-The Royal World Premiere was held on Tuesday 23rd October 2012 at Royal Albert Hall in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall (Camilla Parker-Bowles). At the request of HRH Prince Charles, the Gala Charity Premiere Benefit aided the support of former and current serving members of Britain's three intelligence agencies, GCHQ, the Security Service, and the Secret Intelligence Service. Prince Charles is England's Royal Patron of the Intelligence Services. Also in attendance were director Sam Mendes, and actors Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe, Albert Finney, Ben Whishaw and Judi Dench. The only ever previous Bond World Premiere to be held at the Royal Albert Hall was for the franchise's 40th Anniversary where Meurs un autre jour (2002) debuted. The gala premiere raised UK £300,000+ in aid of the Prince's chosen charities.
Is this interesting? Interesting?YesNo | Share this
-The movie's soundtrack composed by Thomas Newman features the most tracks (30) ever for a James Bond film score. The previous record holder in the official series had been Casino Royale (2006) with 25 whilst next is Quantum of Solace (2008) with 24. The previous record holder for any Bond movie and now second is the unofficial Jamais plus jamais (1983) which has 26 tracks. The 'Skyfall' album is the second time that a James Bond soundtrack has not featured the title song (which is "Skyfall" sung by Adele). The first time was Chris Cornell's title song "You Know My Name" not appearing on the Casino Royale (2006) soundtrack. Skyfall's end titles utilize composer David Arnold's arrangement ("The Name's Bond... James Bond") of Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme" but this also does not feature on the soundtrack. Skyfall's film's score also contains interpolations of Monty Norman's original "James Bond Theme". The whole score on the soundtrack is composed and conducted by Thomas Newman except for the "Komodo Dragon" track which is an instrumental interpolation of the film's "Skyfall" theme song. "Skyfall" is also the first Daniel Craig Bond film to make use of Norman's original "James Bond Theme" throughout the entire film (in "Casino Royale" the fully orchestrated version was played during the end credits and in Quantum of Solace (2008) during the gun barrel sequence and at the start of the end credits).
Is this interesting? Interesting?YesNo | Share this
-5th October 2012 was "Global James Bond Day". It was created by the 'Skyfall' production to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the James Bond film series and as a promotional tie-in for the release of 'Skyfall'. According to the official website 'Global James Bond Day' featured "Worldwide events celebrating Bond's golden anniversary [and] include[d] a global online and live charity auction event organized by Christie's in London, a global survey to discover the favorite Bond film country by country, a film retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, a Music of Bond night in Los Angeles hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Designing 007: 50 Years of James Bond Style [in Toronto]".
Is this interesting? Interesting?YesNo | Share this
-First James Bond film to feature MGM's new 2012 logo. The first James Bond movie to be released with the MGM Lion logo at the beginning was Octopussy (1983). MGM merged with United Artists in 1982, the year before the release of that movie which was the first Bond movie distributed by the then new company, MGM/UA Distribution Co.
Is this interesting? Interesting?YesNo | Share this
-Actor Albert Finney has said he remembers seeing the first James Bond movie James Bond 007 contre Dr. No (1962). Other cast members were working actors in film and TV when James Bond 007 contre Dr. No (1962) was in theaters. Actress Judi Dench, who plays M, was appearing as Anya in Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (1962) whilst Finney's closest film role to the release date of James Bond 007 contre Dr. No (1962) was as another great lover, Tom Jones: de l'alcôve à la potence (1963), in which he starred with Diane Cilento, who was once married to cinema's first James Bond Sean Connery who was actually the original choice to play the Kincaid character. Producer Barbara Broccoli has said that her father, pioneer Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli, had been keen to work with Finney but the opportunity never arose.
Is this interesting? Interesting?YesNo | Share this
-The promotional tie-in with Heineken Lager Beer for this movie has been valued at being (UK) £28 million (= US $45 million). The product placement caused a controversy in the media prior to release, criticism being made for lacking integrity, blatant commercialization with Daniel Craig actually appearing in a Heineken ad and being disrespectful to Bond's traditional drink, the shaken and stirred martini. Producer Michael G. Wilson and actor Daniel Craig defended the financing by indicating that the Bond films cost a lot of money to make and 'Skyfall' could not be completed without this support; that many of the product placements are based around supply of the products with technical support and the fact that James Bond is still seen drinking a Vodka Martini in 'Skyfall'.
Is this interesting? Interesting?YesNo | Share this
-First time that an Academy Award winning director (Sam Mendes (American Beauty (1999))) has directed a James Bond movie. The first Bond film seen by Mendes was Vivre et laisser mourir (1973) whilst his favorite is Bons baisers de Russie (1963). During pre-production, Mendes was originally hired as a consultant during the MGM bankruptcy period so as to avoid a direct connection payment to Mendes from having been classified as a bona fide director to the production, and as such requiring an official director's payment. Reportedly, Mendes was offered the director's job at party by Daniel Craig. A meeting was then arranged for Mendes with the producers and things rolled on from there. As a boy, Mendes owned a die-cast Dinky Toys model car of Bond's Aston Martin DB5 car which inspired him to include the vehicle in the film. Around the time of Casino Royale (2006), Mendes originally thought Craig was miscast as Bond. Mendes told 'Metro': "I was one of the people who said I didn't think he was the right casting. At the time, I was asked in an interview and I said, "I'm not sure, I would advise him not to do it". With a rating of PG-13, this is also Mendes' first non-R-rated film.
Is this interesting? Interesting?YesNo | Share this
-Third consecutive James Bond film dealing with terrorism. The central type of terrorism depicted in 'Skyfall' is cyberterrorism. In an interview in the 'Skyfall' tie-in documentary Everything or Nothing (2012), producer Barbara Broccoli commented on how 9/11 made the producers think about doing something more serious and that it might be time to move on from the Pierce Brosnan style of Bond films. In another interview, Broccoli added: "In terms of 9/11, we thought Meurs un autre jour (2002) had become too fantastical. That's something that's happened in previous Bond films along the way. There comes a time when you have to recalibrate the tone of the films to fit the times we live in".
Is this interesting? Interesting?YesNo | Share this
-Second Daniel Craig James Bond film to feature a casino and the first for him since Casino Royale (2006), Craig being notable for having debuted in this 'Casino' titled Bond film. Not every Bond movie has a casino sequence but 'Skyfall' joins the ranks in the official series of those that have: James Bond 007 contre Dr. No (1962), Opération Tonnerre (1965), Au service secret de Sa Majesté (1969), Les diamants sont éternels (1971), L'homme au pistolet d'or (1974), Rien que pour vos yeux (1981), Permis de tuer (1989), GoldenEye (1995), Le monde ne suffit pas (1999) and Casino Royale (2006). All the unofficial Bond films, Casino Royale (1967), Jamais plus jamais (1983) and Climax!: Casino Royale (1954), have all featured a casino. 'Skyfall' is the first Bond movie since L'homme au pistolet d'or (1974) to feature a casino in Asia. Its name is "The Golden Dragon Casino" and it's a floating-casino in Macau, China and is based on the actual real-life Macau floating casino, "The Macau Palace".