The James Bond movie Spectre was in cinemas less than 12 months after production began.
Here’s a taste of just what a challenge that was.
This article originally appeared onDen of Geek UK.
I remember at the time looking at that and doing a double take.
A full James Bond adventure: shot, edited, and released in under a year?
Rarely has a need for decent hotel wi-fi been so pronounced.
For all the benefits of film and there are plenty it does add more logistics to consider.
Not that there was a shortage of them.
First thing, youve got a real helicopter flying over the square.
So youve got a stunt pilot and two stuntmen who have to be on rigs.
This part was done back in London, at Pinewood, where special rigs were created.
More than one, too.
The helicopter is spinning, then its barrel-rolling, then corkscrewing, then its looping the loop.
So immediately, thats four different sections.
Youve got the live helicopter, which has to be shot by another helicopter.
Then youre cutting in and out to a series of different rigs, all back in Pinewood.
Buy Spectre right here!
1500 extras were brought in for crowd scene work.
Meanwhile, the efforts of stuntmen underneath the helicopters were separately shot, and mixed in during post-production.
It wasnt helped by problems with the rigs at Pinewood, either.
There were two or three moments where the rigs were wrong, admitted Mendes.
But even the real-life helicopters threw in logistical problems.
A Red Bull helicopter was being used, but its engine failed on day one.
There wasnt another in Mexico, and thus one had to be scrambled from elsewhere in the world.
The stunt pilot then alerted Mendes and his team to the thinness of the air.
All the while, Mendes had to continue shooting the rest of the film.
Even scenes in London offered significant challenges.
Around 200 people were required to manage the basics of each nights shooting.
Parts of the city were ultimately shut down to accommodate theSpectreshoot.
The ones Ive outlined above are just some of the spinning plates.
This was hardly an independent production with a bunch of cameras on a road trip.
The Wrap
Filming was finally completed in July, albeit two weeks later than originally planned.
And Mendes didnt have time to stop.
The editing had been based at Pinewood Studios, but for post-production work, it relocated to Soho.
The time pressure at this stage was arguably at its most immense.
The final lock onSpectrecame just days before the initial press screening of the film.
Mendes was still editing the film the weekend before.
That the films elongated running time could have been brought down with another month in the editing suite.
Further reading: an excellent, nerdy interviewherewithSpectrefilm editor Lee Smith.
