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Location Guide - The Living Daylights
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Gibraltar
The high-octane action takes off on a 00-Agent training
exercise at the sheer cliffs of Gibraltar. A rogue
agent, posing as an MI6 operative, sabotages 007. When
the exercise at the NATO outpost falls apart around
Bond, he gives chase around
the winding road to avenge the death of his team members.
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Bratislava, Czechoslovakia*
Bond is sent to Czechoslovakia as a hit-man to protect the Soviet defective, General Georgi Koskov. 007 'scopes-out' the defection as Koskov makes a dash for cover and Bond spies the KGB assassin - the girl with the cello. When the General is safe, 007 takes over the operation from Agent Saunders and transports Koskov, via the natural gas line, out of Czechoslovakia. Bond later returns to rendezvous with the cellist and Koskov's girlfriend, Kara Milovy. He convinces her to travel with him in the hope of connecting with Georgi.
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Bladen (safe house), UK
With the Russian defector safe and sound, 007
returns to the Secret Service's Oxfordshire safe house
to meet with M and
Koskov. Bond retrieves a package of Harrods' finest offerings
for the General, shortly before Necros snatches him
on board a helicopter disguised as the Red Cross. James
Bond is not present at the abduction but a battle ensues
between protection staff and the Russian's goons.
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London, UK
007 returns to MI6 headquarters but clashes
with M when the Secret Service Chief gives Bond orders
to assassinate General
Pushkin who Koskov has named as 'behind' the revival
of Smiert Spionim - a war-time KGB operation to assassinate
known spies. Bond reluctantly takes the paperwork and
receives tickets for Tangier via Bratislava, once more.
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Vienna, Austria
007 and Kara, hoping to be reunited with her lover
Georgi, arrive in the picturesque city of Vienna.
Bond books into his usual residence: the Hotel
Im Palais Schwarzenberg, attends the opera at the
Musikverein Concert Hall, and splashes out on a
designer dress for Kara before uniting with the
disgruntled yet loyal Saunders of Section
V. At the Prater Café in Prater Park,
Saunders provides Bond with the valuable link between
the double agent Koskov and arms dealer Brad
Whitaker.
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Tangier, Morocco
In sweltering Tangier, 007 stalks Pushkin to the Hotel
Ile de France, where the Russian is planning an evening
with a lady-friend. Bond interrogates the General,
during which they both come to the same conclusion
- Koskov has been running his own agenda. At a conference
007 stage Pushkin's death. Bond must
evade the authorities in a frenetic chase
across the rooftops of Tangier. Once the mission
is all
but wrapped up, Bond returns to Morocco to track
down Whitaker with the help of Felix
Leiter. |
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Afghanistan
Captured by Koskov and his goons, 007 is loaded into
a Harrier and flown to a desolate Russian airfield
in the midst of the Afghan desert. 007 and Kara
are jailed, but not for long. The pair make their
escape with the help of an eccentric ex-pat, Kamran
Shah, who is working for the Mujadin. Bond and Kara
witness a trade between Koskov and the opium dealers:
The Snow-Leopard Brotherhood. Armed with a
plastic explosive, Bond poses as one of the Mujadin
and foils Koskov's plans in a massive battle between
Shah's resistance and the Russians. |
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New York, USA
Kara performs a world tour, commencing at the impressive
Carnegie Hall, New York. Shah and his men miss
the performance after some trouble at the airport
and 007 surprises the cellist with drinks
in her changing room post-concert.
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*Bratislava is now the capital of Slovakia.
Shooting The Living Daylights
John Glen rolled
cameras on his fourth James Bond adventure, "The
Living Daylights", on 29th September 1986 at the Bond
crew's traditional home of Pinewood Studios. On the E-Stage the
crew captured interiors of the UK safe house and London Secret
Service building before departing for Austria. Many of the details
were kept top secret until the press conference in Vienna, where
Cubby Broccoli introduced Timothy Dalton to the world press.
The crew filmed for two weeks in Vienna to capture
James
Bond
on
location at the Prater Amusement Park, Schönbrunn Palace
where Bond and Kara arrive by horse and carriage, and Volksoper
Opera House which was doubling for the Bratislavan performance
hall.
Above: Bond clocks up the air miles on "The Living Daylights" mission - from Gibraltar to Czechoslovakia, on to the UK and back to Bratislava; escaping the KGB across the border to Vienna before jetting to Tangier... |
The theme park sequences, filmed over the course
of three evenings, brought John Glen back to his roots. The director
had previously worked on 1949 adaptation of Graham Green's "The
Third Man" as a sound editor and was familiar with Prater
Park and the Reisenrad Ferris Wheel. In "The Living Daylights",
007 and Kara share a romantic moment onboard the wheel before
Bond liaises with Saunders.
Meanwhile, the second unit were packing for
Gibraltar to shoot the pre-title sequence. When Timothy Dalton
joined them to contribute to the Jeep-catching the often-dramatic
actor through himself at the opportunity to get involved in the
action.
Above: 007 is captured by Koskov
and transported by military aircraft to a remote outpost
in Afghanistan... |
In mid-October, the crew touched down in Morocco
where they shot scenes at the impressive Forbes Musium house,
in Rue Shakespeare, which would double for Whitaker's grand headquarters.
The team also captured scenes at Hotel Ile de France, where Bond
observes Pushkin arriving for the conference, before heading
to the desert plains of Ouarzazate.
The massive production of "The Living Daylights" saw
caterers, camera crew, stunt men and even a surgeon join the
production on location at Ouarzazate. All the Afghan sequences
were actually captured without leaving Morocco and the special
effects crew used foreground miniatures and movie magic to crash
the dope-laden Harrier into the Atlas Mountains.
Prior to Christmas 1986, the team returned to Pinewood where they were joined by the Royal couple, Diana and Charles, while the team were shooting sequences in Q's high-tech lab. Charles was responsible for firing the Gadget-master's Ghetto-blaster and Diana made front page news by breaking a sugar-bottle over her husband's head. Production on the 15th James Bond adventure wrapped on 13th February 1987 and a week later Cubby Broccoli was awarded a prestigious OBE for his contribution to cinema.
Left: With the mission a success, Bond takes a well deserved break in New York to see the launch of Kara Milovy's world tour... |
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