''Die Another Day'' is a 2002
spy film and the twentieth film in the
''James Bond'' series produced by
Eon Productions. It was produced by
Michael G. Wilson and
Barbara Broccoli, and directed by
Lee Tamahori. The fourth and final film starring
Pierce Brosnan as the fictional
MI6 agent
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...
, it was also the only film to feature
John Cleese as
Q, and the last with
Samantha Bond as
Miss Moneypenny
Miss Moneypenny, later assigned the first names of Eve or Jane, is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. She is secretary to M (James Bond), M, who is Bond's superior officer and head of the British Secret Intelligence Serv ...
. It is also the first film since ''
Live and Let Die'' (1973) not to feature
Desmond Llewelyn as Q as he died three years earlier.
Halle Berry co-stars as
NSA
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collec ...
agent
Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson, the
Bond girl. It follows Bond as he attempts to locate a mole in
British intelligence who betrayed him and a
British billionaire who is later revealed to be connected to a North Korean operative whom Bond seemingly killed. It is an original story, although it takes influence from Bond creator
Ian Fleming's novels ''
Moonraker'' (1955) and ''
The Man with the Golden Gun'' (1965), as well as
Kingsley Amis
Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social ...
's novel, ''
Colonel Sun''.
''Die Another Day'' marked the ''James Bond'' franchise's 40th anniversary. The film includes references to each of the preceding films. The film received mixed reviews; some critics praised Tamahori's direction, but others criticized its reliance on CGI,
product placement and its unoriginal plot, as well as the villain. Nevertheless, ''Die Another Day'' was the highest-grossing ''James Bond'' film up to that time.
Plot
MI6 agent James Bond infiltrates a North Korean military base where Colonel Tan-Sun Moon is trading weapons for African
conflict diamonds. After Moon's right-hand man Zao receives notification of Bond's real identity, Moon attempts to kill Bond and a
hovercraft chase ensues, ending with Moon's craft tumbling over a waterfall. Bond is captured by North Korean soldiers and imprisoned by the Colonel's father, General Moon. After fourteen months of captivity and
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...
at the hands of the
Korean People's Army, Bond is traded for Zao in a
prisoner exchange across the
Bridge of No Return. He is sedated and taken to meet
M, who informs him that his status as a
00 Agent has been suspended under suspicion of having leaked information under duress to the North Koreans. Bond is convinced that he has been set up by a
double agent in the British government. After escaping MI6 custody, he finds himself in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
, where he learns from Chang, a Chinese agent and old colleague, that Zao is in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...
.
In
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. , Bond meets with
NSA
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collec ...
agent Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson, and follows her to a
gene therapy
Gene therapy is a Medicine, medical field which focuses on the genetic modification of cells to produce a therapeutic effect or the treatment of disease by repairing or reconstructing defective genetic material. The first attempt at modifying ...
clinic, where patients can have their appearances altered through DNA restructuring. Jinx kills Dr. Alvarez, the leader of the therapy, while Bond locates Zao inside the clinic and fights him. Zao escapes, leaving behind a pendant which leads Bond to a cache of conflict diamonds bearing the crest of the company owned by British billionaire Gustav Graves. Bond learns that Graves only appeared a year prior, apparently discovering a vein of diamonds in Iceland leading to his current wealth and celebrity. At
Blades Club
Blades is a fictional London gentlemen's club appearing and referenced in several of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, most notably '' Moonraker''. Blades is situated on "Park Street" (correct name Park Place) off St James's Street, at the approxi ...
in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, Bond meets Graves along with his assistant Miranda Frost, who is also an undercover MI6 agent. After a
fencing match that escalates into a
claymore duel, Graves invites Bond to Iceland for a scientific demonstration. M restores Bond's Double-0 status, and
Q issues him an
Aston Martin V12 Vanquish
The Aston Martin Vanquish is a high-performance grand tourer introduced by British luxury automobile manufacturer Aston Martin in 2001 as a successor to the Aston Martin Vantage (1993).
The Aston Martin "V12 Vanquish," designed by Ian Callum ...
with
active camouflage.
