GoldenEye (1995) is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 officer James Bond. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and is the first in the series not to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming. The story was conceived and written by Michael France, with later collaboration by other writers. In the film, Bond fights to prevent an ex-MI6 agent, gone rogue, from using a satellite against London to cause a global financial meltdown.
GoldenEye was released in 1995 after a six-year hiatus in the series caused by legal disputes, during which Timothy Dalton resigned from the role of James Bond and was replaced by Pierce Brosnan. M was also recast, with actress Judi Dench becoming the first woman to portray the character, replacing Robert Brown. The role of Miss Moneypenny was also recast, with Caroline Bliss being replaced by Samantha Bond; Desmond Llewelyn was the only actor to reprise his role, as Q. GoldenEye was the first Bond film made after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, which provided a background for the plot.
The film accumulated a worldwide gross of US$350.7 million, considerably better than Dalton's films, without taking inflation into account. The film received positive reviews, with critics viewing Brosnan as a definite improvement over his predecessor. The film also received award nominations for "Best Achievement in Special Effects" and "Best Sound" from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
The name "GoldenEye" pays homage to James Bond's creator, Ian Fleming. While working for British Naval Intelligence as a lieutenant commander, Fleming liaised with the American OSS to monitor developments in Spain after the Spanish Civil War in an operation codenamed Operation Goldeneye. Fleming used the name of his operation for his estate in Oracabessa, Jamaica.
In 1986, at Arkhangelsk, MI6 agents James Bond and Alec Trevelyan infiltrate a Soviet chemical weapons facility and plant explosives. Trevelyan is captured and gunned down by Colonel Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov, but Bond flees as the facility explodes.
Nine years later, in Monte Carlo, Bond follows Xenia Onatopp, a member of the Janus crime syndicate, who has formed a suspicious relationship with Charles Farrel, a Canadian Navy admiral. As Onatopp crushes the admiral to death with her thighs during sex, his credentials are stolen by Ourumov, who uses them to board a French Navy destroyer with Onatopp to steal a Eurocopter Tiger helicopter. Ourumov and Onatopp later fly the helicopter to a bunker in Severnaya, Siberia, where they massacre the staff and steal the control disk for the GoldenEye satellites, two Soviet electromagnetic weapon satellites from the Cold War. They program the first GoldenEye (Petya) to destroy the complex, and escape with programmer Boris Grishenko. Natalya Simonova, the lone survivor, contacts Boris and arranges to meet him in Saint Petersburg, where he betrays her to Janus.
In London, M assigns Bond to investigate the attack. He flies to Saint Petersburg to meet CIA operative Jack Wade, who suggests that Bond meet with Valentin Zukovsky, a former KGB agent and business rival of Janus. Zukovsky arranges a meeting between Bond and Janus. Onatopp surprises Bond at the Grand Hotel Europe and attempts to kill him, but he overpowers her. She takes Bond to Janus, who reveals himself as Trevelyan; he faked his death at Arkhangelsk but was badly scarred by the explosion. A descendant of the Cossack clans who collaborated with the Nazi forces in the Second World War, Trevelyan had vowed revenge against the British after they betrayed the Cossacks, which drove his father to kill Trevelyan's mother and himself. Just as Bond is about to shoot Trevelyan, Bond is shot with a tranquilizer dart.
Bond awakens, tied up with Natalya in the helicopter, which has been programmed to self-destruct. They escape but are captured and transported to the Russian military archives, where Minister of Defence Dimitri Mishkin interrogates them. Just as Natalya reveals the existence of a second satellite and Ourumov's involvement in the Siberian massacre, Ourumov arrives and kills Mishkin. Intending to frame Bond for the murder, he calls the guards, but Bond and Natalya escape. In the ensuing firefight, Natalya is captured. Bond steals a tank and pursues Ourumov through St. Petersburg to Trevelyan's train, where he kills Ourumov. Trevelyan escapes and locks Bond in the train with Natalya, setting it to self-destruct. As Bond cuts through the floor with his laser watch, Natalya triangulates Boris' satellite dish to Cuba. The two escape just before the train explodes.
Bond and Natalya meet Wade in Cuba and borrow his plane, where the same night, they make love. The next day, while searching for GoldenEye's satellite dish, they are shot down. Onatopp rappels down from a helicopter and attacks Bond. After a fight ensues, Bond shoots down the helicopter, which snares Onatopp and crushes her to death against a tree. Bond and Natalya watch water draining out of a lake, uncovering the satellite dish. They infiltrate the control station, and Bond is captured. Trevelyan reveals his plan to rob the Bank of England before erasing all of its financial records with the second GoldenEye (Misha), concealing the theft and destroying Britain's economy.
