Development

Following the release of Licence to Kill in July 1989, pre-production work for the seventeenth film in the James Bond series, the third to star Timothy Dalton (fulfilling his three-film contract),^[10] began in May 1990. A poster for the then-upcoming movie was even featured on the Carlton Hotel during the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. In August, The Sunday Times reported that producer Albert R. Broccoli had parted company with screenwriter Richard Maibaum, who had worked on the scripts of all but three Bond films so far, and director John Glen, responsible for the previous five installments of the series. That same year, Broccoli met with potential directors, which included John Landis, Ted Kotcheff, Roger Spottiswoode, and John Byrum.^[11][12]

Broccoli's stepson Michael G. Wilson contributed a script, and Wiseguy co-producer Alfonse Ruggiero Jr. was hired to rewrite.^[13] Production was set to start in 1990 in Hong Kong, for a release in late 1991.^[14] A 17-page treatment was dated May 1990 and featured James Bond on a mission in East Asia; Bond must investigate why an unknown entity caused a chemical plant in Scotland to inexplicably explode, as well as a threat ordering the British and Chinese to relinquish their authority over Hong Kong. Bond would be aided by an ex-CIA freelance thief named Connie Webb and a senior spy named Denholm Crisp, with the trail leading towards a corrupt technology magnate called Sir Henry Lee Ching. It also would have featured the Chinese Ministry of State Security.^[15][16][17]

Wilson and Ruggiero would revise the plotline further in a script dated July 1990. It changed the opening to Bond using a hang-gliding competition as cover to infiltrate a chemical weapons plant, where Bond must fend off against a deadly security robot. The film proper begins at the South China Sea where a British Harrier jet malfunctions, ejects its pilot and starts flying on its own and then crashing into a village in China. MI6 subsequently learns that numerous British military-technology manufacturing plants have been recently broken into and send James Bond to track down the singular burglar. This draft also featured a climax in which the villain survived the destruction of their lair and subsequently attempts to kill Bond.

In January 1991, the script was further rewritten by William Osborne and William Davies.^[15] After the Gulf War, the chemical plant opening from prior script revised, now taking place in Libya. The film then would have focused on a high-tech stealth fighter being stolen by American mobsters, with Bond trying to find it first in Vancouver and then in Las Vegas. The aircraft is subsequently secured by a Hong Kong-based industrialist Sir Henry Ferguson, who wants to use it allow a Chinese military general to stage a nuclear attack and coup d'état against Mainland China, with the general then leaving the industrialist in control of Hong Kong.^[18]

Dalton declared in a 2010 interview that the script was ready and "we were talking directors" before the project entered development hell caused by legal problems between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, parent company of the series' distributor United Artists, and Broccoli's Danjaq, owners of the Bond film rights.^[19] In 1990, MGM/UA was to be sold for $1.5 billion to Qintex, an Australian-American financial services company that had begun making television broadcast and entertainment purchases. When Qintex could not provide a $50 million letter of credit, the deal fell apart. Giancarlo Parretti, CEO of a company called Pathé Entertainment (unrelated to the French studio Pathé) quickly moved in to buy MGM/UA for $1.2 billion and merged the companies to create MGM-Pathé Communications. Parretti intended to sell off the distribution rights of the studio's catalogue so he could collect advance payments to finance the buyout. This included international broadcasting rights to the 007 library at cut-rate prices, leading Danjaq to sue,^[20] alleging the licensing violated the Bond distribution agreements the company made with United Artists in 1962, while denying Danjaq a share of the profits.^[21] Countersuits were filed. When asked what he would do following resolution of the lawsuits, Dalton told Broccoli that it was unlikely that he would continue in the role.^[22]

Parretti's behavior led to the bankruptcy of MGM-Pathé, and additional lawsuits eventually resulted in a foreclosure by financial backer Crédit Lyonnais in 1992. The Bond rights lawsuits were settled in December 1992, and the renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, now run by a Crédit Lyonnais subsidiary, began to explore further development of Bond 17 with Danjaq in 1993. Dalton was still Broccoli's choice to play Bond, but the star's original seven-year contract with Danjaq expired in 1993. Dalton has stated that the delay of his third film effectively ended the contract in 1990.^[22][23]

