This thread, I admit, is slightly inspired by Balje's creation suggesting a sewer as a Bond villain's lair. It reminded me of the thread on the old forums about appropriate locations for Bond films. This thread is a recreation of old - what locations do you want to see?
Allow me to open the bidding with this: the <b>McLaren Technology Centre</b> in Woking. Bond villains are often wealthy industrialists, and usually have some kind of headquarters - like Hugo Drax's sprawling aerospace engineering compound in <i>Moonraker</i>, or Elliot Carver's braodcast centre in <i>Tomorrow Never Dies</i> - that Bond visits. And naturally, they have (or at least try to have) that Ken Adam larger-than-life quality. Looking at pictures of it online, the McLaren Technology Centre has just that. It's slightly futuristic, has aesthetic lines, and plenty of glass:
<img src="
http://i.treehugger.com/files/mclaren_technology_centre_aerial.jpg">
<img src="
http://www.archimage.co.uk/Images/Architecture/007Architecture.jpg">
<img src="
http://www.theplanningboardroom.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/112_0706_01z+mclaren_technology_centre+building_view.jpg">
<img src="
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XxpcMDMb9Co/TT3JsLn8y5I/AAAAAAAAABM/4UU_tqlLsYk/s1600/mclaren_technology_centre_fp270509_ny_22.jpg">
<img src="
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/mclarentechnologycentre-7.jpg">
<img src="
http://www.cars-show.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/mclaren-team-garage-082.jpg">
Of course, the cars would probably have to go - otherwise, it would just look like Patrick Dempsey's office in <i>Transformers - Dark of the Moon</i>, and the less we say about that, the better. But the beauty of it is that McLaren is a Formula 1 team, and Formula 1 has a mandatory two-week shut-down during the summer, usually for the month of August. So EON could reasonably film Bond there without affecting the day-to-day operations.
Any other suggestions?
Comments
How about a lair in the Hollywood sign.. oh wait.
No, seriously, pre-9/11 I would have said the World Trade Center. The new modern buildings being built would be amazing to use, but I'm sure some of the sillier Americans would complain. (I'm an American, I'm patriotic, but you can film there all you want, let alone build a mosque down the street [which you can't now])
This hotel in Abu Dhabi:
I'm trying to focus on what the head of Quantum would fit into. Something that connects politicians with philanthropists and the other professions the Quantum-ites possesses in QoS.
Both of these are impressive buildings.
Buzludzha Monument, Bulgaria
The Great Ocean Road, Victoria
I'd like to add the Douro region (Portugal) where Port wine is produced. The perfect place for a car chase.
The roads are scary, very narrow and curvy and the railroad looks like it's going to fall into the river in some places.
Photos simply don't do it justice.
And the BMW Welt in München (Germany), striking!
More you can see at this page.
http://weburbanist.com/2011/05/27/modern-metro-14-of-the-worlds-coolest-subway-stations/
Expo Axis
China Pavilion
Shanghai Stock Exchange
Nanjing Road East
Shanghai Expo Cultural Centre
Shanghai International Circuit (would need to be carefully shot)
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=116595
I reckon most of the pavailions from the 2010 Expo in Shanghai would look great. Most of them have been taken down since the the Expo, but they'd look great as inspiration for buildings:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pavilions_of_Expo_2010
Caribbean locations in Bond films:
- DN: Jamaica
- TB: Bahamas
- LALD: San Monique (fictional, filmed in Jamaica)
- LTK: Bahamas
- GE: Cuba (filmed in Puerto Rico)
- DAD: Cuba (filmed in Spain)
- CR: Bahamas
- QOS: Haiti (filmed in Panama)
Ever since LTK Bond has visited a Caribbean location in nearly every movie!
With filming taking place further up the coast in Scotland, the Great Orme could be a good setting to fit in with the castle. It's also the scene of one of the most famous rallying stages in the world, which was revived for the first time in thiry years:
It's narrow, blind, uneven and very, very fast with a sheer cliff to one side and a drop into the Irish Sea on the other. And to make it all the more difficult, there's a three-inch-high kerb on the right-hand side, which is completely invisible.
haha :P
;-)
http://www.cracktwo.com/2011/04/25-abandoned-soviet-monuments-that-look.html