Skyfall

This article is about the James Bond film. For other uses, see Skyfall (disambiguation).

Skyfall
Skyfall logo
Directed by	Sam Mendes
Produced by	Michael G. Wilson Barbara Broccoli
Screenplay by	John Logan Neal Purvis Robert Wade
Based on	James Bond by Ian Fleming
Starring	Daniel Craig Javier Bardem Judi Dench Ralph Fiennes Albert Finney Naomie Harris Bérénice Marlohe Ben Whishaw
Music by	Thomas Newman
Cinematography	Roger Deakins
Editing by	Stuart Baird
Studio	Eon Productions Danjaq LLC
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	26 October 2012 (2012-10-26) (London, premiere)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$150 million

Javier Bardem was cast as Skyfall's villain.

Naomie Harris plays Eve, one of Skyfall's "Bond girls"

Skyfall is the twenty-third James Bond film, produced by Eon Productions for MGM, Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Directed by Sam Mendes, it features Daniel Craig's third performance as James Bond and Javier Bardem as the film's villain. Judi Dench reprises her role as "M" for the seventh consecutive film. Craig has confirmed that the events of the film are not directly related to Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. The film is due to be released in the UK on 26 October 2012.

Premise

James Bond's loyalty to M is challenged over secrets from her past. When MI6 is attacked, it falls to Bond to seek out and eliminate the threat regardless of the cost to himself.

Cast

The main cast of Skyfall was officially announced at a press conference held at the Corinthia Hotel in London on 3 November 2011, fifty years to the day that Sean Connery was announced to play James Bond in the film Dr. No.

• Daniel Craig as James Bond, agent 007.
• Javier Bardem as the film's primary villain.
• Judi Dench as M, Bond's commanding officer.
• Ralph Fiennes in an undisclosed role. Fiennes stated that he could not say anything specific about the role other than that it was "[a] really interesting part which is really quite fun". He later elaborated, saying that his character is a government agent.
• Albert Finney in an undisclosed role.
• Naomie Harris as Eve. Early speculation suggested that Harris would play Miss Moneypenny, though the character's first name was revealed as "Eve" with no surname disclosed, and she was specifically described as "a field agent". Despite ongoing speculation from tabloids that Eve would be revealed as Moneypenny, Harris herself dismissed claims that she would be playing the character, stating that "Eve is not remotely office-bound". According to Harris, Eve "[believes] she is Bond's equal, but she is really his junior".
• Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner, the MI6 Chief of Staff.
• Bérénice Marlohe as Sévérine. Marlohe described her character as being "glamorous and enigmatic".
• Helen McCrory as Clair Dowar, a British politician. McCrory joined the cast after Sam Mendes contacted her personally and offered her the part.
• Ola Rapace in an undisclosed role. Rapace was officially added to the cast on 8 November.
• Ben Whishaw as Q. The character returns after being absent in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. His reintroduction represents a change in direction for the character; Whishaw was 31 years old when he was cast in the role while predecessors Desmond Llewelyn and John Cleese were in their fifties when they first appeared as Q.

Production

Production of Skyfall was suspended throughout 2010 because of MGM's financial troubles. They resumed pre-production following MGM's exit from bankruptcy on 21 December 2010, and in January 2011 the film was officially given a release date of 9 November 2012 by MGM and the Broccoli family, with production scheduled to start in late 2011. Since then, MGM and Sony Pictures announced that the UK and Ireland release date would be brought forward to 26 October 2012, two weeks ahead of the US release date, which remains 9 November 2012. The film's budget is estimated to be at $150 million, down from the $200 million spent on Quantum of Solace.

The film is to be part of year-long celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Dr. No and the Bond franchise. According to producer Michael G. Wilson, a documentary crew is scheduled to follow production of the film to celebrate the anniversary.

Filming began on 7 November 2011.

Title

In August 2011, several news websites reposted a rumour that originally appeared in Serbian newspaper Blic stating that Bond 23 would be entitled Carte Blanche and would be an adaptation of the recent continuation novel by Jeffery Deaver. On 30 August, Eon Productions officially denied any link between Bond 23 and Carte Blanche, stating that "the new film is not going to be called Carte Blanche and will have nothing to do with the Jeffery Deaver book."

On 3 October 2011, fifteen domain names including 'jamesbond-skyfall.com' and 'skyfallthefilm.com' were reported to have been registered on behalf of MGM and Sony Pictures by internet brand-protection service MarkMonitor. This led to supposition in media that the film had been given the name "Skyfall". These reports were not confirmed at the time by Eon Productions, Sony or MGM.

Skyfall was later confirmed as the title at the November press conference, during which co-producer Barbara Broccoli said that the title "has some emotional context which will be revealed in the film".

Crew

Skyfall is directed by Sam Mendes, who first signed on to the project shortly after Quantum of Solace was released, and remained on-board as a "consultant" during the period of uncertainty surrounding MGM's financial situation. Speculation in the media suggested that Mendes had commissioned rewrites of the script to "[remove] action scenes in favour of 'characterful performances'" with the intention of bidding for an Academy Award. Mendes denied the reports, stating that the film's planned action scenes were an important part of the overall film.

Peter Morgan was originally commissioned to write a script, but left the project when MGM filed for bankruptcy and production of the film stalled; despite his departure, Morgan later stated that the final script was based on his original idea, retaining what he described as the film's "big hook". The final script was written by Bond screenwriting regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, as well as John Logan. Logan recounted being brought into the project by his long-time friend Sam Mendes, describing the process between Mendes and the writers as "very collaborative", and that writing Skyfall was one of the best experiences he had had in writing a film.

Roger Deakins has signed on as cinematographer, having previously worked with Mendes on Jarhead and Revolutionary Road. Thomas Newman, who worked with Sam Mendes as composer for American Beauty, Jarhead and Revolutionary Road will replace David Arnold as composer. Arnold commented that that Newman had been selected by Mendes because of their work together, rather than because of Arnold's commitment to working with director Danny Boyle as composer for the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Dennis Gassner returns as production designer, the costume designer is Jany Temime, Alexander Witt is director of the second unit, the stunt co-ordinator is Gary Powell and Chris Corbould will supervise the special effects, while the visual effects supervisor is Steve Begg. All have worked on previous Bond films.

Locations

Sam Mendes and Barbara Broccoli travelled to South Africa for location scouting in April 2011. With the film moving into pre-production in August, reports emerged that shooting would take place in India, with scenes to be shot in the Sarojini Nagar district of New Delhi and on railway lines between Goa and Ahmedabad. The production crew faced complications in securing permission to close sections of the Konkan Railway. Similar problems in obtaining filming permits were encountered by production crews for The Dark Knight Rises and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Permission was eventually granted to the Bond production crew, with some additional restrictions put in place at the request of the Indian authorities; however, it was later reported that the production crew had elected not to shoot in India. Further reports emerged stating that filming would take place in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square, the Hagia Sophia museum, the city of Fethiye and the Varda railway bridge near Adana, with production expected to spend three months in the country.

Mendes confirmed that China will be featured in the film, with shooting scheduled to take place in Shanghai and "other parts" of the country. Additional scenes were filmed at Royal Ascot, standing in for Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Shooting was planned to take place at Duntrune Castle in Argyll, Scotland for the finale, but was cancelled shortly after filming began.

Shooting began in and around London, with scenes shot in Southwark and Whitehall, the National Gallery, Smithfield meat markets and St Bartholomew's Hospital, Canary Wharf, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Charing Cross station and the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich. Photos taken by residents in the city's Deptford district revealed the presence of an Aston Martin DB5 on location.

External links

• Official website
• Skyfall at the Internet Movie Database