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The Bond 23 team has been asked for a shooting plan
so that railway officials can find a suitable route
in India, meanwhile the South African film commission
invites 007 to their country...
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India Negotiations Continue
30th August 2011
As MI6
reported last week, EON Productions in
collaboration with their local production partner India Take
One Productions had selected Ahmedabad in north-western India
for the 23rd James Bond film to
base a car chase through the city streets and a stunt
sequence atop freight trains in the
Sabarmati
railway
yard.
However,
for
the filming of the train stunts to take place, the busy line
would have to be closed for five days, something that was not
possible without hampering the Western Railway timetable in Ahmedabad
when they first got permission back in July.
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At a meeting yesterday between railway
minister Dinesh Trivedi and India Take One Productions,
the Bond 23 team was
asked to submit a shooting plan in the next couple of days.
"Once
we get the details, we will recommend an alternative route," said
a ministry official to the Telegraph
of India. "They want to shoot in Gujarat, Mumbai
and Goa with the train sequence near Sabarmati. But it’s
a busy route and trains can't be stopped there for
the shoot."
Parvesh Sahani of India Take One said, "The
meeting with the railway ministry was very fruitful. Yes,
the technical issues need to be sorted out but we are expecting
some kind of a solution by the end of this week." |
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Back Up Plans
Meanwhile, South Africa's Cape Film Commission
has spared no time in mocking the problems the Bond 23
production has experienced in securing the necessary permissions
in India, and hopes to have Daniel Craig and company move the
shoot
to their country instead. "Cape Town welcomes James Bond whenever
he decides to visit us," said Cape Film Commission chief executive
Denis Lillie to the Associated
Press. "This demonstrates how a film project can very quickly
go 'off the rails' if the coordination between city and government
departments are not in place," said Lillie.
"Cape Town would not be happy to benefit
from someone else's loss," he said, but added that the city's
film-friendliness and bureaucratic coordination had been demonstrated
during the
2010 football World Cup and its hosting of big films. "Our
city has all the facilities required for a shoot of this magnitude," said
councilor Grant Pascoe, a mayoral committee member for tourism,
events and marketing. "I would
like to assure the producers that we stand ready."
MI6 understands that South
Africa still remains a shooting location regardless of
whether the train sequence is completed in India as first planned.
China is also still in consideration for other sequences. The
production will be based out of James Bond's traditional home
- Pinewood Studios - where filming on the sound stages is scheduled
to start in November. The production budget is rumoured to
be $135 million. The film, which will be Daniel
Craig's third outing as 007, will open in the UK on 26th
October 2012.
Briefing
The 23rd James Bond
film, "Skyfall", commenced principal studio photography on 7th November
2011 for a UK
release on October 26th, 2012 and the USA on November
9, 2012. MGM will produce, finance and distribute 007's
23rd adventure in
partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Daniel Craig will
be returning as the legendary British secret agent, alongside Judi
Dench as "M", with Sam Mendes directing a screenplay written by Neal
Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan. The cast will also include Bérénice Marlohe,
Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney and Ben Wishaw.
The film will shoot at Pinewood Studios and on location in London, England;
Scotland; Shanghai, China and Istanbul, Turkey.
It will be the longest gap between Bond movies without
a change in the lead role. In addition, 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of
the EON Productions series of James
Bond films.
