Trivia - Die Another Day

Brett Ratner, Stuart Baird and Stephen Hopkins were considered to direct the movie. Editor Christian Wagner is the first non-English editor to work on a Bond film.

Alleged working titles included "Cold Fusion", "Black Sun" and "Beyond the Ice". The ice theme forms a major part of this movie's marketing yet no such icy wording formed the movie's eventual title

Following her Best Actress win at the 2002 Oscars, Halle Berry became the first Academy Award winner to be a leading Bond Girl in the EON Productions official series. Although only just. She won the award while shooting this movie. Kim Basinger who played Domino in the unofficial Never Say Never Again (1983)) won her Oscar for L.A. Confidential (1997) long after she had been a Bond Girl. Judi Dench who plays M also has an Oscar from Shakespeare in Love (1998).

Halle Berry wasn't the only member of the cast and crew to do well at the Oscars during filming. Sound recordist Chris Munro also won the Oscar for Best Sound for his work on Black Hawk Down (2001). The award was presented to him by Halle Berry.

This is the first Bond film to give the actress playing the Bond girl equal billing with the lead actor. Halle Berry is the first movie superstar to play a Bond girl; all previous Bond girls either became famous after their Bond film appearance, or were at best moderately popular at the time they paired up with 007.

Jinx aka Jacinta Johnson's medical file at the DNA Replacement Clinic named her as Jacinta Jordan and born in 1973 making her aged approximately 29 years of age in the time of the film.

Tang Ling Zao ("The Man Who Never Smiles") is the first Korean henchman to appear in the series since Oddjob in Goldfinger (1964). Rick Yune's diamond-encrusted make-up took 3 hours to apply.

Korean actor In-Pyo Cha turned down the role of Colonel Moon.

Will Yun Lee plays a character named Colonel Moon. The James Bond novel by Kingsley Amis, written (under the pseudonym Robert Markham) shortly after Ian Fleming's death, was entitled "Colonel Sun".The full name of Colonel Moon is Colonel Tan-Sun Moon, making the connection to Amis' novel even more explicit.

As Verity, the fencing instructor, Madonna makes this the first Bond film to feature a cameo by the performer who sings the theme song. Her uncredited cameo was the final scene shot during principal photography. When James Bond introduces himself to Gustav before they fight, Madonna was originally to introduce him with the catchphrase, "Bond. James Bond." However, it was later decided that fans would prefer the line coming from Pierce Brosnan.

Deborah Moore, the daughter of former James Bond actor Roger Moore, makes a brief appearance in the film as an Air Hostess on the British Airways flight.

When confronting Bond, Miranda Frost says, "I know all about you, 007. It's sex for dinner and death for breakfast." The line "Death for breakfast" is the title of Chapter 11 in the Ian Fleming novel "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Other novel references: the cigarette poster of a sailor seen behind John Cleese is referenced in "Thunderball", the basic plot is from Moonraker" and the sheet of protective glass between Bond and M references "The Man With The Golden Gun".

The character Wai Lin, played by Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), was originally supposed to make her return, aiding Bond in Hong Kong, but no arrangement could be worked out with the actress and she was replaced by Chinese Intelligence agent (and hotelier) Chang.

The brief shot of a missile being fired from a frigate (to destroy Icarus) is recycled footage from Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

When Bond enters the Cuban clinic through the hidden door, you can hear a sample of the brainwashing noise used in Ipcress File, The (1965). A nod to another British agent, Harry Palmer.

The uniforms which James Bond and Jinx wear in the climax action sequence have small Korean character name tags which read "Chang-Choen 1 dong dae". It means these are uniforms of civilian reserved troops of Chang Choen town in Seoul, part of a security training team.

This is the first Bond film in which 007 and Moneypenny do not actually have contact. Bond sees her "corpse" during a VR training simulation, and at the end of the film Moneypenny creates a virtual reality fantasy involving Bond, but otherwise the two never come face to face in "real life". In Licence to Kill (1989) the two don't meet either, but they do at least communicate by phone.

This is the first time since 1962 (when Peter Burton played "Major Boothroyd" [Q] in Dr. No (1962)) when someone other than Desmond Llewelyn has played "Q." Llewelyn passed away in 1999 and John Cleese (who plays "Q's Assistant" in The World Is Not Enough (1999) was named as his successor. One of the extras in the fencing scene is Justin Lewellyn, son of Desmond Llewelyn.

Aged 33, Toby Stephens was the youngest main Bond villain to date. Stephens was 16 years younger than Pierce Brosnan who was 49 at the time. This is not the first time a Bond actor was older than the main villain on a age gap. In 1985, Roger Moore at 57 was also 16 years older than his main villain Christopher Walken, who was 42 at the time. In Moore's first outing as Bond in Live and Let Die (1973), the main villain was played by Yaphet Kotto who was 36, being the first Bond villain actor to be younger than the Bond actor.

