007 cars licensed to thrill

By ALASTAIR SLOANE motoring editor

The Aston Martins and Jaguars in the latest James Bond movie are not what they seem - apart from the on-board rocket-launchers and machine guns. Ford owns both British carmakers and it paid a lot of product-placement money to get five Aston Martins and eight Jaguars into the film, Die Another Day, which opens in New Zealand in January.

It wanted them to live up to their reputation as luxury, high-performance machines - rear-drive thoroughbreds with limpet-like grip and razor-sharp handling.

But the script called for high-speed chases on ice in Iceland, a surface which can spin even the most high-tech of cars in circles.

So Ford and the movie makers Eon Productions dipped into a NZ$4.2 million car-modification budget and changed the luxury sports cars, stripping them of their engines and replacing the rear-drive layout with a four-wheel-drive system - from the humble Ford Explorer.

The extra traction kept the cars more on line in the twisty, slippery bits and added to the go-fast action. The extra handbrakes helped, too - stunt drivers could spin the cars to suit the scene.

The latest secret agent 007 adventure is the 20th in a series that started with Dr No and Sean Connery in the lead role in 1962. He drove an Aston Martin DB5 back then.

These days Pierce Brosnan plays 007 and this time His Majesty's Secret Service orders him and his 350kW (460bhp) V12 Vanquish to the snowy wastes of Iceland, where an evil genius - Zao, played by Rick Yune - plotting world domination has set up a base.

Bond and his Aston are chased by one of the bad guys in a soft-top Jaguar XKR, across a frozen lagoon, where temperatures during filming went down to -14 degrees and where the ice was 30cm thick.

The technicians tested the ice by driving fully laden trucks across it, knowing that losing a truck would be less expensive than losing one of the cars.

The ice didn't break, but for safety reasons the crew didn't risk putting the two cars on the same piece of ice.

What audiences will see is plenty of rocket and machine-gun action, as Bond and the bad guy use their cars' weapons.

Both cars are armed to the teeth, with hood-mounted machine guns and rocket-launchers.

The Jaguar's armoury includes a Gatling gun mounted behind the driver and passenger seats, missiles that emerge from the front grille, concealed door-mounted rocket launchers and a rack of mortar bombs in the boot. The XKR also features a bulletproof screen.

But Bond and the bad guy aren't actually pulling the trigger in any of this - a technician in an off-camera car does that by radio, using a control-panel contained in a briefcase.

The highlight of the chase sees the two cars racing through the evil genius' ice palace, as it begins to melt.

The ice palace was built on the largest sound stage in the world, at London's Shepperton studios. Director Lee Tamahori was so impressed with the set that he insisted an extra chase be written into the movie.

Jaguar's design people worked with Eon Productions to create what it called "the perfect car" for a Bond villain.

The Jaguar XKRs used in the film were built at Jaguar's Coventry headquarters and modified at Pinewood Studios by the special effects team. The Astons came from the factory at Newport Pagnell, north of London.

Four of the eight Jaguars were modified with four-wheel-drive and Ford's 5-litre V8 engine, and four used the standard Jaguar 4.2-litre V8 engine and rear-wheel drive chassis.

Two further cannon cars (bodyshell only) were provided for use in scenes where explosive stunts called for an ultra-lightweight vehicle.

The movie also features an American Ford Thunderbird, driven by Halle Berry, who plays Bond girl Jinx.

A television advertisement depicting the role of the Jaguar XKR in the movie will be aired from next week in Britain, America, Germany and Australia.

It will also be used in Japan in February to coincide with the Japanese launch of the movie. No word yet on whether the advertisement will screen in New Zealand in the New Year.