James Bond ‘Skyfall’ Error Cost Millions To Repair: Daniel Craig’s Fault?
The James Bond movie Skyfall appears to have had an error that would have cost millions to reshoot. Apparently, it has to do with leather gloves, according to Slash Film. The issue basically is that in order to operate James Bond’s high-tech gadget, which in this case is a pistol, Daniel Craig, who plays 007, should not be wearing any gloves or the gun won’t fire. Hence the term fingerprint gun.
Unfortunately, however, Daniel Craig took it on his own to wear gloves during the shoot. It wasn’t clear whether the actor was aware of the rationale behind the gun, but he went on and used it anyway during the scene. This kind of scenario raises flags right away for two main reasons.
First, it is very strange for Daniel Craig to not know how the fingerprint gun works in principle. The actor would have read the script ahead of time to know all these details. After all, he is known as a very hardworking James Bond and is also quite astute about the role.
#Enterate El error de Daniel Craig que costo millones para Skyfall – https://t.co/umdeNG10Za pic.twitter.com/Fs3iiAFevW
— David Ocadiz (@elfamosodave) July 4, 2016
So it’s hard to buy any of the crap that he made a schoolboy’s error. Caterina Murino, who plays a Bond Girl in Casino Royale, has a lot of respect for Daniel Craig’s work ethic, according to the Mirror. She said that Craig diligently went through their joint scene over and over for two days before finally deciding to have the scene shot. With this kind of dedication, it’s hard to imagine Craig making the mistake that he is accused of.
[Warning: Spoilers for Skyfall]
Skyfall, where the source insists Daniel Craig made the error, is the actor’s third James Bond movie. As such, it is an outstanding take on 007 coming back to his roots in order to find a very destructive enemy, one who manages to kill his boss, M.
Skyfall is the highest grossing James Bond movie of all time, according to the Telegraph. It made $1.109 billion at the tills.
Now, let’s go back to our discussion regarding the fingerprint gun.
The second point is that there is such a thing as a continuity person in every film who watches every minute changes in costume and props. The continuity expert ensures that if, for example, James Bond took off his gloves in an earlier scene, then the gloves should remain in that status. And this is where the source’s point of argument lies as follows.
“From then on, including the ride up the elevator, he [James Bond] doesn’t have gloved hands. However, before he encounters the assassin who just killed someone in the building across the street, he puts his gun away, only to be seen with the gloves back on his hands for the remainder of the action.”
It’s so amazing how every detail counts in making a movie. Just one wrong turn and you’re finished. After all, reshoots can be very costly. The source speculates that, instead of reshooting the scene with the mistake, a decision was made to make digital edits instead, which cost money, too.
Finally, Slash Film reveals two versions of the same scene — the first one has James Bond wearing gloves, and in the other one, he doesn’t. So clearly, someone missed something. Apparently, the one with the gloves on is the official version. So the bottom line is somebody did make a mistake. As to who it is, that remains unclear.
My bet is on the continuity editor and not Daniel Craig. Like I said earlier, catching this type of faux pas is that editor’s job. So if he or she had seen the actor walk in the James Bond film set with something new on his hands, the continuity editor would have caught it right away. And so to pin this kind of error on Daniel Craig is not only wrong, it’s downright preposterous.
[Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images]
