Bond Given Licence To Thrill In Mexico City

Filming on the James Bond movie Spectre has shut down Mexico City’s Plaza de la Constitución for four days as the cast and crew shoot the opening scene of the movie.

It’s the equivalent of closing London’s Leicester Square, but such is the power of the 007 franchise the Mexican government has been keen to welcome the production to the city centre.

I spent a couple of hours on set, watching endless take after take of a segment of film that will probably take only 60 seconds screen time.

The scale and the detail of the production is incredible.

Over 1,500 local extras have been made up to look like they’re taking part in a traditional Day of the Dead parade. They arrive at 4.30 each morning and it takes over two hours for everyone to get ready.

Each costume is unique and the wardrobe department has been working on this sequence for the last three months.

In the scene I watched being filmed, Daniel Craig’s Bond tries to lose himself in the crowd but some baddies swoop into the square on a helicopter.

Bond manages to pull one of them off the chopper, before jumping into it himself. As it pulls away shakily it’s clear there is fighting going on.

It’s not a stunt for the faint-hearted. The pilot, American Chuck Aaron, is the only person in the world who is able to do 360 degree flips in a helicopter.

From here, filming moves to a site 10 hours from the city where they’re able to safely manoeuvre the helicopter away from some of the most historic buildings in Latin America.

The internal shots will be filmed back at Pinewood studios, bringing into focus the true global scale of Bond.

Skyfall was the first film in the franchise to break the billion dollar mark at the box office and bosses will be hoping Spectre can beat that.

2015 is a crowded year in cinema - there’s Jurassic Park and Star Wars to name just two major films to be released.

But with a rumoured $300m budget, it’s clear Hollywood bosses believe Bond can out muscle them all at the box office.

Spectre is due out in November.