GOLDENEYE 1995

With GoldenEye, originally planned for release in the summer of 1995, Eon Productions found that Pinewood Studios was unavailable. To address the absence of studio space for the production the solution was to convert an old Rolls Royce factory in Leavesden, Hertfordshire into a working film studio. It was from Leavesden studios that the cast of the film were introduced to the worlds press on the 21 January 1995, shortly after principal photography had commenced. Some of the photographs from that day can be seen in the bonus section of these archives. The behind the scenes images reflect the final work of miniature effects supervisor Derek Meddings (15 January 1931 – 10 September 1995). Meddings had first worked for the Bond series on 1973’s Live And Let Die, after he was able to convince director Guy Hamilton (16 September 1922 – 20 April 2016) his model work could be safely substituted for real locations. With GoldenEye there was a vast range of miniature effects, which helped save the cast and crew from having to film in the colder Russian climates for real. Special mention must also go to the promotional stills of GoldenEye. There are some great images of Izabella Scorupco as Natalya, Famke Janssen as Xenia Onatopp and, of course, Pierce Brosnan as James Bond who by now had secured the role he ultimately lost to Timothy Dalton in 1986. Stills photographers credited as Keith Hamshere and George Whitear (second unit). John Stoddart and Terry O'Neill (30 July 1938 - 16 November 2019) also shot stills for the film. Special contributions to this section of the archive are from Laurent Perriot and Julian Keen.