Ever since the Bond car chase sequence in Goldfinger was shot in the
Furka Pass in 1964, Aston Martins and Swiss mountains have been visually
tied. Snow and James Bond have also been regular bed fellows.
To
take a still that plays to a Bond vibe is risky, any shortcomings will
be ridiculed by the devotees and we have waited for our moment. There
needs to be a strong concept and a strong execution. This lay-by at the
top of the Bernina Pass connects the famous resort town of St. Moritz in
the Engadin valley with the Italian-speaking Val Poschiavo, in the
Italian town of Tirano. The Bernina Pass - opened in 1865 - is one of
the great stretches of mountain road in Europe. I managed to get hold of
a DB5 from a collector in Zurich and with great care it was positioned
by the roadside at dawn. My fellow Scot,
Sean Connery, is, of course,
sadly no longer with us, but I felt I could tell enough of a Bond story
without him, I would just leave the viewer to interpret the scene.
Erica Lawrence from Brooklyn New York played basketball in her youth and
it is easy to see why from this picture. She is a good friend and so
happy to play this kind of role. I wanted glamour and sex appeal to the
point of parody, after all, we are 15 minutes from St Moritz and we have
a Bond Car - how could there be any other narrative?