-The film's "Skyfall" title is not a word taken from any Ian Fleming James Bond story. The film's screen-writing team of Purvis & Wade thought up the film's "Skyfall" title at two in the morning. Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have said: "We needed a haunting place name. I just plucked it out of the air, and it turned out to be something that struck a chord with the filmmakers". 'Skyfall' is the only ever Bond film where the team provided the film's title. Le monde ne suffit pas (1999)'s title was taken from a true life Bond family motto and was mentioned by Ian Fleming in the novel of Au service secret de Sa Majesté (1969) whilst the title of Meurs un autre jour (2002) was taken from a phrase in A.E. Housman's poem "A Shropshire Lad". Both Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008) were titles taken from original Ian Fleming stories.
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-Daniel Craig performed many of his own stunts including the signature roof-top fight on the top of a moving train traveling at 50 kph (31 mph) during the film's opening sequence. Producer Barbara Broccoli has said: "Daniel contributes a great deal to designing the action and the fights in particular and he's the one who really pulls it off, because he wants to do as much of it as he possibly can. We were in Turkey for the train sequence and I had my heart in my mouth the whole time; he and Ola were fighting on the roof of a moving train and the moves that they were doing were just heart stopping. Daniel's the reason why the action works as well as it does because he sells it, he's up there and I think audiences know that."
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-The Paddock Tank (aka the Exterior Tank) at Pinewood Studios doubled as the exterior of the Shanghai Golden Dragon Casino. The set was lit by three-hundred floating lanterns and two thirty-foot high dragon heads. Twelve artisans were flown in from China to create the authentic structures. They were made from wound steel cables, silk fabric and lit from within by 400 light bulbs.
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-When Q delivers the Walther PPK & passport to Bond in the National Gallery in London, the painting behind him is Joseph Wright of Derby's 'An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768)', featuring a natural philosopher - a forerunner to a modern scientist - demonstrating an experiment to curious onlookers. This fits Q's role as scientific research/development for SIS/MI6 and 007.
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-Fourth time in an official Bond movie that an M character's home has been seen. The first time was M (Bernard Lee)'s manor Quarterdeck in Au service secret de Sa Majesté (1969). The 2nd & 3rd times followed much later with M (Judi Dench)'s homes in Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008). 'Skyfall' is the fifth time if one counts the unofficial Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967) which also showed an M character's home.
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-Stuntman Gary Powell and other members of his family have worked on every EON Productions official series Bond movie since James Bond 007 contre Dr. No (1962). Father and uncle Nosher Powell and Dinny Powell worked on all the early 60s and 70s Bonds with Sean Connery and George Lazenby; brother Greg Powell worked on the 70s and 80s Bonds with Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton whilst Gary has worked on all the 90s and 00s Bonds with Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig as well as 'Skyfall', the first Bond movie of the 2010s.
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-'Skyfall' represents the 10th Anniversary of the now regular "Bond On Set" book, a photo record of the filming of a Bond movie, with pictures that are shot by Bond regular stills photographer Greg Williams. The 'Skyfall' "Bond On Set" book is the fourth to be published, the first was in 2002 with the Meurs un autre jour (2002) "Bond On Set" book. Prior to this, there had been "Making of" books for Bond films such as for GoldenEye (1995) and Demain ne meurt jamais (1997).
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-With his casting, Javier Bardem becomes the second Academy Award winner to play a major Bond villain. The first was Christopher Walken in Dangereusement vôtre (1985) who had won an Oscar for Voyage au bout de l'enfer (1978). Both Academy Awards were for Best Supporting Actor, Bardem's statuette was for No country for old men - Non, ce pays n'est pas pour le vieil homme (2007). Bardem is not the only actor in 'Skyfall' to have a Best Supporting Acting Oscar, Judi Dench has one for Shakespeare in Love (1998).
-The most successful ever James Bond movie at the international box-office in the official franchise's film history. Previously, 'Skyfall' grossed $100 million at the international box-office in its first week. 'Skyfall' also had the biggest ever opening weekend at the box-office for a Bond film in Britain.
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-Third James Bond movie to film in Japan. 'Skyfall' used Hashima Island for shooting villain Raoul Silva's island lair. The first Bond Bond film to lens in Japan where the largest amount of filming was done was for On ne vit que deux fois (1967). The second was for L'espion qui m'aimait (1977) where filming was done there to get shots of exotic fish in Okinawa.
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-Actor Javier Bardem has described his Raoul Silva villain character as "An angel of death - a very clean shaven person who happens to be rotten on the inside. He has a very personal objective - he's not trying to destroy the world. And he is on a straight line to that objective:he is a man seeking revenge. It's about being focused on the one person he wants to eliminate." Bardem has also explained about finding the character inside the villain: "It's always about who's the person behind the character. It would be very difficult for me to play a role that I just saw as some kind of symbol. In this case, there is a man suffering, a man full of pain and frustration, who simply wants to fix the situation. Within that journey, there was room to be funny or aggressive, but I could perfectly understand who he was, and that helped me to portray him."
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-A number of the actors playing smaller parts in the movie never received a script to work with due to the production's strict secrecy protocols, so stringent and tight, that they reflect real life intelligence espionage. Greek actress Tonia Sotiropoulou did not know what she would be doing on the film until the time her scenes were shot. She commented, "I was one of the people who never had a script. I just got told what I'd be doing on the set by the director. They have to be so careful. You have quite strict contracts that say you can't say anything about the plot. And everyone respects that."
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-At the film's Spanish Premiere at Madrid's Espanol Theatre on 29th October 2012, a number of the big red carpet stars of the film including Javier Bardem held posters in protest against the dismissal of theater workers during the film's premiere.
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-The first James Bond film to be shot entirely using digital cinematography. Previously only part of one scene in Quantum of Solace (2008) was shot digitally. It is also the first film to use the Arri Alexa Studio camera, which cinematographer Roger Deakins selected because, unlike the other Alexa models, it has an optical viewfinder. It is also Deakins' second digitally-shot film, after Time Out (2011), on which he also used the Alexa.
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-The chopper seen at the end of the movie is an AgustaWestland Merlin AW101 helicopter. An Agusta Westland Merlin AW139 helicopter was seen in the opening "Happy and Glorious" sequence of the 2012 London Olympics (see London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder (2012)) where stuntmen Mark Sutton and Gary Connery took a skyfall jump in the guise of being James Bond and Queen Elizabeth II respectively.