 |
| |
Another UK motoring icon, the Land Rover Defender, will feature in "Skyfall"...
|
|
A Bond With British Vehicles
24th February 2012
James Bond's wheels are staying British for the 23rd film, "Skyfall", released later this as 007 celebrates is 50th anniversary on the big screen.
Confirming earlier rumours, Car Magazine has announced that the popular Land Rover Defender will be starring in the new adventure. The 4x4 will be driven by Bond's fellow MI6 field agent Eve, played by Namoie Harris.
Co-Producer Andrew Noakes told the publication, "We are really going to test that car, do things to it it's not normally designed for. Some of the stuff is so hairy and dangerous, we have to use a stuntman in a pod on the roof to do the driving. We've had to crank up the suspension, and the Defender is going to work very, very hard."
The vehicle's civilian brother, the Range Rover, featured in the last outing "Quantum of Solace". The Defender, which is a favourite of the British Army, was last seen in a Bond adventure hurtling off the rock of Gibraltar in Timothy Dalton's 1987 outing "The Living Daylights".
The manufacturer, Jaguar-Land Rover, is providing about 70 vehicles for the film. As MI6 first reported a couple of years ago, the three-film contract between EON Productions and Ford expired in 2008, leaving this adventure open to Jaguar to form a new partnership. M will be seen in a Jaguar as her company car, and Bond himself will be back behind the wheel of his classic Aston Martin DB5, as MI6 exclusively revealed months ago. There will be no new Aston Martin in the film.
Noakes explained to the magazine how keeping Bond in British vehicles is important to the image and spirit of the franchise: "The films may be made with American money and producers, but James Bond is British and we try to make associations with British companies. Land Rover is one of the oldest and most well-known. We've had offers from other companies but we'd prefer not to take James Bond out of a British environment."
