1) M’s house in the film is the former home of Bond composer John Barry. The film-makers thought it would be the perfect tribute to Barry, who died in 2011.


2) Daniel Craig’s tie had to be weighted for a motorbike chase in Istanbul that features in the movie. The weight kept the tie from flapping when he drove at high speeds.

3) Coca Cola was sprayed on the tarmac of the streets in Istanbul to keep the bikes from sliding.

4) 85 copies of Bond’s Tom Ford suit were made available to Daniel Craig for the opening sequence.

5) In order to film the Istanbul chase, the production team had to remove the existing tiles from a bazaar and replace them with rubber tiles just in case the stunt didn’t go as planned. Once the filming was finished, the original tiles were then put back in place.

6) Multiple British rally car champion Mark Higgins was Naomie Harris’s driving stunt double for wide-angle shots as her Land Rover weaves through traffic.

7) When it came to casting lead villain Silva’s mercenaries, director Sam Mendes wanted actors rather than stuntmen. In order to find some that could fit the physical bill, stunt coordinator Gary Powell set up a special training camp. Starting with 42 men, the group had to learn how throw and react to punches, hold guns and react to being shot. They were eventually narrowed down to the seven men who looked the most natural.

8) This is the sixth film in which the Aston Martin DB5 has featured. It first appeared in Goldfinger in 1964 and was subsequently seen in Thunderball, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and Casino Royale.

9) Skyfall is the first film that ten-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins has shot on a digital camera. “This camera has brought us to a point where digital is simply better,” he says of the Arri Alexa.

10) The cast went through 200,000 rounds of ammunition while undergoing weapons training.


Skyfall is released in the UK on 26 October.