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Jackie Chan disses GoldenEye
From Los Angeles Times (Feb. 25 1996)
"...When other filmmakers do stunts, they'll cheat a little," Chan says. "In my films, there's an explosion, and then we'll jump, but others will have them jump before the explosion. It's safer, but not as exciting. Now, we have a reputation--we're the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. It's not easy, but we don't do anything to ruin our image after all these years."
Likewise, Chan has no use for actors who won't do at least a little stunt work. And is appalled that directors leave some action sequences to second-unit directors. He disdainfully dismisses the opening sequence from GoldenEye, the latest James Bond movie: "From the first shot until the actor (Pierce Brosnan) opens the door, it's all a (stunt) double," Chan says. "Even the shot of him running is doubled--he wouldn't go to the location. The shots are of the back of his head or from overhead. This is 007, he should at least run or jump or do something.
"Why, in Hollywood, don't they have this kind of style anymore?" he asks. "It's all special effects nowadays. They don't try to improve the stunt work. Nowadays, all they improve is the computer."
China Bans 007 In Fall-Out Over Nuclear Testing
The Mail On Sunday [London] (Feb 25 1996)
From Andrew Laxton in Hong KongPierce Brosnan's politically correct James Bond may have gone down well with moviegoers, but Communist China is not impressed. Beijing has banned the latest 007 film GoldenEye after its star spoke out against nuclear testing.
Brosnan's criticism of French tests in the South Pacific had already led to the cancellation of the film's Paris premiere.
Chinese country-wide ban came after he appeared on CNN with other celebrity protesters, including rock singer Bono of U2 and REM's Michael Stipe.
When asked whether he would oppose the country's nuclear test programme, Brosnan told the cable TV news station: "If China is going to be the next issue then I guess China is going to the be next issue. We are talking about a comprehensive ban treaty here - a nuclear test ban treaty - so the world should get together, the leaders of the world should get together and sign this document."
China - which monitors CNN broadcasts round the clock - has continued to carry out nuclear tests in Lop Nor, a desolate site in the thinly populated wilderness in the west of the country. It remains highly sensitive to criticism of government policies, describing it as "interference in China's internal affairs."
GoldenEye Named Best Marketed Film of 1995
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) / Feb. 22 1996 -- GoldenEye, the United Artists film that revitalized the James Bond franchise for MGM/UA, won best-marketed film of 1995 from the Film Information Council on Wednesday. The FIC gave the nod to GoldenEye, which beat out 12 other films for the honor.
"Thank God we beat the pig," joked MGM/UA's president of worldwide marketing Gerry Rich in accepting the award. "We all worked really hard to do our part this year, and the validation from the FIC is a great honor. This is the equivalent of the Academy Awards for us."
Each month, the FIC honors the marketing efforts of a single film. The annual award, named after the late Charles Powell, is given to the studio whose efforts in advertising, publicity, promotions and international outshine all others.
Besides Rich, among those responsible for the marketing efforts behind GoldenEye were executive VP worldwide advertising Joe Nimziki, who oversaw the in-house efforts for the teaser trailer, the trailer and the broadcast spots; senior VP worldwide publicity Terry Curtin and VP international marketing Randy Greenberg, who worked together on a domestic and international marketing campaign, and senior VP of worldwide promotions Karen Sortito, who put together the successful BMW promotion. The one-sheet was created by ad agency Frankfurt Balkind.
Bond Pierces $150 Million With Boffo Overseas
By Don Groves
SYDNEY (Variety)/January 9, 1996 - In a frenetic start to the box office year, the mercurial GoldenEye vaulted to $150 million overseas at the weekend -- and now has $200 million in its sights -- while Seven had a slashing debut in the U.K.
The new Bond is outstanding just about everywhere, collecting $21.2 million after 11 days on 608 screens in Germany (off 18%); $20.1 million through 12 days on 493 in France (down 48%); $6 million in 23 days in Korea; $5.5 million in 31 days in Sweden; and $5.1 million in 17 in Spain. The Pierce Brosnan starrer charged into the Philippines with a feisty $750,000 in four days on 67.