Pre-production and writing

In May 1993, MGM announced a seventeenth James Bond film was in pre-production, to be based on a screenplay by Michael France.^[24] France studied for his script by travelling to Russia to interview former KGB agents and visit nuclear research laboratories.^[25] With Broccoli's health deteriorating (he died seven months after the release of GoldenEye), his daughter Barbara Broccoli described him as taking "a bit of a back seat" in the film's production.^[26] Barbara and Michael G. Wilson took the lead roles in production while Albert Broccoli oversaw the production of GoldenEye as a consulting producer, credited as "presenter".^[27][28] Wilson wanted to frame the film in the post-Cold War era and the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, when there were concerns of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.^[25] Broccoli contacted Dalton to ask again if he would come back and now found him open to the idea.^[22]

In August 1993, France had turned in his first draft, and continued to work on the script.^[14] In further discussion with Broccoli, Dalton expressed excitement over taking the best elements of his previous two films and combining them as a basis for one final film. Broccoli stressed that, after the long gap without a film, Dalton could not come back and just do a single film but needed to return for multiple films.^[22] Despite France's screenplay being completed by January 1994, production was pushed back with no concrete start. In April 1994, Dalton officially resigned from the role.^[29][30] In a 2014 interview, Dalton revealed that he agreed with Broccoli's expectation but could not commit to appearing in four or five more films.^[22]

GoldenEye was Pierce Brosnan's first appearance as Bond

Further work was done on the screenplay throughout 1994. France's screenplay introduced the character of "Augustus Trevelyan", Bond's MI6 superior and a defector to Soviet Union, as the main villain. Like in the completed version, his scheme involved an stolen orbital EMP weapon. The first draft consisted of a cold open of an Aston Martin car chase aboard a high-speed train. However, Barbara Broccoli was concerned France's screenplay was still too unstructured and brought in Jeffrey Caine to rewrite it.^[31][32] Caine kept many of France's ideas but added the prologue prior to the credits and rewrote Trevelyan closer to his iteration in the final film. Kevin Wade did a three-week rewrite and Bruce Feirstein added the finishing touches.^[33][34] In the film, the writing credit was shared by Caine and Feirstein, while France was credited with only the story, an arrangement he felt was unfair, particularly as he believed the additions made were not an improvement on his original version.^[35] Wade did not receive an official credit, but was acknowledged in the naming of Jack Wade, the CIA character he created.^[36]

While the story was not based on a work by Ian Fleming, the title GoldenEye traces its origins to the name of Fleming's Jamaican estate where he wrote the Bond novels.^[37] Fleming gave a number of origins for the name of his estate, including Carson McCullers' Reflections in a Golden Eye^[38] and Operation Goldeneye, a contingency plan Fleming himself developed during the Second World War in case of a Nazi invasion through Spain.^[39][40]

Although released only six years after Licence to Kill, world politics had changed dramatically in the interim. GoldenEye was the first James Bond film to be produced after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the end of the Cold War, and there was doubt over the character's relevance in the modern world.^[41] Some in the film industry felt it would be "futile" for the Bond series to make a comeback, and that it was best left as "an icon of the past".^[42] The producers even thought of new concepts for the series, such as a period piece set in the 1960s, a female 007, or a black James Bond. Ultimately, they chose to return to the basics of the series, not following the sensitive and caring Bond of the Dalton films or the political correctness that started to permeate the decade.^[43] The film came to be seen as a successful revitalisation, and it effectively adapted the series for the 1990s.^[7] One of GoldenEye's innovations includes the casting of a female M. In the film, the new M quickly establishes her authority, remarking that Bond is a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur" and a "relic of the Cold War". This is an early indication that Bond is portrayed as far less tempestuous than Timothy Dalton's Bond from 1989.^[44]

