Terry Bamber
We’ve got special guest Mr. Terry Bamber. Terry initially started as a runner on The Man with the Golden Gun, and then he had a big gap, and then he came back to the series for Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997 and he worked all the way through on all the films until Skyfall 2012.
And he worked as a first as a location production manager and then as a second unit production manager. Terry could you explain what those roles entailed?
TB: The titles are purely semantics. The production managing side of things is just making sure that everything that you need for that day’s filming is there and ready to go. And a good production manager never says no to a director. They will always say, well, let’s see. Let’s work out a way that we can make it work and we can afford it.
A good production manager will always try to give a director what they want. That’s the great thing about Barbara and Michael, they always wanted to give everything to the director, and they were just the best kind of producers. And I worked with lots of producers around the world, and just the sheer privilege of working for them was amazing.
You worked on The Man with the Golden Gun?
TB: I was kept on at the end of the production, and we were selling the props off and selling the costumes off. If I’d known then what I know now about props, I would have bought a lot more. I didn’t buy anything at the time. Yeah, but unfortunately, I walked into something that was sticking out and damaged my eye. And Cubby Broccoli sent his driver down to me, it was Cubby’s Rolls Royce! And he drove me off to hospital in Cubby’s Rolls. So my career started on a high, and I worked my way down after that, really.
My Dad had worked on the first three Bond films as a dressing property. On the the Kentucky set fencing in Goldfinger that was erected at Pinewood, a lot of that ended up in our back garden in Windsor.
Roger used to like to have chicken sandwiches on brown bread at the end of the day he was filming, so one of my duties was to go and get the sandwiches from the restaurant, take it to Rogers dressing room. But I was so excited about seeing him as the door opened, I dropped the sandwiches on the floor, and he just quickly said that he was supposed to be watching his figure.
How was it working on Casino Royale?
TB:It was just an adventure, because Martin Campbell was just the loveliest man to work with. He’d already rebooted the franchise with Goldeneye and then there was a great air of anticipation with Casino, obviously, with Daniel coming in and rebooting it. We were going to the Bahamas to film it. I mean, for me, it was like, I died and gone to heaven.
I remember on Casino Royale when we arrived in the Bahamas the accounts team had introduced a new system and we had to account for every penny that people had. So if the crew were working offset, they could claim a breakfast allowance, but if they were on set, they couldn’t claim. I had to create an Excel document spreadsheet of who was on set having breakfast and when you’ve got a crew of 300 people doing that, that gets very time consuming and very boring.
The free running sequence which we shot in the Bahamas, was just a joy. Sadly tragedy struck, with the the sea plane for when Bond arrives in the Bahamas. We did the recce. We went home, and the following day, we discovered that the sea plane we were going to use crashed, and everybody on board was killed. We’d met the people. They were very, very kind people. So then, when we did get to shoot that sequence, I was put in a little boat with the Harbor Police, and for about an hour or so, I had complete control over Bahamas Harbor.
Did you enjoy the other Daniel Craig films?
Terry Bamber: Mr. Newman is a great composer. I can’t write one note of music, but Mr Newman shouldn’t ever been allowed anywhere near a James Bond film. For me, he doesn’t capture that vibe. I think I’m going to be careful, because I don’t want to say anything I shouldn’t say but as you know, Skyfall is not one of my favourite films.
I mean, of course, it’s very cleverly written. But the fact is, the opening sequence when Bond is two continents away, and he’s the agent in the field, normally doing his own thing on his own. And there’s a conversation between Moneypenny and M in London. I can’t get my radio to work between one office and the corridor. Then, of course, the second half of the film is Home Alone when they go up to Skyfall leaving little bombs and things around the place. It just didn’t capture me.
You said you saw No Time To Die 10 times, so there was obviously a lot in that film that you enjoyed. What about the fact he had a daughter? Were you okay with that?
TB: No, not really. Again, I think I’m allowed to say this, the writers toyed with the idea of there being a child from Vesper in Quantum of Solace. There’s some great bits in Quantum of Solace, the Night at the Opera sequence is worthy of Hitchcock, but I don’t really like the ending. Mainly because you’ve got Bond fighting somebody who is very small (Dominic Green).
Listen to the full interview
Full interview with Terry Bamber on the There Will Be Bond podcast. For iTunes simply search There Will Be Bond on your app. Leave a review, bless your hearts.