Skyfall is a 2012 spy film and the twenty-third in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. The film is the third to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond and features Javier Bardem as villain Raoul Silva, with Judi Dench returning as M. The film was directed by Sam Mendes and written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and John Logan. In the film, Bond investigates a series of targeted data leaks and co-ordinated attacks on MI6 led by Silva. It sees the return of two recurring characters, Miss Moneypenny (played by Naomie Harris) and Q (played by Ben Whishaw), after an absence of two films. Ralph Fiennes, Bérénice Marlohe, and Albert Finney are among the supporting cast.
Mendes was approached to direct after the release of Quantum of Solace in 2008. Development of the film was suspended throughout 2010 after Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which caused screenwriter Peter Morgan to leave the project. Production resumed in December 2010 after Purvis, Wade, and Logan were hired and a November 2012 release date was announced in January 2011. Principal photography began that November after the film's title was revealed and lasted until March 2012, with filming locations including London, Shanghai, Istanbul, and Scotland.
Skyfall premiered at the Royal Albert Hall on 23 October 2012, and was released theatrically in conventional and IMAX formats in the United Kingdom three days later and in the United States on 9 November, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first James Bond film Dr. No (1962). Skyfall received positive reviews, with praise for Mendes's direction, cast performances, action sequences, cinematography, and musical score. The film was nominated for five awards at the 85th Academy Awards, winning two, and received numerous other accolades. Skyfall grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide becoming the fourteenth film to pass the billion-dollar mark, the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release, the highest-grossing James Bond film of all time, and the second-highest-grossing film of 2012. The next film in the series, Spectre, was released in 2015.
Plot
In Istanbul, MI6 agents James Bond and Eve Moneypenny pursue mercenary Patrice, who has stolen a hard drive containing details of undercover NATO agents. As Bond and Patrice fight on the roof of a moving train, M orders Moneypenny to shoot Patrice, despite not having a clear shot; Moneypenny inadvertently hits Bond, who falls into a river. Bond is presumed dead and Patrice escapes with the hard drive.
Three months later, due to a public inquiry into M's handling of the stolen hard drive, she is pressured to retire by Gareth Mallory, the chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament and a former SAS officer. However, she remains adamant that she is still useful. On her way back to MI6, MI6's servers are hacked, and M receives a taunting computer message moments before the MI6 building explodes. Bond, who used his presumed death to retire, learns of the attack and returns to service in London. He fails a series of physical, medical, and psychological examinations, but M approves his return to the field, ordering him to identify Patrice's employer, recover the hard drive, and kill Patrice. Bond meets Q, MI6's new quartermaster, who gives him a radio beacon aka a Distress Signal, as well as a Walther PPK pistol with a Sensor in the Grip which makes it so that only Bond can fire it.
In Shanghai, Bond follows Patrice and sees him kill a target. They fight, and Patrice dies before Bond can learn his employer's identity. Bond finds a casino token Patrice intended to cash in for the assassination, leading him to a casino in Macau. Moneypenny joins Bond's investigation on Mallory's orders. Bond is approached by Sévérine, Patrice's accomplice. Recognising her tattoo, he correctly concludes that she was a sex slave, taken when she was a child who was "rescued" by a criminal who now employs her, a man Bond wishes to meet. She warns him he is targeted by her bodyguards, but promises to help if Bond kills her employer. Bond thwarts the attack and joins Sévérine on her yacht. They travel to an abandoned island off the coast of Macau, where the crew captures and delivers them to Sévérine's employer, Raoul Silva. Silva, a former MI6 agent who turned to International cyberterrorism and orchestrated the attack on MI6. Silva tries to get Bond to see things from his point of view and Join him in Abandoning England, "You're living in a ruin even if you don't know it." as Silva told Bond. However Bond still doesn't Surrender His Loyalty. Silva kills Sévérine. Bond breaks free and uses Q's distress Signal to alert MI6 reinforcements, who capture Silva for rendition to Britain.
At MI6's new temporary underground headquarters, Q attempts to decrypt Silva's laptop, but inadvertently gives it access to the MI6 servers which open all the security doors, allowing Silva to escape. Bond and Q conclude that Silva wanted to be captured as part of a plan to kill M, whom he hates for disavowing and betraying him to the Chinese government during the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, leaving him to be tortured and end up disfigured by a suicide attempt by hydrogen cyanide. Realising Silva has escaped, Bond chases him through the London Underground and thwarts Silva's attack at a Parliament inquiry where M is present, though Silva escapes again.
