It stars Daniel Craig and is directed once again by Sam Mendes.
And we had a chance to sit down with Mendes to chat about the film.
Were thrilled he obliged.
One spoiler note: the scene were going to discuss all takes place before Sam Smith starts singing…
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Were movie nerds, and were movie nerds on the other side of the fence.
So I wonder: could you take us through something thats insanely difficult?
To go into one very difficult moment of making a Bond film?
Youve got, for instance, a non-spoilery boardroom near the start?
Do you know what, thats more like rehearsing a play.
Knowing how to stage it.
Youve got to get the room the right size.
The table the right size.
Give yourself room to move the cameras.
Thats not that difficult, technically anyway.
But I would say the helicopter fight at the beginning, though.
So, how would you imagine we shot that?
Youve said before that its Bond, so it has to be real.
But ultimately, one of us is a major Oscar-winning international film director, and it isnt me!
So I figure Ill let you tell us!
[Laughs] Good answer!
Okay, so, the first thing youve got [is] a real helicopter flying over the square.
So youve got a stunt pilot and two stuntman who have to be on rigs.
What you have to do there is you have to choreograph the fight.
So a large section is outside the body of the helicopter as well as inside.
Then you’re able to knit in the real actors inside the helicopter, and the stuntman.
You have to create rigs back at Pinewood.
But the helicopter is spinning, then its barrel-rolling, then corkscrewing, then its looping the loop.
So immediately, thats four different sections.
Youve got the live helicopter, which has to be shot by another helicopter.
Then youre cutting in and out to a series of different rigs, all back in Pinewood.
Then youve got people underneath.
You have stuntmen underneath, that have to be added in post.
[Laughs]
So was there a hidden gotcha in there?
Presumably a lot of a Bond film is about preparation, preparation, preparation.
Is there a little thing thats off, and you end up with unexpected problems to solve?
You have to follow the dance of the helicopter that you shot for real.
And yes, there were two or three moments where the rigs were wrong.
All of those things.
Closer than you might think would be sensible!
But they do, and theyre amazing!
Its a dance, its an amazing thing to watch.
In a way, the show-off pilot, which is on-camera, is the most flamboyant.
But the most difficult job of piloting is the camera helicopter.
Hes actually responding to another helicopter.
The first helicopter can fly almost where he wants.
I remember the journey clearly in my head.
But then you have to work out the interior actions to match the exterior.
How far back, then, does the process of this start?
You cant change the course of their journey, while its happening.
You have to stick to your plan.
But you’ve got the option to change the plan after theyve come down on the ground.
it’s possible for you to say lets do something different here, it doesnt look so good.
That happens all the time.
What I would say though is that it starts months and months before.
Ive never seen anything like that.
Thats what gave me the whole idea for it in the first place.
I then got the writers to write it in, and we developed it from there.
We worked it out bit by bit by little bit, every stage of the journey.
We cant do half the stunts in thin air.
That only came late in the day.
One last thing, if you want to go into this level of detail….
The first day we did it, the engine broke.
And theres only one of those Red Bull helicopters in Mexico.
So we didnt have a helicopter.
We had to call up the Red Bull team, and the helicopter mechanics had to fly in overnight.
It was hairy, almost every stage.
But its one of the sections Im proudest of in the movie.
Whens the bit where you knew youd got it?
Oh, about five days ago!
[Laughs]
Really?
Do you want to use the surrounds?
When do you want to shift perspective from inside to outside?
Do you want to gradually put the helicopter under stress, the sound of it rattling?
If youre in a plane, youre traveling forward.
But a helicopter can be pushed backwards and still stay up.
When youre caught in storm in a helicopter, as I have been, you know it.
Its much, much more frightening than being in a plane.
[Laughs]
Sam Mendes, thank you very much.
Spectreis out in UK cinemas now.
