During the 1960s, the James Bond film franchise made the Aston Martin DB5 probably one of the most famous cars in the world, and the car-makers Aston Martin gained huge commercial and other benefits from their association with James Bond. In turn, Aston Martin were eager to co-operate with EON and negotiated a number of new deals with the company and backing studio.
During the course of the 007 series, other key marketing and product-placement deals were negotiated with major car-manufacturers, including Ford for Diamonds Are Forever in 1971 and AMC (the American Motor Company) for The Man With the Golden Gun in 1975. Famously, a key deal was negotiated with the makers of the Lotus Esprit for The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977.
For the Pierce Brosnan Bond era, EON were able to negotiate a major commercial marketing and publicity deal with BMW, the famous German luxury vehicle and motorcyle manufacturer, originally founded back in 1916. BMW would stay for three Bond films.
For a while, the company also became more generally involved in what Hollywood termed as ‘branded entertainment’, and a number of other films and TV productions were given support. Let’s take a look at BMW’s involvement with Bond.
Goldeneye:
In Goldeneye (1995), Pierce Brosnan’s debut film as James Bond, fans were pleased to see the return of his classic 1964 Aston Martiin DB5, which was seen in the exciting chase sequence that took place between Bond and Xenia in the early stages of the film, and was also on display when 007 drove it to the casino in Monte Carlo. But, in a new departure for the series which echoed the deal negotiated with the makers of the Lotus Esprit for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), the producers secured a deal with BMW cars.
Brosnan’s Bond is seen later on in Goldeneye driving a BMW Z3 Roadster car, a sleek and arguably very stylish 1996 convertible sports car.
In fact, in something of a coup for EON, the sports car’s appearance in Goldeneye came months before it became available to the general public for purchase, although advance orders to BMW for a limited edition ‘007’ model sold out in just one day, much to BMW’s delight.
The BMW Z3 Roadster came with the traditional Bond film gadgets. In a welcome scene which provided some nice continuity with previous James Bond films, the ever-reliable MI6 equipment supplier ‘Q’ (Desmond Llewelyn) describes the car’s gadgets to Bond early in the movie, which included:
- An ejector seat;
- A parachute breaking system;
- Stinger missiles;
- A special radar system.
For various reasons, none of these gadgets were actually employed in the storyline for the film, much to the disappointment of some critics and Bond fans. Indeed, the BMW Z3 was hardly used at all, apart from a short sequence in which 007 drives it to meet CIA agent Jack Wade on a Caribbean Island, accompanied by Natalya. However, this did not discourage BMW: the company went all out to mount a major promotional campaign, capitalizing on the Goldeneye link for all it’s worth. BMW’s camapign was launched with a big press conference at Central Park in New York City, attended by Pierce Brosnan, Desmond Llewelyn and Izabella Scorupco. BMW also ensured that some key journalists were driven to the premiere at Radio City in Z3 Roadsters.
Another imaginative marketing ploy by BMW saw the issuing of a 1:18 scale commemorative model of the car as gifts to media journalists and key marketing executives. This proved so popular that these were made available commercially.
Tomorrow Never Dies:
BMW were back for the next James Bond movie, in a marketing deal that worked to great effect for all the parties involved.
In the 18th 007 film made by EON Productions Ltd., Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), James Bond, played by Pierce Brosnan in his second adventure as Ian Fleming’s secret agent, is issued with a brand new car by ‘Q’ (Desmond Llewelyn), a BMW 750iL. There is a classic and very entertaining scene early in the film where Q turns up at the airport in Hamburg, posing as a red-jacketed Avis car rental employee. In some great dialogue between Q and Bond in a hangar, an increasingly exasperrated Q introduces Bond to his new car, asking 007 whether he needs various types of accident insurance. In traditional Bond movie style, Q makes it clear that the car has some interesting ‘added extras’, including a remote-controlled steering system.