John Woo was approached as the director, and turned down the opportunity, but said he was honoured by the offer.^[45] Michael Caton-Jones and Peter Medak were also considered.^[46] The producers then chose New Zealander Martin Campbell as the director. Brosnan later described Campbell as "warrior-like in his take on the piece" and that "there was a huge passion there on both our parts".^[47]

Casting

To replace Dalton, the producers chose Pierce Brosnan, who, after Dalton had initially turned down the role, had been prevented from succeeding Roger Moore in 1986 because of his contract to continue starring in the television series Remington Steele. He was introduced to the public at a press conference at the Regent Palace Hotel on 8 June 1994.^[48] Before negotiating with Brosnan, Mel Gibson, Hugh Grant, and Liam Neeson passed on the role.^[43] Neeson said that he passed on the role as his then fiancée Natasha Richardson wouldn't marry him if he accepted the role.^[49] Broccoli and Campbell met with Ralph Fiennes about taking the part.^[50] Paul McGann auditioned the role and was the studio's second choice if Brosnan turned down the role.^[51] Brosnan was paid $1.2 million for the film, out of a total budget of $60 million.^[43] Judi Dench, an English actress, was cast as M replacing Robert Brown, making this the first film of the series featuring a female M. The decision is widely believed to have been inspired by Stella Rimington having become head of MI5 in 1992.^[52][53]

The character of Alec Trevelyan was originally scripted as "Augustus Trevelyan" and envisaged as an older character and a mentor figure to Bond. Anthony Hopkins and Alan Rickman were reportedly sought for the role but both turned it down. Sean Bean was subsequently cast and the character was rewritten as Bond's peer.^[54][55] The character of Natalya Simionova, originally scripted as "Marina Varoskaya", was supposed to be Paulina Porizkova, but Izabella Scorupco was subsequently cast. The character of Boris Griscenko was originally scripted as "Alexei Makvenio", but Alan Cumming was still in the early cast. The character of Valentin Zukovsky was originally script as Valentin Kosgyn, aka Romaly. The character of General Ourumov was originally named "Illya Borchenko". The character General Pushkin from The Living Daylights appeared in France's initial script but the character was rewritten into Defense Minister Mishkin.^[56][57]

Filming

Principal photography for the film began on 16 January 1995 and continued until 2 June.^[58] Eon was unable to film at Pinewood Studios, the usual studio for Bond films, because it had been reserved for First Knight.^[59] Instead, with little time to find a space which could hold the number of large scale sets needed for production, Eon found an old Rolls-Royce factory at Leavesden Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, which had wide, tall, and open aircraft hangars that were uniquely suited to be converted into stages for a new studio. Eon leased the site for the duration of their shoot, gutted the factory and turned it into stages, workshops and offices, and dubbed it Leavesden Studios.^[60] This process is shown on the 2006 DVD's special features.

The Arecibo Observatory was the site of the film's climactic scene

The bungee jump was filmed at the Contra Dam (also known as the Verzasca or Locarno Dam)^[61] in Ticino, Switzerland. The casino scenes and the Tiger helicopter's demonstration were shot in Monte Carlo. Reference footage for the tank chase was shot on location in Saint Petersburg and matched to the studio at Leavesden. The climactic scenes on the satellite dish were shot at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.^[62] The actual MI6 headquarters were used for external views of M's office.^[63] Some of the scenes in St. Petersburg were actually shot in London – the Epsom Downs Racecourse doubled as the airport – to reduce expenses and security concerns, as the second unit sent to Russia required bodyguards.^[64]

The French Navy provided full use of the frigate La Fayette and their newest helicopter, the Eurocopter Tiger, to the film's production team. The French government also allowed the use of Navy logos as part of the promotional campaign for it. However, the producers had a dispute with the French Ministry of Defence over Brosnan's opposition to French nuclear weapons testing and his involvement with Greenpeace; as a result, the French premiere of the film was cancelled.^[65]

The sequences involving the armored train were filmed on the Nene Valley Railway, near Peterborough in England. The train was composed of a British Rail Class 20 diesel-electric locomotive and a pair of Mark 1 coaches, all three heavily disguised to resemble a Soviet armoured train.^[66][67][68]

Effects

GoldenEye's opening title sequence featured a woman destroying the hammer and sickle.

