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Tomorrow Never Dies

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For the video game see Tomorrow Never Dies (video game)

Template:Infobox Film Bond Tomorrow Never Dies is the eighteenth James Bond film made by EON Productions, and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond. It was released in 1997, by producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and was also the first Bond film made after the death of veteran producer Albert R. Broccoli. The film is dedicated to his memory, and beginning with this production and in each subsequent Bond film, the first credit reads: "Albert R. Broccoli's EON Productions presents..."

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler The film begins at a terrorist arms bazaar somewhere on the Russian border. MI6 has sent 007 into the field to survey trades and purchases by the terrorists. One terrorist identified, Henry Gupta, has purchased an American GPS encoder. Upon viewing the evidence of these transactions taking place Admiral Roebuck orders a missile strike upon the position, however, it is later discovered that the terrorists have a Soviet nuclear torpedo setup on a plane. Bond, using diversionary tactics, steals the plane with the torpedo and escapes as does Gupta with the GPS encoder.

The encoder is later used by evil media mogul Elliot Carver, as an attempt to start a war between the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom as an exclusive marketing device to launch his new worldwide television network. The encoder is used to send a British frigate, the HMS Devonshire, off course in the South China sea where Carver's own stealth ship, based on a Navy concept ship, the USS Sea Shadow, sinks it while also shooting down a Chinese fighter plane sent out to investigate the stray warship. When the survivors of the sunken frigate are found to have been killed using Chinese ammunition, the Royal Navy is sent to the region.

As tensions between the two countries mount, Bond is sent by M to investigate Carver after MI6 identifies a spurious signal sent from one of Carver's communications satellites at the time the warship was sunk. During the investigation, Bond seduces Carver's wife, his old flame Paris Carver, as a result of which her husband orders her death. Meanwhile, Bond is both rivaled and assisted in his mission by the Chinese secret agent Wai Lin.

Cast & characters

Crew

Soundtrack

File:007TNDsoundtrack.jpg
Original Tomorrow Never Dies soundtrack

David Arnold composed the score of Tomorrow Never Dies, his first full Bond soundtrack. Arnold came to the producer's attention due to his successful cover interpretations in Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project—which featured major artists performing classic James Bond title songs. Sheryl Crow sings the main theme, "Tomorrow Never Dies", and the end titles feature k.d. lang singing "Surrender," a bold, classic-style James Bond theme song. Both songs have the phrase "tomorrow never dies", making this the only film with two, legitimate theme songs. Arnold originally proposed "Surrender" as the main theme to be played during the title credits, but this was changed at the last minute in favor of Crow's theme.

Track listing

  1. "Tomorrow Never Dies" — Sheryl Crow
  2. "White Knight"
  3. "Sinking of the Devonshire"
  4. "Company Car"
  5. "Station Break"
  6. "Paris and Bond"
  7. "Last Goodbye"
  8. "Hamburg Break In"
  9. "Hamburg Break Out"
  10. "Doctor Kaufman"
  11. "*-3-* Send"
  12. "Underwater Discovery"
  13. "Backseat Driver"
  14. "Surrender" — k.d. lang
  15. "James Bond Theme" — Moby

Vehicles & gadgets

Main articles: List of James Bond vehicles and List of James Bond gadgets
  • Aero L-39 Albatros
  • BMW R1200 motorcycle - Stolen in Saigon, Vietnam, for a chase, ridden by both James Bond and Wai Lin.
  • BMW 750i - Used in Germany, the car has a security system allowing access to no-one, without it first being disarmed via the mobile telephone; the glove box security system is fingerprint-controlled. Armament includes sunroof rockets, deployable caltrops (out of rear bumper), re-inflatable tires, and a wire-cutter hidden under the BMW logo on the hood. The car may be remotely operated via Bond's mobile phone.
  • Ericsson JB988 mobile telephone - Has several functions: a stun gun, a fingerprint scanner, an electronic lockpick, and a remote-control for the BMW 750i, with a small LCD screen for seeing the roadway when operating remotely.
  • Omega scuba diver's wristwatch - Taken from a Chinese safehouse, used to remotely break a glass jar holding a hand grenade. Presumably the "dirty trick" for this device is a detachable micro-explosive that may be detonated remotely.
  • Walther P99 - Taken from the same Chinese safehouse, Bond replaces his trademark Walther PPK with the Walther P99. Since Tomorrow Never Dies Bond has used the Walther P99 in every subsequent film, to many fans' chagrin.

Locations

Film locations

Shooting locations

Trivia

  • It has been suggested that the character of Elliot Carver is (very loosely) based on a combination of Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation exerts power across many continents, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and to some degree, Charles Foster Kane from Citizen Kane, not to mention media magnate Ted Turner.
  • When filming began the script wasn't finished.
  • The film was originally titled Tomorrow Never Lies, a reference to Elliott Carver's newspaper Tomorrow. However, it was then the subject of a typo and the producers liked the alternate title so much they adopted it.[1]
  • This was the final Bond film-to-date to be released directly through United Artists; parent company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer would assume co-production and distribution beginning with the next film.
  • Teri Hatcher's scenes had to be filmed quickly because she found out she was pregnant a few days after she got the part.
  • A March 10, 1997 report in the New York Daily News on the production of the as-yet untitled film (then being referred to as Bond 18) indicated that several titles were being considered for the film, including: Shamelady, Avatar, Shatterhand, Zero Windchill and the title considered most likely — Tomorrow Never Dies.[2] The rumored title Shatterhand is interesting as this is the alias used by Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Ian Fleming's original novel of You Only Live Twice which, like Tomorrow Never Dies, also has strong Oriental ties.
  • Teri Hatcher accepted the role of Paris Carver to fulfill her husband's dream of being married to a Bond girl.
  • Several inconsistencies exist in the representation of the Royal Navy. Type 23 frigates do not carry land attack missiles as depicted in the first moments of the film; the weapon system fired is actually a Harpoon anti-shipping missile. The encounter with the stealth ship is also of poetic licence, in the real world an Aircraft Carrier and destroyers would also have been present, and a wealth of options to engage the stealth ship would have been open to the naval commander. (This stems from only one ship model being built for the movie to save costs and time.) Rather than shelling the stealth ship, he could have also used a helicopter or torpedo attack, both systems being carried by Type 23 frigates.
  • According to Pierce Brosnan in an interview published in the December 2005 issue of Playboy, Monica Bellucci tested for the role of Paris Carver.[3]
  • In the premiere of James Bond in Los Angeles, classical & popular music violinist Linda Brava - featured also on the cover of Playboy - was named by NBC as a best dressed woman of the evening.

Novelisation

File:TomorrowNeverDiesNovel.jpg
1997 British Coronet Books paperback edition.

Tomorrow Never Dies was the first of three Bond films to be adapted into books by then-current Bond novelist, Raymond Benson. Benson's version of Bruce Feirstein's screenplay is suitably expanded, and includes some nods to past Bond films, including the suggestion that Bond was lying when he said he had taken a course in Oriental languages in the movie You Only Live Twice.

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