The opening titles sequence, showing Bond's torture by North Korean jailers, is the first ever sequence which is part of the story for a Bond movie and not just a separate aesthetically designed title sequence.

First time that James Bond sports a beard in a James Bond movie. Pierce Brosnan is shown having more than just a few day's growth after being held captive for a considerable amount of time. The closest shave prior to this was the James Bond send-up OK Connery (1967) where Sean Connery's brother Neil Connery had a beard spoofing his brother's James Bond image.

For his scenes as the captive Bond, Pierce Brosnan spent 3 hours in make-up every day, having a false beard and long hair applied.

The knife which Jinx uses to cut the fruit while in bed with James is the SPEEDLOCK II, model no. 110106, manufactured by Boker Germany.

The large hovercraft in the pre-title sequence is a British-made Griffon 2000TD

The fuchsia crystal dress Jinx wears during the Ice Palace party was designed by Donatella Versace. Costume designer Lindy Hemming saw a similar Versace design in a fashion magazine and requested Donatella to make one to Halle Berry's specifications.

The second signature James Bond theme, the OO7 theme composed by John Barry had not been heard since Moonraker (1979) until this movie. An electronic version of the 007 Theme was re-worked by composer David Arnold and was heard during the car chase on ice sequence.

The movie's title song "Die Another Day" sung by Madonna debuted in the US Charts on 19 October 2002 and peaked at the No. #8 spot. The song was nominated both for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song.

One of the few Bond films to openly use alternate source music - in this case, The Clash's "London Calling". The previous film to do this was A View to a Kill (1985) which utilized The Beach Boys' "California Girls".

Although the production went to Cuba to source locations, they were unable to shoot there due to US legislation so Cuba was recreated in a combination of Pinewood Studios outside London and Cadiz in Spain.

The route diagram on the station wall in the disused tube station where Q introduces Bond to the new Aston indicates that the station is on the Piccadilly line and that the next station is Hyde Park Corner followed by Knightsbridge etc. Reference to the current tube map suggests that this station is Green Park (the station before Hyde Park Corner). However there is a real disused station on the Piccadilly Line between Green Park and Hyde Park Corner. It was called Down Street and was closed in the 1930s. It was used during the war as a temporary Cabinet War Rooms, and later by the Railway Executive as offices. Even today, much of the internal infrastructure is complete, but it could not be used in the way shown in the film because, although the station is closed, the tracks through it are still in normal daily use by Piccadilly line trains.

Only the second Bond film to feature James Bond's office. It was last seen in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).

For the first time, the famous gun barrel sequence now includes a bullet zooming by after Bond fires.

For the sword fight, film makers decreased the film speed to make it look as if the actors were moving faster than they actually were.

Sequences where James Bond travels in 1st Class aboard a passenger plane, and where he holds onto the front wheel of the plane as the landing gear deploys, and finally walks from the aircraft after it has landed, were filmed in March 2001 in British Airways engineering bases at Heathrow Airport, using green screens and a fan. They were cut from the final film.

The fictional abandoned station on the London Underground where Bond meets M, Vauxhall Cross, is a reference to the address of the real MI6 headquarters in London, located at 85 Vauxhall Cross (approximately five minutes' drive from where Bond enters the station).

The futuristic weapon that Colonel Moon uses during parts of the chase after the opening sequence did really exist when the movie was made, at least in prototype form. It's a Heckler and Koch OICW (Objective Individual Combat Weapon), a weapon developed as the future's infantry assault rifle as part of the US Army's "Soldier 2000" program. It consist of a grenade launcher mounted on top of a 'regular' 5.56mm (.223) caliber assault rifle, as well as a digital camera within the optic sights. This digital camera is supposed to be linked to a display within the soldier's helmet, enabling him to look/shoot around corners, as well as transmitting live footage of a combat situation to his troop commander or a higher superior.

The V12 engine in the Aston Martin Vanquish was switched with a small block Ford V8 to make room for machine guns etc. The 6-speed sequential transmission was also changed to a 3-speed auto transmission.

The magazine with the picture of Gustav Graves that Bond reads on the British Airways flight is the real in-flight magazine for British Airways. Called "High Life", the edition seen was for the month of November 2002. The Magazine in fact interviews the actor playing Graves about his part and includes an article on all previous Bond Movies and their respective stunts.

A huge 20,000-watt light array which took a week to construct was used for the Icarus demonstration scene. It required the most amount of lights ever required in a British film.

The device used to identify Bond in the beginning is a Sony Ericsson P800 PDA/Mobile Phone.

The North Korean sequences were deliberately bleached of color to emphasize the inhospitality of the location.

In the first scene at the North Korean beach, two North Korean soldiers are talking. It means "What the hell is the taste of this cigarette? / I can give you Chinese tobacco."

