Mission
When 007 is assigned to protect an oil heiress, he is catapulted into a passionate, adrenaline-charged adventure that pits him against one of his most deadly adversaries: Renard, a ruthless anarchist whose total imperviousness to pain makes him a virtually unstoppable enemy.

Release Data
UK: 26th November 1999 (12)
USA: 19th November 1999 (PG-13)
World Premiere: 8th November 1999 (Bruin & Fox Theatre, Los Angeles, USA)
UK TV Premiere: 14th November 2001, ITV
US TV Premiere: 3rd November 2002, CBS

Running Time: 128 minutes
Classification: 12 (UK), PG-13 (US)
Budget: $135m
Worldwide Box Office: $352m
US Box Office: $126.93m
US Admissions: N/A
UK Box Office: £28.57

Production
Producers: Barbara Broccoli & Michael G. Wilson
Director: Michael Apted
Screenplay: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Bruce Feirstein
Composer: David Arnold

Locations
Bilbao, Spain; London, UK; Scotland, UK; Baku, Azerbaijan; Istanbul, Turkey.

Pre-Credits Sequence
Bond is in Bilbao investigating to a Swiss banker in order to retrieve £3m that Sir Robert King used to buy a stolen top-secret report and to get a lead on a dead MI6 agent.

When Bond doesn’t get his demands, he ups the ante by roughing up the goons. Upon questioning the banker at gunpoint, a mysterious assassin later to be known as “Cigar Girl” thwarts his attempts. It soon becomes time to leave and Bond opts for the window, keeping one step ahead of the authorities.

Later back at the MI6 building Sir Robert has arrived to collect his money and is speaking to M when Bond enters her office. When offered a drink he notices that the ice in his finger is making a chemical reaction. The money Bond collected is a bomb and 007 is too late in warning King as an explosion rips throught the MI6 building.

Cut Scenes & Alternate Versions
The trailer shows Christmas Jones telling Bond, “Someone is going to be after my butt.” In the film, she says “Someone is going to have my ass.”

Early press screenings ran for 160 minutes. The film was cut back to 128 minutes for release.
Scenes that were trimmed back include:
– Right after Bond jumps out of the Bankers office in Bilbao, the Cigar Girl comes into the Hotel Room from which Renard shot the guard. He says to her, he hopes that Bond will bring the money back.
– The boat chase sequence was originally 18 minutes long.
– The sequence in which King dies and Bond looks for the Cigar Girl was originally longer.
– Also shortened was the scene where Bond drives through the oil fields in Azerbaijan.
– While Bond is talking to Elektra her office was flown in by helicopter. It then expands to the size as it is seen in the film

Best Line
Zukovsky: "I’m looking for a submarine. It’s big, and black and the driver is a very good friend of mine.