who tells him about a criminal organisation to which her husband belonged and where they are meeting that evening after he rescues her from assassins. Bond enters the meeting by showing the ring, where he sees the head of the organisation, in shadow, chairing a meeting, referring to terrorism in Hamburg and Tunisia, as well as Mexico City and distribution of counterfeit pharmaceutical products. The head mentions the events in Mexico, and mentions Bond by name, turning to face him as he does so. Having been recognised, Bond escapes the meeting and a car chase through Rome ensues, with Bond in an Aston Martin DB10 pursued by Mr. Hinx, an assassin for the organisation, who drives in a Jaguar C-X75. Eve Moneypenny acts as a source of information for Bond and informs him that a reference he heard in both Mexico and the meeting will lead to Mr. White, a former member of the Quantum organisation which is revealed to be a subsidiary of this new organisation. Bond also asks for a check on the name Franz Oberhauser, revealed to be the name of the meeting’s chairman, who Bond recognised might be from his past.

Legacy of the Pale King

Bond travels to Austria to find Mr. White at his current home, and finds him dying of Thallium radiation poisoning, which was planted on his phone after falling from favour with the organisation and its leadership, due to White's reservations about human tracking. Bond wins his trust by disarming himself of his weapon after discovering White has a daughter, Dr. Madeleine Swann, that he is protecting from the organisation. Bond promises to protect her from them before White tells him Madeleine can lead him to "l'Américain", which will, in turn, lead him to the organisation. White then uses Bond's gun to shoot himself in the head. Bond finds Swann at a secluded Austrian clinic where she works, but she tries to have him thrown out before she is snatched by Mr. Hinx. Bond chases the kidnappers by plane and forces their three cars to crash before he makes his escape with Swann, who is still angry with Bond. The pair then meets with Q, who reveals that Sciarra's ring contains digital files linking Oberhauser, the leader of the organisation, and Bond's three previous missions. Swann then informs them about the name of the organisation, Spectre, and that l'Américain is a hotel in Tangier, Morocco, rather than a person, as Bond has suspected previously.

Oberhauser tortures 007.

The couple travels to the hotel and stays in the suite her father used to stay in every year since he was married to Swann's mother. Bond discovers White had built a secret room full of videotapes, charts, and photographs, as well as maps and coordinates of where they should go next. They travel to the nearest point a train will go, but are again attacked by Mr. Hinx. After fighting and nearly killing them both, Hinx is flung off the train, presumably to his death, by a rope attached to several beer kegs, leading to Swann and Bond having sex. At the end of the journey, they are transported to a facility in the desert, where they are met by and held prisoner by who Bond thinks is Franz Oberhauser, the son of Hannes Oberhauser, Bond's temporary foster father, who was murdered. While drilling into Bond's head and nerves with mechanical probes, Oberhauser also informs him that C is part of the Spectre organisation, and he feeds all the intelligence data straight to Spectre. Oberhauser then tortures Bond and reveals that the name Franz Oberhauser was what Bond and Hannes called him, but his real name, the name he uses now, is actually Ernst Stavro Blofeld. He secretly renamed himself while Bond stayed with him and he took in his mother’s bloodline. He faked his death thirty-four years ago to be recognised as his real name and to avoid legal trouble after he murdered his father, Hannes; Blofeld reveals that he killed his father because he felt that Bond had replaced him as his father's favourite. Bond and Swann escape with the help of Bond's exploding watch, destroying the facility in the process.

Loose ends

Back in London, Bond and Swann meet M, Bill Tanner, Q, and Moneypenny, and they travel to arrest C and stop the launch of the Nine Eyes programme. En route they are ambushed and Bond is kidnapped by Spectre agents. M and the others escape and proceed to wait for C in his office, arrest him and shut down Nine Eyes before it launches; in an ensuing struggle, C falls to his death at the hands of M. Bond has, meanwhile, been taken to the old MI6 building—derelict since Raoul Silva's attack in Skyfall, and now scheduled for demolition—but he disables his captors before entering the building. He meets Blofeld - who was ferociously marred by the explosion where Bond escaped earlier on, leaving him with a horrific scar and blindness in one eye - who tells him the building is rigged to explode in three minutes and that Swann is hidden somewhere within it, before giving Bond a choice: die in the explosion whilst trying to rescue Swann, or leave with his life and be forever haunted by the fact that he did not save her. Bond finds her and the couple escapes by boat out onto the Thames. They chase Blofeld — who is in a helicopter — and shoot it down; the helicopter crashes onto Westminster Bridge. Bond comes close to executing Blofeld but then lets him be arrested by M and leaves with Madeleine. The next day Bond retrieves his old Aston Martin DB5 from Q, now fully repaired, and drives off with Madeleine.