The book that 007 picks up from the Cuban sleeper along with a revolver, is "A Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies," written by James Bond. Ian Fleming, an avid birdwatcher, based his famous spy character on the author's name.

Icarus was originally called Solaris but was changed when the producers found out that Solaris (2002) was in production.

The painting that gets slashed during the swordfight between Bond and Graves is a reproduction of Thomas Gainsborough's famous "Blue Boy" from 1770. The original "Blue Boy" hangs in the Huntington Library (San Marino, Calif.) The reproduction was hand-painted by Lyons Corner House Fine Art Reproductions in London.

The first Bond movie to open on an even-numbered year (2002) since The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).

Some location filming took place at 'The Eden Project' near St Austell, Cornwall in the United Kingdom in the first week of March 2002. Gustav Graves' diamond mine/giant greenhouse was also recreated at Pinewood which housed 5000 plants. They had to be watered twice a day.

Sequences featuring a Korean beach were partly filmed at Holywell Bay near Newquay in Cornwall, United Kingdom over several evenings in February/March 2002. The local Holywell surf hut was transformed into a North Korean pill box and a small forest of pine trees were planted in the dunes behind to mimic a remote shore.

The opening surfing sequence was shot off the coast of Maui on Christmas Day 2001

SFX Supervisor Chris Corbould ensured that no part of the real forest in Iceland was destroyed by explosions - the trees his team used were unsold Christmas trees.

Although a quarter of the film is set in Iceland, none of the main cast actually went there. Only the second unit and stunt crews did.

The hovercraft chase sequence was filmed nearby to a working airport. Pilots are understandably nervous about seeing gunfire and explosions at an airport so a schedule had to be worked out whereby filming could take place whenever the airport wasn't too busy.

Pierce Brosnan's knee injury which he incurred in the opening hovercraft segment prompted the production to stop shooting for 7 days. This was the first time any Bond movie has had to shut down production due to injury.

Second unit director Vic Armstrong had real trouble finding stunt drivers who were able to handle a hovercraft. Another one of the problems the crew encountered when shooting the North Korean segments in England was that there were only 2 fully qualified Asian stuntmen in the UK. To get round that, they tapped local martial arts clubs for more talent.

Both the Aston Martin and the Jaguar were completely stripped of engine and running gear. All the Aston Martins used in the ice high speed chase had to be converted to four wheel drive. These were replaced by the Ford V8, 4WD kit and 4spd Auto 'box from Ford's Explorer. This was to help them perform on ice.

The Jaguar driven by Zao is not a production car, but only a prototype supposedly showcasing the next generation XKR. The design has now been changed, however, so the car in the film will never see production.

Gustav Graves' parachute jump over Buckingham Palace could never happen in real life. Any plane that flies within a kilometer of the palace will put Britain's anti-terrorist units and the Civil Aviation Authority on full alert. Location manager Simon Marsden had to negotiate long and hard with the appropriate authorities to secure permission to film in this most sensitive of locations. His negotiations were further complicated by the death of the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

The Ice Palace in the film was inspired by the real-life Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Kiruna, Sweden. Producer Barbara Broccoli first saw a photo of it in a magazine while traveling on a plane and thought it would make a good set piece for a Bond movie. The actual location is 200 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden. Ice hotels or similar structures like an Ice Palace, Ice Museum, Snow Castle or Ice Castle have existed in Norway, Finland, Canada, Romania and Russia, but such a building has never existed in Iceland, where some of the ice palace environs were shot.

The ice palace took approximately 6 months to construct.

Filming had already begun when Lee Tamahori decided he wanted a car chase through the ice palace set. His set designer Peter Lamont had to rebuild the set with steel girders to support the cars racing around it.

Only five cars in the entire movie do not belong to either Ford or Ford's Premier Automotive Group (Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo). There are two Ferrari F355's, a Porsche 911, a Mercedes SL and a Lamborghini Diablo. All of these cars (except possibly the Merc) get damaged / destroyed / dropped out of the back of a plane. It is also worth noting that none of the other manufacturers' cars are examples of the latest models, whereas Ford is using all of its latest or prototype models.

Vehicles featured included a silver Aston Martin V12 Vanquish also an invisible car in the movie; a Russian Antonov An-124 airplane; Jinx's drives a red 2003 coral Ford Thunderbird in Iceland; 007's drives Raoul's brown & white Ford Fairlane in Cuba; Zao's green Jaguar XKR for car chases in Iceland; two Switchblade Gliders (aka PHASST - Programmable High Altitude Single Soldier Transport); a Sunseeker 48-50 speedboat; an Ilyushin Il-76 airplane; Gustav Grave's Ice Dragster; a black Notar MD-600N helicopter for an escape from the Antonov; Osprey Hovercraft; and black and yellow Bombardier Ski-Doo MX ZREV snowmobiles.