At his
ice palace in Iceland, Graves unveils a new orbital mirror satellite, "Icarus", which is able to focus
solar energy on a small area and provide year-round sunshine for agriculture. Bond seduces Frost and Jinx infiltrates Graves' command centre, but is captured by Graves and Zao. Bond rescues her and discovers that Graves is Colonel Moon, who has used the gene therapy technology to change his appearance and amassed his fortune from conflict diamonds as a cover. Bond confronts Graves, but Frost arrives to reveal herself as the traitor who betrayed him in North Korea, forcing Bond to escape from Graves' facility. He returns in his Vanquish to rescue Jinx, who has been recaptured in the palace. As Graves uses Icarus to melt the ice palace, Zao pursues Bond into the palace using his
Jaguar XKR
The Jaguar XK is a two-door 2+2 grand tourer manufactured and marketed by British automobile manufacturer Jaguar Cars from 1996–2014 in hatchback coupé and convertible bodystyles, across two generations. The XK was introduced at the ...
. Bond kills Zao by causing a giant ice chandelier to fall onto him, and revives Jinx after she has almost drowned.
Bond and Jinx pursue Graves and Frost to the
Korean peninsula
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...
and stow away on Graves'
An-124 cargo plane. Graves reveals his identity to his father, and the true purpose of the Icarus satellite: to cut a path through the
Korean Demilitarized Zone with concentrated sunlight, allowing
North Korean troops to invade South Korea and unite the peninsula. Horrified, General Moon rejects the plan, but Graves murders him. Bond attempts to shoot Graves, but is prevented by a soldier. In their struggle, a gunshot pierces the fuselage, causing the plane to decompress and descend rapidly. Bond and Graves engage in a fistfight, and Jinx attempts to regain control of the plane. Frost attacks Jinx, forcing her to defend herself in a sword duel. After the plane passes through the Icarus beam and is further damaged, Jinx kills Frost. Graves attempts to escape by parachute, but Bond opens the parachute, pulling Graves out of the plane and into one of its engines, disabling the Icarus beam. Bond and Jinx escape from the disintegrating plane in a helicopter from the cargo hold, with Graves' stash of diamonds. Later, they spend a romantic evening at a Buddhist temple.
Cast
*
Pierce Brosnan as
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...
, an
MI6 agent.
*
Halle Berry as
Jinx Johnson, an
NSA
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collec ...
agent. Before Berry's casting
Salma Hayek,
Saffron Burrows
Saffron Domini Burrows (born 22 October 1972) is an English actress and model who has appeared in films such as '' Circle of Friends,'' '' Wing Commander,'' '' Deep Blue Sea,'' '' Gangster No. 1,'' ''Enigma,'' '' Troy,'' ''Reign Over Me'' and '' ...
, and
Sophie Ellis-Bextor were also considered for the role.
*
Toby Stephens as Gustav Graves, a British entrepreneur and the alter ego of Colonel Tan-Sun Moon. Graves was modeled after
Hugo Drax in Ian Fleming's original ''
Moonraker'', a
Nazi war criminal who switched places with a British soldier at the end of World War II, became a well-respected and wealthy philanthropist, and used this cover to plan a nuclear missile strike on London. He was also modelled after
Uday Hussein
Uday Saddam Hussein ( ar, عدي صدام حسين; 18 June 1964 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician and the eldest son of Saddam Hussein. He held numerous positions as a sports chairman, military officer and businessman, and was the hea ...
and
Richard Branson.
*
Will Yun Lee
William Yun Lee (born March 22, 1971) is an American actor and martial artist. He is best known for his roles as Danny Woo in the supernatural drama '' Witchblade'' and Jae Kim in the sci-fi series '' Bionic Woman''. He has also appeared in t ...
as Colonel Tan-Sun Moon, a rogue North Korean army colonel and the original persona of Graves.
*
Rosamund Pike as Miranda Frost, undercover MI6 agent and
double agent.
*
Rick Yune
Rick Yune (born August 22, 1971) is an American actor, screenwriter, producer and martial artist of Korean descent. His most notable roles have been in the movies '' Snow Falling on Cedars'', the first ''Fast and Furious'' film ''The Fast an ...
as Tang Ling Zao, a North Korean terrorist working for Moon and living as an exile.
