writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were
still beavering away on the story of Bond
24 aided and abetted by Daniel Craig
a man who has more story input than
any Bond in history. âItâs gone exactly
where I wanted it to goâ says Craig.
âThere are so many rich seams to mine.â
Together the Bond Brain Trust was
determined to come up with a story so
utterly grab-you-by-the-lapels-of-your-
safari-suit compelling that Mendes
would have no choice but to come back.
And it worked. âStory was always the
way inâ says Mendes. âAnd once we
located that I felt a sense of ownership.
Once youâve got that youâre in whether
you like it or not.â
Which leads us to today and
Empireâs latest trip down the Piccadilly
Line to Uxbridge (other London
Underground lines are available) for
our final visit to the set of Spectre.
Weâve been to some of the most exotic
locations Planet Earth has to offer on
this movie â Mexico Austria Chris
Corbouldâs house â but thereâs
something about Pinewood that still
rushes the blood. After all itâs where
youâll find the Albert R. Broccoli 007
Stage the logo rising resplendent above
all the buildings that surround it. This is
the only place in the world you can drive
down a street called Goldfinger Avenue.
And as you do so you might just have to
swerve to avoid Roger Moore who still
keeps an office here. Pinewood is Bond.
Today the 007 Stage is being
prepped for a major helicopter sequence.
Instead weâre off to a smaller stage
retracing Bondâs steps through his old
stomping ground: the MI6 building. Last
seen being blown up by the dastardly
Silva in Skyfall the former HQ of the
British Secret Service will play a crucial
role in Spectre. And the vertigo-
inducing four-storey set that a sweaty-
palmed Empire shakily clambers up
is a fabulously authentic recreation of
a gutted once-glorious building. Itâs here
that later a certain secret agent will
be drawn into the dilapidated shell of
a building he once knew intimately
now ravaged by fire and pressure and
time. Heâll walk through offices where
computers have been fused together by
heat and find himself in the lobby of
the building. Heâll be inexorably drawn
towards the wall on which stands
a stone memorial bearing the names
of all the MI6 agents who have fallen in
the line of duty (actually theyâre all key
Spectre crew members). And itâs here
where those flinty blue eyes may even
betray a flicker of emotion as they light
upon the last name â crudely spray-
painted in large red letters. His name.
James Bond.VEN THOUGH ALL THE
pre-Craig Bond movies
had a loose chronology
(Mooreâs 007 visits the grave
of Lazenbyâs wife Tracy
in For Your Eyes Only) the series just
didnât do sequels. Instead the character
breezed through a series of standalone
adventures in which the fate of the world
was perpetually at stake while our hero
often acted like he couldnât give two figs.
That all changed with Casino
Royale and the casting of Craig. His Bond
doesnât shrug he absorbs. âWatching
those movies the character is leading
us through the story but nothing really
touches himâ says Craig. âI couldnât act
like that. I wouldnât know how to. From
the beginning itâs been âItâs okay to get
a bit emotional.â And hopefully by doingBond in an Aston
Martin DB10 on
which Mendes had
design input pursued
through Rome by Hinx.Andrew Scott
as Max Denbigh
who has MI6 and
M in his sights.Is that a gun in
Mâs hand or is he just
pleased to see Bond?David Bautista and
Craig relax. Either
thator Hinx and
Bond are closer
than we thought.H