FILM · 2015 · UK
Spectre
37 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (37)
- #001
In Ian Fleming's James Bond stories, Hannes Oberhauser — the father of Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) in this film — was a skiing and climbing instructor who taught Bond at Fettes College in Edinburgh, Scotland. In Fleming's short story "Octopussy" (1966), Bond says of him: "He taught me to ski before the war, when I was in my teens. He was a wonderful man. He was something of a father to me at a time when I needed one."
- #002
The Day of the Dead parade at the beginning was staged for the film. Mexicans liked the idea so much that the following year Mexico City held its first Día de Muertos parade, complete with floats, dancers and giant puppets.
- #003
Daniel Craig, then 47, said keeping up with the shirtless scenes as James Bond was becoming increasingly difficult: "Am I getting my kit off in this movie? Of course I'm getting my kit off. I'm pretty much bare-chested throughout this film. Yes, I've been working out for six months. I work bloody hard to stay in shape. There's no secret method, just a lot of very hard graft. I have to admit it's getting harder, but that's life. I'll keep going. As long as I'm physically able."
- #004
This is the first James Bond film not to feature Derek Watkins's iconic trumpet playing. From Dr. No (1962) onward, Watkins performed on the score of every Bond film until his death shortly after the premiere of Skyfall (2012).
- #005
This is the first Daniel Craig James Bond film in which the main villain is arrested rather than killed. That was the fate of General Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé), the chief villain of The Living Daylights (1987), the first James Bond film to leave a villain facing arrest, though it was implied that Koskov would be executed shortly afterward.
- #006
The opening scene, set during the Día de Muertos parade, is highly unusual for a James Bond film in that it appears to have been shot in a single continuous take. In fact it was filmed in three shots, beginning as the camera follows the masked Bond and his companion through the hotel rooms and out toward the huge crowd, and ending as Bond turns his gun on Marco Sciarra. The interior of this shot is the Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico. The exterior is another building several blocks away, opposite the Palace of Mining (the large building in the background as Bond walks on the roof). When Bond turns his gun on Marco Sciarra, he finds himself on top of the building where the Mexican Senate met for 80 years.
- #007
According to reports, Sir Christopher Nolan was seriously considered to direct this film before Sir Sam Mendes decided to return for another one. Associate producer Gregg Wilson said: "Christopher Nolan would be a 'dream' choice for a future Bond director. Of course we would want to have a discussion with him. We would want to make the same kind of film. It would be a dream to have Nolan. But we are always open-minded when it comes to directors."
- #008
Before appearing in this film, Monica Bellucci had auditioned for the role of a Bond Girl. In a 1997 interview with Playboy Magazine, former James Bond Pierce Brosnan said Bellucci had screen-tested for one of the two leading Bond Girl roles in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), that of Paris Carver, a part that ultimately went to Teri Hatcher. Brosnan said: "Monica Bellucci has a captivating beauty, a magnificent, magnificent woman. She tested for Bond Girl a while ago and the fools said no. Instead Teri Hatcher stole the day."
- #009
James Bond's new car in this film is the Aston Martin DB10. The C.E.O. of Aston Martin tweeted that the vehicle was "absolutely created for James Bond and limited to only ten cars. It is the most exclusive car of the DB series so far." It also adopted a new styling direction with a more angular look never before seen from Aston Martin.
- #010
Despite Skyfall (2012) having been shot entirely digitally and rumors that James Bond films would be shot digitally from then on, this film and No Time to Die (2021) were shot on 35mm film.
- #011
This is the third James Bond film to show Bond's home, after Dr. No (1962) and Live and Let Die (1973). Producer Barbara Broccoli said of Bond's flat in this film: "Early in pre-production I told (production designer) Dennis (Gassner) that Bond's flat would be one of the hardest sets to get right, and after we shot it he said, 'You were right about that,' because everyone has an idea in their head of what a place of Bond's would be like." Broccoli added: "When you actually sit down to decide what it should be, everyone has different expectations. We knew it would be difficult, but Dennis did a wonderful job and Daniel (Craig) was very involved in this set design too, because it shows a lot about Bond's character and what he calls home." Craig personally chose many of the items in Bond's home in this film.
- #012
Gary Oldman was approached for the role of Franz Oberhauser/Ernst Stavro Blofeld, but he was reluctant to commit to a six-month worldwide production.
- #013
While the production was in the Moroccan desert, it had to make sure that everyone within a 32 km radius knew to expect high explosions, so the location department set out to speak with nomadic tribes and villagers. During the preparations and filming of the explosion, local nomads were in fact hired as guides and security.
