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A deal has been struck to shoot the daring Bond
23 stunt sequence atop trains in India...
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Stunt Sequence Approved
2nd September 2011
James Bond will be seen leaping from the top
of trains in India in the 23rd
film in the 007 series now that
permissions have finally been granted to shoot the daring stunt
sequence on Indian Railways.
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Following a meeting between the railway minister and India
Take One Productions (EON Production's partner in the country)
on Monday, changes were made to the proposed Bond
23 sequence that ensured passenger safety and the image
of the company would be maintained. In return, James Bond
will become 'brand ambassador' to the Indian Railways company.
"When the Indian line producer came
for discussions, I said Bond will have to promote Indian
railways and be
its brand ambassador. They agreed. We will soon have a
written agreement," railway minister Dinesh Trivedi
said.
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A mock-up of the stunt sequence was shot in England with model
trains to demonstrate what would be required to shoot the stunts
full scale.
The sequence
will see 007 jump a speeding motorcycle on to the roof
of a moving train, run along the roof on
foot, and then
leap to another moving train. Due to sequence ending with Bond
jumping off the second train in to a large body of water below
the tracks, producers had requested to shoot in Sabarmati in
Gujarat or Goa.
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After seeing the model footage,
Indian Railways requested a few changes, namely that trains would
not be seen
crowded with
passengers clinging to the roof. "One of the conditions
for allowing the shoot is that they cannot show India or Indian
Railways in bad light and the assurances will have to be given
to us in writing. The film will be viewed across the world where
it will seem as if all trains here have people traveling on
roof tops, which is not true. Also, traveling on the roof of
a train is prohibited by law and that cannot be encouraged," Trivedi
said.
"Whatever help is needed by them will be given," Chandralekha
Mukherjee, executive director, information and publicity, railway
ministry, told reporters Thursday. She said the company had been
told that during the shooting, it should not stop traffic, inconvenience
passengers and pay all the dues to the local railway offices
in case of damages to railway property. She said providing a
special train and doing some work in the coaches, as desired
by the film production company, was not a problem.
The train top stunt sequence is scheduled to be filmed in Goa,
India, in February 2012. Other
locations in the country will
include Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, and Mumbai.
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.
