New blog posts every week with the latest information on SkyFall.

WARNING: THIS BLOG POST  CONTAINS SPOILERS

SKYFALL-Lodge's demise
Filming in Scotland comes to an end as SKYFALL-Lodge is blown to the ground. It has been marked as the most expensive stunt in the James Bond series. All crew and cast move to Turkey to film the rest of the film. Shooting is expected to be completed by June. Take a look at the gallery below for images of the building as it explodes.

Resurrecting an old stunt
As the SKYFALL crew prepare to film the epic stunt sequence in Turkey, MI6-HQ reported that the stunt was originally written for Goldeneye 1995 starring Pierce Brosnan. According to the report, the stunt was removed at the last minute. Presumably, this was during the scene with Bond as he chases Trevelyan on the train. Some of the images in the gallery were scanned photographs of production sketches for Goldeneye; containing spoilers.

As shooting began in Turkey, one of the stunt trains derailed and could have gone over the edge of a tall viaduct. Luckily, nobody was hurt.

Aston Martin to be blown up
As we reported a few weeks ago, the crew in Scotland were spotted with James Bond's Aston Martin DB5. Now, a recent report has said that the Aston Martin DB5 might not make it past these scenes as car shell replicas have been rigged with explosives. "Just got back from Hankley Common, security let us go very close. Spoke to one and he said the DB5 has been peeped with explosives." @RichLawes. It is said that this was done on Monday when the rest of the building is blown up.

More character name spoilers
As we reported a few weeks ago, a call sheet revealed the name of Javier Bardem's character Silva. Now there are reports that other characters were mentioned on the list too. These include Gareth Mallory (rumoured Ralph Fiennes), Kincade (rumoured Albert Finney), Patrice (rumoured Ola Rapace), Doctor Hall, Vanessa (M's Assistant). Raoul, according to the reports, is Silva's first name. Another character's name was revealed as B. This could be Ben Whishaw's character of Q, these call sheets would have been made before the information leaked about what character he was playing which suggests that it was a cover up.

Berenice Marlohe and Naomi Harris show their progress so far
A couple of days ago, French actress Berenice Marlohe and English actress Naomi Harris showed Bond fans what they have been up to since filming began in November. Naomi Harris' video contains scenes of her practising mainly gun training; shooting from different angles. It gives us an idea of how much action we can expect from the film. Harris' video didn't show us any of the scenes from the film, but Berenice Marlohe's did. In fact, a scene which nobody seemed to pick up on when they were filming in Ascot Racecourse (that doulbed for Shanghai International Airport). Marlohe was seen in character along with two body-guards passing a suitcase to someone on the opposite escalator. (Reports believe that this character is called Patrice)

New blog posts every week with the latest information on SkyFall.

WARNING: THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS SPOILERS

Stunt photographs from Turkey set
The stunt chase in Turkey is under way as filming started last week. The Land Rover and damaged VW Beetles were on set. Also, a 17 year old boy managed to sneak into one of the carriages and took a few pictures of the stunt men performing a machette fight (similar to the scene on Octopussy with Bond and Gobinda)

SKYFALL's Burning!
Scenes in Scotland came to an end this weekend as the crew set light to SKYFALL-Lodge. From the images in the gallery below, we can see why a replica had to be made, it would have been almost impossible to create this effect with the real thing. This scene marks the films climax and the epic battle between Bond and Silva. The latest clapperboard shows a damaged door to the building. During this scene, a dummy helicopter was used to crash into the burning building. We understand that James Bond caused this to crash. Perhaps Silva was inside? The dummy helicopter was operated by crane.

New blog posts every week with the latest information on SkyFall.

WARNING: THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS SPOILERS

London Chase Scene continued
SKYFALL is well underway as we draw a close to the scenes shot in London. The team will be focussing on scenes in Turkey from now on. As reported in February, Daniel Craig was seen running through the streets of London chasing after the main villain, who's name we can confirm as SILVA. This time, both Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem were on set along with hundreds of extras. 

{SPOILER}
Whitehall was closed off during filming. Northumberland Avenue had fake sign posts above a disused exit of Charing Cross station so that it  appeared to be 'Embankment station'. Silva (Javier Bardem) exited Whitehall via the side and quietly escaped disguised as a metropolitan police officer. We believe that he caused the chaos in the streets. With this disguise, it could be the twist that is said to appear in the film. 

A video below shows Daniel Craig's stunt double in action while Daniel
Craig continues to chase the villain down. Rememberance poppies are also seen on vehicles, which could mean that this film is set when the film is released (in October/November)
{SPOILER}

The crew were said to be moving out to Turkey last Wednesday, but there has currently been no reports of them arriving yet. 
 

The true meaning of SKYFALL
Last month, the crew were in Scotland where they filmed a chase sequence with Daniel Craig and Judi Dench in the famous Aston Martin DB5. The crew have reconstructed an old Scottish estate which is going to be blown up in the film. This building will be called 'SKYFALL Lodge' and is supposed to be the home of James Bond, where he grew up. James Bond takes M there after they flee London and he talks of his childhood, before being attacked by Silva. 
 
Similarities between SKYFALL and other Bond films
We decided to take a moment and think of where the writers of SKYFALL got their ideas from. 

