GoldenEye (1995)

One of the first James Bond films with Pierce Brosnan

Summary

-James Bond is off to his next mission. This one centers around a friend and fellow agent getting killed in the line of duty investigating a Russian crime syndicate, who is trying to steal a space weapons program called "GoldenEye". And the Russians are threatening to use it

Cast

-Pierce Brosnan: James Bond

-Sean Bean: Alec Trevelyan

-Izabella Scorupco: Natalya Simonova

-Famke Janssen: Xenia Onatapp

-Joe Don Baker: Jack Wade

-Judi Dench: M

-Tcheky Karyo: Dimitri Mishkin

-Gottfried John: Colonel Ourumov

-Alan Cumming: Boris Grishenko

-Samantha Bond: Miss Moneypenny

-Desmond Llewelyn: Q

Did You Know?

-The famous "gun barrel" opening were created using computer generated imagery (CGI), making this the first James Bond to use CGI

-The first James Bond movie that is completely original and not referencing any Ian Fleming short story or novel

-The script had to be changed several times due to a series of resemblances to 1994's True Lies, which was being released at that particular time

-During this time, writers still thought that Timothy Dalton would be reprising the role of James Bond. It was written expressly for Dalton's darker, more realistic role of James Bond

-Initially, Ralph Fiennes had auditioned for the role of James Bond. He ended up replacing Judi Dench as M in 2012's Skyfall

-Instead of alcohol, substitutes were used in scenes. Instead of the bourbon Judi Dench is drinking, it's really apple juice with two cubes of glass to simulate ice. Pierce Brosnan drank water instead of a vodka martini

-The first James Bond film to feature a German sports car instead of the iconic Aston Martin. This film uses a BMW Z3 as the primary car

-First James Bond movie to have a woman play the role of M, the head of the UK's security agency MI6, which deals with foreign terrorism and intelligence. Her character was said to be inspired by Stella Rimington, the first woman to head MI5, which deals with domestic terrorism and intelligence. Lois Maxwell, who's best known for her role as Miss Moneypenny, had suggested M be a woman in 1985. Director Martin Campbell successfully used that idea

-Prior to shooting beginning, Pierce Brosnan had injured his hand at his home in Malibu. For several shots of his hand, his 22 year old son Christopher used his hands instead. His son was working as an assistant on set.

-The car used was a prototype and couldn't be used in any action scenes or damaged, which explains the lack of gadgets, apart from a radar system

-This is the most successful James Bond film since 1979's Moonraker

-Sean Bean had auditioned for the role of James Bond for the 1987 film The Living Daylights

-A stunt double for Pierce Brosnan was used in the scenes with the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the Gregorian Dome because Pierce Brosnan has a fear of heights

-Some of the actresses considered for the role of Bond girls included Elizabeth Hurley, Elle Macpherson. They were both considered for the role of Natalya, but declined

-For external views of M's office, the actual MI6 headquarters were used

-Pierce Brosnan and George Lazenby are the only actors to play Bond who were born outside the UK. Pierce Brosnan was born in Ireland, but moved to the UK when he was young. Lazenby was Australian

-Two older actors from Britain were considered for the role of Alec Trevelyan. Anthony Hopkins and Alan Rickman. Anthony Hopkins simply declined while Alan Rickman stated he was tired of playing bad guys

-Fans were hesitant to embrace a woman giving James Bond orders until they saw Judi Dench in her role as M

-Famke Janssen and Alan Cumming appeared together later on in X2: X-Men United as Jean Grey and Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler. For that role, Cumming had to learn to speak with a German accent

-The plot of this film is similar to the novel Moonraker in that a villain with scars is planning on using a superweapon to destroy London as revenge for WWII