GoldenEye (1995) is the
seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star
Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 officer James Bond. The film was
directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film in the series not
to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming. The
story was conceived and written by Michael France, with later
collaboration by other writers. In the film, Bond fights to prevent
an arms syndicate from using the GoldenEye satellite weapon against
London in order to cause a global financial meltdown.
GoldenEye
was released in 1995 after a six-year hiatus in the series caused by
legal disputes, during which Timothy Dalton resigned from the role of
James Bond and was replaced by Pierce Brosnan. M was also recast,
with actress Judi Dench becoming the first woman to portray the
character, replacing Robert Brown. GoldenEye was the first Bond film
made after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the
Cold War, which provided a background for the plot.
The film accumulated a
worldwide gross of US$350.7 million, considerably better than
Dalton's films, without taking inflation into account. Some critics
viewed the film as a modernisation of the series, and felt Brosnan
was a definite improvement over his predecessor. The film also
received award nominations for "Best Achievement in Special
Effects" and "Best Sound" from the British Academy of
Film and Television Arts.
Licence to Kill had
underperformed at the box office and was, in the American market, the
lowest-grossing film of the series. Also, in 1989, MGM/UA was sold to
the Australian broadcasting group Qintex, which wanted to merge the
company with Pathé. Danjaq, the parent company of Eon
Productions, sued MGM/UA because the Bond back catalogue was being
licensed to Pathé, who intended to broadcast the Bond series
on television in several countries across the world without the
approval of Danjaq. These legal disputes delayed the film for several years.
While
the legal disputes went on, Timothy Dalton was still expected to
play Bond in the new film, as he had signed a three-film contract.
Pre-production work began in May 1990 with a story draft written by
Alfonso Ruggiero Jr. and Michael G. Wilson. Production was set to
start in 1990 in Hong Kong for a release in late 1991, however the
legal disputes caused these dates to pass without a film in
production. In an interview in 1993, Dalton said that Michael France
was writing the screenplay, due to be completed in January or
February 1994. Despite France's screenplay being completed by that
January, in April 1994 Dalton officially resigned from the role. To
replace Dalton, the producers cast Pierce Brosnan, who had been
prevented from succeeding Roger Moore in 1986 because of his contract
to star in the Remington Steele television series. Judi Dench was
cast as M, making GoldenEye the first film of the series featuring a
female M. The decision is widely believed to be inspired by Stella
Rimington becoming head of MI5 in 1992.
Brosnan
first met James Bond films producer Albert R. Broccoli on the sets
of For Your Eyes Only (1981) because his wife, Cassandra Harris,
(left) was in the film. Broccoli said, "if he can act ... he's
my guy" to inherit the role of Bond from Roger Moore. It was
reported by both Entertainment Tonight and the National Enquirer,
that Brosnan was going to inherit another role of Moore's, that of
Simon Templar in The Saint. Brosnan denied the rumours in July 1993
but added, "it's still languishing there on someone's desk in Hollywood."
Although it still had a 28%
share of the audience in its time slot, NBC cancelled Remington
Steele in 1986, so Brosnan was offered the role of James Bond. The
publicity surrounding the announcement of the new 007 revived
interest in Remington Steele and two months after the cancellation,
NBC executive Warren Littlefield reversed the decision. Brosnan was
forced to decline the chance to play Bond, owing to his contract and
Broccoli stated he did not want Bond to be identified with a current
TV series, and instead gave the role to Timothy Dalton in The
Living Daylights (1987). In June of 1994 it was announced that
Brosnan would finally get his chance to play Bond. His wife, and
former Bond Girl, Cassandra
Harris did not live to see it. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer
in 1987 and battled the illness for four years until her death on
December 28th 1991.
GoldenEye was produced by
Albert R. Broccoli's Eon Productions. With Albert Broccoli's health
deteriorating (he died seven months after the film's release), his
daughter Barbara Broccoli described him as taking "a bit of a
back seat" in film's production. In his stead, Barbara and
Michael G. Wilson took the lead roles in production while Albert
Broccoli oversaw the production of GoldenEye as consulting producer
but is credited as "presenter". Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
approached John Woo to make GoldenEye; Woo turned down the
opportunity, but said he was honoured by the offer. The producers
then chose New Zealander Martin Campbell as the director. Brosnan
later described Campbell as "warrior-like in his take on the
piece" and that "there was a huge passion there on both our parts".
