Interview: SFX Supervisor Chris Corbould Could Be Retiring From Effects, James Bond

LucknFate

In this interview from MotorTrend with Oscar-winning special effects supervisor Chris Corbould, OBE, he reveals that he is advancing his career into the director's chair on an upcoming project. Here is the quote:

MT: What's next for you?

CC: "I've put the special effects on hold for awhile now. I bought the rights to a book, I've just finished the script. It's based on the true life book of two guys that get kidnapped in Colombia. Next year I should be getting back to direct that myself. That's my plan at the moment."

It's not in the published interview, but he later seemed uneasy about questions about returning for Bond work (as I think he hopes he becomes a successful director going forward).

Full interview with other fun details, like him claiming he came up with the GoldenEye tank chase in place of a motorbike chase, and that he devised and then actually directed most of the final act of Skyfall at the request of Sam Mendes, and that No Time To Die's Matera car chase was originally much more destructive and longer (plus more details about Boyle's Bond movie): https://www.motortrend.com/features/james-bond-007-road-to-a-million-tv-show-review-chris-corbould-interview-aston-martin/

Corbould has worked on 15 Bond movies starting with The Spy Who Loved Me.

mtm

That's a great piece, J; fantastic reading. I had no idea about some of that stuff, especially the tank chase and SF conclusion; I hope Mr Courbold gets to make his movie. And you drove a 'DB5'- amazing!
I'd love to know more about the NTTD chase- they came up with so much we didn't see: some of the cars were even built with rear-firing machine guns which we never saw in the finished film.

I'm curious- with the Valhalla chase idea, was he saying that the car would enter a tunnel and drive up and round the inside of it? I guess it's something folks have wanted to see since the Italian Job tried it! I think Top Gear managed it once, sort of.

LucknFate

mtm wrote: »

That's a great piece, J; fantastic reading. I had no idea about some of that stuff, especially the tank chase and SF conclusion; I hope Mr Courbold gets to make his movie. And you drove a 'DB5'- amazing!
I'd love to know more about the NTTD chase- they came up with so much we didn't see: some of the cars were even built with rear-firing machine guns which we never saw in the finished film.

Corbould did mention the rear-firing DB5 guns were equipped on some cars at the roundtable discussion, as well, I forgot to note it. They also told the story of spraying "a popular fizzy sugar drink" on the polished marble courtyard to get necessary traction for the tires. BB later repeated the same story but called it "Coke" to Corbould's teasing chagrin, haha.

mtm wrote: »

I'm curious- with the Valhalla chase idea, was he saying that the car would enter a tunnel and drive up and round the inside of it? I guess it's something folks have wanted to see since the Italian Job tried it! I think Top Gear managed it once, sort of.

Yes precisely. Around the interior surface of the tube (I think likely to avoid a rocket/missile). I thought in the moment to ask him if the AMC slide-whistle from TMWTGG came up in that case, as it'd be notably similar, but forgot to actually ask him. (Also the helicopter loopty from Spectre, a bit.)

007HallY

Didn’t know about the tank chase/SF helicopter idea either. Pretty cool seeing someone from that sort of role in the film crew work their way up to director (very old school/more in line with the careers of Peter Hunt and John Glen than what we usually see with directors today).

LucknFate

007HallY wrote: »

Didn’t know about the tank chase/SF helicopter idea either. Pretty cool seeing someone from that sort of role in the film crew work their way up to director (very old school/more in line with the careers of Peter Hunt and John Glen than what we usually see with directors today).

Indeed. I believe his first gig, or first Bond-related gig, was making the trick skiing stick that releases a trigger and turns into a firing gun, for a quick few seconds in TSWLM. Now he's a feature director.

He also told the group a brief hint of a story about attempting "to get a car to jump on ice over a structure in front of everyone, the producers, for the first time—launched the car off the tube right into the building, I had to rush over and apologize and promise to reset," but Cubby and crew were laughing. I think this might be a TLD stunt, but he didn't specify.

mtm

That sounds like the TLD anecdote: I think they said the gas cylinder which fired the Aston over the police huts was frozen so it opened gradually instead of instantly, which meant the car just sort of phutted into the shed rather than over it!

BMB007

Good luck to him in directing! I hope he can get his film made.

LucknFate

My friend Maddox apparently recorded the round table discussion with a few more detailed quotes about the longer Matera DB5 stunts and CC's take that car chases are often too long. https://www.thedrive.com/news/movie-car-chases-are-all-too-long-james-bond-special-effects-boss-says?utm_content=deals&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=socialflow

mtm

Yeah I think the version they shot is better than that concept.

LucknFate

Just came across this in some further CC research: Campbell and Corbould celebrated at an action movie festival by some big names:

https://variety.com/2023/film/global/daniel-craig-christopher-nolan-james-bond-kit-harington-game-of-thrones-london-action-festival-1235655654/

Many big names sent in video clips to praise Campbell and Corbould, including Nolan and JJ Abrams.

"James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli said that Campbell and Corbould are “an important part of the Bond family.”

Christopher Nolan, with whom Corbould has collaborated on four films, said: “Nobody’s contribution matches yours to action cinema.” J.J. Abrams lauded Corbould as “a true hero in filmmaking. It’s been an honor to have worked with you.”"

I also previously found an interview from 2021 in which Corbould had already admitted he was likely hanging up his SFX work to do more second unit directing, he had said at the time. He did credited second unit directing work on Eon's Rhythm Section, as well as Doctor Strange sequel, Christopher Robin with Marc Forster interestingly, and also is credited for splinter 2nd unit work for Skyfall and Spectre.

ivarbrcye99

Had a nice chat with him at JFK Airport on Friday.