Instructing Q and Bill Tanner to leave an electronic trail for Silva to follow, Bond uses his Aston Martin DB5 to take M to Skyfall, his childhood home in the Scottish Highlands. They meet Skyfall's old gamekeeper Kincade, and the trio rigs the house with booby traps. When Silva's men arrive, Bond, M, and Kincade kill most of them, but M is wounded. Silva arrives by helicopter with more men and heavy weapons, so Bond sends M and Kincade through a priest hole to hide in a nearby chapel and rigs propane tanks to explode. As the house and the helicopter are destroyed, Bond escapes down the same tunnel.
Silva survives the destruction of the house, following Kincade and M to the chapel. Confronting M, Silva forces his gun into her hand and presses his temple to hers, begging her to kill them both. Bond arrives and kills Silva by throwing a knife into his back. M then succumbs to her wounds and dies in Bond's arms.
Following M's funeral, Moneypenny formally introduces herself to Bond and tells him she is retiring from fieldwork to become secretary for Mallory, the newly appointed M. Bond meets Mallory as he asks him "Are you ready to get back to work" and Bond Tells Him "With Pleasure M. With Pleasure."
Cast
Daniel Craig as James Bond, agent 007 Judi Dench as M, the head of MI6 and Bond's superior Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva (born Tiago Rodriguez), an ex MI6 agent turned cyberterrorist Ralph Fiennes as Gareth Mallory, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee and a former SAS Lieutenant Colonel Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, an MI6 field agent Bérénice Marlohe as Sévérine, Raoul Silva's associate and mistress Albert Finney as Kincade, the gamekeeper of the Skyfall estate Ben Whishaw as Q, the MI6 quartermaster Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner, M's chief of staff Ola Rapace as Patrice, a mercenary under Silva's command Helen McCrory as Clair Dowar MP
Production
Development Development of Bond 23 began in 2009 but was suspended throughout 2010 because of MGM's financial troubles. Pre-production resumed following MGM's exit from bankruptcy on 21 December 2010, and in January 2011, the film was officially given a release date of 9 November 2012 by MGM and the Broccoli family, with production scheduled to start in late 2011. Subsequently, MGM and Sony Pictures announced that the UK release date would be brought forward to 26 October 2012, two weeks ahead of the US release date, which remained scheduled for 9 November 2012. The film's budget is estimated to have been between US$ and $, compared to the $ spent on Quantum of Solace. Skyfall was part of year-long celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the first Bond film, Dr. No.
Pre-production After the release of Quantum of Solace in 2008, producer Barbara Broccoli commented that Skyfall, untitled at the time, may continue the plot of the Quantum organisation, introduced in Casino Royale and continued in Quantum of Solace.
In August 2011, the Serbian newspaper Blic stated that Bond 23 would be titled Carte Blanche and would be an adaptation of the recent continuation novel by Jeffery Deaver. On 30 August, Eon Productions officially denied any link between Bond 23 and Carte Blanche, stating that "the new film is not going to be called Carte Blanche and will have nothing to do with the Jeffery Deaver book". On 3 October 2011, fifteen domain names including and were reported to have been registered on behalf of MGM and Sony Pictures by Internet brand-protection service MarkMonitor. Skyfall was confirmed as the title at a press conference on 3 November 2011, during which co-producer Barbara Broccoli said that the title "has some emotional context which will be revealed in the film". The title refers to the name of Bond's childhood home, "Skyfall", and the setting for the film's finale.
Casting The main cast was announced at a press conference held at the Corinthia Hotel in London on 3 November 2011,Press conference coverage:
fifty years after Sean Connery had been announced as James Bond in the film Dr. No. Daniel Craig returned as James Bond for the third time, saying he felt lucky to have the chance. Mendes described Bond as experiencing a "combination of lassitude, boredom, depression [and] difficulty with what he's chosen to do for a living". Judi Dench returned as M for her seventh and final time.
Javier Bardem was cast as the principal villain, Raoul Silva, a cyberterrorist seeking revenge against those he holds responsible for betraying him. Bardem described Silva as "more than a villain", while Craig stated that Bond has a "very important relationship" to Silva. Mendes admitted that he had lobbied hard for Bardem to accept the part, and saw the potential for the character to be recognised as one of the most memorable in the series. He wanted to create "something [the audience] may consider to have been absent from the Bond movies for a long time", and felt that Bardem was one of the few actors able to become "colourless" and exist as more than just a function of the plot. In preparing for the role, Bardem had the script translated into his native Spanish, which Mendes cited as a sign of his commitment. Bardem dyed his hair blond for the role, after brainstorming ideas for a distinct visual look with Mendes, which led some commentators to suggest a resemblance to Julian Assange. Bérénice Marlohe was cast as Séverine, saved from the Macau sex trade by Silva and now working as his representative. Marlohe described her character as being "glamorous and enigmatic", and that she drew inspiration from GoldenEye villain Xenia Onatopp (played by Famke Janssen).