*
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...
as
M, the head of MI6.
*
John Cleese as
Q, MI6's
quartermaster and armourer.
*
Madonna as Verity, Graves and Frost's fencing instructor.
*
Michael Madsen as Damian Falco, Jinx's superior in the NSA.
*
Samantha Bond as
Miss Moneypenny
Miss Moneypenny, later assigned the first names of Eve or Jane, is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. She is secretary to M (James Bond), M, who is Bond's superior officer and head of the British Secret Intelligence Serv ...
, M's secretary.
*
Colin Salmon as
Charles Robinson, M's Deputy Chief of Staff.
*
Kenneth Tsang as General Moon, Colonel Moon's father. He assists in Bond's release back to the West. The North Korean general wishes for a peaceful reunification of Korea, whereas his son is bent on war.
*
Michael Gorevoy as Vladimir Popov, Gustav Graves' personal scientist.
*
Lawrence Makoare
Lawrence Makoare (born 20 March 1968) is a New Zealand Māori actor. He is most known for his roles in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series as several prominent antagonists, including Lurtz the Uruk-Hai and the Witch King of Angmar.
Career
M ...
as Mr. Kil, one of Gustav Graves' henchmen.
*
Ho Yi as The Hotel Manager and Chinese special agent Mr. Chang. In early drafts of the script, it was
Wai Lin
Wai Lin () is a fictional character in the 1997 ''James Bond'' film ''Tomorrow Never Dies'', portrayed by Michelle Yeoh. The character, the first ethnic Chinese Bond girl, has received critical acclaim, being widely regarded as one of the best Bon ...
(
Michelle Yeoh) who aided Bond in Hong Kong, but the idea fell through and Chang was created to replace her.
*
Rachel Grant
Rachel Louise Grant de Longueuil (born 25 September 1977) is an English actress and TV presenter.
Early life
Grant was born on the island of Luzon in the Philippines to Michael Grant, 12th Baron de Longueuil, and Isabel Padua; her family moved ...
as Peaceful Fountains of Desire, a Chinese agent working for Mr. Chang, undercover as a
masseuse.
*
Emilio Echevarría
Emilio Antonio Echevarría Noriega (born 3 July 1944) is a Mexican actor.
Career
Echevarría began his acting career in 1978 as a member of the Constitution of Art and Society. He appeared in ''Amores Perros'' as the hitman and ex- guerrilla n ...
as Raoul, the manager of a Havana cigar factory, and a British
sleeper agent.
*
Vincent Wong as General Li
*
Joaquin Martinez as Elderly Cigar Factory Worker
*
Simón Andreu as Dr. Álvarez
*
Deborah Moore
Deborah Maria Luisa Moore (born 27 October 1963) is an English actress. She is the daughter of actor Roger Moore and Italian actress Luisa Mattioli.
Career
She made her debut on TV as a child in ''The Persuaders!'' episode "The Long Goodbye" i ...
(the daughter of former Bond actor
Roger Moore) as Airline Hostess
*
Mark Dymond
Mark Dymond (born 1974, Wimbledon, London) is an English actor of Irish descent. In addition to appearances in films, he is known as Dr. Lorcan O'Brien, a major character in the 2007–2009 seasons of the TV drama series '' The Clinic'', among o ...
as Mr. Van Bierk
*
Oliver Skeete
Oliver Skeete (born 26 March 1956 in Speightstown, Barbados) is a British showjumper turned reality show contestant and actor.
Biography
One of a family of 10 (four brothers and five sisters), Skeete travelled to England in September 1964 to join ...
as Concierge At The Fencing Club
Production
After the success of ''
The World Is Not Enough'', producers
Barbara Broccoli and
Michael G. Wilson asked the director
Michael Apted to return to direct. Although Apted accepted, they rescinded the offer in order to ask
Tony Scott and
John Woo, who both declined. Scott claims to have suggested
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...
as director, although Wilson denies that any formal negotiations were held with him. Pierce Brosnan suggested
John McTiernan,
Ang Lee, and
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...
as potential choices, and informally discussed the idea of directing a Bond film with Scorsese on a flight.