The producers had
originally chosen not to use Richard Maibaum, long-time writer for
the series; he died in 1991. After Michael France delivered the
original screenplay, Jeffrey Caine was brought in to rewrite it.
Caine kept many of France's ideas but added the prologue prior to the
credits. Kevin Wade polished the script and Bruce Feirstein added the
finishing touches. In the film, the writing credit was shared by
Caine and Feirstein, while France was credited with only the story,
an arrangement he felt was unfair, particularly as he believed the
additions made were not an improvement on his original version. Wade
did not receive an official credit, but was acknowledged in the
naming of Jack Wade, the CIA character he created.
While the story was not
based on a work by Ian Fleming, the title GoldenEye traces its
origins to the name of Fleming's Jamaican estate (pictured above)
where he wrote the Bond novels. Fleming gave a number of origins for
the name of his estate, including Carson McCullers' Reflections in a
Golden Eye and Operation Goldeneye, a contingency plan Fleming
himself developed during World War II in case of a Nazi invasion
through Spain.
Since the release of
Licence to Kill, the world had changed drastically. GoldenEye was the
first James Bond film to be produced since the fall of the Berlin
Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. This cast doubt over
whether James Bond was still relevant in the modern world, as many of
the previous films pitted him against Soviet villains trying to take
advantage of the Cold War. Much of the film industry felt that it
would be "futile" for the Bond series to make a comeback,
and that it was best left as "an icon of the past".
However, when released, the film was viewed as a successful
revitalisation and it effectively adapted the series for the 1990s
One of GoldenEye's innovations was the casting of a female M (Judi
Dench below left). In the film, the new M quickly establishes her
authority, remarking that Bond is a "sexist, misogynist
dinosaur" and a "relic of the Cold War". This is an
early indication that Bond is portrayed as far less tempestuous than
Timothy Dalton's Bond from 1989.
Principal photography for
the film began on January 16th 1995 and continued until June 6th. The
producers were unable to film at Pinewood Studios, the usual location
for Bond films, because it had been reserved for First Knight.
Instead, an old Rolls-Royce factory at the Leavesden Aerodrome in
Hertfordshire was converted into a new studio. The producers later
said Pinewood would have been too small.
The
bungee jump was filmed at the Contra Dam (also known as the Verzasca
or Locarno Dam) in Ticino, Switzerland. (Tourists can take 007 Jump
just like Bond wile visiting Tincino.) The film's casino scenes and
the Tiger helicopter's demonstration were shot in Monte Carlo.
Reference footage for the tank chase was shot on location in St.
Petersburg and matched to the studio at Leavesden. The climactic
scenes on the satellite dish were shot at Arecibo Observatory in
Puerto Rico. The actual MI6 headquarters were used for external views
of M's office. Some of the scenes in St. Petersburg were actually
shot in London – the Epsom Downs Racecourse doubled the airport
– to reduce expenses and security concerns, as the second unit
sent to Russia required bodyguards.
The French Navy provided
full use of the frigate FS La Fayette and their newest helicopter,
the Eurocopter Tiger to the film's production team. The French
government also allowed the use of Navy logos as part of the
promotional campaign for the film. However, the producers had a
dispute with the French Ministry of Defence over Brosnan's opposition
to French nuclear weapons testing and his involvement with
Greenpeace; as a result, the French premiere of the film was cancelled.
The sequences involving the
armoured train were filmed on the Nene Valley Railway, near
Peterborough in the UK. The train was composed of a British Rail
Class 20 diesel-electric locomotive and a pair of BR Mk 2 coaches,
all three heavily disguised to resemble a Soviet armoured train.