The film was the last one of special effects supervisor Derek Meddings, to whom it was dedicated. Meddings' major contribution was miniatures.^[69] It was also the first Bond film to use computer-generated imagery. Among the model effects are most external shots of Severnaya, the scene where Janus' train crashes into the tank, and the lake which hides the satellite dish, since the producers could not find a round lake in Puerto Rico. The climax in the satellite dish used scenes in Arecibo, a model built by Meddings' team and scenes shot with stuntmen in Britain.^[64]

Stunt car coordinator Rémy Julienne described the car chase between the Aston Martin DB5 and the Ferrari F355 as between "a perfectly shaped, old and vulnerable vehicle and a racecar." The stunt had to be meticulously planned as the cars are vastly different. Nails had to be attached to the F355 tyres to make it skid, and during one take of the sliding vehicles, the two cars collided.^[70]

The largest stunt sequence in the film was the tank chase, which took around six weeks to film, partly on location in St. Petersburg and partly on the old de Havilland runway at Leavesden.^[71] According to second-unit director Ian Sharp it was thought up by special effects supervisor Chris Corbould, during a pre-production meeting that lasted only ten minutes. Parts of the tank chase were filmed at the backlot of Leavesden, parts on location in St. Petersburg. The whole chase was storyboarded very carefully, said Sharp.^[72] A Russian T-54/T-55 tank, on loan from the East England Military Museum, was modified with the addition of fake explosive reactive armour panels.^[58] To avoid destroying the pavement on the city streets of St. Petersburg, the steel off-road tracks of the T-54/55 were replaced with the rubber-shoed tracks from a British Chieftain tank.^[64] The T-55 tank used in the film is now on permanent display at Old Buckenham Airfield, where the East England Military Museum is based.^[73]

For the confrontation between Bond and Trevelyan inside the antenna cradle, director Campbell decided to take inspiration from Bond's fight with Red Grant in From Russia with Love. Brosnan and Bean did all the stunts themselves, except for one take where one is thrown against the wall. Brosnan injured his hand while filming the extending ladder sequence, making producers delay his scenes and film the ones in Severnaya earlier.^[64]

The opening 220 m (720 ft) bungee jump at Arkhangelsk, shot at the Contra Dam in Switzerland and performed by Wayne Michaels, was voted the best movie stunt of all time in a 2002 Sky Movies poll, and set a record for the highest bungee jump off a fixed structure.^[74][75] The ending of the pre-credits sequence with Bond jumping after the aeroplane features Jacques Malnuit riding the motorcycle to the edge and jumping, and B.J. Worth diving after the plane – which was a working aircraft, with Worth adding that part of the difficulty of the stunt was the kerosene striking his face.^[76]

The fall of Communism in Russia is the main focus of the opening titles, designed by Daniel Kleinman (who took over from Maurice Binder after his death in 1991). They show the collapse and destruction of several structures associated with the Soviet Union, such as the red star, statues of Communist leaders—notably Joseph Stalin—and the hammer and sickle. In an interview, Kleinman said they were meant to be "a kind of story telling sequence" showing that "what was happening in Communist countries was Communism was falling down".^[77] According to producer Michael G. Wilson, some Communist parties protested against "Socialist symbols being destroyed not by governments, but by bikini-clad women", especially certain Indian Communist parties,^[78][79][80] which threatened to boycott the film.^[64]

Product placement

The film was the first one bound by BMW's three-picture deal,^[81] so the producers were offered BMW's latest roadster, the BMW Z3. It was featured in the film months before its release, and a limited edition "007 model" sold out within a day of being available to order. As part of the car's marketing strategy, several Z3's were used to drive journalists from a complimentary meal at the Rainbow Room restaurant to its premiere at the Radio City Music Hall.^[82]