Natalya programs the satellite to initiate atmospheric re-entry and destroy itself. As Trevelyan captures Natalya and orders Grishenko to save the satellite, Boris unwittingly triggers an explosion with Bond's pen grenade (received earlier from Q), which allows Bond to escape to the antenna cradle. Bond sabotages the antenna, preventing Grishenko from regaining control of the satellite. Bond and Trevelyan fight on the antenna's suspended platform, which finishes with Bond holding a dangling Trevelyan by his foot. Bond releases Trevelyan, who plummets into the dish. Seconds later the cradle explodes, and falls, crushing and killing Trevelyan and destroying the base. Amazingly, Boris survives, but is frozen solid in a cascade of liquid nitrogen. Natalya commandeers a helicopter and rescues Bond. It drops them in a field, where the couple are rescued by Wade and a team of Marines.
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond (007): An MI6 officer assigned to stop the Janus crime syndicate from acquiring "GoldenEye," a clandestine satellite weapon designed and launched by the Soviets during the Cold War.
Sean Bean as Alec Trevelyan (006) / Janus: Initially another 00 officer and Bond's friend, he fakes his death at Arkhangelsk and then establishes the Janus crime syndicate in the following nine years.
Izabella Scorupco as Natalya Simonova: The only survivor and eyewitness of the attack of GoldenEye on its own control centre at Severnaya. A skilled programmer, she helps Bond in his mission.
Famke Janssen as Xenia Onatopp: A Georgian lust murderer and Trevelyan's henchwoman. A sadist, she enjoys torturing her enemies by crushing them between her thighs.
Joe Don Baker as Jack Wade: A veteran CIA officer on the same mission as Bond.
Judi Dench as M: The head of MI6 and Bond's superior.
Gottfried John as General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov: Commander of Russia's Space Division, secretly an agent of Janus who nefariously misuses his authority and position to assist Janus to gain access to the GoldenEye.
Robbie Coltrane as Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky: A Russian gangster and ex-KGB officer through whom Bond arranges a meeting with Janus (Trevelyan).
Alan Cumming as Boris Grishenko: A computer programmer at Severnaya secretly affiliated to Janus.
Tchéky Karyo as Russian Defence Minister Dmitri Mishkin
Desmond Llewelyn as Q: The head of Q Branch (research and development division of the British Secret Service). Llewelyn and Joe Don Baker were the only actors to appear in a previous Bond film, Baker appearing in The Living Daylights and Llewelyn appearing as Q throughout the series until his death.
Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny: M's secretary. Samantha Bond made her first of four appearances as Moneypenny.
Michael Kitchen as Bill Tanner: M's Chief of Staff.
Minnie Driver as Irina: A Russian nightclub singer and mistress of Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky.
Serena Gordon as Caroline, an MI6 psychological and psychiatric evaluator whom Bond seduces.
Following the release of the previous Bond film, Licence to Kill, in July 1989, pre-production work for the third James Bond film starring Timothy Dalton, fulfilling his three-film contract, began in May 1990. A poster for the then-upcoming movie was even featured on the Carlton Hotel during the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. In August, The Sunday Times reported that producer Albert R. Broccoli had parted company with writer Richard Maibaum, who had worked on the scripts of all but three Bond films so far, and director John Glen, responsible for the previous five instalments of the series. Broccoli listed among the possible directors John Landis, Ted Kotcheff, and John Byrum. Broccoli's stepson Michael G. Wilson contributed a script, and Wiseguy co-producer Alfonse Ruggiero Jr. was hired to rewrite. Production was set to start in 1990 in Hong Kong for a release in late 1991.
Dalton would declare in a 2010 interview that the script was ready and "we were talking directors" before the project entered development hell caused by legal problems between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, parent company of the series' distributor United Artists, and Broccoli's Danjaq, owners of the Bond film rights. In 1990, MGM/UA was purchased by French-Italian broadcasting group Qintex, owner of the French production company Pathé, and merged with Pathé Communications Group to create MGM-Pathé Communications. Pathé CEO Giancarlo Parretti intended to sell off the distribution rights of the studio's catalogue so he could collect advance payments to finance the buyout. This included international broadcasting rights to the 007 library at cut-rate prices, leading Danjaq to sue, alleging the licensing violated the Bond distribution agreements the company made with United Artists in 1962, while negating Danjaq a share of the profits. The lawsuits were only settled in 1992, while Dalton's original contract with Danjaq expired in 1990.
In May 1993, MGM announced a seventeenth James Bond film was back in the works, to be based on a screenplay by Michael France. With Broccoli's health deteriorating (he died seven months after the release of GoldenEye), his daughter Barbara Broccoli described him as taking "a bit of a back seat" in film's production. Barbara and Michael G. Wilson took the lead roles in production while Albert Broccoli oversaw the production of GoldenEye as a consulting producer, credited as "presenter".