GoldenEye was the last film
of special effects supervisor Derek Meddings, to whom the film was
dedicated. Meddings' major contribution were miniatures. It was also
the first Bond film to use computer generated imagery. Among the
model effects are most external shots of Severnaya, the scene where
Janus' train crashes into the tank, and the lake which hides the
satellite dish, since the producers could not find a round lake in
Puerto Rico. The climax in the satellite dish used scenes in Arecibo,
a model built by Meddings' team and scenes shot with stuntmen in England.
Stunt car coordinator
Rémy Julienne described the car chase between the Aston Martin
DB5 and the Ferrari F355 as between "a perfectly shaped, old and
vulnerable vehicle and a racecar." The stunt had to be
meticulously planned as the cars are vastly different. Nails had to
be attached to the F355 tyres to make it skid, and during one take of
the sliding vehicles, both cars collided.
The
largest stunt sequence in the film was the tank chase, which took
around six weeks to film, partly on location in St. Petersburg and
partly at Leavesden. A Russian T-54/55 tank, on loan from the East
England Military Museum, was modified with the addition of fake
explosive reactive armour panels. In order to avoid destroying the
pavement on the city streets of St. Petersburg, the steel off-road
tracks of the T-54/55 were replaced with the rubber-shoed tracks from
a British Chieftain tank. A rectangular viewport was cut in the
glacis plate and covered with tinted Perspex, allowing a trained
driver to manoeuvre the tank from a prone position inside the
driver's compartment while Pierce Brosnan sat in the (modified)
driver's seat with his head protruding from the driver's hatch,
creating the illusion he was driving the tank.
For the confrontation
between Bond and Trevelyan inside the antenna cradle, director
Campbell decided to take inspiration from Bond's fight with Red Grant
in From Russia with Love. Pierce Brosnan and Sean Bean (pictured
below) did all the stunts themselves, except for one take where one
is thrown against the wall. Brosnan injured his hand while filming
the extending ladder sequence, making producers delay his scenes and
film the ones in Severnaya earlier.
The opening 220 m (720 ft)
bungee jump at Archangel, shot at the Verzasca Dam in Switzerland and
performed by Wayne Michaels, was voted the best movie stunt of all
time in a 2002 Sky Movies poll, and set a record for the highest
bungee jump off a fixed structure. The ending of the pre-credits
sequence with Bond jumping after the aeroplane features Jacques 'Zoo'
Malnuit riding the motorcycle to the edge and jumping, and B.J. Worth
diving after the plane, which was a working aircraft, with Worth
adding that part of the difficulty of the stunt was the kerosene
flying on his face.
The
fall of communism in Russia is the main focus of the opening titles,
designed by Daniel Kleinman (who took over from Maurice Binder after
his death in 1991). They show the collapse and destruction of several
structures associated with the Soviet Union, such as the red star,
statues of Communist leaders and the hammer and sickle. In an
interview, Kleinman said they were meant to be "a kind of story
telling sequence" showing that "what was happening in
Communist countries was Communism was falling down". According
to producer Michael G. Wilson, some Communist parties protested
against "Socialist symbols being destroyed not by governments,
but by bikini-clad women", especially the Communist Party of
India, which threatened to boycott the film.
GoldenEye was the first
film bound by BMW's three picture deal, so the producers were offered
BMW's latest roadster, the BMW Z3. It was featured in the film months
before its release, and a limited edition "007 model" sold
out within a day of being available to order. As part of the car's
marketing strategy, several Z3's were used to drive journalists from
a complimentary meal at the Rainbow Room restaurant to GoldenEye's
premiere at Radio City Music Hall.
For the film, a convertible
Z3 is equipped with the usual Q refinements, including a
self-destruct feature and Stinger missiles behind the headlights. The
Z3 does not have much screen time and none of the gadgets are used,
which Martin Campbell attributed to the deal with BMW coming in the
last stages of production. The Z3's appearance in GoldenEye is
thought to be the most successful promotion through product placement
in 1995. Mary Lou Galician, head of media analysis and criticism at
Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and
Mass Communication, said that the news coverage of Bond's switch from
Aston Martin to BMW "generated hundreds of millions of dollars
of media exposure for the movie and all of its marketing
partners." In addition, all computers in the film were provided
by IBM, and in some scenes (such as the pen grenade scene towards the
end), the OS/2 Warp splash screen can be seen on computer monitors. A
modified Omega Seamaster Quartz Professional watch features as a
major plot device several times in the film. It is shown to contain a
remote detonator and a laser. This was the first time James Bond was
shown to be wearing a watch by Omega, and the character has since
worn Omega watches in subsequent productions.
