007 Things We Know

23rd July 2015

The SPECTRE trailer and recent set of stills confirmed a number of plot points and raised a few more questions

001: James Bond Goes Rogue (Again) The trailer opens with a montage of the action shot on location in Mexico city. Ralph Fiennes as M chides Bond for taking matters into his own hands. Not even the head of MI6 knows why 007 is after Sciarra. Just as recently as "Skyfall" Craig's Bond dropped off the grid to protect his boss and lure Silva to his ancestral home for the final showdown. Back in "Quantum of Solace", Bond defies M and evades her personal guard to continue the mission in Bolivia, even after the loss of Agent Fields. Later in the SPECTRE trailer, Bond again wants to go off-grid, asking Q to "make [him] disappear."

Spectacular action for SPECTRE in Mexico
Spectacular action for SPECTRE in Mexico

002: Monica Bellucci Plays Sciarra's Widow In the recently-released extended synopsis, MGM and EON confirmed what had looked likely for some time, Bellucci's character not only shares a surname with the antagonist of the pre-titles sequence but will play the mobster's widow. It is his funeral that 007 attends in Rome.

Monica Bellucci is Lucia Sciarra in SPECTRE
Monica Bellucci is Lucia Sciarra

003: MI6 Has Had A Makeover After the bombing of the Vauxhall Cross building in "Skyfall", M (Judi Dench) took the secret service underground to Churchill's old war bunker. Although we see that M's office at the close of "Skyfall", and the beginning of the SPECTRE trailer, are similar (aside from the fact that the painting on the wall behind M is no longer that of the old SIS building), the extended trailer gives us a sense of the newest headquarters designed again by Denis Gassner. This marks the third time that Gassner has redesigned the HQ set with "Quantum of Solace" and "Skyfall" both offering different decors for M and her/his team.

Ms Office In SPECTRE
M's Office In SPECTRE

004: Mr. White Is Bitter, Aged, And A Potential Ally For Bond Although there was not a part for Jesper Christensen's Mr. White in "Skyfall", screenwriters Logan, Purvis, and Wade have revived the ineffable and mysterious villain who was connected to the underground terrorist organisation Quantum. White, whose life was famously saved by a cut scene from "Quantum", now lives in the Austrian alps (a scene shot in the midst of winter on Lake Altaussee), where he is harbouring a secret. The obvious implication in the edit of the trailer is that White is protecting Dr. Madeline Swann (Lea Seydoux): after Craig delivers the line the editors cut to the first close-up of Seydoux's face, and a second cut allows her to shout "get away from me".

Jesper Christensen is Mr. White In SPECTRE
Jesper Christensen is Mr. White In SPECTRE

005: SPECTRE Has A Personal Vendetta Against Bond As the trailer reveals the name of the organisation that Bond is warned to stop pursuing through Madeline's voice, Q follows up with the telling "do you know what links them all"? Craig's Bond confirms this with a single word response: "me". Finally, as 007 walks toward a wall of the fallen - presumably in MI6 - the camera reveals "James Bond" carelessly scrawled at the bottom of the list. Oberhauser's face is revealed to dialogue implying 007 is just waking up to a longer game of cat-and-mouse that has involved them both.

Franz Oberhauser attends an ominous meeting in Rome
Franz Oberhauser attends an ominous meeting in Rome

006: Bond Still Enjoys A Train Ride As recently as "Casino Royale" Bond opted to take the train to Montenegro. Here the Bond girl, Vesper, and Bond have a heart-to-heart. Something similar clearly takes place on the train in SPECTRE. Back in Sam Mendes' favourite flick, "Live And Let Die", Bond opts for the slow train back to New York with his lovely Solitaire. En route the vengeful Tee Hee strikes. The SPECTRE trailer reveals Bond and Madeline travelling by train and the careful-eyed viewer will even see Dave Bautista's Hinx smashing through a door of the same set.

Lea Seydoux is Dr. Madeline Swann in SPECTRE
Lea Seydoux is Dr. Madeline Swann in SPECTRE

007: Denbigh Is Still A Mystery Much work has been done to keep Andrew Scott's character out of the limelight. We know he's a bureaucrat in charge of a new intelligence project but it has been suspected for a while he has nefarious motives. The glimpse offered by the latest trailer shows one of Scott's most searing glares, giving more weight to the hypothesis that he is not on the side of M and his agents. Still, of all the characters introduced in the new trailer, Denbigh gets the least screen time and remains the most mysterious.

Andrew Scott is Denbigh in SPECTRE
Andrew Scott is Denbigh in SPECTRE
Bond 24

Briefing
SPECTRE (2015) is the new James Bond film and the 24th in the series. It will be the fourth outing for Daniel Craig as 007, and the second film to be directed by Sam Mendes from a screenplay by John Logan, Neal Purvis & Robert Wade. The new MI6 team of Ralph Fiennes (M), Naomie Harris (Moneypenny), Rory Kinnear (Tanner) and Ben Whishaw (Q) are all reprising their roles. The cast will include Lea Seydoux, Dave Bautista, Andrew Scott and Christoph Waltz. Production commences on December 8th 2014, with location work as early as 5th January 2015 in Austria. The film will also shoot on location in: Erfoud and Tangier, Morocco; Rome, Italy and Mexico City, Mexico. SPECTRE is scheduled for release on 7th November 2015.

 Index   News   Features