Bond going off track in India?

[Alessandra]

The twitter of that person in 2nd unit said they were supposed to go there in January, so this is moving by one to two months later. And well, I just don't know what to say at this point. Film due out in OCTOBER next year (let's not forget the release for Britain and Ireland is October) and they're to film action scenes in India in MARCH!? are you kidding me? This is the exact same timetable they had with QoS. We all know how that went.

[bjmdds]

Get this freaking film done with already or cancel it and move on with a new regime via a buyout. Enough

[katied]

Get this freaking film done with already or cancel it and move on with a new regime via a buyout. Enough

This.To the zillionth power. It's gone way past EON losing the plot, to Bond 23's detriment, I might add.

[carl stromberg]

I want Eon to start announcing things so we can start our sniping.

[katied]

Just the fact that the movie is months behind is news enough..for now.Plenty of discussion about that to be had(will Bond 23 still be in the movie theaters in time, that sort of thing.)

[Blowfeld]

India orders James Bond train stunt rewrite

By Pratap Chakravarty (AFP) – 5 hours ago

NEW DELHI — India has asked the makers of the latest James Bond movie to change a stunt showing people travelling on train rooftops, saying it would depict the state-run railway in a poor light.

"Rooftop travel is illegal in India and it cannot be encouraged," Indian Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi told AFP on Saturday. Many Indians seek to avoid paying for tickets by travelling on the roof.

Daniel Craig, who plays the world's most famous secret agent, was supposed to jump from a motorcycle onto a moving train roof packed with travellers and then leap to another equally crowded train top, according to the script.

Trivedi said 007 could perform the stunt -- but only if there is nobody on the top of the trains.

"Rooftop travel will not be shown," he said, adding that the government has also stipulated the filming "has to be safe and passengers should not be inconvenienced."

The railways minister said that the original movie script could have led to an impression that rooftop travel was common in India.

"There are many trains in India and not all trains have people travelling on the rooftops," he argued.

The makers of the as-yet untitled movie -- known currently only as "Bond 23" -- had agreed to the conditions, Trivedi said in a telephone interview.

The film is to be directed by Oscar-winner Sam Mendes and will be shot in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and the resort state of Goa. Shooting is planned for February and March next year and the film is slated for release in November 2012.

Trivedi also said he is plugging for the James Bond character to be used to promote the sprawling Indian Railways, still the country's main form of long-distance travel despite fierce competition from new private airlines.

"I have proposed that the spy says something like: 'Indian Railways is as strong as James Bond.' It is my suggestion," the cabinet-ranking minister said.

The state-run railway is the country's largest single employer, with 1.4 million workers, and runs 11,000 trains carrying 19 million passengers daily.

The world's second-largest railway offers some adventurous journeys where trains chug through arid deserts, snowy Himalayan regions and across rickety British-built bridges spanning mountain gorges and fast-flowing rivers.

Trivedi declined to say if the film-makers had agreed to give Bond licence to become cast ambassador for the creaking railway system, which is plagued by frequent crashes.

The last time a Bond film was on location in India was for the 1983 hit "Octopussy", with actor Roger Moore in the lead role. It was shot in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

"Bond 23" is one of nearly two dozen films by foreign studios which have been cleared to shoot in India recently.

Others include a film adaptation of Mohsin Hamid's novel "The Reluctant Fundamentalist", "Trishna", British director Michael Winterbottom's version of Thomas Hardy's classic "Tess of the d'Urbervilles", and Yann Martel's "Life of Pi".

[shaken not stirred]

I want Eon to start announcing things so we can start our sniping.

I've already got the rifle .

At the rate bond 23 is going it'll end up being filmed in mcdonalds, bond 23 new title bond 23 : I'm luvin it

[FormerBondFan]

I want Eon to start announcing things so we can start our sniping.

I've already got the rifle .

At the rate bond 23 is going it'll end up being filmed in mcdonalds, bond 23 new title bond 23 : I'm luvin it

If successful, this monster will be the next James Bond once DC retires.

