No Time to Die

No Time to Die is an upcoming spy film directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, and the twenty-fifth installment in the James Bond series to be produced by Eon Productions. The film features Daniel Craig in his fifth outing as the MI6 agent James Bond. Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Jeffrey Wright, Léa Seydoux, and Christoph Waltz reprise their roles from previous films, with Rami Malek, Ana de Armas, Lashana Lynch, David Dencik, Dali Benssalah and Billy Magnussen joining the cast. It will be the first film in the series to be internationally distributed by Universal Pictures, following the expiration of Columbia Pictures' contract after Spectre.

The development of the film began and confirmed in 2016. Universal Pictures and United Artists Releasing acquired the distribution rights internationally; in the United States, United Artists Releasing holds the rights, and Universal will also release the film on home media domestically. Danny Boyle was originally attached to direct and co-write the film with John Hodge; both left due to creative differences in August 2018. Fukunaga was announced as Boyle's replacement a month later. After Hodge's exit, Purvis and Wade, alongside Fukunaga, Burns and Waller-Bridge wrote what became the final version of the script. The majority of the cast had signed on by April 2019. Principal photography lasted from April to October 2019.

No Time to Die was originally scheduled for release in April 2020 but was delayed to 12 November in the United Kingdom and on 20 November 2020 in the United States due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.

Premise
Five years after the capture of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, James Bond has left active service. He is approached by Felix Leiter, his friend and a CIA officer, who enlists his help in the search for a missing scientist. When it becomes apparent that the scientist was abducted, Bond must confront a danger the likes of which the world has never seen before.

Cast

 * Daniel Craig as James Bond. Formerly known as agent 007, he retired to Jamaica sometime after the events of Spectre.
 * Rami Malek as Safin. Producer Barbara Broccoli described the character as "the one that gets under Bond's skin. He's a nasty piece of work".
 * Léa Seydoux as Dr. Madeleine Swann, a psychiatrist and Bond's love interest who assisted him in his mission in the film Spectre
 * Lashana Lynch as Nomi, a '00' agent who entered active service after Bond’s retirement.
 * Ben Whishaw as Q, the MI6 Quartermaster who outfits Bond with equipment for use in the field.
 * Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, M's assistant and Bond's ally.
 * Ana de Armas as Paloma. De Armas described her character as "irresponsible" and "bubbly" and playing a key role in Bond's mission.
 * Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter, Bond's friend and a CIA field officer.
 * Christoph Waltz as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the former head of criminal syndicate SPECTRE, and who is now in MI6 custody.
 * Ralph Fiennes as M, the head of MI6 and Bond's superior officer.
 * Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner, the MI6 chief of staff.
 * Dali Benssalah as Primo, an adversary whom Bond first encounters in Matera.
 * David Dencik as Waldo.
 * Billy Magnussen as Ash.

Development
Development of No Time to Die began in the spring of 2016. Development of No Time to Die began in the spring of 2016. In March 2017, screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade—who have worked on every Bond film since The World Is Not Enough (1999)—were approached to write the script. Sam Mendes stated that he would not return after directing Skyfall and Spectre. Christopher Nolan ruled himself out to direct. By July 2017, Yann Demange, David Mackenzie, and Denis Villeneuve were courted to direct the film. In December 2017, Villeneuve opted out of the role due to his commitments to Dune.

In February 2018, Danny Boyle was established as a frontrunner for the directing position and Boyle's original pitch to Broccoli and Wilson saw John Hodge brought onto the project and writing a screenplay based on Boyle's idea, with Purvis and Wade's version scrapped. Hodge's draft was greenlit, Universal secured the film's distribution rights, and Boyle was confirmed to helm the film with a production start date of December 2018. However, Boyle left the production in August 2018 due to creative differences, and the film's release date became contingent on whether they could replace Boyle with a suitable director within sixty days. A spokeswoman for Hodge confirmed that he also was no longer involved. With Boyle's departure, several directors from film and television were considered for the position, and Cary Joji Fukunaga was announced as the new director in September 2018 via the official James Bond Twitter account. Fukunaga became the first American in the history of the series to direct an Eon James Bond film. Linus Sandgren was hired as a cinematographer in December 2018.