In an interview in 1993, Dalton said that Michael France was writing the screenplay, due to be completed in January or February 1994. Despite France's screenplay being completed by that January, in April 1994 Dalton officially resigned from the role.
After Michael France delivered the original screenplay, Jeffrey Caine was brought in to rewrite it. Caine kept many of France's ideas but added the prologue prior to the credits. Kevin Wade polished the script and Bruce Feirstein added the finishing touches. In the film, the writing credit was shared by Caine and Feirstein, while France was credited with only the story, an arrangement he felt was unfair, particularly as he believed the additions made were not an improvement on his original version. Wade did not receive an official credit, but was acknowledged in the naming of Jack Wade, the CIA character he created.
To replace Dalton, the producers cast Irish actor Pierce Brosnan, who had been prevented from succeeding Roger Moore in 1986 because of his contract to star in the Remington Steele television series. Before negotiating with Brosnan, Mel Gibson, Hugh Grant and Liam Neeson passed on the role. Paul McGann was the studio's original choice for the role. He would have been cast as Bond only if Brosnan had turned down the role. Brosnan was paid $1.2 million for the film, out of a total budget of $60 million. Judi Dench, an English actress, was cast as M replacing Robert Brown, making GoldenEye the first film of the series featuring a female M. The decision is widely believed to be inspired by Stella Rimington becoming head of MI5 in 1992. John Woo was approached as the director, and turned down the opportunity, but said he was honoured by the offer. The producers then chose New Zealander Martin Campbell as the director. Brosnan later described Campbell as "warrior-like in his take on the piece" and that "there was a huge passion there on both our parts".
While the story was not based on a work by Ian Fleming, the title GoldenEye traces its origins to the name of Fleming's Jamaican estate where he wrote the Bond novels. Fleming gave a number of origins for the name of his estate, including Carson McCullers' Reflections in a Golden Eye and Operation Goldeneye, a contingency plan Fleming himself developed during World War II in case of a Nazi invasion through Spain.
Although only six years since the release of Licence to Kill, world politics had changed dramatically in the interim. GoldenEye was the first James Bond film to be produced since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the end of the Cold War, and therefore it was doubtful whether the character was still relevant in the modern world. Some in the film industry felt it would be "futile" for the Bond series to make a comeback, and that it was best left as "an icon of the past". The producers even thought of new concepts for the series, such as a period piece set in the 1960s, a female 007, or a Black James Bond. Ultimately, they chose to return to the basics of the series, not following the sensitive and caring Bond of the Dalton films or the political correctness that started to permeate the decade. However, when released, the film was considered a successful revitalisation, and it effectively adapted the series for the 1990s. One of GoldenEye's innovations was the casting of a female M. In the film, the new M quickly establishes her authority, remarking that Bond is a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur" and a "relic of the Cold War". This is an early indication that Bond is portrayed as far less tempestuous than Timothy Dalton's Bond from 1989.
Principal photography for the film began on 16 January 1995 and continued until 2 June. The producers were unable to film at Pinewood Studios, the usual location for Bond films, because it had been reserved for First Knight. Instead, an old Rolls-Royce factory at Leavesden Aerodrome in Hertfordshire was converted into a new studio, dubbed Leavesden Studios. This process is shown on the 2006 DVD's special features.
The bungee jump was filmed at the Contra Dam (also known as the Verzasca or Locarno Dam) in Ticino, Switzerland. The film's casino scenes and the Tiger helicopter's demonstration were shot in Monte Carlo. Reference footage for the tank chase was shot on location in St. Petersburg and matched to the studio at Leavesden. The climactic scenes on the satellite dish were shot at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The actual MI6 headquarters were used for external views of M's office. Some of the scenes in St. Petersburg were actually shot in London – the Epsom Downs Racecourse doubled as the airport – to reduce expenses and security concerns, as the second unit sent to Russia required bodyguards.
The French Navy provided full use of the frigate FS La Fayette and their newest helicopter, the Eurocopter Tiger to the film's production team. The French government also allowed the use of Navy logos as part of the promotional campaign for the film. However, the producers had a dispute with the French Ministry of Defence over Brosnan's opposition to French nuclear weapons testing and his involvement with Greenpeace; as a result, the French premiere of the film was cancelled.
The sequences involving the armoured train were filmed on the Nene Valley Railway, near Peterborough in the UK. The train was composed of a British Rail Class 20 diesel-electric locomotive and a pair of BR Mk 1 coaches, all three heavily disguised to resemble a Soviet armoured train.