It’s a damp, cold evening in October 2019, and I’m in the real-life Q Branch garage, also known as a warehouse in Pinewood Studios. I’m one of about a dozen journalists being shown James Bond’s classic Aston Martin DB5, which has been newly upgraded for its next mission. I’m standing right in front of the iconic car as No Time To Die’s SFX supervisor, Chris Corbould, activates its most impressive new gadget.
Both of the DB5’s bulbous headlamps sink into the engine bay, sliding aside to reveal twin rotary mini-guns. The ordnance slides forward, pausing only to click into place before spinning up to a speed that makes the six individual barrels disappear into a blurr. Small jets of flame erupt from the muzzles while the guns buzz like furious hornets. A stream of brass shells eject from the air intakes on the wings of the car, which sounds akin to coins spilling from an overstuffed bank vault as they scatter over the floor.
“A bit more spectacular, I think you’ll agree,” says Corbould.
It’s a stunt that should have me and everyone else in the room diving for cover, especially considering we weren't told that this is what the DB5 can do now. But, despite the odd buzzing noise (which will be enhanced in the Foley studio for the actual film) the prop guns elicit a smile of approval from many of the reporters standing in the car’s firing arc. They are definitely a fun replacement for the .30 calibre Browning machine-guns that used to hide behind the DB5’s indicator bulbs.
The DB5’s new kit is deemed exciting enough to be the included in almost every one of No Time To Die’s many trailers (an unfortunate result of the film’s constantly shifting release date). The scene sees Bond spinning the car in circles around a square in Matera, Italy, gunning down enemies as he strafes. Not seen in the trailers is the thick smoke screen that belches from the exhausts, the new LCD programmable license plates, or the bomb dispenser hiding beneath the rear bumper.
Corbould demonstrates the bomb hatch for us, which somewhat pathetically drops half a dozen plastic naval mine-like explosives onto the concrete floor. “Going at 60 miles-per-hour they fly all over the place,” he promises. “An unfortunate Jaguar XF runs over a few of these and they all explode, which puts the car on its side and sends it into a building.”
This particular gadget-laden DB5 is one of 10 used on No Time To Die. Two are original models from “way back when”, while a further eight were built for the film in collaboration with Aston Martin. Two of these are stunt vehicles equipped with ‘pods’ atop the roofs, from which professional drivers can sit and control the vehicles while actors take the wheel inside. Another two are gadget cars fitted with Q Branch gizmos, while the final four are used for battle damage scenes.
“We made these bullet hits in the screen by firing pellets at them with Daniel Craig inside,” says Corbould, pointing to a DB5 with dozens of bullet holes in the windows. “There’s a great shot of him inside and the windows are literally rupturing around him.”
The DB5 may be the centrepiece of No Time To Die’s garage, but it’s not the only Aston Martin in the film. While in London, Bond drives an Aston Martin V8. Chosen by director Cary Joji Fukunaga, this green 1980s classic is practically identical to the one driven by Bond in 1987’s The Living Daylights. Corbould gives no indication as to if it would be equipped with hubcap lasers and a self-destruct system, but it does sport the same registration plate as the one Timothy Dalton drove 34 years ago.
Finally, there are two modern Aston Martins; the Valhalla (which is unfortunately not parked in the Pinewood garage) and the DBS Superleggera. Rather than driven by Bond, the ultra-modern DBS is the personal car of MI6’s new agent, Lashana Lynch’s Nomi.
“Bond is picked up in this by another 00 agent,” says Corbould. “He’s a bit miffed that this agent has this fantastic car. So there’s a bit of backwards and forwards dialogue about it.”
While Fukunaga chose the vintage V8, the DBS was Craig’s choice, despite the car not belonging to Bond. “I think we needed a very modern car,” says Corbould. “Aston Martin very kindly put forward the DBS which Daniel really liked, so he had a big say in it coming on the scene.”
In direct opposition to these British supercars, No Time To Die’s second big chase sequence uses a much more humble vehicle. “It’s a totally off-road sequence that starts in Norway,” Corbould reveals. “Bond is in an old Toyota Land Cruiser, which is the car of the other person he’s with at the time.” Considering what else was revealed to us at Pinewood, it seems logical to conclude that this old Toyota belongs to Léa Seydoux’s Madeleine Swann, who lived in Norway as a child.
“And all of a sudden we have two of these Land Rover SVRs on his tail,” describes Corbould. “So he tries to escape, but obviously these are very fast compared to an old Toyota Land Cruiser. But he manages to run them off the road.”
“Shortly after that he thinks he’s got away, but three of these things appear very spectacularly,” says Courbould, pointing to a trio of brand new Land Rover Defenders. During production the Defender was itself in development, which meant for a lot of secretive back-and-forth meetings with Jaguar Land Rover. Espionage is certainly not what you expect from a 4×4, but Bond will always inject a little excitement into dealings.
These high-octane car sequences will finally be on the big screen September 30, 2021 in the UK, and October 8 in the US. For more on No Time To Die, check out what we learned on the movie’s set, and Daniel Craig’s farewell speech to the Bond cast and crew.
Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.