In Japan, historically Bond's weakest market, where Brosnan is little known, GoldenEye has taken a healthy $12.7 million in 23 days. By contrast, Sabrina is wilting after a reasonably good start, pocketing just $3.8 million in 16 days, and is lagging behind Star Trek: Generations' $4.3 million haul in the same period.
GoldenEye sets records in UK
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 27, 1995 /PRNewswire/ -- GoldenEye, the newest James Bond action hit, opened to record numbers in the United Kingdom this weekend, it was announced today by Larry Gleason, President of MGM/UA Distribution Co. British audiences flocked to the latest adventure of the most famous agent on Her Majesty's Secret Service, as the blockbuster earned an extraordinary $5,554,206 on 448 screens, making it the U.K.'s highest non-holiday opening in history, and the third-biggest opening ever, topped only by Jurassic Park and Batman Forever.
Domestically, GoldenEye proved to have strong legs in its second weekend, taking in an impressive $26.2 million over the five-day holiday weekend for an outstanding total domestic gross to date of $57.2 million. In only its first ten days of release, GoldenEye has rocketed past the total domestic gross of each of the last three James Bond outings: Licence to Kill ($34.6 million); The Living Daylights ($51.2 million); and A View to a Kill ($50.3 million).
`GoldenEye debuted in the United States last weekend to $26,205,007, giving it the highest opening of any of the previous Bond films and the biggest opening in MGM/UA history.
In making the announcement, Gleason said, "We are delighted with the film's success on both sides of the Atlantic. GoldenEye has once again put the James Bond films into the record books and has proven a worthy addition to the most successful film franchise in history."
Bond Shaken, Not Stirred
HOLLYWOOD (Variety/ Dec. 5, 1995) - GoldenEye, the 17th James Bond film, is likely to be the first to gross more than $100 million in the domestic marketplace. After three weeks, the first Pierce Brosnan 007 has an estimated U.S. box office gross of $70.1 million, surpassing the record of $67.9 million grossed by 1983's Octopussy.
Still, the current adventure in Bondage has a long way to go to reach the heights of popularity the series enjoyed in the mid-1960s. Goldfinger, the third in the series, was a major holiday release in 1964 and skyrocketed to become the seventh biggest all-time grosser. The following Christmas, Thunderball did even better, winding up with a $63.6 million box office or close to 75 million admissions. At today's average ticket price, that would be the equivalent of almost $330 million.
GoldenEye has already attracted roughly 14 million patrons; once it hits $100 million, it will have sold more tickets in North America than the one George Lazenby effort, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and almost as many as the two Timothy Dalton Bonds (The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill) combined.GoldenEye would have to hit a gross of $120 million to put its admissions ahead of any of the Roger Moore outings.
[See Bond at the Boxoffice]
Pierce Brosnan boycotts French premiere of GoldenEye to support Greenpeace protests
007 Meets With French Military Officials, Disputes Tests Are "Environmentally Safe"
PARIS, Dec. 1, 1995 /PRNewswire/ -- Greenpeace issued the following:
Taking cues from James Bond and his international exploits, last night Pierce Brosnan boycotted the French premiere of his new film GoldenEye, and forced its cancellation, to support Greenpeace in its continued protests against French nuclear testing in the South Pacific.This morning Mr. Brosnan met with French military officials in Paris and disputed their claims that the French nuclear testing program has not caused any damage to the environment. Mr. Brosnan's boycott of the French premiere of GoldenEye was particularly galling to the French military as they provided a French frigate and an advanced military helicopter for use in the blockbuster film.
"Unlike the rogue Russian general in GoldenEye, Jacques Chirac's threat to world peace is anything but fiction," said Greenpeace US Executive Director Barbara Dudley. "We are very grateful that Mr. Brosnan has taken this opportunity to join Greenpeace in telling Mr. Chirac to end his insane nuclear testing program once and for all."