Bond cheekily takes over the cellular phone control for this and takes the car for a brief but spectacular high-speed spin, bringing it to a halt just inches in front of an irritated Q.
During the course of the film, the audience discovers that the BMW 750iL is full of ‘added extras’, including:
- Rockets hidden in the car’s sunroof;
- Reinflatable tyres;
- A retractable chain cutter which can rise from the car’s bonnet;
- An electronic defence system which can electorcute any would-be carjackers;
- Bullet-proof glass and main body;
- Magnetic flash-grenades;
- A tear-gas mechanism;
- A very handy metal-spike dispenser;
- A hidden safe in the glove compartment.
As if to make up for the under-used BMW in Goldeneye, the BMW 750iL is used to maximum and lethal effect in a key sequence in the film set in a German multi-storey car park. In reality, this stunt-filled sequence, overseen by second-unit director Vic Armstrong, was filmed at Brent Cross Shopping Centre in north London. BMW ensured that 17 Aspen Silver BMW cars were made available for the stunt-filled action sequence, including four that were specially built by BMW’s engineers in Munich that could be driven remotely.
BMW also provided a BMW R1200 motocycle for another action-packed sequence later in the film, involving James Bond and Wai Lin trying to escape from some pursuing cars and a helicopter through the busy streets of Saigon. This motorcyle was used for what was arguably the most spectacular stunt in the film: driven by stunt driver Jean Pierre Goy doubling as Bond, the motorcycle jumps from one rooftop to another over the rapidly moving blades of the helicopter. Incredibly, this stunt was completed in just one take.
The World Is Not Enough:
In the 19th 007 film made by EON Productions Ltd., The World Is Not Enough (1999), vehicles from BMW again made a special appearance, having previously featured (briefly) in Goldeneye and, much more prominently, in Tomorrow Never Dies. James Bond, played for the third time by Pierce Brosnan, takes to the wheel of a titanium-bodied BMW Z8. The car, with silver metallic paint with black leather interior trim, has a whole series of hidden extras, including:
- A remote control and a perfect navigation system;
- A hidden rocket-firing station in the car’s side vents.
The filming was carried out in Baku on the Caspian Sea and at Pinewood Studios in England. Three handmade prototypes, worth approximately 700,000 German marks, were made available for the filming. BMW did everything possible to supply a real Z8 for filming, but all they could provide in time were the body panels, which were attached onto a Dax Cobra V8 and made to look like the real car. For close-up shots, a full scale model was used.
Sadly the Z8 in the film ends up being sawn in two by gigantic sawblades suspended from beneath a helicopter. The scene was said to have been inspired by a famous gag that appeared in a Laurel and Hardy film, where their Model T Ford was cut in half.
For this sequence, the crew had to hire a crane with the largest jib in Europe. The scene also leads to a nice quip from James Bond. When the Z8 is sliced in two, Bond comments ruefully ‘Q is not gonna like this’.
For Pierce Brosnan’s fourth (and final) Bond movie, Die Another Day (2002), the relationship with BMW ended, and a major product-placement deal was struck instead with Ford, owners of the Aston Martin marque, who had outbid BMW. Although BMW had initially paid a huge sum to the studio to help market the Bond films, car industry insiders estimated that BMW’s three-film relationship with James Bond, in turn, had been worth millions of dollars to the company.
However, increased competition from other companies that had copied the BMW marketing ‘model’ meant that there appeared to be diminishing returns as the company entered the 21st centur. By the mid-2000s, BMW had rethought its use of ‘branded entertainment’ strategies and, in essence, scaled down its involvement in the movie industry. It had simply become too expensive to continue with such techniques.
Did You Know?
In 2019 the UK magazine GQ carried an article on Bond’s cars which described BMW’s James Bond cars as ‘both bland and brilliant’, and argued that nothing could really match the iconic Aston Martins driven by James Bond, including in Brosnan’s last movie as 007, Die Another Day.
