Looking After 'Bond 22'

News & Star carries an article today centering on unit manager Mally Chung–who is currently working on, you guessed it, Bond 22.

Earlier this week Chung travelled 5,000 miles from his Carlisle home to the Central American country of Panama (one of the key locations in Daniel Craig’s newest James Bond film). He will spend the next three months there as this new 007 adventure begins to take shape.

He is one of two unit managers on the Panama shoot with responsibility for the smooth running of the working lives of the 400-strong crew.

‘It’s the day to day stuff, making sure everything’s all right, setting up all the logistics to make sure it works,’ he said shortly before departure. ‘We’re like a travelling army.’

With ninety-hour weeks being nothing out of the ordinary for a unit manager, Chung is usually the first to arrive and the last to leave. He is the first point of contact for local councils, emergency services and the general public. ‘If there’s a problem people come to me,’ is how he sums up the job.

With working conditions and hours like those, there are always going to be sacrifices. Working on Bond 22 means Chung will miss his daughter Leila’s sixth birthday. ‘That’s one of the biggest decisions I’ve had to make about doing Bond. But my wife Rachael said, if there’s one film worth being away for, it’s this.’

And when he returns to Carlisle, what then? ‘Where do you go from here? The logical next step would be production manager. But if you’re doing films of the calibre of Bond it’s quite hard to take a step back from that.’

‘When it comes out it will be the biggest film in the world. It might be horrible to work on. I might hate every minute of it. But in years to come I can turn to my grandkids and say “I did James Bond”.’

Keep your eyes on the CommanderBond.net main page for all the latest news and details on Bond 22.