For the film, a convertible Z3 is equipped with the usual Q refinements, including a self-destruct feature and Stinger missiles behind the headlights. The Z3 does not have much screen time and none of the gadgets are used, which Martin Campbell attributed to the deal with BMW coming in the last stages of production.^[64] The Z3's appearance in the film is thought to be the most successful promotion through product placement in 1995.^[83] Ten years later, The Hollywood Reporter listed it as one of the most successful product placements in recent years. The article quoted Mary Lou Galician, head of media analysis and criticism at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, as saying that the news coverage of Bond's switch from Aston Martin to BMW "generated hundreds of millions of dollars of media exposure for the movie and all of its marketing partners."^[84]

In addition, all computers in the film were provided by IBM, and in some scenes (such as the pen grenade scene towards the end), the OS/2 Warp splash screen can be seen on computer monitors. During the Q Lab scene, James Bond can be seen using an IBM ThinkPad laptop ignoring Q's instructions on the use of a leather belt modified with a piton gun. This moment was not present in early drafts of the film, but it is understood that director Martin Campbell had 007 fiddling with the keyboard of this computer as a way to show Bond was visibly ignoring the Quartermaster, but also as a way increase IBM's product placement arrangement.^[85]

A modified Omega Seamaster Professional Diver 300M wristwatch features as a spy gadget device several times in the film, concealing a cutting laser and detonator remote. This was the first time Bond was shown to be wearing a watch by Omega, and he has since worn Omega watches in every subsequent production.^[86][87]

While the scene of the tank running through a truck full of drinks was storyboarded with a Pepsi truck, Perrier signed in a deal to be featured, providing around 90,000 cans for the scene.^[88]

Marketing

As James Bond entered in the 1990s, hand-painted poster designs were eschewed in favor of cutting-edge photomontage tools, promoting the return of 007 portrayed by Pierce Brosnan. Under the direction of John Parkinson and Gordon Arnell from the marketing department of MGM, many posters were produced for the film designed by Randi Braun and Earl Klasky with photographs taken by John Stoddart, Terry O'Neill, Keith Hamshere and George Withear. In the United States, an advance poster featured a gold-hued close-up on Bond's eyes pointing his Walther PPK handgun towards the viewer. The logo of the film was not displayed, only a tagline: "There is no substitute" and the 007 gun logo, in red. For the international market, a different advance poster was issued on which Pierce Brosnan appeared in black dinner jacket holding his silenced PPK gun, next to a 007 logo and under a different tagline: "You know the name. You know the number". This time, the film's logo was introduced, using the MatrixWide typeface (earlier versions of this logo used a modified FrizQuadrata typography). The theatrical artwork had two variations: both retained the same black background and action scenes collage surrounding the three principals (Pierce Brosnan, Izabella Scorupco and Famke Janssen), but the International poster had James Bond in tuxedo while in the US version only had the secret agent's face emerging from the shadows. The US variant was used for the cover artwork of the film's soundtrack and the box of the Nintendo 64 video game adaptation released in 1997.^[89] On a 2015 interview regarding his take on the GoldenEye poster campaign, photographer John Stoddart (who previously worked with Brosnan for a Brioni photoshoot) said his only directive was "Bond, girls and guns"^[90]

In July 1995, a teaser trailer for GoldenEye was attached to prints of Roger Donaldson's film Species after its debut on the syndicated US television program Extra,^[85] followed by a more generic theatrical trailer which revealed Bond's confrontation with agent 006. Asked about the inclusion of this spoiler in a 2019 interview, former MGM/UA Vice-president Jeff Kleeman pointed out that he felt "the idea of 006 vs 007 was a selling point".^[91] Both trailers were directed by Joe Nimziki.^[85]

Music

The theme song, "GoldenEye", was written by Bono and the Edge, and was performed by Tina Turner.^[92] As the producers did not collaborate with Bono or the Edge, the film score did not incorporate any of the theme song's melodies, as was the case in previous James Bond films.^[93] Swedish group Ace of Base had also written a proposed theme song, but label Arista Records pulled the band out of the project fearing the negative impact in case the film flopped. The song was then rewritten as their single "The Juvenile".^[94]

