‘Spectre’ and ‘No Time to Die’ marked a before and after in the use of explosives in a film production
When it was announced that Daniel Craig would be the new James Bond, many raised an eyebrow in a sign of distrust, focusing solely on his physique. Shortly after, despite the change of scenery that the character experienced in the magnificent ‘Casino Royale’, a good part of those initial detractors rectified – because that is wise – and opened up to a new 007 who has left us the one who, under a humble servant, is the best stage of the long-running franchise cinematographic.
But today we are not here to talk about quality, but about logistical muscle, taste for practical effects and Guinness Records, because the big screen adventures of the British spy created by Ian Fleming beat two consecutively in 2015 and 2019 respectively. Both are related to explosives, and have been closely related to two of the most spectacular scenes that the Craig era has given us.
A record bond
The first of them is found in the footage of the unfairly maligned ‘Spectre’, the direct sequel to that gem titled ‘Skyfall’ that opted for the somber and solemn without leaving aside the moments of impact. If you have seen the second James Bond film directed by Sam Mendes, you probably know where the shots are going… or the explosions, and you will have already thought about the moment when Bond and Madeleine escape from the gigantic facilities of the perfidious Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
After fleeing the complex built by the villain, 007 and his companion fly it into the air, witnessing the detonation without flinching from not so far away; a fragment that was decided to be filmed using practical effects… and huge amounts of kerosene and powder explosives. Specifically, On June 28, 2015, the ‘Skyfall’ team used 8,418 liters of kerosene and 33 kilos of explosives to create a detonation that lasted for 7.5 seconds.
It’s wild, equivalent to the effect of about 68 and a half tons of TNT, helped the production to win the Guinness Record for the largest explosion in history ever shot on film. But, of course, 007 was not going to settle, and on March 8, 2019 he bagged another record, also related to pyrotechnics, courtesy of Cary Joji Fukunaga and those responsible for the brilliant closing of Daniel Caig’s arc released under the title of ‘No time to die’.
With time to detonate
While the milestone reached in ‘Spectre’ was consciously realized, ‘No Time to Die’ stunt coordinator Chris Corbould learned that they might have a new record on their hands while preparing the film’s climaxin which missiles and a big explosion—along with a very risky narrative decision—are the stars of the show.
Corbould explained Thus the record for the largest amount of high explosives used in a single shot on the Guiness website:
“While we were setting up the explosions, one of the guys from Event Horizon, the explosives company, came up to me and said, ‘Oh, Chris, do you know there’s another [Récord Guiness] Over there?’ I thought we had it done with Spectre, but apparently there was another one for ‘most high explosives used in a single shot’. The record was 65 kilograms of high explosives in one shot. We had 140 in ours.”
So, with 140 kilograms of explosives, Chris Corbould and his companions caused three separate explosions in unison, contained in excavated holes one and a half meters deep, each containing an equivalent of 10 kilos of TNT. A quantity of material that It helped them add another record —and there are already several dozen— to the history of a saga that, surely, has many surprises left to give us.
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