With Boyle's departure, Purvis and Wade were brought back to rework the script in September 2018. Casino Royale screenwriter Paul Haggis was brought in to rewrite Purvis and Wade's script in November 2018. Scott Z. Burns was brought on to work on the screenplay in February 2019. At Craig's request, Killing Eve writer and creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge provided a script polish in April 2019 to add more humour and to make the characters more believable. Waller-Bridge is the second female screenwriter credited with writing a Bond film after Johanna Harwood co-wrote Dr. No and From Russia with Love. Producer Barbara Broccoli announced that Bond's attitude towards women would change in No Time to Die as a response to the Me Too movement. Waller-Bridge argued that the character of Bond had to stay true to its original creation and that it was the responsibility of the wider film industry to treat women more respectfully.

Casting
Spectre was speculated to be Daniel Craig's final outing as Bond. In May 2016, it was reported on several websites and news platforms that Craig had received a $100 million offer from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to reprise his role of Bond in two more films, but turned it down, suggesting that Spectre would likely be his final Bond film. Craig denied having made a decision but praised his time playing Bond thus far, describing it as "the best job in the world doing Bond". He further denied that $150 million was offered to him for the next two Bond instalments. He stated that the fact he had not made any decisions on returning to the role in the past was because of his focus on other projects such as Logan Lucky. In August 2017, Craig confirmed he would return for his final appearance as Bond while on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. In July 2018, Craig travelled to the United States to visit the Central Intelligence Agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to find out more about how the intelligence agency operates. The CIA said, "Mr. Craig met with our leadership and workforce, who explained that real-life espionage is a lot more 'cloak' and a lot less 'dagger' than presented in the entertainment world of spy v spy".

Numerous reports indicated that Christoph Waltz had signed on to return as Ernst Stavro Blofeld for further 007 films on the condition that Craig returned as Bond. Despite Craig's definite casting as Bond, Waltz announced that he would not return as Blofeld in October 2017. During Danny Boyle's time as director on the film, a leaked casting sheet described the villain's role as a "cold and charismatic Russian" and the Bond girl role as a "witty and skillful survivor". The production also sought after a henchman of Māori descent with "advanced combat skills". These ideas presumably changed shape following Boyle and Hodge's exit. In December 2018, Fukunaga revealed in an interview that Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris and Ralph Fiennes would all be reprising their roles in the film, with Fukunaga not ruling out a possible return from Waltz's Blofeld. Fukunaga also revealed that Léa Seydoux would be reprising her role as Madeleine Swann, making her the second actress to portray a Bond girl in successive films, after Eunice Gayson portrayed Sylvia Trench in Dr. No and From Russia with Love. Rory Kinnear returned as Bill Tanner, as did Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter. Wright makes his third appearance in the series after Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace and becomes the first actor to play Felix Leiter three times.

Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah, David Dencik, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen and Rami Malek were announced as cast members in a live stream, at Ian Fleming's Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. This live stream on April 25, 2019, marked the official start of production. Malek was further announced as playing the film's villain. In an interview with Digital Spy, Malek revealed that his character would not be connected to any religion or ideology.

Waltz's casting as Blofeld was not announced at the press launch but was officially revealed in the film's trailer in December 2019.

Filming
Production was scheduled to begin on December 3, 2018, at Pinewood Studios, but filming was delayed until April 2019 after the departure of Boyle as director. The film is the first in the series to have sequences shot with 65MM IMAX film cameras.

Filming locations included Italy, Jamaica, Norway and London, in addition to Pinewood Studios. Also, scenes were filmed in the Faroe Islands in late September 2019. Production commenced in Nittedal, Norway, with the second unit capturing scenes at a frozen lake. Principal photography officially began on April 28, 2019, in Port Antonio, Jamaica. Daniel Craig sustained an ankle injury in May whilst filming in Jamaica and subsequently underwent minor surgery. Production was further interrupted when a controlled explosion damaged the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios and left a crew member with minor injuries. Production returned to Norway in June 2019 to shoot a driving sequence along the Atlantic Ocean Road featuring an Aston Martin V8 Vantage. Aston Martin also confirmed that the DB5 and Valhalla models would feature in the film. Production then returned to the United Kingdom, where scenes featuring Craig, Fiennes, Harris and Kinnear were filmed around London, including Whitehall and Hammersmith.