When Q explains how the Vanquish works, he is explaining technology that the US Air Force is actually developing for use in a new "daylight" stealth aircraft. However, the "invisibility" capability is only useful at extreme distance (miles), and would not in any way be as good as depicted on the car in this film.

Due to Philips products being known as Norelco in the USA, the Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care (DAP) unit of Philips provide Bond shaving with a Philishave Sensotec shaver in non-USA prints and a Norelco Spectra shaver for the USA.

Pierce Brosnan used a Walther P99 with a fake suppressor and custom-made leather holster. Ten of these models were supplied by Bapty UK, all in the same serial number range. Serial #B8041837, B8041841, B8041852, B8041854, B8041861, B8041868.

This is the first Bond film to feature an Aston Martin as the Bond car since The Living Daylights (1987).

Trailers for this film were played at screenings of Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) due to an out-of-court settlement among MGM, Danjaq and New Line. All promotional materials (including online trailers) bearing the movie's original title, "Austin Powers in Goldmember", were withdrawn in late January 2002. MGM and Danjaq, which control the James Bond license, obtained a cease-and-desist order from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) arbitration panel on the grounds that New Line was attempting to trade on the James Bond franchise without authorization. The matter went to arbitration and the film was known briefly as "The third installment of Austin Powers" until the matter was settled on 11 April 2002. MGM agreed that New Line could use the original "Goldmember" title on condition that it had approval of any future titles that parodied existing Bond titles.

The literal translations of some of this film's foreign language titles include "Death Can Wait" (Finland and Italy); "A New Day To Die" (Brazil), "You Die in Another Day" (Portugal); "Another Day To Die" (Argentina, Peru & Venezuela); "Death Comes Tomorrow" (Poland); "Don't Die Today" (Czech Republic) and "Die, But Not Today" (Russia).

The name of the hotel that James Bond visits in Hong Kong was The Rubyeon Royale Hotel. The name "Rubyeon" is a conflation of two words: Ruby and Eon. The first word "Ruby" represents the Ruby Anniversary relating to the second word "Eon" meaning EON Productions. "Royale" is a reference to "Casino Royale", the first Ian Fleming James Bond novel and incidentally, Casino Royale (2006) would become the next film in the 007 film series. As such, the "Rubyeon Royale" phrase references the 40th Anniversary of EON Production's James Bond series.

The Royal Charity World Premiere of Die Another Day (2002) was held on 18th November 2002 at London's Royal Albert Hall, South Kensington, London in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of England. The venue was transformed into an ice palace for the night. The Gala Charity Premiere Benefit was also the The Royal Annual Film Performance of 2002, the 56th and the first ever for a Bond movie. It was also the second to be resided over by Queen Elizabeth II who had attended the premiere thirty-five years earlier for You Only Live Twice (1967). The Gala Charity Premiere Benefit was held in aid of the Cinema & Television Benevolent Fund (CTBF) of which the Queen is patron. A parallel premiere was also held on the same night at London's Leicester Square's Empire UCI Theatre.

Although it ranked fifth in the box office on its opening weekend in South Korea, there was protest at the movie's depiction of Americans giving orders to the South Korean military. The film dropped out of the top ten by its second week and one theater in Seoul pulled it from the screens in response to the protests. Some smaller theaters that usually get second-run movies refused to pick it up.

The movie set a new record for merchandising, with $120 million worth of deals with 24 various companies for product placement and/or tie-ins. These included vehicles Aston Martin Vanquish, Jaguar XKR convertible, 2003 James Bond Edition Ford Thunderbird and Ski-Doo snowmobile; drinks Bollinger champagne, Finlandia vodka, Heineken beer, 7 Up, and Ty Nant curvy PET bottles; Revlon cosmetics OO7 Color Collection; Brioni suit tailoring; Electronic Arts video game James Bond 007: Nightfirex (2002) (VG); British Airways and Samsonite luggage; Mattel OO7 Barbie Collector's Edition set; Omega Seamaster Swatch watches; Phillips Electronics Philishave Sensotec and Norelco Spectra shavers; Kodak cameras; Vodaphone and Sony Ericsson mobile phones; VISA credit cards; Energizer batteries; Phillips heart rate monitor; Sony security systems, TV cameras and laptop PCs; and retail outlets Circuit City and Best Buy.

A sequel was planned, featuring Halle Berry's character Jinx as the lead. Neal Purvis and Robert Wade wrote for two months and even a director was hired (Stephen Frears). However, after the failure of other female-character-driven action films like Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003), MGM pulled the plug on the project. Halle Berry has said that she would love to return as Jinx in another Bond movie. She has allegedly said that she would like to do it so much she would do the role for free.

The first Bond movie to be released on a 2-DVD pack.