Empire UK

and a root in Fleming.” That root can be

tracedback to Octopussy the original

Fleming short story in which a man

called Hannes Oberhauser is referenced

by Bond almost as afather figure. After

all once his parents died Bond had to

gosomewhere. Why not into thecare of

Hannes Oberhauser?And does that mean

Franz Oberhauser is the son of Hannes

and effectively Bond’s ‘step-brother’? If

Oberhauser really is the author of Bond’s

pain Chapter One may have started

early possibly with well-timed wedgies.

“In Skyfall we got to Bond age 12

when his parents died but what happened

after that?” asks Mendes. “What

happened during his adolescence? It’s

a kind of retrospective creation story

in a way. When you looked at the surface

of Skyfall it felt like an ending. But

it was a new beginning on so many

levels. It felt like there were all these

threads to pull so let’s pull them.”

Let’s assume then that Waltz is not

Blofeld. So much so in fact that he

perhaps should have been called Not

Blofeld. But rumours are pests and there

are still cynics convinced Eon is hiding

its glorious bastard in plain sight; that

despite all the denials Waltz is playing

Blofeld after all. This is known as

Pulling A John Harrison after the wildly

complex efforts to mask the fact that

Benedict Cumberbatch’s Star Trek Into

Darkness villain was actually Khan

a decision that contributed to some of

the fan fury heaped upon that movie.

“Why was there a backlash?” asks

Mendes whenEmpirebrings this up.

We venture that fans may have felt

tricked maybe even lied to. “But there’s

a narrative as well” he counters. “The

naming of a character is part of a story.

The audience cannot and should not

be given — and I’m not confirming or

denying anything — information that the

characters do not have. And preserving

tension in the narrative of a story that

is a riff or an acknowledgement of the

iconography of Bond over the years has

been crucial. Otherwise you are taking

an audience out of the narrative before

it’s even begun.”

Just talking about Blofeld is tricksy.

Mendes could be forgiven for banning

the mere mention of the B-word on set.

“The B-word!” he snorts. “No we

talk about it all the time. It’s the great

figure from the Bond vault as it were.

There was this big spectre hanging over

the movie and the franchise which is

Blofeld and what happened to the

supervillain.” He chuckles. “That’s

all I’m going to say.”

So Oberhauser is a supervillain

smart and sinister enough to lure

Bond to the MI6 building where they’ll

have a very intense confrontation. For

some filmmakers the presence of a

supervillain and the fun to be had from

pure unrestrained id can sometimes

lead to the hero being overshadowed

or ignored. Mendes insists that with

Spectre the focus will remain on the

most important B-word of them all.

“In Skyfall Bond is playing catch-

up the whole time” says Mendes. “Here

it’s a totally different story. Here he

has to drive the movie.” And Bond’s

investigation will throw up some

interesting revelations... “There’s

some big stuff the movie is moving

towards” teases Mendes. “There are

depth charges you hopefully don’t

see coming.”

While the director was keen to spare

Bond a “psychological”ordeal this time

around there’s no question that as 007

flits between London Mexico Morocco

Austria and Rome (sadly Chris Corbould’s

house will not feature in the movie) his

ordeal will be physical. Craig ’s Bond has

already sustained bullets to the body

and blows to the balls but Spectre will

really dole out the damage including

a train fight with Dave — sorry David

— Bautista’shulking henchman Mr.

Hinx that is deliberately redolent of

the Connery/Robert Shaw dust-up in

From Russia With Love. “It’s a different

kind of style of fight a different kind of

antagonist” says Mendes. “There are

challenges and lots of situations in the

movie where you think ‘How on earth is

he going to get out of this?’” The author

of Bond’s pain laughs. “It’s a pretty dark

place.” James Bond will return...?

SPECTRE IS OUT ON OCTOBER 26 AND WILL
r$)"3-*&(3": BE REVIEWED IN A FUTURE ISSUE.

00-LEGEND

MEET DEBBIE McWILLIAMS

BOND’S SECRET WEAPON

“WE HAVE BOXES OF THEM” SAYS 007 CASTING

guru Debbie McWilliams about the snapshots of

blokes in ill-fi tting tuxes she receives on an almost

daily basis. “Every man on Earth seems to think he

is James Bond. It’s fascinating but a bit trying when

you want to get on with the job.”

McWilliams has been OHMSS since For Your Eyes

Only and is the series’ unsung hero. Due to Bond’s

unique demands she is brought in far earlier than

the norm partly to fi nd one of the most important

ingredients of the Bond mix — the female foil. This

is partly because Casino Royale started shooting

without a Vesper Lynd in place — “It was absolutely

terrifying; sleepless nights” — and partly due to the

demands of Sam Mendes. “Having Sam as a director

is a bit of a game changer. Obviously from a Bond

point of view they have to be gorgeous. But for Sam

that’s not enough. He’s more concerned with the

acting than anything else.”

From Mads Mikkelsen to Bérénice Marlohe

(above) McWilliams is renowned for fi nding fantastic

international actors mainstream audiences haven’t

seen before often by scouring fi lm festivals or

a network of foreign fi eld agents who tip her off

to fresh talent. For Spectre Stephanie Sigman

(Estrella) came through her Mexican contacts and

she found Alessandro Cremona (Marco Sciarra) on

a recce to Rome. Léa Seydoux represents another

strand of McWilliams’ genius — her ability to see

through the jitters.

“Léa was beside herself with nerves when she

came in for her audition” says McWilliams. “She

went pink. She couldn’t remember her words. But

she came back the next day and absolutely nailed

it.” McWilliams’ work is a prime example of the Bond

Effect the unerring ability the franchise has to transform

the lives of those who touch it. “It’s shone a light on

some people” she says modestly. “I’m thinking of

Gemma Arterton and Rosamund Pike — they’d done

virtually nothing when we cast them. I think everyone

loves to say they’ve been in a James Bond fi lm.

Everyone wants to be in another one. Usually they’ve

been bumped off so they can’t.” IAN FREER

“There are depth

charges you don’t

see coming.” Sam Mendes