Location Guide - The Living Daylights

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

*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...