Mr. Brosnan is the most recent celebrity to publicly back Greenpeace's worldwide campaign against nuclear testing. Others include: Madonna, U2, REM, Johnny Depp, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Lauren Hutton, Agnes B, Helena Christensen, Bryan Adams, Carlos Santana, Tom Petty, Iggy Pop, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bon Jovi, Chrissie Hynde, Robert Plant, and Jimmy Page.
Despite widespread international condemnation, including a recent U.N. Resolution calling for an "immediate cessation of all nuclear testing," Jacques Chirac has detonated four nuclear bombs on fragile coral atolls in the South Pacific. Each bomb has been greater than the size of the bomb that leveled Hiroshima.
Over 60% of the French public, and 158 countries, have condemned the tests. Greenpeace has collected more than seven million signatures petitioning Jacques Chirac to immediately halt the tests. Since 1971 when Greenpeace first set sail to protest U.S. nuclear weapons tests in Alaska, the organization has actively demonstrated the importance of saving the planet for future generations.
French Gala premiere cancelled
PARIS (Reuter)/ December 2, 1995 - Red-faced French defense officials quietly dropped plans for a gala premiere of the new James Bond film GoldenEye after finding that its star was an outspoken foe of nuclear testing, the daily Le Monde said Saturday.
The French Navy had cooperated extensively with the producers of the blockbuster film, lending them the frigate La Fayette and its newest attack helicopter, the Tigre (Tiger), to help assure the ultimate in high-tech thrills. Permission was even given for the Navy and Defense Ministry logos to appear on the film's promotional material.
Then, officials discovered that the film's star, Pierce Brosnan, was an admirer of the environmental group Greenpeace, which has spearheaded worldwide protest against France's controversial nuclear testing program.
"I will never be convinced that nuclear arms are good for peace," Brosnan told Le Monde during a Paris promotional tour. "It is impossible to believe that these explosions have no consequences for the environment, nature and man," he told the newspaper. During the interview, he was accompanied by two officials of Greenpeace France, Le Monde said.
Defense Minister Charles Millon had been scheduled to attend the Dec. 20 gala, and aides feared he might be forced to walk out should Brosnan use the gala to speak out against France's nuclear tests. A Defense Ministry spokeswoman said she could neither confirm nor deny the Le Monde report.
GoldenEye is the 17th film to focus on the suave English super spy James Bond but the first starring Brosnan.
GoldenEye largest MGM opening in history
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 20, 1995/PRNewswire/ -- The newest Bond action adventure GoldenEye gave MGM/UA its largest opening ever, it was announced today by MGM/UA Distribution Co. President Larry Gleason. The Pierce Brosnan starter posted a huge weekend take of $26,205,007 on 2,667 screens, for a terrific $9,826 per screen average.
GoldenEye now ranks as the number one opener of any of the Bond films, almost exactly doubling the previous highest mark of $13.3 earned by A View to a Kill over the four-day Labor Day weekend in 1985. It also beat MGM/UA's previous record opener, Rocky IV, which took in $20 million in its first weekend in November 1985.
The record-breaking success also gave MGM/UA the third-highest opening weekend for any film this year, topped only by Batman Forever and the new Ace Ventura Pet Detective.
In making the announcement, Gleason said, "We are thrilled with the opening weekend numbers for GoldenEye. We knew that the public's anticipation for a new Bond adventure was very high and the film didn't disappoint. It played extremely well in every demographic and we expect word of mouth to give it a strong run through the holiday season."
GoldenEye opened on 2,667 screens making it the widest opening for any MGM/UA film in history. The studio now fills 5,124 screens in North America with an impressive seven simultaneous MGM/UA releases, reflecting a remarkable 20% of the exhibition market.