Film History

Pre-production

Shortly after Skyfall premiered, pre-production on Bond 24 began. Bond franchise staples Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson returned as executive producers and EON Productions, MGM and Sony/Columbia Pictures returned as production companies. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment secured the rights for home distribution.

With Daniel Craig under contract for two more Bond films, MGM and EON Productions hired Skyfall writer John Logan to pen Bond 24 and 25 as a two-parter, to film simultaneously and release in 2014 and 2015. Immediately after Skyfall Mendes had shown interest in directing Bond 24 but passed in March 2013 in order to focus on his stage work. MGM, EON, and Mendes continued to meet and plan the future of the Bond franchise and decided to abandon the two-parter concept and push back the release of Bond 24 to 2015 to accommodate Mendes' schedule.

Mendes on the set of Spectre

On July 11, 2013, it was officially announced that Daniel Craig, Sam Mendes, and John Logan would return for Bond 24 for an Autumn 2015 release.

On October 21, Ralph Fiennes confirmed he would be in Bond 24 saying "I think everyone knows that, I don’t think that’s particularly a secret" and later hinted that Gareth Mallory might not be stuck behind a desk in the film. On November 24 Naomie Harris confirmed she would also be returning. In late March 2014, John Logan teased that he had completed the first draft of the script, hinted that some elements from the original films may return but was cautious to reveal any specifics about the possible return of S.P.E.C.T.R.E., Quantum, other 00 agents, or other returning elements. In an April 2014 interview with Charlie Rose, Sam Mendes revealed that Bond 24 would be a "continuation" of the character stories he began in Skyfall, namely the new characters' (M, Moneypenny, Tanner, and Q) relationships with Bond and each other.

On June 27, it was announced that Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were hired to polish the script, specifically to "punch up the script and sprinkle in more gags" and improve the banter between Bond, Moneypenny and M. Some reports indicated the re-write was more significant than originally planned. Due to the re-writes, production was pushed back to December 6, 2014, with the same hopeful autumn 2015 release date. In November screenwriter Jeremy "Jez" Butterworth was hired to do a final polish of the script, which reportedly did not affect the filming schedule.

The full principal cast of Spectre and director Sam Mendes. L-R: Andrew Scott, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Mendes, Lea Seydoux, Daniel Craig, Monica Bellucci, Christoph Waltz, Ben Whishaw, Dave Bautista and Rory Kinnear.

Months after it was confirmed Skyfall cinematographer Roger Deakins would not be returning for Bond 24 Hoyte van Hoytema was named cinematographer. Set construction was spotted in Obertilliach, Austria. In October 2014 French actress Lea Seydoux was announced as being cast as a Bond girl in the film. In November two time Oscar-winning actor Christoph Waltz was announced as being cast in an unspecified role. On December 4, 2014, the official title and cast were announced.

Production

Production began on December 5 at Pinewood Studios. Locations for Spectre include Mexico City, Rome, Tangier, Morocco, Sölden Austria, Obertilliach and Lake Altaussee. Jesper Christensen revealed in an interview on December 5, 2014, that he would be returning as Mr. White.

In a production video published February 26, 2015 director Sam Mendes shared that the film would continue to explore Bond's past and how his longer-tenured experience in MI6 affects his working relationship with M, Q, and Moneypenny. On March 9, 2015, it was announced that Mexican model and actress Stephanie Sigman joined the film as Estrella.

In late March it was revealed that the opening sequence of the film would take place during a Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City, Mexico and feature "one of the biggest opening sequences ever" according to the films' producers.

It is estimated that Spectre had the highest budget of any Bond film and during production $36 million of vehicles, namely Aston Martin DB10s, were destroyed. Industrial Light & Magic ended up doing VFX effects for the movie during production.

Principal photography wrapped on July 5, 2015.