- #014
In earlier James Bond films, S.P.E.C.T.R.E. stood for Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is also known as the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. James Bond creator Ian Fleming's abbreviation actually had a slightly simpler meaning: Special Executive for Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.
- #015
In the video message Bond receives from M (Dame Judi Dench), the character, wearing a blue blouse as seen in Skyfall (2012), is sitting on the couch in her home. She wears the same outfit in that film, sitting in the same spot in the scene where she clicks on the link to the YouTube video containing Silva's N.A.T.O. agents' identities. This means M recorded her message immediately after that scene took place, which in turn means she had known Marco Sciarra (Alessandro Cremona) by that point in Skyfall (2012). It is no coincidence that an excerpt from Skyfall's score is used for this scene.
- #016
Léa Seydoux said she had had a little alcohol before her audition, forgot some of her lines and made mistakes in her reading. Seydoux asked whether she could come back another day, which the producers allowed, and she ultimately landed the role of the Bond Girl Dr. Madeleine Swann.
- #017
The film's climax involved shooting on the real Westminster Bridge in London and on a full-scale replica (covered with real asphalt) built on the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios. Shooting at Pinewood allowed some details of the final scenes to be kept secret, since the press had reported on the filming location. When Christoph Waltz shot his scenes on location, viewers of his face allowed him to play the scenes without special makeup, thus hiding his final appearance from the cameras. In these location shoots, his character's facial injuries were added by computer in post-production.
- #018
The painting that art dealers sell in Shanghai, China, in Skyfall (2012) hangs in Dr. Madeleine Swann's (Léa Seydoux's) room at the S.P.E.C.T.R.E. desert compound. It is on the wall to her left as she looks at the dress. In real life the actual painting is lost, as it was stolen several years ago.
- #019
This is Daniel Craig's fourth appearance as James Bond. During the film's premiere, speculation grew over whether Craig would make a fifth film. After lengthy speculation, he said he would make his fifth and final film.
- #020
In December 2014, nine high-end Land Rover Discoverys, including five customized Range Rover Sports worth about £630,000 (US$1 million), which were set to be used for filming in the Austrian Alps, were stolen from a parking lot in Neuss near Düsseldorf, Germany.
- #021
According to Robbie Collin of The Telegraph in the UK, Bond author Ian Fleming invented S.P.E.C.T.R.E. in 1959 to replace James Bond's usual Soviet adversaries. Fleming believed the Cold War might be coming to an end and wanted to keep spy thrillers current. "Fleming's S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Executive Cabinet included" 21 people, among them former Gestapo members, the Soviet spy group S.M.E.R.S.H., Josip Broz Tito's secret police, and Italian, Corsican and Turkish organized crime gangs; its goals were "to profit from conflicts between superpowers, ultimate world domination," and its methods included "extortion using counter-intelligence, brainwashing, murder and weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, biological and orbital)."
- #022
This is the first James Bond film since Die Another Day (2002) to feature the iconic gun barrel scene at the beginning of the film. The gun barrel sequence was used as part of the title sequence in Casino Royale (2006), while the sequence was shown only at the end of Skyfall (2012) and Quantum of Solace (2008).
- #023
The film reportedly went over budget and, with a cost exceeding 300 million US dollars, was on track to become the most expensive film ever made in the James Bond series. Its estimated completion cost was expected to be around 350 million US dollars. A Bond film with an estimated US budget of over 300 million dollars would have been the most expensive Bond film to date. The previous film, Quantum of Solace (2008), had an estimated budget of about 200 million US dollars. However, reports about this film were exaggerated and the budget was actually "just" 245 million US dollars.
- #024
According to stunt coordinator Gary Powell, managing the filming logistics of the car chase in Rome, Italy, was difficult. Powell said: "We saw a lot of roads in Rome that we liked and sometimes a road is special for a stunt because it had a really nice feature to jump. When we asked for permission we would often get a yes but sometimes we would get a no, so we had to try and find other roads. It was a constant process of finding the right location to fit the stunts. There was a lot of back and forth in Rome." In the end the production managed to close significant parts of the city, including a section along the Tiber River overlooking St. Peter's Square and the Colosseum. Although the audience sees only two cars on screen, the second unit used a total of eight Aston Martins and seven Jaguars to film the chase. Vehicle supervisor Chris Corbould stated that the Rome car chase left no room for error: "The stunt drivers were driving at a hundred miles an hour (a hundred and sixty kilometers) in Rome, so in terms of their performance everything had to be absolutely perfect. We didn't want the drivers to get injured, and we also didn't want them to damage buildings that are thousands of years old. The risks were quite high. We spent a lot of time testing the cars and made sure they could handle the punishing treatment the men put them through."