The
theme song, "GoldenEye", was written by Bono and The Edge,
and was performed by Tina Turner. As the producers did not
collaborate with Bono or The Edge, alternate versions of the song did
not appear throughout GoldenEye, as was the case in previous James
Bond films. Swedish group Ace of Base had also written a purposed
theme song, but label Arista Records pulled the band out of the
project fearing the negative impact in case the film flopped. The
song was then re-written as their single "The Juvenile".
The soundtrack to GoldenEye
was composed and performed by Éric Serra. Prolific Bond
composer John Barry said that despite an offer by Barbara Broccoli,
he turned it down. Serra's score has been heavily criticised: Richard
von Busack, in Metro, wrote that it was "more appropriate for a
ride on an elevator than a ride on a roller coaster", and
Filmtracks said Serra "failed completely in his attempt to tie
Goldeneye to the franchise's past." The end credits song,
Serra's "The Experience of Love", was based on a short cue
Serra had originally written for Luc Besson's Léon one year earlier.
Later, John Altman provided
the music for the tank chase in St. Petersburg. Serra's original
track for that sequence can still be found on the soundtrack as
"A Pleasant Drive in St. Petersburg". Serra composed and
performed a number of synthesiser tracks, including the version of
the James Bond Theme that plays during the gun barrel sequence, while
John Altman and David Arch provided the more traditional symphonic music.
GoldenEye premiered on
November 13th 1995, at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City,
and went on general release in the USA on November 17th 1995. The UK
premiere, attended by Prince Charles, followed on November 22nd at
the Odeon Leicester Square, with general release two days later.
Brosnan boycotted the French premiere to support Greenpeace's protest
against the French nuclear testing program, causing the premiere to
be abrogated.
The film earned over $26
million during its opening across 2,667 cinemas in the USA. Its
worldwide sales were around the equivalent of $350 million. It had
the fourth highest worldwide gross of all films in 1995 and was the
most successful Bond film since Moonraker.
GoldenEye
was edited in order to be guaranteed a PG-13 rating from the MPAA
and a 12 rating from the BBFC. The cuts included the visible bullet
impact to Trevelyan's head when he is shot in the prologue, several
additional deaths during the sequence in which Onatopp guns down the
workers at the Severnaya station, more explicit footage and violent
behaviour in the Admiral's death, extra footage of Onatopp's death,
and Bond giving her a rabbit punch in the car. In 2006, the film was
re-mastered and re-edited for the James Bond Ultimate Edition DVD in
which the BBFC cuts were restored, causing the rating to be changed
to 15. However, the original MPAA edits still remain.
The critical reception of
the film was mostly positive. In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert
gave the film 3 stars out of 4, and said Brosnan's Bond was
"somehow more sensitive, more vulnerable, more psychologically
complete" than the previous ones, also commenting on Bond's
"loss of innocence" since previous films. James
Berardinelli described Brosnan as "a decided improvement over
his immediate predecessor" with a "flair for wit to go
along with his natural charm", but added that "fully
one-quarter of Goldeneye is momentum-killing padding."
Several reviewers lauded
M's appraisal of Bond as a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur",
with Todd McCarthy in Variety saying GoldenEye "breathes fresh
creative and commercial life" into the series. John Puccio of
DVD Town said that GoldenEye was "an eye and ear-pleasing,
action-packed entry in the Bond series" and that the film gave
Bond "a bit of humanity, too". However, the film received
several negative reviews as well. In Entertainment Weekly, Owen
Gleiberman thought the series had "entered a near-terminal state
of exhaustion." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said that
the film was "a middle-aged entity anxious to appear trendy at
all costs". David Eimer of Premiere wrote that "the
trademark humour is in short supply" and that "Goldeneye
isn't classic Bond by any stretch of the imagination." Still,
GoldenEye ranks high in various Bond-related movie lists and for what
it's worth, Brosnan is one of my sister's favorite Bonds.