Promotion

On March 27, 2015, the first teaser trailer for the film was released, showing Spectre takes place soon after the events of Skyfall, as MI6 is still in ruins and Bond receives his personal effects from Moneypenny, collected by forensics from the destroyed Skyfall Lodge. The trailer also features Eve Moneypenny, Mr. White, and first glimpses of Monica Bellucci's Lucia Sciarra and Christoph Waltz' Franz Oberhauser.

The first theatrical trailer was released in mid-July 2015.

On 8 September 2015, it was announced the theme song would be titled "Writing's on the Wall" and was written and performed by Sam Smith and produced by Smith, Jimmy Napes, and Disclosure with a release date of 25 September 2015.

In mid-September Spectre received a PG-13 rating with an estimated run-time of 148 minutes.

Cast & Characters

James Bond
(Daniel Craig)

Ernst Stavro Blofeld
(Christoph Waltz)

Dr. Madeleine Swann
(Léa Seydoux)

M
(Ralph Fiennes)

Lucia Sciarra
(Monica Bellucci)

Q
(Ben Whishaw)

Eve Moneypenny
(Naomie Harris)

Mr. Hinx
(David Bautista)

Max Denbigh
(Andrew Scott)

Bill Tanner
(Rory Kinnear)

Mr. White
(Jesper Christensen)

Estrella
(Stephanie Sigman)

Marco Sciarra
(Alessandro Cremona)

Gallo
(Domenico Fortunato)

Blofeld's Right-Hand Man
(Gediminas Adomaitis)

Lorenzo
(Peppe Lanzetta)

Marco
(Matteo Taranto)

Francesco
(Francesco Arca)

Moreau
(Marc Zinga)

Dr. Vogel
(Brigitte Millar)

Abrika
(Adel Bencherif)

Guerra
(Benito Sagredo)

Marshall
(Erick Hayden)

Valerian
(Oleg Mirochnikov)

Crew

Sam Mendes at the Spectre announcement press conference

"I am very pleased that by giving me the time I need to honor all my theater commitments, the producers have made it possible for me to direct Bond 24. I very much look forward to taking up the reins again, and to working with Daniel Craig, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli for a second time."

― Sam Mendes

• Directed by: Sam Mendes
• Written by: Ian Fleming (characters only), John Logan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (screenplay)
• Produced by: Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli
• Cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema
• Production Design by Dennis Gassner
• Edited by Lee Smith
• Music composed by Thomas Newman
• 2nd Unit Director Alexander Witt
• SFX Supervisor Chris Corbould
• VFX Supervisor Steve Begg
• Costume Designer Jany Temime
• Stunt Coordinator Gary Powell

Locations

• Mexico City, Mexico
• London, England
• Saint Peter's Square, Vatican
• Rome, Italy
• Altaussee, Austria
• Tangier, Morocco

Trivia

• For the first time in their shared history, Aston Martin specially commissioned the DB10 specifically just for the film. It was designed and built exclusively for the James Bond Franchise.
• Director Sam Mendes would later revisit the concept of using a single long tracking shot, as seen in Spectre's opening sequence, in his Oscar-nominated war film, 1917, only extended for an entire movie.
• Kingsley Amis receives screen credit due to a plot point and some dialogue having been adapted from his Bond novel, Colonel Sun. Although Die Another Day featured a character whose name referenced that of Amis' titular villain, this was the first film to directly adapt material from the novel; indeed, it is the first Bond film to acknowledge adapting any literary Bond story not written by Ian Fleming.
• The SPECTRE conference sequence references a similar set-piece event in the original Thunderball novel and its 1965 film adaptation, with a key difference being that Bond is not present in the earlier version (and, indeed, does not encounter Blofeld at all in Thunderball).
• This is the only Daniel Craig's Bond film where Bond is seen sporting a white dinner suit.
• The name Oberhauser comes from the short story Octopussy.
• The film represents the first appearance of Blofeld's cat since the non-Eon Never Say Never Again or the official For Your Eyes Only.
• It is stated that a snow team of 30 people worked against the clock for guarantee the snow conditions on the road and in the forest of the movie.
• Spectre has a Guinness World Record for the largest explosion on screen (that of Blofeld's lair).

Gallery

• Spectre (film)/Gallery