Spectre
10th Anniversary
2015-2025

For the climactic scenes inside the destroyed MI6 building, the production built a 50-foot three-story structure using elements from the Hofler Klinik set on Pinewood’s ‘Q Stage’. Pinewood’s newest stage had appropriately been opened by Ben Whishaw (who plays Q) on September 27, 2013. A large scale replica of a section of Westminster Bridge was constructed on the ‘007 Stage’, that was later enhanced with CGI in the finished film and intercut with shots captured during a night shoot on the River Thames, filmed on May 17, 2015. The main unit then travelled to Tangier in Morocco to film the exteriors of the L’Americain Hotel, and then moved to Erfoud for the scenes where Bond and Swann arrive at Blofeld’s desert complex, which were later enhanced by CGI in post-production. For Blofeld’s volcano lair in You Only Live Twice (1967), Production Designer Ken Adam designed a large-scale set on the Pinewood backlot at a cost of £350,000 (then $1-million) which featured a working monorail, sliding roof, and a full-size rocket that could be lifted 40-feet on a pillar of flame. For Blofeld’s desert lair in Spectre the production relied heavily on CGI to create the exterior of the complex, although Special Effects Supervisor Chris Corbould did later destroy a large full-scale section with 8,418 litres of fuel and 33kg of explosives. The resulting effect was later awarded a Guinness World Record as the largest explosion ever in film history. However, it can be argued that the volcano set seen in You Only Live Twice (1967) remains a more impressive achievement as it was a real construction, rather than a series of small sections enhanced by digital effects. Location filming in Erfoud was completed on June 28, 2015, and production resumed at Pinewood for a further week. Although Spectre had a lengthy pre-production period and shooting schedule, the post-production lasted only 16 weeks, during which the film was edited, scored and underwent the final sound mix.

On September 25, 2015 – a month ahead of the scheduled London Premiere of Spectre – Sam Smith’s main title song “Writing’s On The Wall” was released, and a week later made history by becoming the first Bond theme to reach number one in the UK. “Writing’s On The Wall” was later awarded an Oscar as Best Original Song at the 2016 Academy Awards Ceremony, becoming the second successive James Bond song to achieve this honour. The lyrics “Writing’s On The Wall” took their inspiration from the climax of the film set inside the ruins of the old MI6 headquarters destroyed by Silva in the previous film Skyfall (2012). It is revealed that Blofeld has survived the destruction of his Moroccan hideout but now has facial scarring, thereby re-introducing the audience’s memory of the character from You Only Live Twice (1967), although none of the subsequent actors playing the role in the EON Productions series had this scar. It is one of many reinterpretations of characters and plot devices shoehorned into the script of Spectre after the franchise had acquired the rights to Blofeld and his crime organisation from the estate of Kevin McClory. The events of Daniel Craig’s three previous Bond films were then retroactively incorporated into the script of Spectre [and later No Time To Die (2021)], to explain that it was Blofeld who was behind the Quantum organisation, and Raoul Silva, and turns the story arc of all four films into one continuous narrative. The hastily conceived and rather low-key climax of Spectre would not look out of place in an episode of the TV-series The Avengers, with Bond trying to rescue Madeleine Swann whilst being confronted by cheap cut-outs of his face pasted onto targets by a deranged Blofeld, who also adds by hand James Bond’s name on the MI6 memorial to those personnel who have given their lives in the service of their country. The cat-and-mouse chase in the ruins of MI6 also brings to mind the similar climax of The Man With The Golden Gun (1974), which was an equally lacklustre conclusion to a film that appeared to have run out of ideas. The inclusion of M, Moneypenny and Tanner into the proceedings also dilutes the overall impact and diminishes Bond’s character at the end of the film. It is also very hard for an audience to identify with Bond and Swann when there is so little chemistry on screen between the actors playing them. Spectre ultimately becomes a muddled mess with no sense of direction.

Spectre had its World Premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Monday, October 26, 2015, with most of the cast in attendance. For the first time ever, the film also opened on the same night in cinemas across the UK and Ireland. Controversially, ticket prices for the film were higher than those of normal releases, but this appears to have had no impact on the popularity of Spectre upon its debut. Spectre then transferred to the ODEON Leicester Square for the rest of its West End engagement. In the United Kingdom, the film grossed £4.1 million ($6.4 million) from its Monday preview screenings. Spectre grossed £6.3 million ($9.2 million) on its opening day and then £5.7 million ($8.8 million) on Wednesday, setting UK records for both days. In its first seven days of release Spectre grossed £41.7 million ($63.8 million), breaking the UK record for the highest first-week opening set by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004. A similar pattern was repeated worldwide, and Spectre went on to become the second-highest-grossing James Bond film after Skyfall, and the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2015. However, Spectre was not as critically well-received as Skyfall and got mixed reviews upon its release in the USA. Kenneth Turan, reviewing the film for Los Angeles Times, concluded that Spectre “comes off as exhausted and uninspired”. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times criticised the film as having “nothing surprising” and sacrificing its originality for the sake of box office returns. Forbes’ Scott Mendelson also heavily criticised the film, denouncing Spectre as “the worst 007 movie in 30 years”, implying it was as poor as A View To A Kill (1985).

A decade later, with time to reflect, Spectre can now be seen as the beginning of the end for the EON Productions James Bond franchise. Shortly after Spectre hit cinemas back in 2015, Daniel Craig was asked by Time Out magazine about possibly returning as 007 in BOND 25, to which the actor famously responded “I’d rather slit my wrists…”. However, he did return one final time in No Time To Die (2021), which did prove to be the end of an era, with his incarnation of 007 killed off at the end of the film. The ending of Spectre (2015) had seen James Bond and Madeleine Swann driving off into the sunset in 007’s Aston Martin DB5. Seven years later Madeleine Swann also drives off in Bond’s Aston Martin DBS, but this time with his daughter Matilde, as Louis Armstrong sings “We Have All The Time In The World” on the soundtrack. Daniel Craig’s incarnation of James Bond was seen as a standalone interpretation, with his five-story arc separate to the other films in the long-running series. But with a 60 year legacy and built-in audience, it was always impossible for the filmmakers not to reference earlier films (rather than the novels) and feature new interpretations of major characters. With production of the James Bond films now in the hands of a new creative team, it remains to be seen to be seen which direction the new 007 will take, and if the single four word statement that opens Spectre will become a reality: “The Dead Are Alive”.

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Spectre FACT FILE