- #025
As a joke among the cast and crew, a Viagra prescription for James Bond was placed on the set of the mountaintop clinic. This may have been a response to the conclusion of a study published in the British Medical Journal that doctors in the novels monitored Bond's alcohol consumption. They concluded that Bond consumed an average of 92 units of alcohol a week, which would make him an alcoholic at high risk of liver problems and impotence.
- #026
Dame Judi Dench's appearance in a small role makes this her eighth James Bond film. Dench became the fourth most frequently appearing actor or actress in the series, after Bernard Lee in third place, who played M in 11 films, Lois Maxwell in second place, who played Miss Moneypenny in 14 films, and Desmond Llewelyn, who played Q in 17 films.
- #027
Daniel Craig's salary for this film was reportedly 25.4 million pounds (39 million US dollars), and Craig was allegedly the highest-paid actor ever to play James Bond.
- #028
Director Sir Sam Mendes and screenwriter John Logan developed the film's main concept together; former James Bond screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade returned to the series to rewrite the script because the key people in the production (the star, director and producers) were allegedly unhappy with the screenplay.
- #029
About 1,500 people were hired as extras for the pre-title sequence in Mexico, which includes the Day of the Dead festival. CGI effects meant the number could be multiplied to represent an estimated crowd scene of about 10,000 people.
- #030
The huge explosion seen near the end of the film was awarded a Guinness World Record as the largest film stunt explosion of all time. The award was presented to the film's special effects and miniature effects supervisor, Chris Corbould. The explosion lasted more than 7.5 seconds and detonated 33 kilograms (73 pounds) of powdered explosive and 8,418 liters (2,224 gallons) of kerosene, equivalent to 68 metric tons (75 tons) of TNT. The explosion scene was filmed in Erfoud, Morocco, and takes place after James Bond and Dr. Madeleine Swann escape from S.P.E.C.T.R.E.'s hideout headquarters at the bottom of a meteorite crater. The film's production notes state: "Here, the special effects team staged the biggest explosion ever seen in the film. The team brought in over 2100 gallons of kerosene to fuel the massive blast." Chris Corbould has said: "It was certainly the biggest explosion of my career. It was complex to plan and achieve but more than worth it." Guinness World Records editor-in-chief Craig Glenday said: "James Bond films are synonymous with pushing cinematic boundaries. The scene featuring the world's largest film explosion is magnificent and will long be remembered as one of the extraordinary moments of the Bond series."
- #031
Besides his brief role in 'Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens' (2015), this was Daniel Craig's first acting role in a feature film after a three-year gap. Craig's previous film was the previous Bond film, Skyfall (2012).
- #032
The film shares several of the same filming locations as The Living Daylights (1987), including Tangier, Morocco, London, England and Austria.
- #033
The Rome chase sequence between James Bond's (Daniel Craig's) Aston Martin DB10 and Mr. Hinx's (Dave Bautista's) Jaguar C-X75 marks the first time two prototype vehicles have appeared in a Bond film. It also means this is the first time any prototype car has been used in a Bond film. However, Casino Royale (2006) used a Ford Mondeo sports model that was not on the market at the time of production.
- #034
When James Bond fires at Franz Oberhauser (Ernst Stavro Blofeld) in the abandoned MI6 headquarters, his bullet hits the armored glass and forms the shape of the S.P.E.C.T.R.E. octopus. This kind of cracked-glass octopus image was used in the film's promotions, in trailers and on the film's posters.
- #035
According to James Bond Radio, the casting agency's character description for "Mr. Hinx" (Dave Bautista) stated that his personality was "Hinx (Male, 30-45). Ideally over 6' 2". Hinx is the main henchman/assassin. We are looking for an imposing, physically extremely fit actor. He has several fights with Bond and will need stunt training. He has to drive a car. We are looking for someone very extraordinary, possibly with a sports background. Height: 180cm-195cm."
- #036
Dave Bautista is the fourth actor with a professional wrestling background to play a James Bond villain, following Harold Sakata (Goldfinger (1964)), Peter Fanene Maivia (You Only Live Twice (1967)) and Pat Roach (Never Say Never Again (1983)).
- #037
The long opening shot actually consists of six separate takes digitally combined to look like one seamless shot.
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