Brett Ratner
Brett Ratner (born March 28, 1969) is an American film director and producer. He directed the ''Rush Hour'' film series, '' The Family Man'', '' Red Dragon'', '' X-Men: The Last Stand'', and ''Tower Heist''. He is also a producer of several film ...
,
Stephen Hopkins, and
Stuart Baird
Stuart Baird (born 14 January 1947) is an English film editor, producer, and director who is mainly associated with action films. He has edited over thirty major motion pictures.
Life and career
Baird has had an extended collaboration with di ...
were later in negotiations to direct before
Lee Tamahori was hired.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as ...
of ''Die Another Day'' began on 11 January 2002 at
Pinewood Studios. The film was shot primarily in the United Kingdom,
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
, and
Cádiz, Spain. Other locations included Pinewood Studios'
007 Stage and
Maui, Hawaii, in December 2001.
Laird Hamilton
Laird John Hamilton (born March 2, 1964) is an American big-wave surfer, co-inventor of tow-in surfing, and an occasional fashion and action-sports model and actor. He is married to Gabrielle Reece, a professional volleyball player, television ...
,
Dave Kalama, and
Darrick Doerner
Darrick Doerner is a big wave pioneer in the sport of tow-in surfing, in which personal water craft are used to tow surfers into large surf. Also known by the nickname, Double D, Doerner is an accomplished big wave surfer himself.
Doerner is an ...
performed the pre-title surfing scene at the surf break known as "Jaws" in
Peahi, Maui, while the shore shots were taken near Cádiz and
Newquay, Cornwall. Scenes inside Graves' diamond mine were also filmed in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...
, at the
Eden Project
The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS ...
. The scenes involving the Cuban locations of
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. and the fictional Isla de Los Organos were filmed at
La Caleta, Spain
La Caleta is a beach located in the historical center of the city of Cádiz, Spain. It is a natural harbor by which Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans penetrated historically. It is the smallest beach in the city, and is isolated from the ot ...
.
The scenes featuring Berry in a bikini (designed to resemble
Ursula Andress
Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss-German actress, former model and sex symbol who has appeared in American, British and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, '' Dr. No'' (1962 ...
' swimming costume in ''
Dr. No'') were shot in
Cádiz
Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...
. The location was reportedly cold and windy, and footage has been released of Berry wrapped in thick towels between takes to avoid catching a chill. Berry was injured during filming when debris from a smoke grenade flew into her eye. The debris was removed in a 30-minute operation. Brosnan also sustained a knee injury during the shooting of an action scene in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...
.
Gadgets and other props from every previous ''Bond'' film and stored in Eon Productions' archives appear in Q's warehouse in the
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The ...
. Examples include the jetpack in ''
Thunderball'' and
Rosa Klebb's poison-tipped shoe in ''
From Russia with Love''.
Q mentions that the watch he issues Bond is "your 20th, I believe", a reference to ''Die Another Day'' being the 20th Eon-produced Bond film.
In London, the
Reform Club was used to shoot several places in the film, including the lobby and gallery at the Blades Club, MI6 Headquarters, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, and Westminster.
Jökulsárlón, Iceland was used for the car chase on the ice. Four Aston Martins and four Jaguars, all converted to four-wheel drive, were used (and wrecked) filming the sequence. A temporary dam was constructed at the mouth of the narrow inlet to keep the salty ocean water out and thus allow the lagoon to freeze. Additional chase footage was filmed at
Svalbard, Norway,
Jostedalsbreen National Park, Norway, and
RAF Little Rissington, Gloucestershire.
Manston Airport in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
was used for the scenes involving the Antonov cargo plane scenes. The scene in which Bond surfs the wave created by Icarus when Graves was attempting to kill Bond was shot on the
blue screen. The waves, along with all the glaciers in the scene are computer-generated.