GoldenEye stars Pierce Brosnan as Ian Fleming's legendary Agent 007, as the 17th installment of the most successful film franchise in history explodes onto the big screen. An Albert R. Broccoli presentation, GoldenEye is directed by Martin Campbell and produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, with Tom Pevsner serving as executive producer. The screenplay is by Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein, from a story by Michael France.
Pussy Galore Gives Thumbs Up To New Bond
From UK News, (November 22, 1995)
Former Bond girl Honor Blackman today backed new 007 Pierce Brosnan. The 69-year-old actress, who played Pussy Galore alongside Sean Connery in the Bond film Goldfinger, told GMTV [England]: "He looks very promising. Nobody will ever be as good as Sean, but Pierce is the nearest thing to it. It's his Irish charm."
GoldenEye screening in Los Angeles
Just for Variety, by Army Archerd (November 10, 1995)
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - "I'm glad I didn't screw it up for the kids. They could say, 'My father buried Bond,'" Pierce Brosnan said after an emotional premiere of GoldenEye Wednesday night at the Acad.Prior to the unspooling, Pierce was introduced and plaqued by son Christopher for his "ambassadorial" activities raising funds and awareness for research into ovarian cancer. Brosnan related how wife Cassie died of the disease after four years of "pain and suffering." The premiere, through the Permanent Charities Committee of the Entertainment Industries, raised more than $500,000 for the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center for Ovarian Research, where Cassie was a patient. Brosnan also was accompanied by actress-daughter Charlotte (in an NYPD Blue seg) and younger son Sean and Pierce's lady, environmental journalist Keely Shaye Smith.
Also on hand at the preem: co-stars Famke Janssen and Izabella Scorupco, director Martin Campbell and producers Barbara Broccoli, Michael Wilson and Dana Broccoli. Cubby, who is recuping, sees the movie at home Monday.
Brosnan resumes Barbra Streisand's The Mirror Has Two Faces in N.Y., as the man she's always loved. He has a 10-day role, after which he heads out on a global p.a. tour for GoldenEye.
Producer Wilson tells me they are looking to go back to England for UA's next Bond pic in two years. Brosnan has "two or three" more to do. This one came in at $60 million, Wilson says. It looks like a helluva lot more!
And judging by preem reaction, he can do as many as he wants. All the filmmakers have nothing but the highest praise for him. We, too. By the way, the giant satellite dish in GoldenEye is a real one -- in Puerto Rico, but it's also augmented by digital special effects for Bondoings.
GoldenEye crowd bonds with Brosnan
From USA Today, November 15, 1995
By Jeannie Williams "You're absolutely Bond!" raved Kathleen Turner, who has done one or two action movies herself. She was hugging Pierce Brosnan, the James Bond for the '90s, at Monday's flashy world premiere of GoldenEye in Manhattan.The consensus of the VIP crowd after the Radio City Music Hall screening (with pre-show live orchestra) was that Brosnan has brought the suave agent back "to the Sean school of Bond," as Jeff Bridges put it. "He's probably the best Bond since Sean Connery," said Joy Philbin, wife of Regis.
Even better news for the box office is reaction of daughter Joanna Philbin, 22, an editorial assistant at Seventeen magazine: "I think Pierce Brosnan will bring in a lot of young people. I think he's absolutely gorgeous." She saw him in Mrs. Doubtfire, but mention his '80s TV series, Remington Steele, and Joanna admits, "That's sort of before my time."
Brosnan wore a suit, not a tux, although the ladies dressed up for the party at the Museum of Modern Art. His companion, Unsolved Mysteries' Keely Shaye Smith, was stunning in a long Badgeley Mishka gown.
Asked if it could be true that he's only getting a reported $1.2 million for the movie, Brosnan winked, "There's a little bit more to the deal than that!" His agent, Fred Specktor, would only say, "It was a hard-fought battle."
Brosnan, who also brought his children and mom, won praise from Liam Neeson - and not just because both are Irish. "I genuinely felt like a 12-year-old kid again" watching the film, said Neeson. "And the 43-year-old in me was so thrilled that they tackled the whole feminist issue too, with great aplomb and a sense of humor."
