As the JBIFC reported on Monday (December 15), some sequences for SPECTRE were shot on the River Thames during Monday morning, just outside the real-life MI6 headquarters near Vauxhall Bridge, with Daniel Craig and Rory Kinnear.
Later that same day, filming continued in another part of London, involving both Craig and another member of the close MI6 team that supports agent 007. On Monday evening, some night-time shooting took place at a plush apartment located in London’s Notting Hill area, this time with the lovely 38-year old actress Naomi Harris (Miss Moneypenny).
A small team of crewmen, arc-lights, cameras, cranes and trailers had arrived in the relatively quiet and exclusive W11 area at the weekend, and took up temporary positions in the residential parking bays outside various townhouses in the nearby streets.
On Monday evening, filming then commenced inside an upper-floor apartment in a large townhouse located on the corner of Stanley Crescent and Ladbroke Gardens, and also outside in the adjacent street. The scenes involved Miss Moneypenny in the street below, while Craig (as Bond) could be seen through the large window of the apartment. At one point he was filmed looking out of the window, wearing a coloured dressing-gown, and gazing down into the street outside the flat.
The elegant townhouses in the area have seen quite a bit of general filming activity over the past few years. Ironically, earlier in 2014, Naomi Harris herself shot some scenes in the very same street used for the SPECTRE filming for another spy movie, Our Kind of Traitor, which is based on the best-selling espionage novel by John le Carre. Harris stars in the gritty film alongside Ewan McGregor.
It is understood that the Notting Hill apartment scenes Naomi shot with Craig on Monday evening are connected with some interior scenes shot last week for SPECTRE at Pinewood Studios, during the first few days of principal photography.
Meanwhile, the ES magazine of London’s Evening Standard newspaper (December 12) has profiled Naomi Harris in their regular ‘Upfront’ series, in another sign of the intense media interest that SPECTRE continues to generate.
Naomi referred briefly to her role as Moneypenny and said she has had to ‘put in some serious time and effort practising walking in heels’. She also commented that: ‘When I’m filming Bond the most important thing is getting enough sleep’.
She added that, on the previous 007 movie Skyfall, Sam Mendes gave her a souvenir baseball cap from the set and Barbara Broccoli presented her with ‘a lovely bracelet and necklace’.
It is thought that when the central London scenes for SPECTRE finish this week, filming with the key stars will then switch back to Pinewood. But the movie may return back to London for some more location shooting in the capital in the later stages of production.