Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

The producers of the 18^th Bond movie “Tomorrow Never Dies” used modern technology and weapons to overcome the enemy from initiating World War III.  The film connected well to our current world where words are now weapons and information and technology supported by satellites are the new artillery. Our fast paced technological world keeps changing and Bond’s world also had to reflect this change of high technological and latest innovations.  Even the pace of the film needed to meet the fast pace of the new world order driven by technology.  This was the first Bond film to run less than two hours in duration since 1971.  This is also the first film where Bond had to work with another character Wai Lin, a secret agent from China, who was considered as an equal partner to Bond in order to survive and complete the mission to save the world this time.

The creation of this film was an enormous task as this film needed to compete for resources against the production of James Cameron’s Titanic at the time.  Both Pinewood and Leavesden Studios, the traditional studios used for previous Bond films, were fully booked.  As a result, a former grocery warehouse in Frogmore England was converted into a production facility for this film.  Long time production designer Peter Lamont could not work on the film due to his commitment with the Titanic movie so Allan Cameron was given the job and he gave the film high-tech but realistic sets.  The lack of traditional resources lead to the use of untraditional sites throughout the film and many remarkable action scenes were included in the film.  One example of using realistic events was the use of an actual Khyber Pass terrorist arms bazaar which added realism to the film.  In addition, Brent Cross Shopping Centre car park was used for the car chase using 17 BMWs for a four minute scene.  Four BMW 750iLs were driven with a stunt driver crouched on the back floorboard driving via a video monitor the same way Disney filmed Herbie.  The hair-raising motorcycle-helicopter chase used in the Banglok location which also included the English sets to fill in the post production gaps was effective.  At Frogmore, the BMW R1200 motorcycle leap between two buildings was performed by expert bike driver Jean-Pierre Goy by leaping between two real buildings over a prop helicopter.  The unique and untraditional approach in creating this film added more spectacular settings making the film even more realistic and exciting for the viewers.

Music for this film was written and recorded in sections to keep pace with the film production.   Once again a newcomer, David Arnold replaced long time Bond composer John Barry.  David immediately added excitement to the music for a new generation of Bond fans.   Actually, David Arnold was a young Bond fan growing up so he seemed to fit in with the production quite well in producing original Bond music with more creativity.  The music score sounded fresh but it had references to the great Bond scores of the past.  Sheryl Crow was chosen as the writer and performer of the opening song while David worked with a group of Bond alumnus to create the ending credit song “Surrender” performed by K.D. Lang.  The music blended in well with the film, making this Bond film complete and exciting.

Miniature effects merged with real life action were a major part in this shorter Bond film making the visual effects and illusions remarkable.  The film’s special effects supervisor John Richardson took advantage of the Baja Studios water tank in Mexico after Titanic finished its production to add realism to both the stealth ship and the HMS Devonshire. The HALO jump was conducted with 80 real parachute jumps using the skills of parachute specialist B.J. Worth.  The director Roger Spottiswoode used all his skills to obtain the Bond and Wai Lin leap from a Saigon skyscraper, using only a banner on the building to slow their decent.  This short freefall scene used the real building, a miniature replica, real actors, stunt actors, miniature actors, and the magic of digital compositing to make the scene as real as possible.  Underwater scenes in the film were realistic as they were completed using the 007 stage water tank.  Underwater filming was so complex and real that sequences had to be filmed with different electrical power setups and at different times of the day to prevent injury to the film crew.  There was a huge amount of publicity made about the filming effects.  The film opened during Christmas 1997.  The theatres were packed all around the world making this Bond film internationally a world event.