Beautiful backdrops for latest 007 epic

Press, 17 November 1981, Page 12

Beautiful backdrops for latest 007 epic

Once more, James Bond, British Secret Service Agent 007, is back in action in “For Your Eyes Only,” which will have its New Zealand premiere at the new $2 million Regent Twin Cinema Complex in Christchurch this Thursday, coinciding with the eagerly-awaited re-opening of the Regent after its destruction by fire just over two years ago, on November 5, 1979. Principal photography for the twelfth film in the most successful screen series ever attempted began on the Greek island of Corfu on September 15, 1980. The rest of the picture was made at Pinewood Studios, England, and on locations at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Northern Italy. “For Your Eyes Only” is John Glen’s first attempt at directing the Bond saga, and Roger Moore stars for the fifth time as the world’s most famous super-hero. Starring with Moore are Carole Bouquet, Topol, LynnHolly Johnson, Julian Glover, Cassandra Harris and Jill Bennett, plus the usual bevy of glamorous “Bond Beauties.” Latest in. the line-up of Bond heroines is. the Pari-sian-born, convent-educated, green-eyed, dark-haired, 23-

I, year-old Carole Bouquet, who t won acclaim in 1977 for her r performance in Luis Bunuel’s 1 Academy Award nominated - film “That Obscure Object of i Desire,” and has since - appeared in Yther European s productions. > Joining an equally long list j of Bond villains are the - Israeli-born actor, Topol, re- > membered for his portrayal , in “Fiddler on the Roof,” and the English actor, Julian • Glover,. t The locations for “For ■ Your Eyes Only” are, as ! usual in a Bond film, fascii nating, spectacular and scenically beautiful. ; They also range from the , very hot to the very cold, in : the two very different i locales of Corfu, in the lonian Sea, to Cortina d’Ami pezzo, in the Italian Alps. Filming began with a close-up of a Bond beauty, Vanya, in the grounds and swimming-pool area of the luxurious Villa Sylva, at Kanoni, in the hills above Corfu Town, On one of the loveliest Greek islands. v More than 3000 years ago, Homer chose Corfu .as a setting for his “Odyssey”; so did Shakespeare ..for “The Tempest”; Napoleon was obsessed with the island's beauty; and so was Empress •Elizabeth of, Austria, who

built the beautiful Achilleion Palace there. It was in the casino of the palace that sequences for the film were shot, involving Moore, Bouquet. Topol, Glover and Harris, not to mention 250 gorgeouslydressed extras. After the. Greek locations, the movie team moved to Pinewood Studios for three months studio work, plus other local filming. One of these was in the graveyard of Stoke Poges Church, Buckinghamshire, traditionally believed to ‘be the setting of Thomas Gray’s poem, “Elegy,” written in 1751. It is here, in the film, that Bond visits the grave of his late wife, Tracy Vicenzo (portrayed in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” by Diana Rigg). When studio shooting was completed, just after New Year's day, 1981, the Bond team travelled out to one of Europe's most prestigious and exclusive ski-ing resorts, Cortina d’Ampezzo, in Northern Italy, amidst the towering Dolomite Mountains. Cortina d’Ampezzo is one of the most famous winter sports centres in the world and was the home of the 1956 Olympic Winter Games.