MI6 visited the 2nd Unit on location in July to witness the shooting of a crucial Miami Airport action sequence in Casino Royale...

Casino Royale - On Set
12th November 2006

With just over a week of filming left before Casino Royale wrapped principal photography, MI6 visited the 2nd Unit on location at Dunsfold Aerodrome, UK.

Setting The Scene
On a warm summer’s evening in early July, MI6 went south to Dunsfold Aerodrome, UK, to the location best known as the scene of the BBC motoring show "Top Gear". Upon arriving, MI6 were shown the first three Broadcast News Reels which are now online on the official website as podcasts. The scene was then set as to how the evening's action fitted into the big picture of the 21st James Bond film, Casino Royale.

Later, everyone was transported to the runway by bus, where the cameras were set to roll a little after 10pm, for the first of two scenes planned for the evening. On completing the Prague shoot, the second unit returned to the UK where they set up camp at Dunsford Aerodrome. The location doubles for Miami Airport in the film. The second unit would perform several of these ‘long hall’ night shoots – scheduled to run from 10pm until 4am – just as on the evening MI6 visited.

Plate shots had been photographed earlier in the shoot, which would be digitally combined with the live footage being captured on the night.

The Setups Scene one – A police car rams into a heavily damaged tanker. The officers firing on it try to stop it crashing into the new airplane. The tanker is parked, and being rocked by the stunt crew. The police car was put into position and rocked by stunt co-ordinator Gary Powell by standing in the boot. The car then shot backwards. This shot took 3 or 4 takes to complete. First, water doubling for kerosene is supposed to spray out of all the bullet holes in a strip. When some holes do not spray a second take is needed. After the failed takes, the aluminium skin was striped off, squibs replaced and then over an hour of work goes into re-painting and weathering the truck to give it the same look for the next take. Scene two – The second shot is of one of Daniel Craig’s stunt double hanging out of the tanker cab as it races towards the new airplane. In the film, a terrorist known as Carlos, who is determined to blow up the airplane, drives this tanker. A stunt driver is used to double for Carlos. The airplane is a modified 747, and the art department have altered the engines and other external features. The 747 is marked with yellow squares to enable the special effects team to ‘add’ a second floor to the plane (these can still be seen in the trailer for the film, but will be replaced with "Sky Fleet" graphics in the film). The runway is constantly wetted down by fire-prevention crews, on-hand to see that nothing goes wrong. The tanker races down the tarmac towards the plane and a fleeing crowd. Many cars bearing the Miami police logo are on hand to add the extra realism.

The 2nd Unit – which features a smaller crew than the first unit – focuses on stunts, action, and insert shots, which do not normally require the primary cast. The Primary Crew Alexander Witt (second unit director) Gary Powell (stunt coordinator)

Playback: Blink And You’ll Miss It
The two scenes, which took a whole night’s shooting to get ‘in the can’, will be between 1 and 5 seconds in length in the finished film.

Where Will It Be In The Film?
This scene will take place in the middle section of the film as James Bond chases the terrorist, Carlos, through the buildings and runways of Miami International airport.

The film also stars Judi Dench, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini, Caterina Murino, Simon Abkarian, Tobias Menzies, Ivana Milicevic, Clemens Schik, Ludger Pistor, Claudio Santamaria and Isaach de Bankole.

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