 - Silva's desguide resembles Kananga's Mr Big desguise in Live & Let Die
 - There is a lot of action on trains. From Russia With Love's main fight sequence was completely based on a train, and the battle between Tee Hee and Bond in Live & Let Die were also set on a train.
 - Istanbul was a filming location used in From Russia With Love and The World Is Not Enough
 - The Whitehall pillars which are used in SKYFALL relates to the hall of pillars in From Russia With Love, where Krilencu is killed.
 - The MI6 Head Quarters blowing up resembles the explosion in The World Is Not Enough pre-title sequence
 - The character of M plays a larger role in the film, like in The World Is Not Enough

As you can see, quite a lot of the inspiration comes from Live & Let Die and From Russia With Love. It makes sense because Live & Let Die is Sam Mendes' favorite Bond film and From Russia With Love is Daniel Craigs favorite. 

Poll for SKYFALL theme
An unnofficial poll was started on IGN last week about popular artists to sing the new song for SKYFALL. Musicians from U2, Florence + the Machine, Rihanna, Guns N Roses, Beyonce, Lana Del Rey, Take That, Plan B and Noel Callagher. The Foo Fighters came third after Muse beat them in second. Of course, Adele is currently in the lead.

Actor joins as SKYFALL's Evil Henchman
Hopefully, we will get a good iconic henchman (like Jaws or Oddjob). Luckily, a new actor confirmed his involvement in the series last week. Swedish actor Jens Hultén will be playing henchman to Javier Bardem's SILVA. He said that he had already been shooting scenes for the film, which we presume took place at Pinewod Studios. "It's obviously a great honor to participate in "Skyfall". Bond movies are huge  productions with some of the greatest talents both in front and behind the  camera as it is fantastic to be part of."

James Bond's ancestory
As the crew prepare the new building in SKYFALL, several grave-stones were made for the chapel named SKYFALL-Lodge. James Bond's mother (Monique Delacroix) and father (Andrew Bond) will be amongst these head-stones; as well as Robert Bond, Celia Bond, Valentine Bond and Kathleen Bond. On Monique Delacroix's stone the latin phraze "Mors Ultima Linea Rerum Est" is engraved; which means "Death is Everything's Final Limit".

James Bond's family was briefly mentioned in Goldeneye (1995), but the films haven't gone into as much depth as SKYFALL.

New blog posts every week with the latest information on SkyFall.

Ben Collins returns as James Bond's stunt driver
Ben Collins returns to the crew to continue his role as stunt driver. He was spotted in London dressed in the same outfit as Daniel Craig was last week and was seen driving a car with the crew. Ben Collins was most famous for revealing his identity as 'The Stig' on the British television show Top Gear in his autobiography.

SKYFALL shoots in Scotland
James Bond  went back to his roots this week when the crew headed off to Scotland to shoot scenes in the shadow of the mountain Buachaille Etive Mor ('The great herdsman of etive when translated.) The Daily Mail who reported the shoot also said that Aston Martin DB5's were part of a car chase which took off throughout the A82. Daniel Craig and Judi Dench were on set a little later in a location just an hours walk from the A82. Ben Collins was also on set driving an Aston Martin DB5 towards an old estate. Daniel Craig and Judi Dench were later spotted at Glasgow airport heading back to London. The last time Scotland was used in a Bond film was during 'The World Is Not Enough' in 1999. The latest clapper-board photograph shows that they have been filming scene 137, which comes after the sequence we saw a few months ago with Daniel Craig in the DB5 in London. We believe that this scene has something to do with James Bond's heritage. In the Ian Fleming novels, James Bond's father lived in Scotland.

__New blog posts every week with the latest information on SkyFall.

Rory Kinnear talks about Bill Tanner
You’re currently filming the new James Bond film, Skyfall, returning as M's Chief of Staff, Bill Tanner. How’s that going so far?
"Great, we’ve just been at Pinewood and around Waterloo and Spitalfields doing some scenes with myself and Daniel [Craig] and Judi [Dench]. I go through to the beginning of February filming and I think they’re on until about April or May."

That sounds like a fairly long shoot for you, does this mean that we see a bit more of Tanner this time around?
"Yes, Tanner gets a bit more facetime this time, [the part] is a bit more beefed-up. He’s basically performing the same role but there’s a bit more of him."

There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the film with the 50th anniversary coming up; is that excitement present on set as well?
"I think everyone’s generally just really excited about the script and how good it is - and we’ve got Sam [Mendes] directing.

"Obviously this is now my second one so I know how Daniel and Judi work. We all seem to get on very well so it feels like I’m becoming slightly more part of the family."

Duntrune Castle scenes scrapped
It was reported that scenes for SkyFall in Duntrune Castle have been scrapped. The filming was scheduled to start in February with over 200 cast and crew. "I particularly feel sorry for hoteliers and tradesmen in the area who were looking forward to a prosperous New Year. For myself I am very sorry I won't see Judi Dench."

"For the past three months they have been sending people up here in increasing numbers to look around. Last time we had 50 people having lunch in our kitchen"

"I think they would like to keep a Scottish dimension in the film, but where they do that is up to them"

Noel Gallagher rumoured for title song
Noel Gallagher, musician in tha band Oasis, was rumoured to perform the title song for SykFall. Nothing has been confirmed at the moment, but we understand that Gallagher has an audition with producer Michael G Wilson in Los Angeles. Gallagher says that they may use a song which he has already written, Freaky Teeth. The song has only been featured in live performances, not released in an album. "I listened back to it thinking, 'That'd make a fucking great Bond theme'" He said that he wants the new theme to be performed by a British artist, instead of sung by Yanks.