BOND’S BACK... WITH A TWIST
Fans get peek at much-delayed Bond
IT’S been a wait long enough to test the endurance of any highly trained secret agent, let alone avid moviegoers.
But James Bond fans can take solace at last with a new trailer giving a typically explosive glimpse of No Time To Die ahead of its release in November.
The high-octane two-and-a-half minute promotional video features Daniel Craig in his final appearance as 007 – and hints at a plot twist that will ‘change everything’.
It shows Bond risking his life to save ‘millions’ from the villainous Safin, who is hellbent on revenge and on a mission to steal the British spy’s love interest.
Film crews shooting the movie set up near Aviemore and the Cairngorms at the end of June last year.
One car chase scene was shot near Laggan, Inverness-shire. The jaw-dropping stunt was filmed using a helicopter and involved two cars, a grey Range Rover and a sand-coloured 4x4.
Fans have waited five years since Craig’s previous outing in Spectre for the 25th film in the franchise.
No Time To Die was originally due to be released a year ago but a change of director, new scriptwriters and an injury to Craig saw it pushed back. It was scheduled for its world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in London on March 31 – until the coronavirus pandemic meant another delay.
By then, a first trailer had already been released. The reworking issued yesterday features a further taster of the dramatic stunts and hard-fighting women that Bond encounters.
He narrowly avoids getting hit by a car while dodging a shower of bullets before jumping off a bridge. He takes part in a tunnel shoot-out, escapes from a blast at sea and encounters scar-faced Safin, played by Rami Malek, who hides his disfigurement behind a white Japanese noh mask.
‘James Bond, we both eradicate people to try and make the world a better place. I just want to be a little... tidier,’ he tells 007.
Our hero is re-introduced to his old nemesis Blofeld, played by Christoph Waltz, who has been captured.
Sitting shackled inside a cage in a prison cell, Blofeld tells Bond that fate has brought them together over Safin, their mutual enemy.
The clip suggests a connection between the new villain and Lea Seydoux’s character Dr Madeleine Swann. She tells Bond that Safin wants ‘revenge – me’ and a voiceover informs viewers: ‘When her secret comes out, it will be the death of him.’
The film starts with Bond in retirement in Jamaica, and introduces a female MI6 double-0 agent called Nomi, played by Lashana Lynch, who teams up with him to take on Safin.
Bond also meets the mysterious Paloma, a ‘young lady in Santiago’ played by Ana de Armas, who reprimands him for being late before they fight off enemies.
Characters from previous films include Naomie Harris as Miss Moneypenny and M, again played by Ralph Fiennes. Jeffrey Wright returns as CIA agent Felix Leiter.’
Craig, 52, has said this is his last outing as 007, after Quantum Of Solace, Casino Royale, Skyfall and Spectre. McMafia’s James Norton, 35, and Outlander star Sam Heughan, 40, are among those touted as replacements.
No Time To Die, co-written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga – brought in to replace Danny Boyle – is released in the UK on November 12.
‘It will be the death of him’