The 24th James Bond movie titled “Spectre” is currently on its second leg of filming in Rome after completing shoots in London.
The movie is scheduled to shoot in the major thoroughfares of Italy’s capital for a period of 20 days, reports Seattle PI.
Italian crowds are said to be gathering on the film locations of “Spectre” in Rome to catch a glimpse of the 46-year-old Daniel Craig, who plays James Bond, and the 50-year-old Monica Belluci, the oldest Bond girl ever.
Filming for the movie has taken the actors from the cobble-stoned streets of the historic center out to the Mussolini-era modern EUR neighbourhood.
Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, the main thoroughfare of central Rome, was also closed to traffic on February 24, in preparation for the movie’s nighttime car chase featuring James Bond’s silver Aston Martin.
There was also another chase sequence shot along the tranquil bike path on the banks of the Tiber River. Rome city officials expect their place to earn as much as 1 million Euros in permit fees alone from the filming of the movie.
Stolen script in the hacking of Sony
Director Sam Mendes has kept the plotline of the latest James Bond movie under wraps until producer EON Productions admitted to the press that the early version of the script was among the materials stolen in the Sony Pictures cyber attack last December.
Details about “Spectre” have since circulated online although it is now unclear whether Mendes maintained the original plotline or somehow made some key deviations.
Still it’s a James Bond movie and people will flock to theaters regardless of whether the plotline is out in the internet or not.
“Spectre” will be coming out in theaters on October 23 this year.
Coming in droves
A significant number of Italians are apparently coming in droves in Rome to be able to catch a glimpse of James Bond and Italian actress Monica Bellucci. After all, they only have 20 days to catch the filming of the movie in their city.
One Italian female fan said that she was very excited in seeing Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci. She was able to watch the filming of an apparent funeral scene shot outside EUR’s civic museum.
She says that she hopes that movie will be able to capture the beauty of Rome, the same way that past major movies have done. She adds that movies are normally good publicity for their beautiful capital city.
In addition to permit fees, city officials expect to a boost local revenues too as the film production takes in extras, security guards, film crews, catering services and hotels for the entire 20-day filming duration.
A number of movies have made Rome’s historic center as the backdrop or setting including “To Rome With Love” in 2012 and “The Great Beauty” in 2013, which won an Oscar for best foreign film.