JAMES BOND NEWS

Designing 007: 50 Years of Bond Style at the Kunsthal, Rotterdam

007 MAGAZINE Netherlands correspondent Ben van den Broek reports exclusively from the latest opening of the ‘Designing 007’ exhibition.

The Dutch main port of Rotterdam city celebrated the opening of the compelling exhibition ‘Designing 007: 50 Years of Bond Style’, which runs from 12th October 2014 until 6th February 2015. After the first exhibition at the Barbican London; followed by Toronto, Shanghai, Melbourne and Moscow, Rotterdam is the sixth city that is hosting the exhibition showing rare costumes, set designs, props, models, storyboards and original photos.

On Friday, October 10th 2014 the media was invited to the Kunsthal for an exclusive Press Preview prior to the official opening. In the afternoon the Dutch press, including TV coverage by several local and national stations gathered in and around the Kunsthal building; a large group of International press members were also present. Head sponsor for the event, James Bond 007 Fragrances, had two attractive models available outside for photo opportunities.

At 13:30 two Aston Martin vehicles arrived at the entrance and red carpet, chauffeuring actors from 1987’s The Living Daylights, Dutch villain Jeroen Krabbé (Georgi Koskov) and Bond Girl Maryam d’Abo (Kara Milovy).

Emily Ansenk, the director of the Kunsthal Rotterdam, Lindy Hemming (007 costume designer and guest curator), Bronwyn Cosgrave (author and guest curator), Meg Simmonds (EON Archive Director) and Neil McConnon (Barbican London) were awaiting the stars at the red carpet. During the press conference in the Kunsthal auditorium Ansenk, Simmonds, Cosgrave, Hemming and McConnon provided an introduction to the audience about the exhibition. Then, Lisa Allen, a member of the British Airways Ambassador Team arrived on stage to present the final prop to appear in the exhibition and make it complete, Timothy Dalton’s James Bond passport used in The Living Daylights.

Jeroen Krabbé first gave some comments in Dutch for the Dutch audience:
“I have seen the exhibition twice now. It is breathtaking. It is as if you enter the Bond movie. As soon as you go into the exhibition, the well known music sounds, which you just heard, and then you have the feeling you get right into the movie. There are all great gadgets and costumes and there are vehicles. It is really beautiful. You also see storyboards and there is a lot of stuff connected to the stunts (in one sentence Krabbé switched from Dutch to English without him noticing...) and that’s what the public wants to see. Again it is an experience as going right into a Bond movie. And I think it is one of the most beautiful exhibitions I’ve ever seen.”

Followed by Maryam d’Abo:
“Well I missed the one at the Barbican so I’m so looking forward to seeing this one. I’ve heard so much about it. This passport is unique, maybe some of the audience doesn’t understand, but this is the passport that Timothy used in The Living Daylights and is now part of this wonderful exhibition.”

Then there was time for the press to ask questions:
Mariëtte Maaskant (Communication Kunsthal): Maryam, how was it going down the snow slope in the cello case?
Memorable! Very memorable! First of all it was minus – well how many minus I don’t know, possibly three or four below freezing point. They were very clever in building this cello case, which had skis underneath, but I was sitting on the left hand side with the gears. Timothy was sitting on the right hand side and of course Timothy weighs twice the weight that I do. So we had to go down this slope. On the left there was a ravine and at the bottom on the right was the kammer grün (forest). I had to keep it straight. Meanwhile we’re chased by tanks so they put little tiny baby explosives under the slope, so when we passed with the cello case they just explode – and I have a phobia of gunshot explosions, so I was really happy to do this stunt (big smile). So we were going down and it kept wanting to go either into the ravine or go round in circles because Timothy weighed much more than I do. We did nearly have an accident when we crashed into the camera crew, but luckily avoided that at the last minute. But it was pretty scary and I’m glad that ‘stunts’ did all the long-shots. But we did all the close ups for two or three days and we’ll never forget.

Continued... Exclusive interviews with Jeroen Krabbé and Maryam d'Abo

50 Years of James Bond