GoldenEye [1995]

Random Trivia For This Title:

• This was Pierce Brosnan's first appearance as James Bond. After Roger Moore retired, considering himself to be too old to play Bond any more, Timothy Dalton was offered the role, but was unavailable. Pierce was then offered the role of James Bond in The Living Daylights, but lost out due to his contractual obligations to Remington Steele.
• Several changes had to be made to the script during production because the plot was virtually identical to True Lies which was being released at the time.
• Before Pierce Brosnan was cast as James Bond, Liam Neeson, Mel Gibson, Sam Neill, Hugh Grant and Lambert Wilson were all rumoured to be in the running for the role.
• Because the series was caught up in litigation, the six-and-a-half-year hiatus between the release of Licence to Kill and GoldenEye is the longest gap between [Bond] films since the series first started in 1962.
• First completely original [James Bond] film, without reference to any Ian Fleming novel or short story.
• Actresses considered as Bond girls were Elizabeth Hurley and Elle Macpherson. ^[?] Paulina Porizkova and ^[?] Eva Herzigova were offered the role of Natalya but turned it down.
• The [Bond] series traditional home at Pinewood Studios was unavailable, having being booked to shoot First Knight ironically starring original James Bond - Sean Connery. So, the producers created a new studio from a former Rolls Royce aircraft engine factory and aerodrome. This studio, at Leavesden in Hertfordshire, was named Leavesden Studios. It was subsequently used for Sleepy Hollow and Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. GoldenEye was the first film to shoot at Leavesden Studios and when built, it was nicknamed by the production as "Cubbywood".
• Pierce Brosnan was officially introduced to the press as the new James Bond on 8 June 1994 at the Regent Hotel in London. He was sporting a full beard as he was about to start production on Robinson Crusoe the next day.
• The film's title song did not chart in the USA but in the UK it went to the No. #7 spot on the UK Charts. The song was written by Bono and The Edge of U2 and performed by Tina Turner. All three were neighbors to each other living in the South of France. One day, the U2 members went over to Turner's place whereupon The Edge played the song on Turner's piano. Bono's inspiration for writing the song was his honeymoon stay with his wife at Ian Fleming's Jamaican beach house GoldenEye, which is also the name of the movie's title.
• Judi Dench's glass of bourbon is really apple juice with two lumps of light glass passing for ice cubes. Pierce Brosnan drank iced water instead of the famous Vodka Martini.
• For the scenes in which Xenia Onatopp is seen flying the Tiger helicopter, a male pilot had to be made up to look like Famke Janssen.
• In the opening car chase between Bond's Aston Martin and Onatopp's Ferrari, Famke Janssen performed her own driving stunts. She confirmed this in an interview with Jay Leno in 1995.