The hangar interior of the "US Air Base in South Korea", shown crowded with
Chinook helicopters, was filmed at
RAF Odiham in Hampshire, UK, as were the helicopter interior shots during the Switchblade sequence. These latter scenes, though portrayed in the air, were actually filmed entirely on the ground with the sky background being added in post-production using blue screen techniques. Although the base is portrayed in the film as a US base, all the aircraft and personnel in the scene are British in real life. In the film, Switchblades (one-person gliders resembling fighter jets in shape) are flown by Bond and Jinx to stealthily enter North Korea. The Switchblade was based on a workable model called "PHASST" (Programmable High Altitude Single Soldier Transport). Kinetic Aerospace Inc.'s lead designer, Jack McCornack was impressed by director Lee Tamahori's way of conducting the Switchblade scene and commented, "It's brief, but realistic. The good guys get in unobserved, thanks to a fast cruise, good glide performance, and minimal radar signature. It's a wonderful promotion for the PHASST."
The satellite attack at the end of the film was at first written to take place in Manhattan, but after the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
it was moved to the
Korean Demilitarized Zone.
Music
The soundtrack was composed by
David Arnold and released on
Warner Bros. Records. He again made use of electronic rhythm elements in his score, and included two of the new themes created for ''
The World Is Not Enough''. The first, originally used as Renard's theme, is heard during the mammoth "Antonov" cue on the recording, and is written for piano. The second new theme, used in the "Christmas in Turkey" track of ''The World Is Not Enough'', is reused in the "Going Down Together" track.
The
title song for ''Die Another Day'' was co-written and co-produced by
Mirwais Ahmadzai and performed by
Madonna, who also had a
cameo in the film as Verity, a fencing instructor. The concept of the title sequence is to represent Bond trying to survive 14 months of torture at the hands of the North Koreans. Critics' opinions of the song were sharply divided—it was nominated for a
Golden Globe for Best Original Song and the 2004
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...
for Best Dance Recording, but also for a
Golden Raspberry Award
The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy ...
for
Worst Original Song of 2002 (while Madonna herself won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress for her cameo). In a
MORI
Mori is a Japanese and Italian surname, and also a Persian pet name for Morteza. It is also the name of two clans in Japan, and one clan in India.
Italian surname
* Barbara Mori, Uruguayan-Mexican actress
*Camilo Mori, Chilean painter
* Cesa ...
poll for the
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
programme ''"James Bond's Greatest Hits"'', the song was voted 9th out of 22, and also came in as an "overwhelming number one" favourite among those under the age of 24.
Marketing
Reportedly, twenty companies, paying $70 million, had their products
featured in the film, a record at the time,
although ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' reported that number to be as high as $100 million.
The
eleventh-generation Ford Thunderbird was featured in the film as Jinx's car, with a
coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and se ...
colour paying homage to a paint option for the
original model, and matching her bikini.
Ford produced a limited-edition ''007''-branded 2003 Thunderbird as a tie-in for the film, featuring a similar paint job.
Revlon produced "''007'' Colour Collection"
makeup inspired by Jinx. "Bond
Barbie" dolls inspired by the franchise were also produced, featuring a red shawl and an evening dress designed by
Lindy Hemming
Lindy Hemming (born 21 August 1948) is a Welsh costume designer, who won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for the 1999 film ''Topsy-Turvy''.
Hemming's name is an example of an aptronym.
Career
After she studied at the Royal Academy of ...
, and sold in a gift set with
Ken posing as Bond in formal wear designed by the Italian fashion house
Brioni.
Release
''Die Another Day'' had its world premiere on 18 November 2002 at the 56th
Royal Film Performance, a fundraising event held in aid of
The Film and TV Charity. The event took place at the
Royal Albert Hall in London and
Queen Elizabeth II and
Prince Philip were guests of honour. The Royal Albert Hall had a makeover for the screening and had been transformed into an ice palace. Proceeds from the premiere, about £500,000, were donated to
The Film and Television Charity
The Film and TV Charity, formerly the CTBF (Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund), is the leading UK charity for people who work in the film, cinema and television industries, whose careers cover all aspects of pre-production and beyond, from s ...
, of which the Queen was patron.
''Die Another Day'' was controversial in the
Korean Peninsula
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...
. The North Korean government disliked the portrayal of their state as brutal and war-hungry. The South Koreans boycotted 145 theatres where it was released on 31 December 2002, as they were offended by the scene in which an American officer issues orders to the South Korean army in the defence of their homeland, and by a lovemaking scene near a statue of the Buddha. The
Jogye Buddhist Order issued a statement that the film was "disrespectful to our religion and does not reflect our values and ethics". ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' reported growing resentment in the nation towards the United States. An official of the South
Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism said that ''Die Another Day'' was "the wrong film at the wrong time."