AV
CLUB SLIDESHOW DEPARTMENT
My Neat Stuff Slideshow - Jssor Slider, Slideshow with Javascript Source Code
While
the legal disputes went on, Timothy Dalton was still expected to
play Bond in the new film, as he had signed a three-film contract.
Pre-production work began in May 1990 with a story draft written by
Alfonso Ruggiero Jr. and Michael G. Wilson. Production was set to
start in 1990 in Hong Kong for a release in late 1991, however the
legal disputes caused these dates to pass without a film in
production. In an interview in 1993, Dalton said that Michael France
was writing the screenplay, due to be completed in January or
February 1994. Despite France's screenplay being completed by that
January, in April 1994 Dalton officially resigned from the role. To
replace Dalton, the producers cast Pierce Brosnan, who had been
prevented from succeeding Roger Moore in 1986 because of his contract
to star in the Remington Steele television series. Judi Dench was
cast as M, making GoldenEye the first film of the series featuring a
female M. The decision is widely believed to be inspired by Stella
Rimington becoming head of MI5 in 1992.
Brosnan
first met James Bond films producer Albert R. Broccoli on the sets
of For Your Eyes Only (1981) because his wife, Cassandra Harris,
(left) was in the film. Broccoli said, "if he can act ... he's
my guy" to inherit the role of Bond from Roger Moore. It was
reported by both Entertainment Tonight and the National Enquirer,
that Brosnan was going to inherit another role of Moore's, that of
Simon Templar in The Saint. Brosnan denied the rumours in July 1993
but added, "it's still languishing there on someone's desk in Hollywood."
The
largest stunt sequence in the film was the tank chase, which took
around six weeks to film, partly on location in St. Petersburg and
partly at Leavesden. A Russian T-54/55 tank, on loan from the East
England Military Museum, was modified with the addition of fake
explosive reactive armour panels. In order to avoid destroying the
pavement on the city streets of St. Petersburg, the steel off-road
tracks of the T-54/55 were replaced with the rubber-shoed tracks from
a British Chieftain tank. A rectangular viewport was cut in the
glacis plate and covered with tinted Perspex, allowing a trained
driver to manoeuvre the tank from a prone position inside the
driver's compartment while Pierce Brosnan sat in the (modified)
driver's seat with his head protruding from the driver's hatch,
creating the illusion he was driving the tank.
The
fall of communism in Russia is the main focus of the opening titles,
designed by Daniel Kleinman (who took over from Maurice Binder after
his death in 1991). They show the collapse and destruction of several
structures associated with the Soviet Union, such as the red star,
statues of Communist leaders and the hammer and sickle. In an
interview, Kleinman said they were meant to be "a kind of story
telling sequence" showing that "what was happening in
Communist countries was Communism was falling down". According
to producer Michael G. Wilson, some Communist parties protested
against "Socialist symbols being destroyed not by governments,
but by bikini-clad women", especially the Communist Party of
India, which threatened to boycott the film.
The
theme song, "GoldenEye", was written by Bono and The Edge,
and was performed by Tina Turner. As the producers did not
collaborate with Bono or The Edge, alternate versions of the song did
not appear throughout GoldenEye, as was the case in previous James
Bond films. Swedish group Ace of Base had also written a purposed
theme song, but label Arista Records pulled the band out of the
project fearing the negative impact in case the film flopped. The
song was then re-written as their single "The Juvenile".
GoldenEye
was edited in order to be guaranteed a PG-13 rating from the MPAA
and a 12 rating from the BBFC. The cuts included the visible bullet
impact to Trevelyan's head when he is shot in the prologue, several
additional deaths during the sequence in which Onatopp guns down the
workers at the Severnaya station, more explicit footage and violent
behaviour in the Admiral's death, extra footage of Onatopp's death,
and Bond giving her a rabbit punch in the car. In 2006, the film was
re-mastered and re-edited for the James Bond Ultimate Edition DVD in
which the BBFC cuts were restored, causing the rating to be changed
to 15. However, the original MPAA edits still remain.
