Some Rare Trivia From 'Tomorrow Never Dies'

Every Bond movie has that little bit of trivia behind it. Some things we don’t always notice. In no particular order here some of the trivial bits of information from Tomorrow Never Dies…

• The DVD Commentries reveal that actress Michelle Yeoh did most of her own stunts. The commentry only reveals that Yeoh did not do three of her own stunts. The first stunt double was used when Wai Lin is strangled from behind and pushed towards a wall by her assailant (this is during a Saigon fight scene), Wai Lin runs up the structure beam and flips behind her assailant. The second time Michelle Yeoh was replaced was actually when she was replaced by a dummy on top of the BMW motorcycle as it jumped from building to building across a helicopter. The third time was during the same chase sequence, most of the back shots of Michelle Yeoh are actually of her stunt double.
• The ships used in the film are Type 23 Duke Class Anti-Submarine Frigates. The interior shots were all filmed at HMS DRYAD ship simulator, and most of the personnel in the background are real Royal Navy personnel. Most of the dialogue and commands are very accurate, though some has been modified so the viewing public can understand it. The Royal Navy signed a contract with the Bond producers, EON Productions, that then allowed them to use James Bond in their adverts for a short period of time.
• The number plate of Bond’s BMW 750iL is “B-MT 2144”. This ties in with his Aston Martin DB5’s number plate “BMT 214A” (used in this film and GoldenEye). The original movie Aston Martin, (from Goldfinger), had “BMT 216A”, which could not be used for legal reasons.
• The descent down the Saigon Headquarters of CMG was to be originally shot using CGI, that is fully animated, according to director Roger Spottiswoode. However, this proved to difficult and in the end a 7-storey section of wall was constructed that was used as a Green Screen.
• Producer Michael G. Wilson makes yet another appearance in the film. This time he plays one of Carver’s employees. Namely the one who released the video tape of the President in the motel suite with the chearleader. Now that I would like to see…
• The original title of the film was Tomorrow Never Lies, which makes sense when you consider media mogul Elliot Carver was creating the next day’s headlines in advance, then causing those events to happen. However, a typing error caused the name change. There are several versions of the story. One states that the typo was on a press release, the other states the typo was on an internal memo.
• Actress Teri Hatcher was three months pregnant when she filmed her scenes as Paris Carver. Did anyone notice? No. She still looked damn fine in suspenders.
• In an interview to promote the films release Teri Hatcher revealed she took the role to fulfill her husband’s lifelong dream of being married to a Bond girl.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for some behinds the scenes look at the filming of Tomorrow Never Dies, and in particular some deleted scenes that never made it to the film!