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ng ed y, thy about his performance. My biggest problem in preparing Goldeneye was trying to drag Bond into the Nineties. The press were all very negative about Bond and thought it was past its sell-by date. My first idea to modernise it was to have a female M and it was great to get someone as talented as Judi Dench to play the part.
“We needed a spectacular opening scene and I wrote and storyboarded that sequence where Bond jumps off the dam on a bungee cord.”
The relatively low budget of $58million (£37million), a quarter of what is spent on Bond films these days, proved a problem when it came to planning other stunt sequences for the film.
“They were so tight with money. We were going to shoot the tank chase sequence in Leningrad but had to build Leningrad on a studio lot in Hertfordshire instead.”
YET MARTIN made it all work and Goldeneye became a smash hit when released in 1995. He scored an even bigger box office smash when directing Casino Royale in 2006, once again relaunching the franchise with a new leading man. The man with the golden lens has been invited back behind the camera to make other James Bond films but has turned them down and is reluctant to take on the films again, as much as he loves them.
He says: “It is always the same story about Bond stopping a nutcase taking over the world and you can only blow up a control room so many times.”
Despite the similarity of the plots, Martin says it is no surprise that 50 years after Dr No, the Bond films are still going strong. He also believes there will be many more to come after the release later this year of Skyfall, the newest 007 adventure.
“These movies are hugely entertaining, full of action, humour, international locations and beautiful people while the character of James Bond is so sexy and stylish that everyone wants to be him.
“That is why the Bond movies have lasted and it is why they will continue to thrive.”
Skyfall will be released on Friday, October 26