Yes, Famke Janssen's villainess with thighs of steel gets real satisfaction when she (or anyone else) dispatches a victim.
More demure offscreen in a purple Nolan Miller gown, she said, "Thank God . . . I'm married. I don't think I'd have too many dates."
And Bianca Jagger said Brosnan is "probably better now, more mature" at 42, than if he'd got the part in 1986, when his TV contract squelched that deal.
Brosnan, Shaye Smith, Turner, Mimi Rogers, Matthew Modine and GoldenEye co-writer Bruce Feirstein wound up the night at Elaine's uptown eatery.
Return of 007
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuter) /November 8, 1995 - More than half the world's population has seen a James Bond film and they haven't even been released in China yet.
The 16 Bond movies have made more than $2 billion around the globe. They used to be compulsory viewing for Soviet KGB agents fascinated by Bond's killer gadgets. Bikini-clad Bond starlets launched a million male fantasies. The James Bond fan club -- post box number 007 -- boasts members from Fiji to Estonia.
Now Irishman Pierce Brosnan has stepped into the suave shoes of the world's most famous spy to star in GoldenEye.
The first film Brosnan ever saw at the age of 11 was Goldfinger and he has never forgotten the electrifying effect of Sean Connery in the role of elegant ladykiller Bond.
"For me, Sean Connery was James Bond," Brosnan said as he braced for weeks on the international publicity treadmill promoting the film. It has its world premiere at New York's Radio City Music Hall on November 13. But he is equally flattering about Roger Moore, star of eight Bond films: "I realised that he had this wonderful irony and actually did an incredible job."
Brosnan, who rehearsed the famous line "My name is Bond, James Bond" every morning while brushing his teeth, takes over from British actor Timothy Dalton, last seen in Licence to Kill in 1989. Bond has a new-look, new-man 90s image. His boss is a woman -- classical actress Judi Dench has taken over as M and even castigates Bond, calling him a misogynist dinosaur. New Zealand director Martin Campbell kept a politically correct eye open for Bond. "I think his attitudes are very 90s. There is no bimbo element in it at all. He certainly was sexist in past films. He is less so in this one," he said of the $50 million movie filmed in Britain, Monte Carlo, Russia and Puerto Rico.
Dutch actress Famke Janssen plays a villain who squeezes her lovers to death with her thighs. But she says: "This is not anybody's bimbo. I try to bring my intelligence to the part."
However, Brosnan is quick to assure male chauvinist fans that political correctness did not run riot on the set. "Bond still likes the girls but if a girl misbehaves, she'll get a thump. You know the plot won't work any other way. James Bond movies are pure fantasy and entertainment," he said.
All 16 Bond films have made money. Thunderball was the top earner, grossing $237 million. The Dutch are the people who per capita have bought the most movie tickets to a Bond film. The Japanese above all love the gadgets and the beautiful women.
That is a long tradition dating back to the memorable day in 1962 when Ursula Andress walked out of the sea like a bronzed goddess in Dr. No. Shirley Eaton was covered in gold paint for Goldfinger, Britt Ekland toted a gun. Grace Jones played the killer May Day.
In these days of Superman and Batman, merchandising is vital to a film's profitability. Nieman Marcus featured in their catalogue 100 BMW open-top sportsters like the one Brosnan drives in GoldenEye. They were snapped up in 10 days. Bollinger is the official Bond champagne for the New York launch. The man who likes his vodka martinis shaken not stirred is being promoted on Smirnoff vodka.
And finally the song -- no Bond film would be complete without one. Shirley Bassey recorded two of the most memorable Bond songs with "Goldfinger" in 1964 and "Diamonds are Forever" in 1971. This time Tina Turner has teamed up with Ireland's U2 to belt out the song that could be heading into hit parades around the world as the Bond box office tills start ringing again after six years.
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