The soundtrack was composed and performed by Éric Serra. Prolific Bond composer John Barry said that despite an offer by Barbara Broccoli, he turned it down.^[95] Serra's score has been criticised: Richard von Busack, in Metro, wrote that it was "more appropriate for a ride on an elevator than a ride on a roller coaster",^[96] and Filmtracks said Serra "failed completely in his attempt to tie GoldenEye to the franchise's past."^[97]

Martin Campbell would later express his disappointment with the score, citing budget constraints and difficulty working with Serra, who became uncooperative when asked to re-score the St. Petersburg tank chase after Campbell rejected his submitted track.^[98] John Altman would later provide the music for the sequence,^[99] while Serra's original track can still be found on the soundtrack as "A Pleasant Drive in St. Petersburg".^[100]

Serra composed and performed a number of synthesiser tracks, including the version of the "James Bond Theme" that plays during the gun barrel sequence,^[101] while Altman and David Arch provided the more traditional symphonic music.^[102] The end credits song, Serra's "The Experience of Love", was based on a short cue Serra had originally written for Luc Besson's Léon one year earlier.

Reviews

The critical reception of the film was mostly positive. Film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes holds it at a 80% approval rating with an approval rating of 7.1/10, based on 85 reviews. The website's critics consensus states: "The first and best Pierce Brosnan Bond film, GoldenEye brings the series into a more modern context, and the result is a 007 entry that's high-tech, action-packed, and urbane."^[114] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[115] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.^[116]

In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars out of 4, and said Brosnan's Bond was "somehow more sensitive, more vulnerable, more psychologically complete" than the previous ones, also commenting on Bond's "loss of innocence" since previous films.^[117] James Berardinelli described Brosnan as "a decided improvement over his immediate predecessor" with a "flair for wit to go along with his natural charm", but added that "fully one-quarter of GoldenEye is momentum-killing padding."^[118]

Several reviewers lauded M's appraisal of Bond as a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur",^{[7][119][120]} with Todd McCarthy in Variety saying the film "breathes fresh creative and commercial life" into the series.^[7] John Puccio of DVD Town said that it was "an eye- and ear-pleasing, action-packed entry in the Bond series" and that the film gave Bond "a bit of humanity, too".^[121] Ian Nathan of Empire said that it "revamps that indomitable British spirit" and that the Die Hard movies "don't even come close to 007". Tom Sonne of The Sunday Times considered it the best Bond film since The Spy Who Loved Me. Jose Arroyo of Sight & Sound considered the greatest success of it was in modernising the series.^[122]

However, the film received several negative reviews. Richard Schickel of Time wrote that after "a third of a century's hard use", Bond's conventions survived on "wobbly knees",^[123] while in Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman thought the series had "entered a near-terminal state of exhaustion."^[124] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said that it was "a middle-aged entity anxious to appear trendy at all costs".^[125] David Eimer of Premiere wrote that "the trademark humour is in short supply" and that "Goldeneye isn't classic Bond by any stretch of the imagination."^[122]

Retrospective reviews

Often cited as Pierce Brosnan's best Bond film, GoldenEye's reputation has only improved since its release. It is ranked high in Bond-related lists, as IGN chose it as the fifth-best movie,^[126] while Entertainment Weekly ranked it eighth,^[127] and Norman Wilner of MSN as ninth.^[128] EW also voted Xenia Onatopp as the sixth-most memorable Bond girl,^[129] while IGN ranked Natalya as seventh in a similar list.^[130] The film enjoys a large and enthusiastic following among Bond fans, especially those who grew up with the GoldenEye 007 video game.^[131][132]

In a 2021 Yahoo survey consisting of 2200 scholars and Bond superfans, GoldenEye was voted as the best Bond film, followed by Daniel Craig's Casino Royale and George Lazenby's On Her Majesty's Secret Service.^[133]

Awards

The film was nominated for two BAFTAs—Best Sound and Special Visual Effects—in 1996, but lost to Braveheart and Apollo 13, respectively.^[9] Éric Serra won a BMI Film Award for the soundtrack, and it also earned nominations for Best Action, Adventure or Thriller Film and Actor at the 22nd Saturn Awards, and Best Fight at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards.^{[134][135][136]}