Empire describes SPECTRE filming

SPECTRE teaser poster

Mild spoilers, but no plot points. Spoiler adverse folks should just move on.

Empire magazine’s look at SPECTRE is out. While the story isn’t online, fans have been making image scans of the magazine pages.

A few highlights. No plot points discussed in this summary but those the spoiler adverse should stop reading. The magazine itself has more spoiler detail.

–There is a description of a fight involving Bond.

–There is a description of a bigger action sequence filmed in Austria filmed by the second unit.

–In a sidebar, Lea Seydoux repeats a Bond movie talking point going back decades. “She’s his equal, independent and strong and smart, and she doesn’t need him or wait for him to save her.”

In other words, the same talking points as Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997 when describing the Chinese agent working with Bond in that film. Of course, the “Bond’s equal” character goes back to Agent Triple-X in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me. In this case, Seydoux says she’s not an agent.

–Eon Productions does admit the title refers to the SPECTRE organization featured in Bond movies before the Daniel Craig reboot that started with 2006’s Casino Royale. Barbara Broccoli, co-boss of Eon, says “Okay, now’s the time to explore that (SPECTRE) again in a new and exciting and different way.”

— The film opens in Mexico.

–Barbara Broccoli says the script that got out during the Sony hacks was “a very old version.” The Gawker website on Dec. 12, based on a copy of the script and memos also leaked in the hack, said rewriting continued throughout November. The movie began filming on Dec. 8.

–In SPECTRE, “Bond is on top of his game, top of his form,” Broccoli told Empire.

Mendes says SPECTRE ‘entirely driven by Bond’

No real spoilers the extremely spoiler adverse should just stop now.

Director Sam Mendes has made his first video for SPECTRE. In it, he says the 24th 007 film is “entirely driven by Bond.”

“He is on a mission from the very beginning,” Mendes says of 007, played in the movie by Daniel Craig. “He is on the hunt, on the trail, of somebody. You don’t know why, you don’t know what he’s doing there.”

Mendes also said he “initiated” Ralph Fiennes’ M, Naomie Harris’ Moneypenny and Ben Whishaw’s Q in Skyfall and he came back for a second 007 go-round to develop the next stage of their stories. As for Bond, the director says, the movie concerns whether he wants to continue the life he’s chosen for himself “or not.”

The 89-second video includes a small bit of a car chase being filmed in Rome and Whishaw’s Q out in the field. The video is embedded below.

UPDATE: Mendes also says around the 28-second mark that part of SPECTRE’s story involves Bond’s childhood.

Guy Ritchie tweets a behind-the-scenes U.N.C.L.E. still

Logo for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie

Director Guy Ritchie took to Twitter to post a behind-the-scenes photograph of himself and his stars during filming of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie.

Based on the trailer released on Feb. 11, this was during filming of an early scene where Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) get into a fight after being assigned to work with one another.

Principal photography occurred early September to early December 2013, with some reshoots in 2014.

The movie debuts Aug. 14. Presumably, this still is part of the gearing up of social media marketing efforts. For a timeline about the events related to the film’s production, CLICK HERE.

Three men having fun in a karsie. #ManFromUNCLE #bts #onset pic.twitter.com/JElocGeMTB

— Guy Ritchie (@realguyritchie) February 26, 2015