Almost finished shooting the Bond movie at this location

March 22, 2008  Saturday

Bill is on his way to Houston this morning and will return April 2.  He will take care of medical appointments and also use this opportunity to bring back 100 pounds of various things for our boat, as well as a couple of items for friends’ boats.

The portion of the filming of the Bond movie here at Shelter Bay Marina is winding down.  This morning they are breaking down the “market” that they had built in the boat yard.  That filming was completed yesterday. This consisted of 4 small vendor stalls; they had placed lots of plants all around the stalls to make it look tropical.  Will be interesting to see how big the market place looks in the final movie.  Take it from me – it was really tiny.  They also flipped the black inflatable boat yesterday afternoon.  I knew it was happening but did not bother to walk over to D dock to make a video of it.  I have sort of lost interest in all this movie stuff and will be glad to see them leave soon.  It was nice to have this diversion but I am tired of diesel fumes from the enormous motor cat that docks next to us every night.  Bill had worked hard for a couple of days and our boat was nice and clean and shiny; now it is covered with grime from diesel fumes.  This big motor cat is used by the film crew as a lounging/eating and make-up “trailer” out on the water during the day while they are filming.  Then it docks on the T-dock next to us each night.  It is loud and dirty and I will be glad to see it gone. 

BTW, everything was shipped in for this movie production.  Even the catering company and trucks were shipped in from Georgia, although surely they are buying some of their food locally.  A lot of the workers are from California and England, but It has surprised me how many of the production people are from New Zealand.  The vast majority of the workers are young, very few over 35 years of age.

They have completed the action shots and chase scenes – and the real Bond actor didn’t participate in any of those scenes.  They only brought in Daniel Craig for the close-up shots.  Basically any time that the boat is moving or any action of any kind happens, that is the stunt actor, not Daniel Craig.  BTW, the stunt actor is a really nice guy; almost always has a smile on his face and chats with everyone.  Daniel Craig is a serious fellow; never a smile for anyone.  And he is not an attractive person; the stunt actor has a much more pleasant appearance than Daniel Craig.  I did not realize just how unattractive Daniel Craig really is until I came face-to-face with him near the marina office and had to step back out of his way.  From a distance I thought he looked a lot like my brother Boyd looked when Boyd was younger.  But after seeing him so up-close and personal, I realized that Boyd never looked that bad.  Haven’t seen this man on camera and am now curious if cameras are kind to him.  Surely he looks better on film than he does in person or he would never have been selected for this job.  After all, James Bond does have a reputation to maintain.

There were actually 2 stunt doubles for the actress who appears in the action scenes.  One girl did all the real action scenes.  She did not look much like the real actress; her hair is much redder and straighter with coarser texture.  Then they would switch to the second stunt actress and she appeared in scenes closer-up, but not in the more dangerous action shots.  This second stunt actress looked much more like the real actress, smooth dark hair and same complexion coloring, but taller than the real actress.  She has a very large scar in the middle of her back; looks like an old burn scar.  This was covered up with make-up.  Then they used the real actress only for close-up shots with Daniel Craig.  BTW, the Bond girl actress is cute; not drop-dead gorgeous like some of the Bond girls in yesteryears; but she is cute.  Whoever she is, she at least smiles a lot and talks with the film crew people; unlike Daniel Craig who has an angry, sullen look all the time and is addressed as Mr. Craig by the film crew and production workers.  As you can tell, I really do not have a favorable opinion of this man.  There is no need for him to act the way he does towards the “little people” working so hard to make this film a success.

I called the Panama Canal Transit Authority yesterday and learned that our transit date has been moved up to April 12.  They told me to check back every 3-4 days for updates because transit dates are shifted continually.   Keeping my fingers crossed that our transit date ends up being on April 3, the day after Bill returns.