[shaken not stirred]

If successful, this monster will be the next James Bond once DC retires.

[/quote]

It would definetly get more STARS! with him

[FormerBondFan]

If successful, this monster will be the next James Bond once DC retires.

It would definetly get more STARS! with him [/quote]

Imagine him in the gunbarrel sequence.

[Blowfeld]

007 foiled in India

National Editorial
Sep 6, 2011

James Bond loves his cars. He's driven a Mustang in Las Vegas, a three-wheeled rickshaw in Udaipur and an Aston Martin over the mountains near Monte Carlo. He was even at the wheel of a moon buggy in Diamonds are Forever. But it turns out there is at least one car 007 can't commandeer.

An Indian train car, to be precise.

Last week New Delhi asked the makers of the forthcoming Bond film to rewrite a scene in which the suave British spy launches his motorcycle onto a train carriage packed with people on the rooftops.

It would, an Indian official worried, show the nation's train system in a bad light. "Not all trains have people travelling on the rooftops," the railways minister Dinesh Trivedi said at the weekend. But many of them do, he might have added.

To anyone who has ever squeezed into a stuffy, sweltering Indian Railways car, the roof might seem a more comfortable option. Unlike other means of mass transit in India, riding on the rooftop is free, breezy and scenic (and, admittedly, illegal).

And so New Delhi has done what neither Blofeld nor Dr No could: stop Bond in his tracks. India just may come away with an image of safe and efficient rail transport, until someone actually visits, of course. It's probably not Daniel Craig that railway officials need to be worried about.

[Blowfeld]

No Octopussy for Daniel Craig
Citing its "image," the Indian railways demands rewrite of upcoming Bond stunts
Jason OverdorfSeptember 5, 2011 01:17

This just in: Daniel Craig won't get his Octopussy moment after all.

The inside dope is that the Indian railways has demanded that the makers of the forthcoming James Bond flick rewrite a stunt sequence that was to feature Craig's double jumping from a speeding motorcycle onto an Indian train (not *exactly** speeding, if we are talking cinema verite) and then jumping from one train car to another, reports the Australian Age.

The reason? The sequence was slated to depict a passle of Indian passengers riding on the train roof, while "Rooftop travel is illegal in India and it cannot be encouraged," as Indian Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi told AFP on Saturday.

Of course, many Indians seek to avoid paying for tickets by travelling on the roof, especially during the packed holiday season, and one of the most famous Bollywood sequences of all time is a Shah Rukh Khan dance sequence shot -- yep -- on the roof of a train. But dancing is not riding, then, is it?

Accordingly, the makers of the as yet untitled Bond flick agreed to edit out the passengers, according to Trivedi. "Rooftop travel will not be shown," he said, adding that the government has also stipulated the filming "has to be safe and passengers should not be inconvenienced."

That's a far cry from the days of Octopussy, when filmmakers took over Udaipur for a rickshaw chase, and Bond chased a knife throwing villain (if I can recall correctly) across the roof of a speeding train.

You knew that Danny would be jealous of Roger Moore sometime.

[Blowfeld]

5 Sep, 2011, 05.19AM IST, ET Bureau
Are both James Bond and Indian Railways reformed rakes?
RELATED ARTICLES

Indian Railways gives James Bond licence to thrill
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Railways minister Dinesh Trivedi must be complimented for insisting on a unique bond in lieu of permission to shoot scenes for the latest 007 movie on Indian trains: that the British spy should become the railways' brand ambassador.

But will the rest of the government - and indeed, the political class - approve of paeans to anything Indian from a notorious employee of a foreign power, albeit a fictional one?

More so since the average (or potential) Indian train passenger may be more inspired by desi daredevil heroes such as Rajinikanth or Salman Khan? Still, an endorsement from Daniel Craig may dispel the bogey of scepticism regarding Indian Railways among some foreign travellers at least, not to mention the small but presumably significant band of Bond aficionados in this country.