In July 2019, filming took place in the town of Aviemore and the surrounding Cairngorms National Park area in Scotland. Temporary accommodations were constructed in a car park in the town for the production crew of around 300. Some scenes were also captured at the Ardverikie House Estate and on the banks of Loch Laggan, just outside the park. There was further filming at Buttersteep Forest, Ascot, during August 2019.

The second unit moved to Southern Italy in late August, where they began to shoot a chase sequence involving an Aston Martin DB5 through the streets of Matera. The main unit, Craig and Seydoux arrived in early September to film scenes inside several production-built sets, as well as further sequences in Maratea and Gravina in Puglia.

Between September 8 and 25, some scenes were shot in the town of Sapri in southern Italy, including the town's "midnight canal" and train station. The name of the city has been changed to "Civita Lucana" for the film.

Principal photography wrapped on October 25, 2019, at Pinewood Studios. Further pick-up shots at Pinewood were confirmed by Fukunaga on December 20, 2019.

Music
In July 2019, Dan Romer was announced as the composer for the film's score having previously scored Fukanaga's Beasts of No Nation and Maniac. Romer left the film due to creative differences in December 2019. By January of 2020, Hans Zimmer had signed on to serve as a composer. Steve Mazzaro produced the score and Johnny Marr provided guitar. The No Time to Die score album will be released through Decca Records on March 27, 2020.

In January 2020, Billie Eilish was announced as the performer of the film's theme song. Eilish is credited as co-writer with her brother, the track's producer, Finneas O'Connell. The song, also titled "No Time to Die", was released on February 13, 2020. At the age of eighteen, Eilish is the youngest artist to record a Bond film title track.

Distribution rights
The Sony Pictures contract to co-produce the James Bond films with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Eon Productions expired with the release of Spectre. In April 2017, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, and Annapurna Pictures entered a bidding competition to win the distribution rights. It was announced that MGM had secured the domestic, digital and worldwide television rights to the film subsequently through its distribution arm United Artists Releasing. Universal was announced as the international distributor and holder of the rights for physical home entertainment worldwide.

Release date
The release for No Time to Die was originally scheduled for November 2019, but was pushed back to February 2020, and then to April 2020 after Boyle's departure. The film's premiere in China and a countrywide publicity tour had been planned for April 2020, but these were cancelled due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. The global spread of the virus prompted a joint open letter from two fan sites to the producers asking that the film's release be delayed to minimize the risk of infection and to ensure the film's commercial success. On March 4, 2020, MGM and Eon Productions announced that due to the coronavirus, they had postponed the theatrical release of No Time to Die until November 12, 2020, in the United Kingdom and November 25, 2020, in the United States. Universal Pictures brought forward the release of animated film Trolls World Tour and the A24 horror film Saint Maud to replace No Time to Die in its release schedule. Deadline Hollywood reported from speaking with inside sources that the rescheduling was a purely economic choice and not directly related to the coronavirus. Shifting the film to November would match with the traditional window for Bond film releases since GoldenEye, and MGM and Universal needed to assure a strong performance across all international markets or could potentially lose the Bond franchise. Thus, the rescheduling was to make sure all movie theatres, particularly those in China, South Korea, Japan, Italy and France that were shuttered due to the outbreak, were open and operational and were not related to the safety of theatregoers or employees over the coronavirus. At the height of the outbreak, an estimated seventy thousand theatres in China alone had been closed. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the delay cost MGM between $30 and 50 million because of the costs of marketing that had already been purchased, although the publication also estimated the potential box office losses globally would have exceeded $300 million had the film stayed in its April slot.

Marketing
The 007 logo appeared on the Red Bull Racing cars in the place of the Aston Martin logos at the 2019 British Grand Prix. The cars also had Bond-themed number plates on the underside of their rear wings. Max Verstappen had the number plate from the Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger while Pierre Gasly’s car featured the Aston Martin V8 plate from The Living Daylights. Both drivers wore special racing overalls with a print of the classic single-breasted dinner suit.