Filming begins at Dome March 31

Filming begins at Dome
March 31, 1999

LONDON - As we showed you in yesterday's batch of photos, Bond is now filming in the heart of London. The setting was just off the Thames at the Millennium Dome, the billion-dollar stadium that sits across from Greenwich. It will be one of the places for a huge celebration when the clock ticks down to the year 2000.

As you can see in the photo above, the crew is using a crane to lower a replica 'Q' boat into a cradle, prior to firing the boat towards the balloon basket. This scene is reported to figure prominently in the pre-titles sequence at the beginning of The World Is Not Enough. The black object suspended halfway up the picture, is supposed to be a hot air balloon preparing for launch at the Dome. Skip the following paragraph if you don't want to know too much about the opening sequence.

s p o i l e r

According to numerous reports about, Bond jumps from the balloon and cushions himself with the help of the Dome's roof. This is supposed to happen after Bond chases a female assassin, played by Maria Grazia Cucinotta.

The other photo shows the woman known to Bond fans as "Cigar Girl" holding some type of machine gun mounted on the back of a speed boat. Cigar Girl is played by Italian beauty Maria Grazia Cucinotta, but today her stunt double, Sarah Donohue, was steering the boat

Maria Cuccinotta with a gun on the back of a boat

Return to Thames Index