Trivedi's insistence that there be no cliched scenes of people riding on rooftops as Bond leaps from carriage to carriage is also commendable.

After all, trains have come a long way since Gandhi - the man and the film - and Indian Railways can do without a Bond version of the recent YouTube video showing two men doing dangerous stunts atop a local train in Mumbai.

More tricky, though, is the condition that India cannot be shown in a bad light, as Trivedi obviously doesn't mean smog. Imagine if someone had thought of such a caveat for foreign film crews before.

Then Slumdog Millionaire would never have made it to the bylanes of Dharavi or The City of Joy to Trivedi's karmabhoomi, Kolkata.

An earlier Bond would have happily settled for more salubrious surroundings as he wanted nothing Moore than palaces and Octopussy the last time he was here. But as his battle-hardened current avatar is licensed to thrill with gritty realism, this condition could derail the plans of the film and the minister.

[Blowfeld]

Train sequence of Bond film might be shot near Dudhsagar falls
Agencies Tags : James Bond, train sequence, Dudhsagar waterfall, Goa-Karnataka border Posted: Mon Sep 05 2011, 11:12 hrs Panaji:
Daniel Craig
The next Bond movie would be shot over 40 days from January to March.

The picturesque Dudhsagar waterfall, situated on the Goa-Karnataka border is one of the few locations in India selected for a train sequence to be shot for the 23rd James Bond movie.

Sources stated that recce of the spot, located in the thick jungles on the state border, has already been done and the railway ministry has also given its approval. The South-Western Railway operates train services from near the waterfall.

Some issues related to shooting, however, are yet to be sorted out.

“Height is an issue. For the sequence, they require a particular height, which is not there near this spot. But they have still listed this place,” a source stated.

But, even though the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), a nodal agency which gives permission for film shooting in Goa, is yet to receive an application for the shooting, sources said the next Bond movie would be shot over 40 days from January to March.

“As and when we receive the application, we will consider it,” ESG Chief Executive Officer Manoj Srivastava said, adding that they are yet to receive the shooting schedule.

According to sources, a few places in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad have also been short-listed, where the train sequence could be shot.

The Railway Ministry has already given its approval for the shooting of the sequence, although it has asked the filmmakers not to show people traveling on train roof tops.

The 23rd Bond film, which is yet to be named, will be directed by Sam Mendes and released on November 9, 2012.

[Blowfeld]

How important is this stunt I wonder.

[Alessandra]

How important is this stunt I wonder.

I have no idea why they're making such a mess with this. For no reason whatsoever. What the HELL do they care, CHANGE the freaking scene and shut the hell up.

[shaken not stirred]

How important is this stunt I wonder.

I have no idea why they're making such a mess with this. For no reason whatsoever. What the HELL do they care, CHANGE the freaking scene and shut the hell up.

They're taking extra time so they can fit in creggs pout (...possibly in 3d , great now everyone has to see the face of death in all it's cgi awful glory ).

A new more fitting title for bond 23 I came up with, bond 23: are we there yet.

[Goldeneye]

Here is the stunt Roger Moore did in Octopussy (1983).

[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eV4AxLIG9g[/BBvideo]

[Kristatos]

How important is this stunt I wonder.

I have no idea why they're making such a mess with this. For no reason whatsoever. What the HELL do they care, CHANGE the freaking scene and shut the hell up.

Yeah, it wouldn't exactly be the first time. As I recall, the Acrostar scene in Octopussy was originally intended for Moonraker, but logistics prevented the filming of it, so they just stuck the scene in their "use again later" file. No reason why they couldn't do the same here.

[Dr. No]

I would like them to use India again no idea why they are doing it like this when from what it seems all of the places they want to film they are demanding a lot of down time in markets and trains and other traffic. Part of the problem is the population boom 30 years ago India while crowed was not as crowded as it is today and not as big a growing country.