Die Another Day (2002)

The last film of the James Bond series, at least for Pierce Brosnan. Daniel Craig would be the new James Bond now

Summary

-International spy James Bond is on to his next mission. This one involves investigating the connection between a diamond mogul, a North Korean terrorist and the funding of a deadly new space weapon

Cast

-Pierce Brosnan: James Bond

-Halle Berry: Jinx Johnson

-Toby Stephens: Gustav Graves

-Rosamund Pikes: Miranda Frost

-Rick Yune: Zao

-Judi Dench: M

-John Cleese: Q

-Michael Madsen: Damian Falco

-Will Yun Lee: Colonel Moon

-Kenneth Tsang: General Moon

-Emilio Echevarria: Raoul

-Michael Gorr: Vlad

-Samantha Bond: Miss Moneypenny

Did You Know?

-The book that Bond picks up, in addition to a revolver, is A Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies by James Bond. Ian Fleming is an avid birdwatcher and named his famed character after the author of the book

-Pierce Brosnan didn't like the overuse of gadgets and technology in this film. He wanted it to go back to its simpler, more low key, darker roots. After Brosnan left, the next Bond film was indeed darker and more low key. Casino Royale (2006), which was simpler, without the heavy use of gadgets and visual effects.

-Rosamund Pike's theatrical debut

-The crew encountered a problem with shooting North Korean segments in England. There were only two stunt men of Asian descent in the UK. To relieve this issue, local martial arts clubs were visited and recruited for the movie

-While filming in Cuba, Halle Berry had started choking on a fig. Pierce Brosnan successfully performed the Heimlich maneuver on her, thus saving her life

-Rosamund Pike was incredibly intimidated by her first on screen role because she was acting along side Dame Judi Dench.

-While filming, Rosamund Pike had to leave the set for one day to attend her graduation from Oxford University for English Literature

-This is the first James Bond film to feature an Aston Martin since 1987's The Living Daylights

-For his scenes as a captured prisoner, Pierce Brosnan spent three hours in makeup every day having a false beard and long hair attached

-Less than a month after this movie hit theaters, fencing clubs in the UK saw an increase of interest in the sport and more people taking up the sport

-There is one scene where Gustav Graves arrives in London to be knighted by the Queen. The actor who plays him, Toby Stephens, his parents are Sir Robert Stephens and Dame Magge Smith, both of whom have this prestigious honor

-The scenes showing North Korea were bleached of color on purpose to give the area a feel of inhospitality

-Pierce Brosnan stated he was glad John Cleese's character was "Q" and not "R". Because of Brosnan's Irish accent, it would have been difficult to pronounce "R" with a strong, but convincing English accent

-This is one of the few James Bond movies to use other types of music. This film used The Clash's "London Calling" while A View to Kill from 1985 used "California Girls" by The Beach Boys

-The fuschia-colored dress Jinx Johnson wears to the Ice Palace Party was designed by Donatella Versace. Lindy Hemming, who works as a costume designer, saw a similar design in a magazine and made a request to Donatella to make one special for Halle Berry

-The device that is used to identify James Bond is a Sony Ericcson P800 mobile phone. It was the first appearance of a smart phone in a James Bond film

-This was Pierce Brosnan's final James Bond film

-The diamond-encrusted makeup on Rick Yune took three hours to put on

-The UK premiere of this film took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London with Queen Elizabeth II attending

-The abandoned station on the London Underground, references the actual address of the real headquarters for MI6, which is located at 85 Vauxhall Cross

-Despite being shown as a US base, the aircraft and personnel are actually British in real life

-Actual active duty US Marines appeared in various scenes in this movie, including the prisoner exchange scenes and helo hangar scenes

-Deborah Moore, the daughter of former James Bond actor Roger Moore, appears briefly as a flight attendant on the British Airways flight

-Madonna appeared briefly as the fencing instructor, Verity