14 DAY TRIAL // When it comes out at the end of next month, the latest James Bond installment, “SPECTRE,” will probably be the most expensive movie ever made. Rumor has it that its budget is well over $300 million (€266.5 million), a large chunk of which went towards shooting scenes in exotic locations.
Another good chunk went towards having expensive cars brought on set and then destroyed. The Daily Mail reports that James Bond will wreck $37 million (€32.8 million) worth of Aston Martins in the film, because director Sam Mendes and the producers insisted on doing practical effects, as opposed to creating the crashes and the explosions on a computer.
Sources from the set note that 7 “specially designed Aston Martin DB10 sports cars” were delivered on set and then destroyed, in addition to other, less expensive vehicles that were used for crash scenes and had then to be written off.
“We set the record for smashing up cars on Spectre,” Gary Powell, the movie’s chief stunt coordinator, tells the tab. “In Rome, we wrecked millions of pounds worth. They were going into the Vatican at top speeds of 110 mph. We shot one entire night for four seconds of film.”
Among the revelations from last November’s Sony Hack was also the one that the “SPECTRE” shoot was going over the budget because producers insisted on shooting on location, using actual working vehicles for the stunts. It’s likely that the figure offered by the Mail is close to reality, if not actually entirely accurate.
“SPECTRE” stars Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Monica Bellucci, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Dave Bautista, Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw, and will open wide at the beginning of November. It is the last James Bond movie directed by Sam Mendes, according to Mendes himself.