Location Guide - Die Another Day
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Pyongong Airbase, North Korea (fictional)
Bond leads
a squad of men on a mission to Korea. Surfing into
the DPRK and intercepting a diamond smuggler's helicopter,
007 poses as the gem trader to meet the hostile Colonel
Moon. But Bond is exposed by an insider and stages
a daring escape over the DMZ via weaponised hovercraft.
007 is captured by General
Moon and interrogated for 14 months. When the
North Korean terrorist Zao is
traded for 007, Robinson and Falco supervise.
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Hong Kong, China
Sedated and imprisoned in a floating hospital, Bond is
subject to M's scorn
but swears he isn't the source of a leak at MI6 to
the North Koreans. Bond escapes his clinical cell
and finds himself in the mist of Hong Kong harbour.
Still unshaved after the 14 months and in the same
slack dress, Bond wanders into the 5-star Rubyeon
Royale Hotel where he is a regular guest. Showered
and shaved, Bond is coaxed by the hotel
manager who turns out to be Chinese Intelligence
and 007 cuts him a deal for information
on
Zao.
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Havana, Cuba
Chinese Intelligence pinpoints the
Korean in Havana - more specifically Isla Los Organos,
an exclusive
gene clinic. Bond poses as an ornithologist whilst he
surveys the isle from a distance and sips mojitos with
the alluring Jinx.
The following day he boards a boat to the island and
locates
Zao undergoing gene replacement
in order to change his appearance. He also encounters
the able-bodied Jinx, making a scene.
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London, UK
Bond proves the connection between Gustav
Graves - a wealthy industrialist - and Zao by presenting
M with diamonds he had swiped from Zao. These diamonds
were identical to African conflict diamonds, indicating
Graves' Icelandic diamond mine was a fraud. M grows
to trust 007 once more and allows him back in an official
capacity
to investigate Graves. Bond heads to Blades - a
fencing club - where he has a showdown with the pompous
Brit. Writing it off as 'sport' Graves invites 007
to his Iceland lodgings where he is making an impressive
announcement.
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Jökulsárlón, Iceland
At his gigantic ice-palace, purpose built for the event,
Graves is unavailing Icarus - a space satellite
program that uses diamonds to radiate the sun's
light and heat to places it normally does not reach.
Digging a little deeper, Bond finds no evidence
of a diamond mine, but unmasks Graves as the North
Korean Colonel Moon, hellbent on uniting Korea
by force. Graves demonstrates that his Icarus toy
is also capable of destruction and reveals he plans
to carve up South Korea and the DMZ with it.
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US Military Bunker,
South Korea
Jinx and Bond rendezvous in an American military facility
on the southern side of the DMZ. Here M is adamant
on sending 007 in to stop Moon from carving up the
demilitarized zone, but Falco is reluctant to allow
Agent 'Jinx' Johnson to accompany him. Finally the
two are cleared for an incursion mission and the
assassination of the villain. What would be a simple
marksman's job is turned into an airborne fiasco
when Bond and Jinx have to board the plane to get
to Moon. |
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Shooting Die Another Day
Prior to the commencement of principal photography, a skeleton crew were deployed
to Peahi beach, off the island of Maui, Hawaii, USA to capture James Bond's
pre-titles sequence surfing. The location was to double for the shores of
North Korea. The crew shot this daring sequence under the guidance of pro-surfer
Laird
Hamilton
on Christmas Day 2001.
Above: Bond is retrieved by Robinson from hostile North Korea and taken to Hong Kong for recovery and debriefing. |
Lee
Tamahori rolled cameras on the first unit of "Die
Another Day" on 11th January 2002 at the historic
Pinewood Studios, capturing interiors for the film, but it
was not long before they were on the road for this production,
with a plot that demanded locations from all corners of the
globe. As it was neither realistic for the crew to shoot in
Korea or Cuba, suitable substitutes had to be found. The former
in the shape of Hawaii (for the surfing), Hampshire (for the
airbase) and Cornwall (for the beach and helicopter sequence).
The Welsh
coast would serve the production in doubling for the final
sequence of the film in which Jinx and 007 relax with the mission
a success in remote temple on the coast of Korea.
Above: Bond seeks information on
Zao from Hong Kong authorities and pursues the terrorist
to Havana. |
By mid-February Brosnan was shooting at the
Army Driving Training Area in Aldershot, Hampshire to capture
the
beginnings of the pre-titles sequence hovercraft chase. Here
Brosnan injured his knee which brought an abrupt halt to shooting
whilst the star underwent surgery. Pickups for the hovercraft
sequence were canned at Chinnor Cement Works in Oxfordshire before
the crew returned to more sophisticated surroundings of the London's
Reform Club.
Above: With new evidence to provide M with, 007 is UK bound again, where he will meet the infamous Gustav Graves. |
Filming in May was staged at the Reform Club, 104 Pall Mall, London - doubling for the fictional Blades fencing club - where Bond and Graves engage in a quick and brutal sward fight. Another London location was the famed Buckingham Palace for which the crew sought and received permission to shoot in the entranceway to for a single morning. Crew were on location from the early hours of the morning setting up the required equipment and as soon as the light allowed, Tamahori was canning his sequence. The logistics people had even secured the rights for up to three men to parachute from a static helicopter hovering over the Palace, doubling for Gustav Graves' in a grand entrance to receive his knighthood. Another memorable London locale was the security booth at Westminster Bridge which doubles for the entrance to the abandoned Vauxhall tube station that MI6 has made its hideout.
Above: Bond and Jinx rendezvous in Iceland. |
The first international stop for the crew would be La Caleta,
Spain. Here the crew built their own mini-Caribbean, despite it being early
spring. Halle Berry's emergence from the waves would be a true test of her
devotion, with the Spanish coastal waters reportedly icy at that time of year.
The next stop was Höfn and Jökulsárlón,
Iceland. Here the crew would have to make do without an ice palace
or the gigantic domes as seen in the film. The domes are modeled
on those of The Eden Project in Cornwall, England. Here the crew
actually spent some time shooting the interiors which in the
film (as with the real dome) were forest-like sanctuaries for
rare plants.
Above: James Bond returns to Korea to take down Colonel Moon once again. |
The biggest challenge facing the crew in Iceland was undoubtedly
the filming of the Zao / Bond showdown. Both the Jaguar and the Aston Martin
had had the attention of EON's Q-Branch in order to fit them out for ice-bound
performance and many of the working gadgets as seen on screen. Additional scenes
for this chase were filmed at Jostedalsbreen National Park, Norway and RAF
Little Rissington, Gloucestershire.