Home media
''Die Another Day'' was released on
DVD and
VHS on June 3, 2003.
Reception
Box office
On the first day of release, ticket sales reached £1.2 million at the UK box office. ''Die Another Day'' grossed $47 million on its opening weekend in the US and Canada and was ranked number one at the box office. The film would compete against ''
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' and ''
The Santa Clause 2'' during the
Thanksgiving weekend. Moreover, all three films were able to defeat the underperforming animated film ''
Treasure Planet''. Later on, ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' and ''Die Another Day'' would simultaneously reclaim the number one spot at the box office. For six months, they were both the latest films to return to the top spot at the box office until ''
Finding Nemo'' joined the group in June 2003. The film earned $160.9 million in the US and Canada, and $431.9 million worldwide, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of 2002. Not adjusting for inflation, ''Die Another Day'' was the highest-grossing James Bond film until the release of ''
Casino Royale'' in 2006.
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, the film received an approval rating of 56% based on 220 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Its action may be a bit too over-the-top for some, but ''Die Another Day'' is lavishly crafted and succeeds in evoking classic Bond themes from the franchise's earlier installments." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on 43 critics, indicating "mixed and average reviews".
Audiences surveyed by
CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−" on scale of A to F.
Michael Dequina of ''
Film Threat'' praised the film as the best of the series to star Pierce Brosnan and "the most satisfying installment of the franchise in recent memory."
Larry Carroll of CountingDown.com praised Lee Tamahori for having "magnificently balanced the film so that it keeps true to the Bond legend, makes reference to the classic films that preceded it, but also injects a new zest to it all." ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...
'' magazine also gave a positive reaction, saying that Tamahori, "a true filmmaker", has re-established the series' pop sensuality. A.O. Scott of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called the film the best of the ''James Bond'' series since ''
The Spy Who Loved Me.''
Roger Ebert of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...
'', who gave the film three stars out of four, stated "This movie has the usual impossible stunts ... But it has just as many scenes that are lean and tough enough to fit in any modern action movie". Kyle Bell of Movie Freaks 365 stated in his review that the "first half of ''Die Another Day'' is classic Bond", but that "Things start to go downhill when the ice palace gets introduced."
Several reviewers felt the film relied too heavily on gadgets and special effects, with the plot being neglected.
James Berardinelli of Reelviews.net said, "This is a train wreck of an action film – a stupefying attempt by the filmmakers to force-feed James Bond into the mindless ''
XXX
XXX may refer to:
Codes and symbols
* 30 (number), Roman numeral XXX
* XXX, designating pornography
** XXX, an X rating
** .xxx, an internet top-level domain intended for pornographic sites
* XXX, a symbol of the straight edge lifestyle
* XXX, t ...
'' mold and throw 40 years of cinematic history down the toilet in favor of bright flashes and loud bangs." Of the action sequences, he said, "''Die Another Day'' is an exercise in loud explosions and excruciatingly bad special effects. The CGI work in this movie is an order of magnitude worse than anything I have seen in a major motion picture. Coupled with lousy production design, ''Die Another Day'' looks like it was done on the cheap." Gary Brown of the ''Houston Community Newspapers'' also described the weak point of the film as "the seemingly non-stop action sequences and loud explosions that appear to take centre stage while the Bond character is almost relegated to second string."
Roger Moore, who played Bond in earlier films, said: "I thought it just went too far – and that's from me, the first Bond in space! Invisible cars and dodgy CGI footage? Please!"
The amount of product placement in ''Die Another Day'' had been a contemporaneous point of criticism, with the
BBC, ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' and
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was est ...
referring mockingly to the film using the title “Buy Another Day”.
The producers subsequently chose to limit the number of companies involved in product placement to eight for the next Bond film, ''
Casino Royale,'' in 2006.
