The exciting new ‘Designing 007’ exhibition at the Barbican in London opened to the public on July 6.
Entitled ‘Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style’, the exhibition has over 400 items on display and will be a must for dedicated Bond fans. A special press preview was held on Thursday, July 5th, followed by a private champagne reception later in the day. The latter event saw Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli in attendance, and specially invited guests were drawn from the numerous people who have worked on the EON franchise during the last 50 years, both before the camera and behind the scenes.
The reception’s guests included director John Glen, screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, music composer David Arnold, SFX expert Chris Corbould, Oscar-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming, and set designer Peter Lamont. At one point during the proceedings, producer Michael G. Wilson gave a short speech where he paid particular tribute to Peter Lamont, who inherited the design mantle from Ken Adam and helped EON build no less than two studios at pretty short notice.
Other guests included Bond women Martine Beswick, Margaret Nolan, Shirley Eaton, Molly Peters, Caroline Munro, and Valerie Leon. Shane Rimmer, together with the musician Goldie, and major Bond fan David Walliams (of ‘Little Britain’ fame) were also present. David was very tight-lipped about recent rumours that linked him to ‘Skyfall’ (he was apparently spotted at one point at Pinewood Studios during the movie’s production).
The new exhibition has received wide coverage and reviews in the British press, including reports in ‘Metro’, the ‘Daily Mail’, the ‘Guardian’ and the London ‘Evening Standard’. Self-confessed Bond fan Nick Curtis, who penned the ‘Evening Standard’ review on July 6, wrote: ‘I enjoyed it enormously, especially Sir Ken Adam’s exquisite set designs for Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice, but then I’m a lifelong Bond nerd who’s almost as old as the franchise’.
The Barbican exhibition, at the Barbican Centre in Silk Street, London, runs from July 6 – Sept. 5, 2012. Admission is £12.00.