One of the reasons the James Bond franchise enjoys such massive popularity is due to the aspirational nature of the lead character. Not only does Bond have a license to kill and a choice selection of beautiful and preposterously named femme fatales, but the celebrated secret agent is also always in possession of the latest cars, suits, and gadgets.
Bond’s association with the latest and greatest in cutting-edge products has led to a strange situation where the upcoming installment in the series, No Time to Die, might have to undergo reshoots because the product placement tie-ins featured in the movie are no longer as hot as they were two years ago when the film was originally set to release. According to a report by The Sun, sponsors who paid massive amounts to have their products feature in the movie now want No Time to Die to showcase a fresh batch of their latest products.
“The details of the gadgets and things are all kept tightly under wraps, but everyone knows that James Bond always carries the latest kit with him. The problem is that some of those things were the very latest models back when they started filming. But by the time the movie comes out now it will look like Daniel Craig and all of the other cast members are carrying something that has been out for ages. That isn’t really the point of these deals. The big tech firms want the stars to have all the new up-and-coming products to help promote them and sell them to fans. It means some of the scenes are going to have to be very carefully edited and looked at to bring things up to date.”
While the nitty-gritty of what products will feature in the movie is kept under wraps, the report adds that “it is understood that mobile phone company Nokia has provided handsets that will feature in the film – while other lucrative deals include Omega watches, Bollinger champagne, and Adidas footwear.”
Product placement in movies is not a new thing, but this might be the first time that a movie needs to be reshot so the main character doesn’t have to be seen tooling around on screen with a phone that came out two years ago. The question is, will it even be possible to update all the scenes without having to completely reshoot the whole thing?
Previously, Warner Bros. tried to make such a kind of post-filming replacement for Justice League, where Henry Cavill’s mustache had to be edited out of certain scenes. The result was nothing short of disastrous, and the movie never managed to live down the infamy of Cavill’s bizarre appearance with a CGI lower face region. Hopefully, the solution that the makers of No Time to Die come up with will be more elegant than that.
Directed and co-written by Cary Fukunaga, No Time to Die stars Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Rory Kinnear, L&éa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Jeffrey Wright, Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah, David Dencik, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen, and Rami Malek. The film arrives in theaters on October 8. The Sun brought this info forward first.