Retrospective
Despite favour from fans who prefer Bond's more "camp" films, a comment piece in 2020 stated that it is "considered by many to be the worst entry in James Bond's canon" and compares unfavorably to ''
The Bourne Identity'' (released months earlier), which "ushered in a new era of violent, gritty action-espionage movies" and gave rise to the "stripped-down, no-nonsense" Bond of
Daniel Craig.
It often occupies a low rank on Bond-related lists. In a 2021
Yahoo! survey consisting of 2200 experts and superfans, ''Die Another Day'' was ranked as the third-worst instalment after ''
Quantum of Solace'' and ''
Spectre
Spectre, specter or the spectre may refer to:
Religion and spirituality
* Vision (spirituality)
* Apparitional experience
* Ghost
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Spectre'' (1977 film), a made-for-television film produced and wri ...
''. The authors of the study did, however, specify that "every Bond film...is always someone's favourite".
Media
''Die Another Day'' was novelised by the then-official James Bond writer,
Raymond Benson, based on the screenplay by
Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. An effort is made to depict some of the film's more outlandish elements with more believability, in the style of Fleming's original novels' use of cutting-edge technology. So for example, the non-bodywork elements of the Aston Martin with its 'cloaking' function—the glass windows and rubber tyres—are described as having retractable covers to achieve the invisibility effect. Fan reaction to it was above average. After its publication, Benson retired as the official James Bond novelist; a new series featuring the secret agent's
adventures as a teenager, by
Charlie Higson, was launched in 2005. As the
novelisation
A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the adve ...
was published after Benson's final original 007 novel, ''
The Man with the Red Tattoo'', it was the final literary work featuring Bond as originally conceived by Ian Fleming until the publication of ''
Devil May Care'' by
Sebastian Faulks
Sebastian Charles Faulks (born 20 April 1953) is a British novelist, journalist and broadcaster. He is best known for his historical novels set in France – ''The Girl at the Lion d'Or'', '' Birdsong'' and '' Charlotte Gray''. He has also pub ...
in 2008 to mark the 100th anniversary of Fleming's birth.
''
007 Legends'', released in 2012, features Daniel Craig's James Bond in a ''Die Another Day'' level.
Cancelled spin-off
Speculation arose in 2003 of a spin-off film concentrating on Jinx, which was scheduled for a November/December 2004 release. It was originally reported that MGM was keen to set up a film series that would be a "
Winter Olympics" alternative to the main series. In the late 1990s, MGM had originally considered developing a spin-off film based on
Michelle Yeoh's character,
Wai Lin
Wai Lin () is a fictional character in the 1997 ''James Bond'' film ''Tomorrow Never Dies'', portrayed by Michelle Yeoh. The character, the first ethnic Chinese Bond girl, has received critical acclaim, being widely regarded as one of the best Bon ...
, in 1997's ''
Tomorrow Never Dies''. The spin-off ''Jinx'' was announced in December 2002.
Lee Tamahori initially wanted to direct, but
Stephen Frears was ultimately hired. Berry and
Michael Madsen were originally going to reprise their roles as Jinx and Falco, while Jinx's lover was going to be played by
Javier Bardem. Bardem would later play
villain Raoul Silva in ''
Skyfall'' (2012). The film would have revolved around Jinx's entry into the NSA, revealing that she had been adopted by Falco after being orphaned in a bombing and being hired by him from the
RAND Corporation to do a job at the NSA as a favour.
Wade described the film as "a very atmospheric, Euro thriller, a
Bourne-type movie."
However, despite much speculation of an imminent movie, on 26 October 2003, ''
Variety'' reported that MGM had cancelled the project. MGM instead decided to reboot the James Bond franchise with the next film, ''
Casino Royale'', with
Daniel Craig portraying the role of the titular character. In 2020 Berry revealed that the film was cancelled over its $80 million budget, saying "Nobody was ready to sink that kind of money into a black female action star." Purvis and Wade said that this decision was influenced by the failure of several action films with female stars, including ''
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'' and ''
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life'', in 2003.
See also
*
Invisibility in fiction
Invisibility in fiction is a common plot device in stories, plays, films, animated works, video games, and other media, found in both the fantasy and science fiction genres. In fantasy, invisibility is often invoked and dismissed at will by a per ...
*
Outline of James Bond
References
External links
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