No Time to Die’s sudden switch

No Time to Die logo

No spoilers except in the most general sense.

So how did this happen?

Early in the filming of No Time to Die, the 25th James Bond film, there was mystery. There were some images available but enough you could really make out the plot. Then, the second unit went off to film action sequences while the first unit was behind the walls of Pinewood Studios.

However, since production moved to Matera, Italy, all that has changed.

Some of it reflects modern technology. People take video using their smartphones and upload it to social media. Initially, it was the second unit. Then, the first unit and actors Daniel Craig and Lea Seydoux arrived. All of that has meant a lot of video and stills.

As a result, tabloids have stories seemingly daily. Daniel Craig does this. Daniel Craig does that. Oh look, there’s Daniel Craig with his stunt double. Oh, and here’s Lea Seydoux. She’s in this outfit. She’s in that outfit. Oh look, according to one Daily Mail caption, Daniel Craig is talking to a member of the crew. It turned out to be Eon Productions boss Barbara Broccoli.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer moved to yank smartphone video posted by fan sites. Not too long after that, outlets such as Reuters and Sky News started tweeting out some of the same No Time to Die videos. The toothpaste was well out of the tube.

All of this is the way of the world, I guess. For me personally, it’s gotten exhausting. There’s enough out there you can put together a rough idea of how the movie may be structured (at least at the start) if you’re so inclined. There’s also enough out there to question some of the favorite fan theories of what will happen in the movie. We’ll see how it goes.